Once people who
were mentally ill or had a mental disorder , were considered to be possessed by
demons. For many years these people have been isolated from the rest of
society, closed in institutions, where often treatment was far from humane
methods. A symbolic crucial point was at 1792, when new hospital right was
established " take off chains and release from cages mentally ill and
mentally retarded". Philipp Pinel issuing this law started a wave of
change in the world.
There is a lot of stereotypes and myths about people afflicted with mental:
- Dangerous, unpredictable, aggressive
- Having no contact with reality
- Less intelligent
The impact
of loneliness
The survey of 1996 (repeated in 1999, 2005, 2008) conducted on behalf of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, showed that these people are excluded from social roles, such as : doctor, boss, teacher, babysitter etc. Often speaking of the members of this social group people use pejorative terms :crazy , psycho, tip, freak. Some of these terms emphasize the intellectual inferiority: insane, mentally retarded, or refer to the mental state: psychopath. More than 60 % of people use that kind of terms.
Here you can find the results of survey (in polish):
http://www.bezuprzedzen.org/doc/06Choroby_psychiczne-stereotyp_i_dystans_2000_CBOS.pdf
Questions:
What kind of mental disorders/illness do you know? Do you know the symptoms of them?
What do you think about people suffering from mental disorder/illness? Did you share (or still do) the myths about them, before reading this text (and why)?
I did not put the sign of equality, when we talk about mental illness and retardation. A man may be mentally ill and be aggressive, and the other can talk to himself or have nervous tics. One must be put in mental institution, another needs help. I think that we should provide necessary help for those who need it and guarantee them decent living conditions. It’s really hard for me to say anything more, because I won’t name all mental illnesses I know, so I will conclude with this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155610/tourettes-children
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DeleteThank you for your comment. I am glad that did not put an equal sign between mental disorder and retardation. Problem of exclusion of mentally ill people, both professionally and in private life, is very "on time" , considering that at the time, we live, more and more people suffer from mental disorders (for example depression), and the number of mental disorders is still growing. I have already seen this episode of Soutpark before, but thank you for link :)
DeleteI'm not very familiar with mental ills/disorders but I don't think treating people touched by this problem is a solution. You're right, many depends on society awareness but I think that just being cultural means a lot. People very often are agressive or use pejorative terms because they are ignorant but also simply... rude.
ReplyDeleteI also think this subject is very deep and.. sad. I don't feel very comfortable to comment the subject when I don't have enough of knowledge about.
That is very broad topic.
ReplyDeleteIt comes down to the fact that we, humans, like it or not are social creatures. Whatever we think of ourselves we seek to be part of a certain group (family, colleagues, friends, nation), we want group to recognize us part of it and the more important part - the better.
We, in majority, also dislike " not normal".
We like normality, because we can easily compare ourselves to that.
Let's take a silly example: you live in south of Spain, very hot, but still everyone on streets are dressed, if even minimal but dressed. Because its been decided to be normal to wear cloth while in public places. Now if someone appears naked on a street can we say this person is mentally ill ? It might be, but in majority of cases absolutely not. Such person is not normal in eyes of society because of historical rules this society set for themselves.
Uncomfortable truth for us as representatives of a kind is that we're very intolerant. We're very judgement on "not normality" based on our previous experience.
My personal statement on that is the following: one could do whatever he/she wants as far as it does not disturb other people.
I like that you noticed a smooth boundary, which runs between normality and abnormality. What is normality? It is what the majority believes in, it defines what is acceptable and what is not. So it is a variable, depending on the context. For example, being homosexual was considered as a mental disorder. In 1973 was the vote by which homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders and illness classification of DSM. It is worth to mention that it was only 1 vote more for than against deletion homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.
DeleteCan’t believe e mentally ill people were kept in chains and cages, even in 1792... Not only were they hurting because of the sickens, but also from how they were treated - I can bet it didn’t result with too many recoveries.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about the similar topic with my friend lately, and he said that mentally ill, disabled or any people that are different form what most call “normal”, reminds us about our mortality, that something could happen to us or somebody form our family... and it makes us feel uncomfortable and a bit afraid... So we exclude them from from our society... I’m aware however all people need respect, company and love, irrelevant of what is their mental state. I try to behave that way, but haven’t got too many opportunities to practice..
I watched a great video at TED about a woman with schizophrenia who became a psychologist herself! You should see it, it’s very inspiring http://www.ted.com/talks/eleanor_longden_the_voices_in_my_head.html
Thank you for your comment and link, I watched it with pleasure :)
DeleteI have one mental disease in mind that is my "favorite" - depression. It's a very complicated one, could be very severe and yet the signs aren't that obvious. Person suffering from depression behaves slightly different than normal, less energetic or enthusiastic, although it might happen that person with depression is really fun and happy among but as soon as the person is alone - the sadness begins. Because of those unclear signs of what's going on people suffering from the disease often go undiagnosed or without proper treatment. What's maybe the worst is the way friends and family will treat that person - they have the best intension and say "uplifting" things like - "you should go out more often", "get it together", "shake it off, it's only bad mood". This kind of responses will be unhelpful to person with depression and may even make them worse, since they will feel misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteI'm very aware that a large number of people suffer from various mental diseases - including depression. I try not to judge them, but I feel really powerless when it comes to helping them and lifting their spirit.
