My husband is a mental healthcare worker. His pat answer is “if your mental problems affect your daily living and you have a lower quality of life, then you have an illness. If you are not adversely affected, you’re not mentally ill.”
This bothered me because then two people could both have the same neurological problem that causes “craziness” but if one of them lived a lifestyle that accommodated them and they were happy, and the other person was miserable and lived in squalor, only ONE of them is considered mentally ill.
In all other illnesses, there’s no subjectivity like that. You don’t say someone has a broken leg only if it inconveniences them. People either have a cracked bone or they don’t. Diabetics have a universally unacceptable blood sugar level that can be measured.
I wondered what the armchair psych profession thought of this. In some ways it bothers me that my second friend I mentioned could be considered not mentally ill—even though he obviously has some weird delusions. But for whatever reason, he manages. I think he’s under-employed, and he’d probably get a girlfriend if he were a little less loopy. But he’s genuinely happy and satisfied with life. But still.. he’s got a few wires loose up there.
But I was wondering why it doesn’t bother me that person B doesn’t take meds, but it DID bother me that person A refuses medication. It’s probably because person A is angry and self destructive. Person A can’t hold a job or safely drive a car (she’s been in accidents from swerving from things in the road that weren’t there) Person A has to live at home with her parents who are unable to leave her unattended. Person A seems sad and confused that she can’t hold onto friendships from the past or participate in life.
Persons A and B have strongly contrasting lives and I was wondering—where do you guys think the line is? If there was a person C who had a mental stability between these two, how “crazy” would they have to be before you could say they were ill? How much should we interfere with someone’s life if they are happy but obviously living a lower quality life than they could be living if they weren’t thinking odd thoughts?