Today I saw a woman who was clearly homeless (or just really, really enthusiastic-- I couldn't tell from her intermittent screaming, but she did sound mad) waiting for the light to change before she crossed the street. She even pushed the button. Also, this woman had three neatly packed suitcases, she had makeup on, and she looked like a regular person you'd see in an office, except for the series of terrifying screams she uttered every five minutes or so.
I used to notice this alot in New York- it's almost as if they can push "pause" on the crazy long enough to get themselves safely across the street and out of harm's way, to do logical things like find food, and to pack everything into neat suitcases. I am not kidding-- this really confuses me. How can someone be (literally) stark raving mad one minute, and then be, for instance, ordering food, which entails many series of complex systems--choose an item from the menu, dig out correct change, pay, then wait for the food to be served to you? This is something I've actually seen down on the Promenade in Santa Monica.
Wouldn't you figure if you could pull it together enough to be really highly functional, you could put some of those lucid moments toward finding the right medication so that those voices go away? I know, mental illness is a terrible problem, and I really feel for the people as well as the family members of the people who suffer from it. But...I just really don't get it.
Of course, on this same street I also saw a grown man who probably WASN'T homeless rolling a tire that he'd just found through a crosswalk. So, there is the possibility that Santa Monica is just filled with strange people. I'm not ruling that out.
Hello there,
I live everyday with mental illness. I have bipolar disorder, OCD, psychosis, to name a few of my diagnoses. For some reason my brain does not work the way it is suppose to. I am glad you are asking questions.
Having a mental illness is to have a brain that plays tricks on you (due to neurobiological dysfunctions). It is to have a brain that malfunctions, a brain that shorts out and you one have no say to when it is going to happen.
It can be very hard to grasp and hold on to reality. In your "sane" moments you may be able to start to put your life in order, but you don't have the say to when your brain is going to "freak-out" again.
This makes it very hard to get and keep order in your life. You are always having to re-fix everything and constantly trying to do damage control with everyone around you. At some point it can become all too overwhelming, especially if others do not understand and/or you do not have a good support system.
It took me many years to be diagnosed with the right brain disorders and then find the right medications and then the right doses. It was a very long-hard-expensive-journey to start my recovery. I was willing and I saw the doctors, but it still took years to get on the right track.
Trying different medications can be absolutely terrifying because of some of the side effects (I have lost track of how many times I have ended up in emergency due to reactions to medications). Even with the right medications one has to constantly monitor ones brain disorders to keep from relapsing.
It is part of the nature of the illness/disorder that 50% of people with mental illnesses (neurobiological disorders) do NOT realize they are even sick. This makes it very hard for them to know they need to seek help.
When you are hearing voices in your head that tells you to be afraid of everyone it makes it difficult to seek any help. It can happen this way: Again in one's sane moment a sick person may get themselves to a doctor. When the doctor starts talking about treatment (or the weather) if the person's brain starts to tell them the doctor is going to hurt them the visit isn't going to be beneficial.
Any kind of stress will trigger mental illness symptoms. It is the way the brain works. It is the same for people who have other illnesses/disorders. For example people who have diabetes, heart conditions, arthritis, fatigue syndrome, or skin conditions will often have increased symptoms when their stress levels increase. With increased symptoms it can makes it difficult to function. It is even more so for the person with mental illness because it is the brain that is experiencing the increased agitation and dysfunction due to the stress - and then it becomes a vicious circle.
One of the biggest roadblocks to treatment is one can not afford to treat their mental illnesses. Just "one" of my psychotropic medications cost $958.00 a month. I am now on disability and believe it or not it is very difficult for even people with server mental illnesses to be granted disability. Hence they wander the streets or often end up in prison. (Our prisons have become our housing for the mentally ill with statistics showing that at least 50% of inmates are mentally ill. Side note: Now that is a crime!)
I first was diagnosed with just depression in 1979 and put on a simple antidepressant which of didn't help one bit. Antidepressant can actually make bipolar symptoms worse. I went through years of HELL suffering with mental illness due to wrong or incomplete diagnoses and without the right medications and treatment.
Finally around 1996 I started on the right road to recovery and it has been very rocky at best. Finally, ten years later I hope to put together some workshops and educate people about mental illness. Will I ever be able to get off of disability? Probably not. To be honest, because of the severity of my mental illnesses I can not function at the rate as a healthy person. (There are many people who once they are being treated for there mental illness can work and live a normal life.)
Again I will always have to monitor may health to keep from relapsing and even at that there is no guaranty. If I were to go off disability there is no insurance who would pick take me on... (My doctor will not let me go off of disability.)
Another reason people do not get help for themselves or their family member who are sick (who have brain disorders) is due to the ugly stigma around mental illness. Below is a web site that may have helpful information on fighting stigma related to mental illness.
I hope this has helped some. You have a very nice day. Best, Deborah
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The US Department of Health & Human Services' Center To Address Stigma and Discrimination (ADS Center) has released a new fact sheet on mental illness and the workplace. The ADS Center's web page states: "SAMHSA's Resource Center to ...
Planet of the Blind - http://kuusisto.typepad.com/planet_of_the_blind/
Posted by: Deborah | Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 03:21 PM