The rejection might be present due to lack of knowledge or familiarity of various mental diseases throughout 'common' society. I, for instance, see a mentally ill person once a few months (excluding my friend's grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer disease - but I'm not 100% sure AD is a mental disorder), so the conclusion from my observations is that mentally disordered people are living in isolation from the society, as they cannot quite fit into basic behaviours the majority, and it's common to be willing (or be forced) to stay away. As almost always - major rules the minor.
ReplyDeleteAccording to your article I’ve found a nice quotation :” People are very judgmental and refer to you as “lazy” and “crazy.''' People think we “lack motivation," "if only we'd try harder" or "snap out of" our depression.- People Advocating for Change through Empowerment (PACE)
ReplyDeleteAs we know, stereotypes can lead to false opinions of people’s personal features. Hmm.. like Agnieszka I am not into this subject but I know that treating mentally ill people is a huge problem in our society. Personally, I don’t discriminate such people but there are people who devalue and limit the potential of people with disabilities . Let’s say that our society behaves badly and it should be a sign for institutions to develop policies, procedures do sth with it. Because we can say that this is a type of discrimination. As you have mentioned in your article people with disabilities are supposed to be less worthy of respect and consideration, less able to contribute and take part, and less value than others.
According to your questions, I suppose, that anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and one of the most known disorder nowadays which is dyslexia and social phobia are the mental disorders.
Symptoms of anorexia and bulimia :
A lot of teenagers loose rapidly weight, the most important symptom is frequent body- checking and low hmm how to say it self-confidence maybe or self-image.
Symptoms of dyslexia:
The most know signs of dyslexia are reading and penmanship problems.
Symptoms of social phobia:
Basically, people are scared to talk. Talking to others is nerve-racking for them. They do not want to go outside. And once again, it can cause to the situation which you have above mentioned- which is called loneliness and this can cause depression.
I think sometimes better approach is to know less. This is good example, better don’t know bad things like mental disorders because we can simple induce them :) We should support ill people regardless of type of disorders. Of course sometimes ill people are dangerous, then they should be treated by specialist and maybe isolated. That is all what can I say about this sad topic.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was searching the web the first page I found was:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=about_mental_illness
Among the many interesting informations I pay attention to this fact:
‘The World Health Organization has reported that four of the 10 leading causes of disability in the US and other developed countries are mental disorders. By 2020, Major Depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children.’
This illustrates how serious are becoming Mental Illness in society.
Your article also pushed me to further exploration. I think it is useful to know a wide range of disorders, which is hidden under this name:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness
In respect of diversity of these disorders and the public response to them, can make a division (it’s only my opinion, based on observation of people):
Specific mental illness like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), Depression, Eating Disorders – sick people are not defined pejoratively in society.
Tourette's Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorders - person suffering on these illnes, often defined as a the sick which requires assistance. I think this is due to the characteristic symptoms of which are distinguishing feature of these diseases.
Anxiety Disorders, Schizophrenia, Panic Disorder,- symptoms are often characterized by a fairly significant deviation from normality, a large variability in behavior, and people who are ill are most commonly addressees of unfriendly terms.
According to the research cited by you - pejorative terms commonly use people with less education, which may be the result of lack of knowledge.
It’s a very broad topic to discuss, if someone have a sufficient knowledge. I must cofess, that I haven’t.
It's a little bit hard to talk about any social group in such general manner. Mental disorders can be so severe that it can be dangerous for others and on the other hand it can be small dysfunction from the ADHD family, that is really hard to notice while communicating with such people. If I cannot communicate with someone even on the lowest level I am afraid of him and it is normal. It is normal to say that they are sick as well. I don't feel need for using any pejorative expressions, but if the illness has so big impact on mind, it's normal to be afraid. And if the illness has impact on his intellect, we can say that he is stupid. Empathy is one thing, but having people with mental disorder as a doctors or layers is sick as much as theirs state of mind. It's simply dangerous for other.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I said... people with very light mental disorders are not treated bad in our society. But that's only my opinion.
Sometimes Grzegorz disease can have physical effects and be very light. I had seen in my life a variety of mental disorders and I can say that in our society we are not empathic and not tolerant for people with this diseases. I often seen someone who have light version of dawn and that person was treated harsh by other “healthier” people. This is for me a matter of someone good breeding. I concur that persons with severe mental disorders cannot be doctors but treating people bad or saying that they are stupid is very bad manner even if you think so you don’t have to say it. People with mental disorders have feelings too you know?
Delete