Excuse me?

[conuly]

But playtime isn't always this carefree, because Taylor is one of the thousands of children across America who struggle with mental illnesses. Taylor has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder, hyperactivity and Asperger syndrome, a form of autism.

None of these things are classified as mental illnesses. That's because they aren't illnesses, of any sort, least of all the "mental" kind, which tends to imply insanity.

Comments

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure bipolar disorder is considered a mental illness, but I guess it depends on how you are classifying them.

[conuly]

I don't think so. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

What definition are you using to classify mental illness out of curiosity? I know when I took PSY200, chemical imbalances were placed in the mental illness spectrum.

[conuly]

Well, I definitely go with "don't confuse people by using a term that they use for insanity unless you mean that", and "if you're going to use a loaded term, explain why you're using it".

But I have a vague idea that bipolarism isn't on the official list, regardless. Key on the word vague, I'm hardly well enough today to tell you where I got the idea.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

I'm not a psych person, but I am a word person.

"Mental illness" may imply "insanity," but I think the definition of "insanity" has pretty much been thrown out the window by anyone who knows enough to say "mental illness."

Mental illnesses include bipolar disorders, depression, manic depression, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, all the way down to sociopathic impulses.

Some of these are not "insanity" in the sense that the person can develop coping mechanisms that allow them to function, or can be treated with drugs. I think most people now use "insanity" to mean "mentally incompetent" in the more legal sense of the term-- not competent to make judgements for themselves. Someone with treated bipolar disorder is competent to make judgements for themselves, though the judgement to go off medications may be one that they are not permitted to make, especially if they're dangerous to themselves or others when off meds. On meds, however, they would be considered capable of knowing right from wrong, and of making decisions that are based on real criteria.

Some of the above disorders, such as many forms of sociopathic behavior, are not tremendously treatable and the person is "insane" in the sense that they cannot function "normally". The more medicine advances, the more treatment options we have, the more mental illnesses become less stigmatizing as "insanity" and more acceptable. It's hard to stigmatize everyone who has a mental illness when one in 10 people will suffer from clinical depression at least once in their lifetimes.

Most of the items on the list from that article are not mental illnesses, but are considered mental disabilities; autism/Asperger's for example are considered mental disabilities, meaning the person cannot be brought to "normal" functioning with drugs or treatment, but may be able to develop coping skills to live a fairly "normal" life. Again, "normal" in this case would be someone who can make judgement calls based on reality. "Normal" means you don't believe that today is a bad day to go outside because you saw the CIA satellite overhead last night, and know you have to wear your tinfoil hat all day to keep them from eavesdropping on your brain. "Normal" means that if you don't believe today is a good day to go outside, it's because of some real criteria, like it's raining or there's a "spare the air" alert or you yourself are under the weather (which can include mentally feeling under the weather) or something like that. It's the ability to distinguish between real and imagined that seems to be the breaking point between "sane" and "insane."

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

*just sighs* I spent all last week on this topic and I'm not going to spend this week on it too. Just ONE link, and one quote from it, then I'm outta here:

Curing The Therapeutic State (http://reason.com/0007/fe.js.curing.shtml)

"Mental illness is a myth whose function is to disguise and thus render more palatable the bitter pill of moral conflicts in human relations," Szasz wrote in "The Myth of Mental Illness," a paper that appeared in American Psychologist the year before his book of the same name (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060911514/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/002-1831656-9678403) was published. "In asserting that there is no such thing as mental illness, I do not deny that people have problems coping with life and each other." Likewise, Szasz has never denied that organic conditions--say, Alzheimer's disease or untreated syphilis--can have an impact on thought and behavior. But he insists on evidence of an underlying physical defect, and he emphasizes that behavior itself is never a disease. "Classifying thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as diseases is a logical and semantic error, like classifying the whale as a fish," he writes on his Web site (http://www.szasz.com).

This error has serious consequences, Szasz argues: "The classification of (mis)behavior as illness provides an ideological justification for state-sponsored social control." As he put it in his 1990 book The Untamed Tongue (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0812691040/reasonmagazine/002-1831656-9678403), "What people nowadays call mental illness, especially in a legal context, is not a fact, but a strategy; not a condition, but a policy; in short it is not a disease that the alleged patient has, but a decision which those who call him mentally ill make about how to act toward him, whether he likes it or not."

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

Interesting; as I said, I'm a word person, rather than a psych person, so my definitions are based on how the language is used commonly, not how a controversial psychiatrist thinks they should be used.

But the article raises a valid and important point about how language is used as a strategy for social manipulation. I still believe that bipolar disorder is a mental illness, because it's usually caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, but I certainly acknowledge that the way I described some other mental ailments as being "messy" at best.

I also stand by the way I've defined the terms as being in fairly common usage, whether or not they're accurate or politically correct according to Dr. Szasz.

[goddess588.livejournal.com]

The DSM-IV-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, revised) is a text that we use at work for diagnosing Mental Disorder - I'm a psychiatric nurse - so forgive me for looking at this from a purely medical model. Bi-polar Affective Disorder is a mental disorder, as is Schizophrenia. I can't remember offhand if ADHD or Aspergers is included in the DSM-IV, but we have had committed patients (patients under the Mental Health Act) with a primary diagnosis of Aspergers, and to be under the MHA the person must be mentally disordered within the meaning of mental disorder (AND constitute a danger to themselves or others or their ability to look after themselves be severely compromised). So I figure that Aspergers is a mental disorder.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

This error has serious consequences, Szasz argues: "The classification of (mis)behavior as illness provides an ideological justification for state-sponsored social control." As he put it in his 1990 book The Untamed Tongue, "What people nowadays call mental illness, especially in a legal context, is not a fact, but a strategy; not a condition, but a policy; in short it is not a disease that the alleged patient has, but a decision which those who call him mentally ill make about how to act toward him, whether he likes it or not."
I agree, I have all was diagnosed as ADHD by my school. In my case the school wanted to intervene by "encouraging" medicine to treat the "illness" and "encouraging" placement in special ed. I was not suicidal or violent, simply annoying (talking during class, chasing people during recess, etc.) and "weird" (avoiding eye contact, becoming obessesed with things). In my opinion medicine should be a last resort, when I was on Ritalin the side effects were awful and I always felt drugged, it was also difficult to quit. Now that I'm off it I might still be "weird" or "annoying", but that's not a disease in my opinion. My parents also switched schools when the original school wanted to place me in special ed, ironically the new school placed me in gifted. So many famous inventors and scientists would be diagnosed with a "mental illness" if they were placed in school today, when really their only "illness" is being different.