Mental illness

[Angrboda]

"Work Related Fatigue Syndrome"


I think I have Cognitive Insufficiency Stress Disorder. It comes from repeated exposure to stupid people.

[Rev. Rye]

How should mental illness be defined? How do you decide when somebody's abnormal behavior is an illness that needs to be cured or just an interesting personality trait? Is a trait something to be corrected when it causes "harm"? How do you define "harm" then?

Technically, the general definition used by psychologists is that it becomes illness when it has a negative impact on the person in question's life.

[bennyboy]

How should mental illness be defined? How do you decide when somebody's abnormal behavior is an illness that needs to be cured or just an interesting personality trait? Is a trait something to be corrected when it causes "harm"? How do you define "harm" then?

Technically, the general definition used by psychologists is that it becomes illness when it has a negative impact on the person in question's life.

Yep. Guy hears music that nobody else can while walking down street, writes it down, inspires millions-- genius. Guy hears dog talking to him, follows its advice, kills dozens-- ill.

@OP
Harm is an arbitrary concept, but collectively, we are perfectly at ease with making that arbitration. Usually, "harm" comes down to the inability to sleep normal hours, to function at work well enough to keep a job, or to avoid saying things that annoy or disturb guests at a Sunday luncheon.

[Rev. Rye]

Of course, this all raises one very important question: What of Harvey?

In the movie Harvey, Jimmy Stewart claims to be the best friend of an invisible 6 1/2' rabbit named Harvey. The Hallucinations and the delusions he builds around them would, under the diagnostic criteria in the DSM, be enough to give him a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, but, apart from embarrassed relatives who want control of his estate, it doesn't really have much of a negative impact on his life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvpxzl54D8

In addition, the more I read, the more it seems likely that William Blake may have been the same way; his more esoteric and prophetic works may very well have been inspired by visions consistent with Schizophrenia, but I've heard at least one person discounting the hypothesis on the grounds that it didn't really have much of a negative effect on his life, professional or personal.

[c172]

Interesting thread. My parents, both social workers (I think LCSW), and I all saw the Silver Linings Playbook, with Bradley Cooper. The parents, if I I understand them correctly, said Cooper's character was just annoying, not mentally ill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNFUGWmYldc

I live in San Diego, where there are many mentally ill people. Some seem very subtly affected. Others seem completely unable to function. Lots of PTSD (San Diego has many war vets), which is pretty obvious when it gets set off, but most seem to be of that subtle kind. It's like you know it (or think youknow it) when you see it,but it's hard to define.

[bennyboy]

In addition, the more I read, the more it seems likely that William Blake may have been the same way; his more esoteric and prophetic works may very well have been inspired by visions consistent with Schizophrenia, but I've heard at least one person discounting the hypothesis on the grounds that it didn't really have much of a negative effect on his life, professional or personal.

I think you'll find that very many of the greatest minds and achievers flirt with various kinds of borderline illnesses: schizophrenia, delusions of grandeur, autism, etc. Really, the main difference is that the geniuses managed to "bring back" new ideas that others found useful or entertaining, and that crazy people did not.

I think this makes sense, as greatness is not normal, and is predicated on abnormal behaviors, ideas or experience, by definition. The goodness/badness of that abnormality depends on chance and the arbitrary attributions of others.

[Mudhammam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhC6hUZJIJ0

[Jackalope]

I had written a post that shared my own personal experiences of the difference between sub-clinical and clinical mental illness.

It was just too personal and revealing and I had to remove it. Writing it was cathartic, though. Perhaps eventually I'll be able to relate my experience. Just not now.