Dear Examinator,

From my understanding mental disorder
is the psychological inability to cope
realistically and effectively with the
ordinary challenges of life. Mentally
disordered people violate social norms
concerning reality. Their behaviour can
range from irrational depression to
delusions, hallucinations, and fractured
forms of thought and speech.

The behaviour of such people may be
unpredictable, incomprehensible, or even
frightening to others, making mutual
social interaction difficult or even
impossible. Consequently, that's the
reason mental disorder attracts the
stigma of deviance - a stigma that may
linger even if the sufferer of the disorder
should return to normality.

I'm not sure what the stats are but I
wouldn't be surprised if one adult in five
would be given as suffering from some sort
of mental problems such as severe anxiety and
depression, although not many people try to
get professional help.

I believe that there's wide disagreement on
exactly what constitutes mental disorder.
Behaviour that might seem disturbed in one
context (talking to oneself - or flying into
a rage) might be acceptable or understandable
in another.

To complicate matters - part of the problem
may also lie in the fact that most mental
disorders have no known physical cause or
definitive symptoms. This means that there's
rarely a simple, clinical test to determine
if and how someone is mentally disordered.
The decision depends on the opinion of trained
observers - who frequently disagree among
themselves.

Well said Foxy. You always manage to put forward your views without the need to put someone else's views down, unlike the charming dreamon.

So Dreamon, I am narrow-minded and I must have achieved a tertiary education at a 'sub-optimal level' because I don't agree with you?
You must have really low self esteem if you feel such a need to put somebody else down in order to feel better about yourself.

I never said ALL murderers would have a mental illness at all. I merely speculated that a great deal of them would have to be mentally ill to some degree.

I would hazard a guess that people who harm each other in domestic violence situations would most likely have a degree of mental illness from repeated instances of mental fear and physical abuse, wouldn't you?

As Foxy said "..there's rarely a simple, clinical test to determine
if and how someone is mentally disordered.
The decision depends on the opinion of trained observers - who frequently disagree among themselves."

So true.

Well, if you will make silly statements of absolutism without anything to back it up but hot wind you may expect your comments to be criticized.

As for *FoxyLoxy* I do appreciate her presence, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, but in this case, whilst she makes some astute comments from a lay perspective, she clearly is not well versed in this area, as distinct from some others.

Observation, is something largely that nurses are for, to give some preliminary indicators as to the underlying pathology.

For example, if someone is having a merry old conversation but no one is in attendance, it is likely that they are experiencing "auditory hallucinations."

(and apologies for my earlier comments re:paranoid schiz - I should have qualified it by stating those who are unstabilised and florid, as opposed to seemingly decent permanent and stabilised chaps like *Stuart* as featured in *Examinator's" linky.)

As for clinical tests well, mental illness can come about for a large range of reasons. For example:

1. A person may go loopy post unprotected sex and syphillus infection - easily enough detected and easily enough treated.

2. There could be structural abnormalities in the brain, as a result of genetics or trauma, cancer or tumor - easily enough scanned and detected, not always easily treated.

3. Conditions such as HaemaChromatosis/Iron storage problems can result in psychological issues - easily enough detected and easily enough treated though.

4. Perhaps one has a tumor on the adrenal medulla, leading to excess catecholamine production - easily enough detected ...

and so on.

..

What *Foxy* alludes to in terms of the difficulty of accurately assessing some conditions are those usually of the neurochemical variety, and the blood brain barrier combined with the limits of current med tech are as they are,

HOWEVER

1/2

Seems to me that the real fruitcakes are those who aren't mentally ill.

Dear Dream On,

Of course I'm not an expert on the subject and am
only talking from a lay person's point of view.
However, I am in the habit of researching my topics.
(Occuptational habit - as a Librarian).

Anyway, I found some interesting data given by
Ian Robertson, in his book, "Sociology," which
you may accept more readily, than my 'Lay person's"
point of view. Robertson tells us:

"In the past, most societies, attributed mental
illness to supernatural influences: victims were
believed to be 'possessed' by evil spirits that
had entered the body. Over 4,000 years ago, the
Egyptians chipped holes in the skulls of mentally
disordered people to allow these spirits to escape;
and centuries later, the medieval Church tried to
exorcise the demons, often by flogging, drowning,
burning, or hanging the people they supposedly
inhabited... in the eighteenth century, physicians
began to claim that mental disorder was a medical
problem - an "illness" best dealt with by doctors.
A medical model was applied to the behaviour;
in other words, physicians came to 'diagnose'
and 'treat' the 'patient' for a specific
'disease,' just as they might in the case of a physical
ailment."

According to Robertson this trend accelerated in the
late nineteenth century, when newly available
sedatives and tranquilizers made it possible to suppress
some symptoms of disordered behaviour.

However, Robertson states that to this day,
psychiatrists are unable to cure most mental
disorders through any conventional medical
means, and many critics question whether the medical
method is always appropriate.

A few mental disorders do result from physical damage
to the brain: these are universally regarded however
as physical disorders and are treated by neurologists
rather than psychiatrists. However, no consistent
physical causes are known for the remaining disorders.
The most serious of this type is 'psychosis.'
A profound mental disturbance involving a severe break
with reality that the affected person cannot function
in society.

Our society has improved a lot in the way we view mental illness. I think campaigns like Beyond Blue have certainly helped with understanding depression. There is probably less understanding or knowledge of illnesses like bi-polar or schizophrenia.

While, there are cases where the mentally ill have committed crimes due to 'voices in the head' there is also an equal responsibility to ensure that the mentally ill are well cared for and have good support networks for their own protection as well as others. Demonising those with mental illness only makes the problem worse.

I am not a mental health expert but have dealt with mentally ill people in various public exposed jobs, particularly those who have schizophrenia usually bought about by long term drug use and many homeless people with PTSD (Vietnam Vets for example) or other illness.

I found it quite sad when dealing with mentally ill people who believed in their persecutions. It was quite a learning curve for me. Many of the common manifestations I experienced with Schizophrenics or other illnesses were notions like: lasers in the head; mind control; being followed by CIA among others; the reading of codes in everything they see whether it be papers, number plates or traffic signs; being microchipped against their will and seeing spacecraft were many of the common manifestations.

Law enforcement officers are now trained to deal with mental illness and in strategies in negotiating when in difficult situations. It is not an easy task.

I don't know if there has been an increase in mental illness or whether there is less support but the occurrence of mental illness appears (anecdotally) to be increasing.

The thing to remember is any person whether they have a mental illness or not just wants to be treated with respect and dignity. Public perceptions of mental illness are better than they were many years ago but more needs to be done on the healthcare front.