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| Drawn by early 20th-century commercial cat illustrator Louis Wain near the beginning of his mental illness (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I have seen some people (many of them are Chinese, might simply because I know more Chinese than Americans) with great mental disturbance, yet unconsciously keep living on with their daily life without any (professional or non professional) helps, creating harms to themselves and their families and friends; on the other hand, I've also seen/known many people diagnosed with mental illnesses (or worst, forced to stay in asylums) with (perfect or not so perfect) normal mental state.
What's going on?
I agree with you. We have good and bad altogether on Earth. I think "the answer is blowin' in the wind".
ReplyDeleteThis is a pacifist song, but it matches your statements, or so I think:
http://youtu.be/f_ptqXqjsZw
Thanks! That's one of my favorite songs!
ReplyDeleteThe variations of definitions surrounding mental illness may lie at the bottom of the many misconceptions we all hold about these issues. I agree with you - there are many undiagnosed, and there are many wrongly diagnosed and wrongly treated! What is the answer? Better and more thorough scientific study mixed with compassion?? You bring up some very tricky issues here...
ReplyDeleteMelody, nice to see you. I hope you doing fine...
ReplyDeleteIt is a tricky issue, isn't it? I think this shows how complicated we humans are.
Yun Yi, this is a very complicated question and that image of the cat with the bewildered expression immediately caught my eye. Often when someone is mentally ill, that is exactly the way they feel. I know a great deal about this topic since my late mother was diagnosed bipolar (back when it was called manic depression). All her life she refused help, a product of the type of illness she had, even though without help and medication, she caused harm to herself and others. I think sometimes there is what I would call, for lack of a better term, bad wiring in the brain causing those with certain types of mental illness not to be able to see the illness within themselves. There are others however who see it and get help. Why it is so with some and not others is something I’ve thought about since childhood. I spent all my life while my mom was alive trying to get her to understand she needed help, and every time she was committed involuntarily, it broke my heart. It’s a very interesting topic to explore.
ReplyDeleteJeerseyLily,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. It must be so hard for you.
I think mental illness has many different phases and aspects, so it is very hard to define, even to patients themselves.
Actually, I don't have good "faith" on medication, I think many mental problems can be treated for better result with therapies.
Thank you Yun Yi. It was difficult. I tend to agree with you on medications. Meds altered my mother’s behavior (when she would take them) but did not really treat the underlying problems. I believe in more natural remedies and therapies and wish we could have tried that but her drs were always focused on the drugs! I have little “good faith” in medications either...or some of those drs in cahoots with drug and insurance companies for that matter!
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