Mythbusting 2

Unless you work in the field, you are unlikely to understand the many complexities of mental illness. In recent years, for example, Tasks started programs for mothers with serious mental illness, and for ex-felons with serious mental illness, and asked professionals in those fields to refer clients; but this hasn’t worked especially well because these systems are not staffed by mental health experts.

Neurotic behavior, unnatural fear of heights, impulsivity, gambling addictions, even dyslexia are all forms of mental pathology in the sense that one’s brain is not processing data in a completely healthy, efficient manner. But only three conditions are typically classified as “serious” mental illnesses: schizophrenia, major depression/bi-polar disorder, and border-line personality disorder.

Generally, these three are considered the most serious in the sense that they cause the greatest disruption to an individual’s life and are the most difficult to treat. I know that people who work with Autism or Fetal-Alcohol Syndrome or Alzheimer’s will be inclined to argue, but you would be wasting your time arguing with me, because I’m not the one who defined “serious” mental illness. I’m just saying that schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and border-line are the three diagnosis that Tasks Unlimited is certified to treat.

But even these three are quite different from each other, and lumping them together creates major problems. Policy-makers, even those deemed “expert” in the field of serious mental illness, often attempt to apply rules and expectations to all three diagnostic categories as though they were the same or very similar. I frequently attend conferences where panels of college-graduate bi-polars lecture a crowd of professionals about what people with serious mental illness think/want/need. But in fact, people with bi-polar disorder have no special insight into what people with schizophrenia think/want/need – these are different illnesses, and generally different socio-economic classes as well.

The poorly named “border-line personality disorder” is like a lifelong, bad attitude, which does not respond well to medications. People with this condition love to start fights; the layman’s term for these people is “asshole.” But it is important to remember that they actually can’t help themselves, there is something wrong with their brain (science knows even less about this than they do about schizophrenia) that literally makes them act like that. Tasks doesn’t have much success we these folks, and neither does anyone else that I know of.

“Bi-polar disorder” is what used to be called “manic-depression.” This is fundamentally a mood disorder, which often responds very well to medications – so well that many people with this condition live reasonably normal lives. Tasks tends to serve those whose condition is not completely stabilized by meds.

“Schizophrenia” is Tasks Unlimited’s special area of expertise, and the subject of my next blog.