What a stigma those two words can inflict – “mental illness”.

It is interesting to note that “mental illness” constitutes a condition where in a person can be incarcerated, drugged and/or tortured (e.g. electro-convulsive therapy and psychosurgery) against their will, with no legal recourse whatsoever.

Unlike our legal system wherein every person has the right to legal defense, a person diagnosed with a mental illness has no right to “medical defense”.

The most disturbing aspect of this is that the proponents of “mental health” claim that it is a “medical condition”. But unlike true medical conditions where a person has the right to accept or refuse medical treatment, the “mentally ill” have no such right. “Treatments” can be physically forced on them.

It is also interesting to note that 60 years ago, there were less than a dozen recognized “mental illnesses”. But DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) lists over 300. And NIMH (National Institue for Mental Health) says “An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.” Where did they all come from??? According to Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Dr. Thomas Szasz, they were simply invented, unlike true medical conditions which are discovered.

Now considering that virtually 100% of all so-called “mental illness” is based on nothing more than subjective evaluations of behaviour (ref: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), with no objective physical diagnostic procedures based on physiology, (because they don’t exist), and the fact that a person so diagnosed can be incarcerated against their will, we really do have what amounts to a loophole in “due process”.

Life...

Everyone is crazy, it just depends on how well you can hide it that determines if you are "mentally ill" or not.

We do not eat healthy -we microwave every thing. We gobble down prepakaged foods high in sodium and preservatives, most of us dont exercise and burn off any toxins, our brainds and nervous systems are being poinsoned.

Not to mention there is little discipline in todays society. Its what you want when you want.
We have allowed society to make it to the point that it takes two people working to provide for a households bare essentials and we live beyond our means and therefore we are under tremendous amounts of stress. Add it all together and you have mental deficientcy galore.

I have noticed the same myself. In my youth and my parents life people were accountable for their actions. It seems more and more though, that if enough people seem to have similar behaviors the medical field jumps in to declare some mental illness and sell some whole new slew of drugs to assist with the illness.

I do think there are genuine mental illnesses based upon biological disorders and even neurological ones, but I think mental illnesses overall are LARGELY overdiagnosed and I think they are done so to protect mostly wealthy people from the repurcussions of their actions. ,,just my opinion

Once you say you are 'sick' how can anyone hold you responsible,,,
postpartum depression( to explain killing children)
alcoholism ( to explain drunkards when they have some power or money)
Road rage ( to explain rudeness and lack of upbringing in drivers)
,,,the list goes on and on

It seems like the more we misbehave, so to speak, and the more of those who are misbehaving happen to have influence or money,, the quicker the society is to try to rationalize their behaviors.

Mental illness is is a fact . We have many people who do not know what they are doing . Yes mental illnesses can be cured and helped by meds . I know these facts because I know people with such problems .I have no faith in psychology and I do not see it as a science but I know that psychiatry is science . .

Good point. It seems as if the eleventh commandment is one's only defense against accusations of mental illness.

Because of the simple fact that there are virtually no objective tests used in the diagnosis of mental illness, I can't agree that psychiatry is science.

Another good point. The phrase "we are what we eat" may be trite, but it is nonetheless true. There can be no doubt that there is a correlation between diet and behavior. I just wonder which is the "cause" and which is the "effect". That is, do we eat poorly because of mental stresses, or do we have mental stressses because we eat poorly?

Chemical imbalances in the brain.

This is partly a semantics issue.

It reminds me of people saying "I am an alcoholic. I have a disease, and I can't help myself".

The way we label things shapes our perception of them, places boundaries on the 'possible' for us that are not part of reality.

I’m glad you brought up that point. It leads directly to the question of why is the label “mental illness” applied at all? If the exists a physical condition, then fine – it can be objectively demonstrated that the condition exists. But what is the “mental illness” aspect? It comes down to nothing more than “socially acceptable behavior”.

Good point, which I think leads to a relevant issue – the legal aspects.

In contrasting a medical condition with a “mental” illness, people have been “sentenced”, in courts of law, to treatments for mental conditions. Now can you imagine a person being “sentenced” to treatment for a medical condition? I think this points very clearly to the difference between the two. Mental illness is based on social acceptability – basically a moral issue – whereas medical conditions are a physiological phenomenon.

