If Not Mental Illness?

[redblue22]

Some say there is no such thing as mental illness. I wonder. What is it that they think many of us are experiencing?

 

[Norbert L]

I don't know. How are they constructing their claim there is no such thing as mental illness? Take for example alcoholism, is it a mental illness or is it or choice? What about something that's been in the news recently. Harvey Weinstein said he suffers from sex addiction. Is that an mental illness or is it a choice?

However I do believe there are problems with making wide sweeping claims like there is no such thing as mental illness.

 

[Petros2015]

Addiction degrades the power of choice. It's kind of like an Alzheimer's - "I have made a decision not to do such and such, I have the will not to do such and such, I have reasons not to such and such, I have experiences not to do such and such"... and then all of that fades into the background and the drug becomes the priority again over everything. The Will does a complete 360, like a boat with a bent rudder would. The rudder of the will of the addict is bent, as it were, orbiting the drug. An addict might say "I saw something beautiful and it destroyed me". Because it became the priority in life. To really get away from it, they have to orbit something else. God is a good choice.

Mental illness, depression, bipolar and things are chemical imbalances. The brain does not produce or react with enough chemicals to produce joy (that's why many addicts are self medicating - they are wringing the brain to get the joy with the drug that they are not getting from life which others are, or they are using to to escape from things that they can not cope with, like severe trauma) As time goes on, there is less and less they can cope with though, and the drug that was a coping mechanism instead causes more and more harm since they are either hiding it or it is eroding and destroying relationships with God, family, friends and others.

I don't think addiction and mental illness are the same thing but they often go hand in hand and they are both very real.

 

[seekingmuch]

Some say there is no such thing as mental illness. I wonder. What is it that they think many of us are experiencing?

I'm Bipolar and mental illness is very real. I can't function without meds for more than a month. Racing thoughts and mania become overwhelming. In my case, since the Latuda calms my emotion center in my brain by stopping dopamine overload, it's a total chemical imbalance. I also have hypersexuality, even though I don't indulge it with other people, so I write erotic novels to release it.

Alcoholism is a dangerous cocktail of mental illness, addiction and manipulative actions. Drug addicts also can be manipulative, but they say alcoholism is the worst.

Even when I had all kinds of drugs at my disposal, I took one a day. It calmed my Bipolar. I'd love to have my hydrocodone back. Might get it back since my left knee has arthritis.

 

[dreadnought]

Some say there is no such thing as mental illness. I wonder. What is it that they think many of us are experiencing?

I am no doctor, but my understanding is that some people have chemical imbalances that cause mental illness. I believe many mentally ill people become mentally ill because of a series of bad choices they've made in their lives. The good news would be that the second group could cure themselves if they will walk with the Lord.

 

[Celticroots]

Bad life choices do not lead to chemical imbalances in the brain. That’s like saying the flu comes about by bad life choices when we all know it doesn’t.

You really believe someone would choose a mental illness? We don’t and stop with the victim blaming. Would you blame someone with cancer and say they weren’t walking with God? Of course not.
God never said we would not get sick. He said he’d never forsake us. He doesn’t break His promises.