David qrote:
>Mental so-called illness and brain damage are distinguishable.
>There are certainly brain illnesses (such as Alzeimer), and then
>there is clinical depression, OC so-called D, manic depression,
>etc. People with the latter 'ailments' are not sick, in the sence in
>having something psysiologically wrong with them. You don't die
>from OCD, manic depression, or scizophrenia. This is not to say
>that the poeple experiencing these 'problems' aren't in a fair amount
>of distress. But it certainly not like Alzeimers which will eventually
>kill you.
I beg to differ, David. Manic depression, in particular, can and does kill--through suicide, drug and alcohol abuse,
and manic-state-induced accidents. It has an incredibly high death rate (suicide will claim 1 in 10 people with
bipolar disorder), perhaps it's just hard for someone who hasn't experienced it, or cared for someone else who
does, to see the connection between the condition and the level of risk. As someone who has had to prevent a
loved one from jumping from a moving car, dealt with drug overdoses and alcohol abuse and suicide attempts
brought on by trying to cope with truly horrific suffering, and seen first-hand the physical side of bipolar disorder
and OCD (in the individual's case that I am closest to, this includes serious hormonal problems, sensory issues that
can be quite painful, pain from hypermobile joints, and more), I'm constantly frustrated that some folks continue to
insist that it's *purely* a social construct. Actually, the current social construct of mental illness tends to deny any
connection between physical symptoms and "mental" symptoms, basically denying that the brain is an organ of the
body and causing additional distress to those who experience both types of symptoms, as well as stigmatising the
different ways of thinking and behaving involved.
I would also note that there is a good deal of evidence for a physiological basis to most "mental illnesses" -- which
I put in quotes here not because I doubt that they are real, but because I believe that they are illnesses, not some
kind of social construct from which someone can simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps (the right-wing
view, if you will, which still stigmatises the individual with the label) or that would no longer be problematic to the
people who carry these labels if only society was more accepting (the left-wing view, if you will, which denies that
there is any suffering from the symptoms themselves). That's not to say that our society is not quick to slap a
medical label on someone who is suffering not from mental illness, but from the effects of poverty, abuse, trauma,
discrimination, etc. all of which can harm the mind (as well as the body) and which will not respond to medical
treatment because they are social phenomena. It's also not to say that we have anything approaching appropriate
medical treatment for the medical aspects, or an appropriate social model of mental illness that takes into account
the effects of stigma, discrimination, or inappropriate medicalisation.
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