The crazy 20%?

Question

Is anybody else a little p1ssed off about the media's portrait of mental illness?
eg. The cartoons where the good guy defeats the bad guy and the bad guy ends up rocking in a padded room!
Or where people with depression are the people who finally lose it and off their spouse/stranger in the street in dramas.
etc etc...
Doesn't it seem like mental illness is the only thing we can take the p1ss out of nowdays without incurring the wrath of the masses.
For example... If TV made a joke of people with cerebral palsy there would be public outcry, as would stereotypes of blind people, or people with missing limbs.
What's up with that?

I posted this question before but I had a one in five moment! lol

Answer 1

Mental illness is still stigmatised in the USA, and Canada, which societies are 30-50 years ahead of the rest of the English-speaking world (which is ahead of the rest of the world, bar parts of Western Europe).

I have heard too many English (let alone Irish) people say, 'I'd rather be seen staggering home from the pub every night, than coming out of a mental-health centre'. These people self-medicate with alcohol, which unfortunately leaves a trail of human wreckage, wherever it goes.

In my INFORMED opinion, the biggest problem is that people are not exposed to, and so do not learn about, most mental illness. In general, mental illnesses and disorders are invisible to all but the patient's family and friends. In the USA and Canada, there is widespread understanding of most of the basic mental illnesses, and people know to seek help.

SO, I am going to spell out some of the basics of mental illnesses, disorders, and conditions here, in the hope that people read this, and learn something.

'Mental illness' is a specific term, with a specific meaning. It means a chemical imbalance in the brain, which IS TREATABLE with proper medication. Clinical Depression, Bi-Polar Illness (used to be called 'manic-depression'), Panic/Anxiety Disorders, Sleep Disorders, and various psychoses -- particularly Schizophrenia, are all as treatable as ulcers, or diabetes. There is AS LITTLE SHAME in having a chemical imbalance in your brain, as there is, in having a chemical imbalance in your pancreas. People with diabetes require insulin. People with asthma require inhalers. People with Bi-Polar Illness require mood-levellers (carbamazepine, lithium, Depakote, etc).

Then there are psychiatric disorders, some of which respond to some meds, but which cannot be reliably treated with medication alone, and in some cases, are resistant to any treatment. These fall into two categories: Affective Disorders (affect=emotion) and Personality Disorders.

Affective Disorders include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder -- usually with a known cause -- Cyclothymic Disorder (profound highs and lows, but unresponsive to medication for Bi-Polar Illness), some Obsessive/Compulsive Disorders -- usually with known causes --, Atypical Depressive Disorders (don't respond to anti-depressant medication), Social Anxiety Disorders, Phobias, Hyper/Hypo-Sexuality, Schizo-Affective Disorder (not very responsive to anti-psychotics). and so forth.

Prolonged, competent, and HIGHLY TRAINED therapeutic intervention, in the form of talk-therapy, CAN help, but there are no guarantees. Support-groups are also moderately successful for some of these conditions.

The Personality Disorders are trickier, both because they tend to have more severe behavioural consequences, and because they are generally understood to be untreatable. Among these are Borderline Personality Disorder -- causes may be known, but treatment is iffy --, Eating Disorders -- next to impossible to treat, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, at a staggering 28%, even though these usually also have known causes --, Anti-Social Personality Disorder (aka 'criminal insanity', 'sociopathy', 'psychopathy') -- which runs along a spectrum from 'a bit dodgy' to 'serial child-rapist/murderer' (and is the only reason I support the death-penalty). Serious Anti-Social Personality Disorders might have been treatable, before the age of (depending on the expert) 7 years, 4 years, or 1 year. They are NOT born that way, but these people have no consciences, and honestly do not care that society objects to what they do, however extreme. Certain Addictive Personality Disorders can be very problematic. Arson is an addictive behaviour; so are sex-offences. Violence becomes an addiction, for some people. In all cases, it escalates and they get worse. The various Identity Disorders are also Personality Disorders. These range from (relatively -- so long as one is not driving) harmless Dissociative Disorders (nonspecified), to the lethal type of Identity Disorder, where someone becomes so super-identified with another (usually famous) person, that ultimately, the real person has to be killed, so the disordered person can take over his/her life (one of the theories behind Mark David Chapman's murder of John Lennon). Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka Multiple Personality Disorder) is only a problem if the dissociative factor makes the person/s unable to function. It is not 'curable'. It is also usually not even slightly dangerous to anyone other than the person/s who has/ve it.

Psychiatric CONDITIONS are caused by anything that causes brain-damage which mimics mental illness.
-Drug/alcohol abuse can cause actual Schizophrenia, or Schizo-Typal Disorders.
-Strokes, depending upon where they occur in the brain, and how severe they are, can cause a vast range of Affective and Personality Disorders, without showing any physiological symptomology.
-Blows to the head, repeated over a long duration, or one or two serious Traumatic Brain Injuries, can change brain-chemistry permanently, and can mimic mental illnesses or disorders, and lowers IQ.
-Oxygen-deprivation, at birth, or as a consequence of a heart-attack, (or alcoholism, or crime) does the same thing.

Finally, there are hereditary mental conditions, such as autism/Asperger's Syndrome, some types of Clinical Depression, most Bi-Polar Illnesses, and kids born addicted to crack/meth/heroin/etc... (Don't get me started!) And recessive genetic mutations such as Down's Syndrome, or XYY-Chromosome boys.

If people UNDERSTOOD what it is like to live with mental health issues, the causes, the struggles, and the survival, they would not make jokes.

My advice to everyone is LEARN as much as possible, and 'let whosoever among you is without sin, cast the first stone'. Smart lad, Mary's eldest.

ASK FOR HELP IF YOU ARE HURTING!

Answer 2

Carlos Mencia makes fun of people with cerebral palsy "Dee-dee-dee".

I get what your saying though. Media portrays many things in the wrong light, it's nothing new. Like you should look a certain way, act a certain way, have a certain amount of money, and be complete normal while having sex with 5 different slutty people from the beach. In other words nobody could ever live up to the media and most people know that.

Answer 3

Oh Lordy, I agree. During a time I suffered from depression, I applied for a job and WOULD CERTAINLY NOT have got it had I told the truth about my illness (which it is like any other) I believe companies etc., are duty bound to employ people who are not 100% and some are complete twits, but no way will a depressed person be employed, no way. So, yes, it is discrimination as we can still put in a hard days work, well I do, otherwise I WOULD go mad!!!

Answer 4

Your right, it's a bunch of garbage!
I know several people whom have mental illnesses, they don't go around throwing fits or hurting anyone.
And making fun of anyone with a disability isn't funny.

Answer 5

If the BMA and politicians had it their way it would be a criminal offence not to take your medication.
Mental ilness is big business. The more awareness, the more those tills ring. And since when was advertising ethical he?

Answer 6

Yes,but the media doest have a heart.

Answer 7

Hadn't really thought about it to be honest, but you are right.