Mental Illness
A Guide to Recovery
by
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What is Mental Illness?
Mental illness is a stroll through hell. Go too fast and you’ll find yourself being jumped and possibly held down by creatures with straps of leather. Move too slow and you can become mired in the quicksand of your mind.
However, recovery is a real possibility. Recovery is not the quick and easy process our society prefers. Getting to know yourself takes time. While each of us experience mental illness differently, the patterns we experience are remarkably similar. The process of recovery is understandable, although different challenges face each of us.
The first step is to understand what the illness is and how it can take even relatively minor occurrences in life and turn them into high drama.
What is mental illness?
The simple scientific answer is that mental illness is an imbalance of chemistry in the brain which causes various forms of dysfunction. While much work needs to be done, it has been determined that there are numerous neurotransmitters, chemical messengers which carry information between the nerves of the brain. Too much of one chemical or too little of another can cause problems in processing information.
A less scientific viewpoint is that somehow a person’s humanity has been violated; and this violation is the basis for the sometimes strange and mystifying behaviors which are hallmarks of the various mental illnesses. The surprising thing is that the two viewpoints don’t necessarily contradict each other. If the brain chemistry is out of balance, why did it go out of balance in the first place, and what is preventing it from getting back in balance?
A somewhat more complex scientific answer is that there are four main causes of brain dysfunction.
- Anatomical abnormalities or damage
- Lack of oxygen or glucose
- Electrolyte imbalance
- Neurotransmitter deregulation; the imbalance of brain chemistry.
Anatomical abnormalities or damage result from brain injury due to trauma, brain tumors, or problem in brain development. The damage can disrupt functions of any portion of the brain, or the tracts which carry information between parts of the brain. Injury to the frontal lobes, for example, can result in lack of judgment or foresight, impulsiveness and euphoria.
Lack of oxygen occurs when the blood flow to the brain is slowed down or if the person does not get enough oxygen into the blood. Alterations in blood flow have been related to dementia (senility), schizophrenia, as well as various problems following head injury.
Lack of glucose occurs when there is insufficient food intake for a period of time. Electrolytic induced psychosis, due to below normal levels of sodium, chloride, potassium, and magnesium in the diet can be the cause of delusions and hallucinations as well as stupor and mania. Illnesses that may be related to calcium deregulation include anxiety disorders and mania.
Neurotransmitter deregulation, not all causes of which can be identified at this time, can be caused by a variety of sources including use of substances such as alcohol, nicotine, street drugs, huffing, caffeine and carbon monoxide. Some over the counter drugs and prescription drugs can also have major effects on neurotransmitters.
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“In Western psychology, however, I think there may be a tendency to overemphasize the role of the unconscious in looking for the source of one’s problems. I think that this stems from some of the basic assumptions that Western psychology starts with: for instance, it does not accept the idea of imprints being carried over from a past life.(The Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness)
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About the Book
Mental Illness: A Guide to Recovery gives you information, gleaned from many sources, which can help you learn to recover. Coping skills needed to deal with the illness can be developed. Materials which can help you reduce symptoms are presented. Recovery does not happen overnight, but step by step, most can make significant recovery.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall... and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The same holds true for those of us with a mental illness. The psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, etc. can assist, but it is up to the individual to create conditions which will allow recovery to happen.
The neurobiological basis of mental illness is often presented in a fatalistic way. That's the brain chemistry you've got, and that's what you're stuck with; as if the individual was unable to change the chemistry inside his or her own head. Breathing changes brain chemistry. So does exercise, the food you eat, the words you speak, the thoughts you think as well as how often you smile.
While drugs are capable of making radical changes in the chemistry of the brain, it is the slow changes over time which will help most in recovery.
"Thorough and informative without being technical ...fascinating...very enlightening." Psychiatric Rehabilition Journal (Vol. 28 No.4 Spring 2005 )
"You have made a complex issue easier to understand." Chief Kathryn Landreth, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
About the Author
Bob won Honorable Mention from the Pacific Research Institute, in 1992, for a paper he wrote on how Mental Health Courts could save communities money while providing better for treatment for those with a mental health diagnosis. At the time no mental health courts existed, now hundreds can be found throughout the country. As volunteer Mental Health Coordinator for the Nevada ACLU, he worked on the committee which formed Nevada's first Mental Health Court. He is a member of NAMI's Consumer Restraint and Seclusion committee, and was awarded Advocate of the year in 2007 from the National Association of Peer Specialists. His column on Mental Health issues was published in The Nevada Observer from 2006-2009. He is the chair of the PAIMI counsel for the Nevada Disability Advocacy Law Center, past member of the MHPAC for the State of Nevada and a past member of the Inyo County, California, Board of Mental Health. Currently he gives presentations on Alternative and Complementary Treatments for Mental Health Recovery.