As someone with chronic mental illness, I want to know that should I need assistance during a mental health crisis that the health care system will be my primary care provider -- not the criminal justice system.
Mental illness, as old as time itself, is still misunderstood, poorly diagnosed and so stigmatized that far too many of our citizens are left to suffer in silence even when surrounded by those entrusted with their care. It is not as if mental illness is a new, exotic disorder.
The word "mental" carries fearful images; a man decapitating a passenger on a bus; a young man seemingly dressed as a super hero shooting randomly in a movie theatre; mothers, fathers and nannies killing children and pleading insanity. These are our referents when we think of mental illness.
Too many citizens with mental illness have died at the hands of the police who have too little training regarding the care of those in a mental health crisis.The police are not the people to engage the mentally ill. Ashley Smith died because she was treated by guards, unprepared for her needs, within the criminal justice system. Her treatment was criminal -- there was no justice.
The videos of her inhumane treatment are right out of a B-rated horror/science fiction movie. She was tied down and shackled like an alien waiting to be dissected. She was surrounded by those in authority clothed in protective coverings as if they feared contamination. She was injected, involuntarily, with anti-psychotic drugs. She was shipped all over the country, transported on a plane, manacled like Hannibal Lecter, without a thought about her needs or fears.
Adults stood by and watched a human being choke her own body and soul and did nothing. Just following orders. She was "mental" after all. Her treatment speaks to the ignorance of our understanding of mental illness, not only by lay people, but those within the medical system.
Mental illness afflicts more than 20 per cent of our population; seven million Canadians from all walks of life. About 3,600 people commit suicide in Canada each year. That's about 10 suicides per day. For every suicide death, there are an estimated 20 to 25 attempts. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of 10 and 24.There's no excuse, today, for death from mental illness because the prognosis for mental illness is as good as if not better than those diagnosed with chronic physical diseases.
It is the stigma, the shame and prejudice attached to the phrase "mental illness" that keeps people from accessing care. They fear the diagnosis; they fear the response of others to them. They fear being considered morally weak, flawed in character. They fear it is a death sentence. Too often, it is.
Dr. Eric Kandel, the Nobel-Prize-winning neurologist and Professor of brain science at Columbia University contends that the term "mental" illness can distort public understanding of the nature of these disorders. "All mental processes are brain processes, and therefore all disorders of mental functioning are biological diseases," he says. "The brain is the organ of the mind. Where else could [mental illness] be if not in the brain?" Social and environmental factors, "do not act in a vacuum...They act in the brain." Describing mental illnesses as brain malfunctions helps minimize the shame often associated with them. "Schizophrenia is a disease like pneumonia. Seeing it as a brain disorder de-stigmatizes it immediately."
Mental illness is not in the mind; it is in the brain. This is a relatively new understanding. Depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and OCD have biological and environmental pre-disposing risk factors. Why should these illnesses still carry the stigma that it's all in your head?
Changing the name from "mental" to brain illness can be the beginning of a change in attitude towards those of us with these illnesses. A change in perspective can lead to a better understanding and acceptance. It will at the very least begin to reduce the stigma the term has carried from centuries of misconceptions and fear. Let's begin the discussion.
To learn more about mental illness, listen to my six-part radio series.
But... this point of view is also permeated by the kind of scientific reductionism that I don't believe serves us well, as beautifully complex human beings. Sure, there is a physiological/neurological component to many types of "mental illness." But it is not devoid of other components, including emotional and relational. And how to account for other kinds of 'mental illness' that do not have such a clear or direct source in the 'brain'? Some kinds of depression may be well treated with medications, others are of a more situational nature and are best addressed with good therapy and strong community.
And I think the bigger question is what is the source of that stigma? How can we, as a community and a society, begin to see that people who have different ways of being in the world don't have to be a threat?
I'm on your side, believe me. I worked in the mental health system for 10 years, so I know what it's like.