I think many aspects of modern urban life contribute to so-called mental disorders, for some (but not all people), including food and exercise as mentioned. Also noise pollution, lighting.

I have lived many places in my life, and my happiness seems to be roughly comparable to the degree to which I can take a deep breath fresh, clean, fragrant (as in pine trees or ocean) air from the outside.

I think the depth or stability of our circadian rhythm may play a role in happiness.

That is a very popular theory. Unfortunately, there is no science to back it up.

That is a very popular theory. Unfortunately, there is no science to back it up.


I don't consider it to be all theory.

I have worked in this field, btw.

I actually think that is is largely a semantics issue. The term "mental illness" can now be applied to approximately one-quarter of the population of the United States. But sixty years ago, when there were only a half-dozen or so "mental illnesses" as opposed to the 300+ in the DSM IV) it was a much smaller percentage. So there has been a huge change in the meaning of the term "mental illness" in the last half century or so. Compare that to the change in meaning of the term "medical illness", where there has been no change at all in meaning. That in itself is indiciative of a huge difference between what constitutes a "medial illness" and what constitutes a "mental illness".

I can respect both your consideration as to the theory and your experience in the field. If you have seen incontrovertible proof of mental illness being cause by some chemical imbalance, then I respect that.

But in order for it to be proven to me, I’d have to see a breakdown of exactly what chemicals were involved and in exactly what proportion, along with the behavior that they caused. And the most important part would have to be scientific tests showing that “rebalancing” of those chemicals invariably eradicated that behavior, as well as scientific tests showing that the behavior could be invariably replicated by “unbalancing” those exact chemicals.

To me, that is what would constitute scientific proof.

But even that would only account for one so-called “mental illness”. To prove that all mental illnesses are the result of chemical imbalances would require that same scientific proof to be applied to all 300+ conditions listed in the DSM.

Now as far as I have been able to determine, no such scientific proof has ever been demonstrated for even one so-called “mental illness”, let alone all 300+ of them.

Just wanted to add a quote that helps to illustrate the lack of science behind the whole concept of mental illness:

“We do not know the etiology of really any of the mental disorders at the present time.” - Dr Carl Regier, Director of Research, American Psychiatric Association, Vice Chariman of the DSM V Task Force and Executive Director, American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE).

e⋅ti⋅ol⋅o⋅gy  /ˌitiˈɒlədʒi/
–noun, plural -gies.
1. Pathology.
a. the study of the causes of diseases.
b. the cause or origin of a disease.
2. the study of causation.
3. any study of causes, causation, or causality, as in philosophy, biology, or physics

"DSM V" = "Disagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fifth edition"

DSM IV was published in 1994, with a "text revision" in 2000.

DSM V is due to be published in 2012. (Interesting date. )

I have worked in this field a good deal of my life. First, I think a lot of the confusion comes from referring to mental disorders as diseases or illnesses. I think there is distinct difference. Also, folks with drug and alcohol addictions are also lumped into this category when in fact what they have IS a disease, not a disorder. I have long since held the notion that drug/alcohol related ailments should be treated separately from those of psychiatric disorders.

Folks with mental disorders cannot be forced to take treatment/medications/ECT against their will unless other lengthy trials of treatment/medication have be tried to no avail AND they are a danger to themselves and/or others. They are also not forced into treatment unless they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. I think great strides are made to allow them to take responsiblity for the medical decisions and treatment. Most often the problem is they are lost to followup and stop taking their meds because they feel better and think they are 'cured'.

It has been my experience any illegal act they perform while off medication or not they have to atone for like anyone else.

Well spoken, Robin!

And, I'd add that an intense nutrition regimen, that is part and parcel to an intense behaviour modifications of strict schedule habits program, will go far in a support assist.

We are all responsible for balancing our brain chemistry through thoughts, activity and nutrients.

We all must be diligent in being our own best friend and guardian.

That keen responsibility multiplies itself times infinity for this population.

Their active responsibility quantifies their success in mastering the 'dis~ease', regardless what label the status goes by.

This is true in and w/ ALL dis~ease! Proper care of the machinery IS crucial!

Semantics are not key, actions taken to conquer the deficits are!!!