in regard to mental illness.........
it is complicated, of course, not just your typical 'heart attack'
disease process.
first it should be observed that say, schizophrenia, is a MOST REAL
disease. The stigma against mental disease is so great that some ppl
believe that ppl CHOOSE to be mentally ill, or that they are FAKING,
etc.
I had to do rotations in lock-down units with schizophrenics.
One story in particular i remember well.........I was interviewing
this 'kid' (lol, i was younger than him), and he was going on and on
about these tangents, white puffy clouds and loose associations with
everyday life (schizoaffective disorder), along with having full-blown
conversations with ppl while i was in the room...........very strange
indeed.
Being 20, I was initially very skeptical of 'crazy' as a possibility.
I later went and read his 'chart'............
I discovered that he was an honor student, upper middle class family,
attended UC Berkeley, was well regarded by teachers, etc.
He went to the 'counselor' as a sophomore..........at this point, he
was SANE, like you and I perhaps..........this continued SEVERAL
times, and finally in the second half of his junior year he 'all of a
sudden' lost touch with reality and become a schizophrenic (with
affective disorder markers/indicators).
Up until his Junior year he was a straight-A student, and like i said,
regarded well by his professors..............
Under the 'right' conditions, many ppl can 'become' mentally ill with
such serious disease processes. It is not 'inherited' they say, but
with predisposition.
I saw many disorders that year.........1989. There was an AIDS
Dementia patient (let it be known that at this point they didnt KNOW
HIV could infect the brain--yet his CT scan clearly showed atrophy)
who was drawing on the walls with his excrement, and even ATE his
excrement before my very eyes.
They were having a meeting and ppl were 'fighting' to 'release' him
(he had recently set fire to his own home, which was in extreme
disorder).........the Doctors prevailed, thank goodness.
I saw all kinds of disorders.............the most gravely ill were the
AIDS dementia and schizophrenics, followed by the bipolars with more
mania than not, followed by the sociopaths with pre-existing brain
injuries--no morals whatsoever.
I agree with you that it is a DISEASE process, biological in nature
indeed. Most concur nowadays with this conclusion.
Major Depression would be the next on the list...........I saw ppl
with 40% of their bodies burnt--self induced. Some were catatonic,
some were nearly catatonic. I was baffled to be honest.........
But then we have the hundreds of personality disorders (pick up a
merck manual), frequently ppl are afflicted by more than one.
They are able to 'function' at a much higher level than say the
untreated schizophrenic, yet it is apparent that the extreme classic
cases of each of these types are indeed a disease process--yet there
are no known medications that can really 'change' their behaviour to
any meaningful, consistent level.
Histrionics and compulsive fabrications interweave their essence most
frequently.
Mental illness is indeed a disease. In california (where i used to
live), several areas have 'homeless communities' of the mentally ill,
and it is as if they are aliens their behaviour is so bizarre.......
They have the 'right' to be free, to be un-treated/unmedicated, and
their disease overcomes them and their loved ones rapidly and
absolutely.
If somebody comes in the ER with chest pain, we hook them up to the
EKG, we start 3 IVs, draw various labs (troponin, ckmb etc), take a
CXR, etc., and if warranted they are treated with TPA or sent to the
cath lab--they are TREATED.
If somebody comes in with Depression, we put them on a 72hr hold
(which usually ends up being closer to a week), we give them pills
(and injections), and we send them on their way..........
We do not do brain scans on them, determine the deficit, try a
medication, rescan to see if it is addressing the issue (whether it be
serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, regional brain activities, etc),
etc.
We MISMANAGE them. We practically do NOT treat them. It could be
described as utter incompetence. Here we do all these things when
somebody comes in with an MI so we can 'see' what is happening, and
how the treatment is progressing (we do serial EKGs, serial labs,
echos, and in the case of the cath lab, direct measurement of ejection
fractions etc).........and do we try to SEE into the brain of the
mentally ILL? I think not..............
You make it sound as if we CAN NOT do anything..........1400s
crap...............
If you believe that, you are mistaken............there is SO MUCH we
can do for these ppl.................
Instead, we have alien communities and heartbroken fathers, mothers,
brothers, offspring, etc., and most importantly, the individual
tragedy--unable to truly fend for themselves, yet the way the laws are
written forbids otherwise (cause of the fears of the old-school
institutions of previous generations, ie one flew over the cuckoos
nest), and perhaps more SINISTER reasons (take advantage of them, they
dont know any better, poor bastards (the latter statement by a
kennedy)).
It is for reasons like this that ppl like you and likepresige could
make a difference in............dare i say what another member
mentioned in regard to the gifted...........HUMANTY.
be well.
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