Can mental illness ever be beneficial to the sufferer.......?

Question

Some mental aberations bring forth amazing talent, but do they benefit or are they exploited, and do they know the difference.

Answer 1

Three names come to mind, of men that fall into this category:
Jaco Pastorius, jazz bassist; Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor, and John Nash, Nobel Prize- winning mathematician and economist. In all three cases, the men were aware of both their genius and their mental illness, and had learned to create an alliance with their minds to achieve incredible exploits. It is rather hard to "exploit" a true genius. They will be the masters of their own fate, regardless of the consequences.

I hope you use these links for short bios of these incredible Americans:

Jaco Pastorius
http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?AID=50940&T=3362

Nikola Tesla
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto01.html

John Nash
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1136260

Answer 2

i think that mental illness could be beneficial as well as damaging. i mean, the people don't know any better and they are usually a lot happier than not. life is more simple and thusly more enjoyable. i think the only damage it can cause is the people around them that don't understand them and are either frightened or disgusted by them. to them it's the only way a person can be. i don't think they would know if being exploited which may make things easier if they are.

Answer 3

The only benefit that matters is from the evolutionary point of view: does a mutation that produces schizophrenia allows that gene to be more or less prolific?

It is a known fact that most schizophrenics have gifted relatives. Now if the gene that causes schizophrenia when heterozygous also causes genius-level IQ when homozygous, it can more than compensate: the schizophrenic will have many nephews and nieces, the gene is successful.

Answer 4

I believe it is beneficial. Those suffering with depression soon learn to appreciate the little things in life when they've got out of their 'rut' and start to feel a bit more positive. A depressive will appreciate the bird song in the morning, the summer rain, how beautiful a rainbow is, and how lucky they are to have those that are close to them. How can anyone not benefit from those feelings of appreciation?

Answer 5

im not a psychologist but i have a lot of friends with mental disabilities and it seems like they often sacrifice some of their social skills and coping skills for amazing creativity and smarts. So yes, it seems it could be very beneficial.

Answer 6

The mind creates the mental illness to 'protect' the person emotionally, so to some degree it is to their benefit.

Answer 7

Mental illness is always beneficial to the sufferer, only if and when he can overcome his illness.

Answer 8

If you can make money from it, then yes.

At least being mentally ill stops you from being one of the drones that make up the bulk of society. Well, perhaps not.

Answer 9

For real, u are da bomb!! Its obvious that it can never be beneficial. Like u said, 'they are exploited'

Answer 10

Aren't we all exploited?
It's just to what degree and who's exploiting whom
We exploit ourselves to gain from it as well.

:o)