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Wondering why

Anome keeps removingink I put in for a mental health support resource and then doesn't enter a reason!

Why is the "facts are disputed" tag here? I suggest that people work on rewriting portions of the article with sources so that the facts are disputed tag can be removed. I started by cracking open my psychology textbook and putting some stuff in.  :)

Wondering why

Is there a reason why paranoia is not here? I suspect a complot!

According to current thinking, paranoia is a symptom of a number of mental illnesses, most notably schizophrenia, rather than an specific illness in itself. However, we do have a tinfoil hat article... -- The Anome 08:53, 12 Oct 2003 (UTC)

But paranoia is also a major part of Paranoid personality disorder and can be a large part of Delusional disorder. I think symptoms are as important to explain as the illnesses themselves. Think dissociation here - it's not an illness but a symptom of several illnesses.--seanetal 09:53, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

This is a very important point. No two cases are the same, despite identical diagnoses (and despite my personal theory that crazy is predictable ;p); in most cases, especially those of personality disorders (e.g., Borderline Personality Disorder), it is the symptoms that can be treated. The disorder is often just a label to help understand the syndrome.

Removed from the article:

Mental illness can also be caused by unstable blood sugar levels due to insulin resistance (hypoglycemia). If this happens then the brain is not supplied with a steady concentration of glucose, its only source of energy.

When there is sudden drop in blood sugar levels, the adrenal glands are stimulated into secreting stress hormones - adrenaline and cortisol - that function to raise blood sugar levels in order to feed the brain with energy again. But these internally generated stress hormones interfere with the normal synthesis of serotonin and dopamine, causing the various forms of mental illness, such as depression, anxiety attacks, phobias, alcoholism and drug addiction among others.

See “What is Hyppoglycemia” at http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/what_is_hypo.html

Is this a mainstream point of view? If so, please give mainstream cites supporting it. -- The Anome 10:08, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

• Not likely a mainstream point of view, although it may well be widely known. The main issue here is that, aside from deliberate induction of severe cognitive dissonance (or culturally induced conditions, e.g. anorexia), the primary means of inducing mental illness is malnutrition, which seriously impairs cognition. Dietary stress induces unorthodox behaviors, perhaps as a natural self preservation response to nutritional deficits. Western medicine shucked much of the institutional knowledge of alternative medicine during the era of burning witches at the stake, which resulted (after the introduction of the Gutenberg printing press) from ready access to algorithmic Aristotelian logic and the turning away from null-A common sense. Medical authorities continue to shun nutritional therapies, even in institutional settings, as can be surmised from machinations such as the Codex Alimentarius, an attempt to manage nutritional supplements, which exemplifies mainstream medicine's disdain for acknowledgement of issues such as blood sugar level stabilization. Ombudsman 00:52, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

shift from negative to positive

We need to shift this article's perspective from mental illness to mental health. Focus on the positive. Much more constructive and useful way of looking at the problem of mental illness.--Sonjaaa 18:06, Sep 13, 2004 (UTC)

I agree completely.--seanetal 09:49, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Then please write a separate article about the quite valid topic of mental health. Unfortunately, however, serious mental illness exists and cannot be made to go away by focusing on the positive. This is one of the most common mistakes made by people with no clinical knowledge or experience of mental illness. Mental illness, like all other topics, needs to be studied objectively, without any considerations of "nice" or "nasty".

An analogy: take the topic of aortic dissection; pretending that this does not exist, or is not a serious and life-threatening (and in many cases life-ending) condition, is not helpful. However, this does not mean that there is not a place for a heart health article describing the positive things which can be done to keep the heart healthy. -- The Anome 10:52, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Well said Anome, I'll defer to Sonjaa to start this one.--seanetal 13:50, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Mental Health does not refer to the absence of mental illness. The term refers to the mental state of a person, ill or nil. variable 23:55, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Thoughts on content

In the "symptoms" section, it would be nice to have some sort of reference to numbers to back up the comparison of crimes committed by elderly and the mentally ill. I have no idea if what's said is true or not, but it's a bold statement to make with no reference to support it.

With that said, the "Cures of mental illness" section...well, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything I or anyone I know does in therapy. Ignoring that there don't currently seem to be cures, in general, just treatments and ways of dealing with mental illness, that doesn't particularly sound like a modern approach that's used (in my experience, at least). It doesn't mention medication at all, and it doesn't mention anything like Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or other types of currently used talk therapy. To be honest, that entire section is rather insulting to anyone who's had to deal with serious problems and how much work it can be to "cure" them or make them manageable, especially the last sentence about "other cures". No offense intended, but if you say something like that directly to most people with mental illness, you're lucky if you don't get smacked in the face (exaggerating a bit, but "suggestions" like that don't tend to be appreciated).