Total, complete, and ever enduring political correctness.
We will just use eye movements, that is until our brains adapt and evolve to "politicaly correct telekinesis", with Government oversight, of course.
I keep hearing about these B.S. campaigns to De-stigmatize Mental Illness, like changing the name will make any difference and its the people who don't have the illness that are the problem, not the illness itself. It is the usual PC drivel, changing the name is baloney. The real problem is since Ronald Reagan Federal Governments have washed their hands of any responsibility for the state of it's citizens mental health, downloading the problem onto state and provincial health ministries, who in turn have downloaded them on municipal welfare agencies and the police, to make the books look good to tax accountants. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" while a great movie, gave a bad reputation to psychiatric hospitals and gave the government an excuse to close them all and dump the patients onto the streets, jails and boarding houses with a welfare cheque instead of improving health care OK Lobotomies and Shock Therapy were awful but they threw the baby out with the bath water. I and many people I know have gone to doctors to try to get help, were not afraid to ask for help but all we are given is a quick prescription for mind-numbing drugs like Pro-sac etc which just mask the problems temporarily and make the drug companies happy. I know. Lets change the name of Mental Illness to Government and Corporate Criminal Negligence and see how that works!
friends and relaitves are powerless in getting a person the help they need if the ill person does not want it --you cannot force them
and how do you expect an ill person to make the correct rational decision --when rationality is the problem
In other words the stigma exists in the brain of the sufferer. You can call it what you want but the stigma will still be there. Society doesn't know how to handle mental illness and changing the name won't help or hurt. It would be one of those PC moves you make when you're out of ideas. Ashley Smith wouldn't have been treated any differently if the words "brain disorder" were on her chart, only if we knew how to handle her.
I doubt very much that people walking into a doctor's office and saying they don't feel mentally correct are treated with much haste, referred correctly, or diagnosed quickly. I doubt the treatments are effective, and for bipolar as it is termed today, I doubt most sufferers choose to give up the highs that meds preclude unless the case was mild.
Citizens and the state are in the same boat here. We are compelled by law to treat mentally ill people as if they were not mentally ill. Then when something goes off the rails everyone screams that the mentally ill protocol should have been used. Except no one has come up with a protocol that doesn't involve two caretakers 24 hours a day.
I, like most Canadians, have no solution. I know that allowing the people with brain disorders to choose their treatment paths fails any of our logical tests. What is left? PC games with names?
http://www.dianebederman.com/the-many-voices-of-mental-illness-podcasts/share-your-story/156-take-your-meds-kay-redfield-jamison
The stigma is not in the brain of the one with the illness. The stigma comes from those who still believe that mental illness is a moral weakness, a character flaw, rather than an illness with a physiological component.
Language does make a difference. Words carry baggage. It is not Political Correctness to change the name. It is research that teaches us that the illness is brain-based. Many therapies help-talk, cognitive, spiritual care, and meds. People with heart problems often take meds and are told to monitor their food and exercise more. Most still need their meds. Many people with a mental illness may take meds for a short time and never need them again. DWB
As long as the idea being proposed here is to shift terminology, it seems to me the most impactful way to go is to get as precise as possible. Lumping everything currently called 'mental illness' into another huge, amorphous category called 'brain illness' is just like moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. If one is going to make a change, might as well get much more specific about the actual brain functions that are being impacted, in this case your suggestion for 'serotonin deficiency.'
The term "mentally retarded" now has negative connotations, but it was originally coined to avoid this. So now people call the afflicted "special". And what has happened? "Special" is now an insult.
You can't change the world simply by changing the words. It's not that easy.
No one said this would be easy. DWB
There is no question that talk therapies as well as exercise and art therapy are beneficial. New research suggests that talk therapy changes the brain chemicals, too. For some people, it works, others need drugs as well. Just as diabetics can often get well by changing a diet, others need diet and medication.
What paradigm would you suggest we follow? DWB