Originally, this blog was about a mother's experience of living with the disabling diagnosis of schizophrenia - and of trying to keep it secret. But now I have decided to open up this blog.
Read all about it here and in my book, 'Surviving Schizophrenia: A Memoir', by Louise Gillett. As a Paperback or ebook.
I agree with Dr Terry Lynch that "mental illness" is mainly caused by emotional distress but I also think that emotional distress which often leads to insomnia causes a chemical imbalance in the brain.That is what in turn causes symptoms like allucinations and delusions. Medications only help, sometimes, to alleviate the symptoms but doesn't address the root-causes which is emotional distress.
Gosh, I just had ten spam comments to delete and only this one genuine one! I never used to get any spam...
Anyway. I am not sure about chemical imbalance causing hallucinations and delusions - something does, to be sure. Chemicals, hormones, etc, can be altered by something as simple as a hug or a long walk - although obviously when in psychosis nothing seems to touch a person, except a huge dose of something to calm them down. But my point is that 'chemical imbalance' sounds so serious, seems to reinforce psychiatry's view of mental illness as a disease. And yet it can be treated in different ways, as you say.
I think the main trouble with medication is the trauma it causes when it is forced upon people. Which is why I have recently suggested on here a course of action that may seem inhumane to some - that those who have committed serious acts of violence while they are mentally ill should not be dealt with in ordinary psychiatric hospitals but within the criminal justice system. Because psychiatry's fear that the patients will be violent seems to be their justification for forcibly medicating everyone - itself an act of violence - on the grounds of potential risk.
Anyway. Nice to hear from you. Thanks for your comment.
For some reason some people want the psychiatrists to be "all wrong" and, as someone interested in biology, I think they are right when they say that the symptoms of "mental illness" are due to biological processes. That is why medication works in the short term. Where they are wrong though, in my opinion, is when they assert that mental illness is due to a "broken brain" and not to psychological and emotional causes that need to be resolved.
I know...it is hard to be objective. I get a bit-anti psychiatry myself sometimes, although I know such an attitude is not helpful. I just find the labelling so offensive, and the notion of incurable brain disease, and risk and so on.
It is all a muddle, because nobody really knows what happens in the mind. In this comment you say the symptoms of mental illness are due to biological processes, and then you say mental illness is due to psychological and emotional causes... Perhaps all these things are implicated, or different things in different cases?
I think maybe it is best to stop speculating about what causes mental illness (I think it is primarily anxiety, but I can't possibly know for sure, I am only going by my own experiences, things I have read and so on) and consider instead how best to promote recovery. And also of course, how to guard against breakdown in the first place, which has to be education about awareness of symptoms (so that people know, for example, if they hear voices, that they are a malfunction of the mind and not a supernatural phenomenon unique to them that has to be obeyed).
We also need a mental health system that inspires trust so that people are not afraid to ask for help - at present if I knew anybody who was hearing voices I would be worried about telling them to confide in a psychiatrist (although I am really sad to say this) in case they were sectioned, forcibly medicated and consequently further traumatised. We need 'Open Dialogue' and we need it fast!
I agree with Dr Terry Lynch that "mental illness" is mainly caused by emotional distress but I also think that emotional distress which often leads to insomnia causes a chemical imbalance in the brain.That is what in turn causes symptoms like allucinations and delusions. Medications only help, sometimes, to alleviate the symptoms but doesn't address the root-causes which is emotional distress.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I just had ten spam comments to delete and only this one genuine one! I never used to get any spam...
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I am not sure about chemical imbalance causing hallucinations and delusions - something does, to be sure. Chemicals, hormones, etc, can be altered by something as simple as a hug or a long walk - although obviously when in psychosis nothing seems to touch a person, except a huge dose of something to calm them down. But my point is that 'chemical imbalance' sounds so serious, seems to reinforce psychiatry's view of mental illness as a disease. And yet it can be treated in different ways, as you say.
I think the main trouble with medication is the trauma it causes when it is forced upon people. Which is why I have recently suggested on here a course of action that may seem inhumane to some - that those who have committed serious acts of violence while they are mentally ill should not be dealt with in ordinary psychiatric hospitals but within the criminal justice system. Because psychiatry's fear that the patients will be violent seems to be their justification for forcibly medicating everyone - itself an act of violence - on the grounds of potential risk.
Anyway. Nice to hear from you. Thanks for your comment.
For some reason some people want the psychiatrists to be "all wrong" and, as someone interested in biology, I think they are right when they say that the symptoms of "mental illness" are due to biological processes. That is why medication works in the short term. Where they are wrong though, in my opinion, is when they assert that mental illness is due to a "broken brain" and not to psychological and emotional causes that need to be resolved.
DeleteI know...it is hard to be objective. I get a bit-anti psychiatry myself sometimes, although I know such an attitude is not helpful. I just find the labelling so offensive, and the notion of incurable brain disease, and risk and so on.
ReplyDeleteIt is all a muddle, because nobody really knows what happens in the mind. In this comment you say the symptoms of mental illness are due to biological processes, and then you say mental illness is due to psychological and emotional causes... Perhaps all these things are implicated, or different things in different cases?
I think maybe it is best to stop speculating about what causes mental illness (I think it is primarily anxiety, but I can't possibly know for sure, I am only going by my own experiences, things I have read and so on) and consider instead how best to promote recovery. And also of course, how to guard against breakdown in the first place, which has to be education about awareness of symptoms (so that people know, for example, if they hear voices, that they are a malfunction of the mind and not a supernatural phenomenon unique to them that has to be obeyed).
We also need a mental health system that inspires trust so that people are not afraid to ask for help - at present if I knew anybody who was hearing voices I would be worried about telling them to confide in a psychiatrist (although I am really sad to say this) in case they were sectioned, forcibly medicated and consequently further traumatised. We need 'Open Dialogue' and we need it fast!