Maybe this will be the article that finally gets me to create an account and do some editing... --anon

Regarding "cures", you're absolutely right. I've rewritten the section to be more reflective of what treatment of mental illness actually involves. For reference, here is the old version:

Cures of mental illness

People with mental illness almost always have thoughts that are too complicated, chaotic, or unorganized. This is called a "complex". The psychiatrist's job is to help the patient think in a simpler way, such as to focus on food, water, shelter, and physical warmth - basic human needs. Everything else is unimportant: stress from family, friends, work, love and other complex and difficult emotions and problems are ignored in favor of "the basics". This helps the patient focus on what is important in life. These basics are solid objects that are easier to understand and control. The patient relaxes because he/she no longer has the burden of complicated expectations and emotional stress. This is called "shrinking the complex". This is why psychiatrists are sometimes called "shrinks". Some psychiatrists are accused of making the patient's complex more complex, by focusing on relationships and asking the patient stressful questions.

Other cures are relaxation, a stress-free environment, soothing music, fun non-stress games, easy exercise, easy physical outdoor activities, coloring, "brain food" (like fish), the sound and smell of water, and regression therapy.

Movie list

Because the movie list was so large and really added very little to the article directly, I moved it to a seperate list (List of Movies featuring mental illness). siafu 22:26, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

Dispute

I think the links in the category box I put in should be disputed, since I don't think all of these illnesses are not a form of mental illness. That is why I have the disputed meta tag on top of the box. If anyone agrees, pleas edit the box and remove the links that are not a form of mental illness. Thank you. --Admiral Roo 14:05, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)

As I stated on the main talk page, they all appear to be pulled from the DSM-IV (save for Multiple Personality Disorder, which has been renamed and redescribed as Dissociative Identity Disorder, already listed), which is about a strong a reference as we are likely to find for determining if something is or is not a mental illness. siafu 22:11, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Recovery Model

It's hard to believe that there's nothing here on the Recovery Model! We're behind the times here, folks. If I get a chance, I'll try to put something together--but I'm spread very thin now... Aliman 07:07, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Mentally handicapped

It seems extraordinary to me that 'mentally handicapped' redirects to 'mental illness'. Mental handicap and mental illness are two are quite different things. (Schizophrenia is not a 'mental handicap'. Very low IQ is not a 'mental illness'.) Ben Finn 23:16, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

Schizophrenia is indeed a rather serious mental handicap, and mental retardation is indeed considered a mental illness. Both appear to be genetic, and both seriously impair a person's ability to function. siafu 05:41, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

I'm not an expert on this, but the distinction as I understand it is that mental handicap refers to a birth defect or later brain injury, whereas mental illness refers to disorders with a less overtly physical cause (i.e. biochemical). (Possibly this is a UK-specific distinction.) I remember in the late 1970s or early 1980s there was a UK press advertising campaign specifically designed to educate the public into the distinction - photos of two men, one looking normal and the other appearing to have Down's syndrome or similar. The headline was, 'Which of these men is mentally ill?' The answer in the text being the normal-looking one - the other was mentally handicapped, not mentally ill. Ben Finn 19:49, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, according to the DSM-IV, mental retardation and similar mental "handicaps" (by your understanding) are classified as mentall disorders, all of which fall under the blanket of mental illness. The distinction your suggesting seems a little weird, especially considering that its not at all recognized in medicine at large. Consider genetic diseases, like PKU, which are definitely "illnesses", or diseases caused by complications in pregnancy or birth, like FAS, also an "illness". Generally speaking, I think it's safe to say that anything that can be labelled a handicap for medical reasons can be called an "illness". I think perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that many people equate the word "illness" with "disease", which is something that can be "cured". Really, we're just talking about blanket terms that don't mean anything specific; it's more specific to say "disorder", "infection", or "condition" depending on what's being discussed. siafu 00:37, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Emotional disability?

I would not have thought that 'mental illness' could also be known as 'emotional disability' as I can think of countless 'mental illnesses' with no emotional manifestations. Thoughts? Sparkleyone 01:11, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

It is not necessary that a secondary article name be as precise as the primary name. Just that it is what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize as description of the disability.

There has been a move in modern times to address the stigma of the disability and the language used to describe this condition. “Emotional disability” is a term that is a term that is considered to be better received. There are now over one hundred and seven thousand web pages that use the term.

It is a term that is being used now when referring to school children with mental illness. --WikiCats 14:17, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

I would dispute that the majority of english speakers would consider them interchangeable. Why doesn't it go in the second sentence "Mental health, mental hygiene, behavioral health, and mental wellness are terms used to describe aspects of mental illness and mental health" as another term used? Sparkleyone 09:01, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Ok. Agreed. --WikiCats 09:42, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

If mental illness is not about the emotions, then what is it about? --WikiCats 14:04, 15 April 2006 (UTC)