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My most sincere thanks to Lisa Ryckman and her editors for a compelling and illuminating article on mental illness (“Hope, dismay create ‘family roller coaster,’ advocates say,” July 21).
In particular, thank you for including Mental Health America’s definition of mental illness: “Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders; they can’t be overcome by willpower and bear no relation to a person’s character or intelligence.”
Until five years ago, when new medications freed me from the worst effects of bipolarity, I encountered continual and painful prejudice from friends, family and co-workers.
I can’t count the number of times people would suggest I could overcome my problems through strength of will. In other words, the disease was my fault.
Why does our society blame the mentally ill but consider it inconceivable to treat a patient with cancer, diabetes or multiple sclerosis in such a manner?
As a bipolar survivor, I continually preach the benefits of modern medicine and therapy. I work to educate others to the true horrors of mental illness. And I encourage fellow sufferers to come out of the closet. As long as we remain ashamed, society will seek to shame us.

Kate Forgach, Fort Collins

READER COMMENTS

I thank you, Kate for having the courage to write such a meaningful and important letter.

Kate asked ” Why does our society blame the mentally ill but consider it inconceivable to treat a patient with cancer, diabetes or multiple sclerosis in such a manner?”

Well often they do blame patients with physical diseases, but you are right about a difference in how mental and physical ailments are viewed.
My take is that this is a throwback to Dualism and they view “soul/spirit/mind” as a single entity divorced from brain. Most people have great difficulty in accepting that “mind” is an epiphenomenon of a brain at work, and instead attribute to “mind” independence, agency, and a large degree of freedom.

So to many people you were just lazy and self-indulgent and just didn’t “try hard enough” to control yourself. It would be interesting to see how they would react if you said that the priest had identified that you were possessed by evil spirits and these cause your behaviour. Would they then be happy to cut you some slack?

Maybe lithium banishes evil spirits? ;)

Well Bango, Who is this "they" you keep talking about? Kates friends?, her family? Neocons?everbody but you?
I for one, do "have great difficulty in accepting that “mind” is an epiphenomenon of a brain at work" and I DO attribute " independence, agency and freedom " to my mind. So what's the point? Psycho-babble( bipolar, manic depression, evil spirits) it all means the same thing.
And, I am sorry Kate has such mean spirited friends and family, but I don't believe most people are like that, or maybe its just that my family are OK and I Chose better friends.
Maybe lithium does banish "evil spirits" it makes good batteries, too!
AF

There is no doubt there are people with mental illnesses. My brother-in -law was diagnosed many years ago when he was 18 with schizophrenia,it has been a life long battle with trying to find the right drugs and to keep him on his medication.He is fortunate that his father was a millionaire and could afford a group home that helped him stay on his medication and try to become productive.

His father died 2 years ago and has set up a trust fund to take care of him for the rest of his life. He is doing well now and works part-time.

Now the dark side of being labeled mentally
ill.

My mother as a lot of you have read on my posts died 4 years ago after being misdiagnosed for 4 years. She died a slow death over 6 weeks and I did what I could and spent as much time with her as I could before she died. During the 6 weeks I could not get in my mind that she was going to die. My mind wouldn't let me. I kept thinking ,my mother is strong she will get through this,after all she was my mother ,the woman who I worshipped the ground she walked on.

She had been through worse things in life surely she could beat this stage 4 cancer.

When I got the phone call from my father that she had collapsed and died on the way to start chemo with a small chance of helping her,I rushed to the hospital and thought I said my goodbyes.We had a wake and a funeral and still I couldn't get my mind to realize she was dead.

One day after her funeral I picked up the phone to call her so I could take her to her nail appt.Then I realized she was dead. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I spiraled into a deep depression that was so painful I could not funtion. I went to my then Dr. and he put me on 2 different drugs and made me sign a disclaimer that I wouldn't try to kill myself and they would not be responsible if I did. I was so depressed I didn't even realize what or why they were making me sign this.

After taking the drugs for a few weeks I was getting worse not better. All I could think of was suicide,everyday,every minute.I ended up at Centennial Peaks Mental Hospital and they added more and more drugs ,until I was taking 10 different drugs.

This went on for a year. I was drugged all the time but feeling horrible. Until one day I found a grief group and started to go. I met other people who went through losing someone they loved so much.I went back every week. I finally found someone like me who was grieving and everyone understood.

Then I started doing research on the drugs they were giving me.At least 3 had a black box warning that it may cause suicidal thoughts in teens. I thought to myself how could a drug cause those thoughts only in teens and not adults. I think the drug manufacturers were lying. I started weaning very slowly myself off of these drugs. Everytime I weaned myself off another drug I would feel better and better.
Finally I was off all drugs though my psychiatrist didn't like it. I told him I had done research on these drugs and didn't need to be drugged up all the time
I asked him if he had ever done any research on menopause and depression he said no.

I informed him had he done his homework he would have seen I was going through menopause because of a hysterectomy 6 months before my mother died and I went through the most traumatic event of my life at the same time.

Yes I was depressed but didn't need to be so drugged I couldn't funtion and they diagnosed me with Bi-Polar.Which was definately not me.

I survived my mothers death by going to a grief group,doing research on the drugs they were pushing and getting off these drugs and finding a way to deal with my grief. I am no longer depressed and haven't been since I weaned myself of their lethal mixture and their misdiagnosis.

Which makes me wonder. How many other people are being depressed by taking these drugs?

My ex said: "You can't blame a person for how he is born: " This alludes to color, race, sexual orientation, diseases, mental illness, height, (I'm so grateful I was born handsome) etc. so for those such as Reverend Phelp and his ilk: religion, a pox on you.

Deicide Corner: Fill in the Web address and you appear in blue: Credit Old Grouch.

AF asked ” Well Bango, Who is this "they" you keep talking about? Kates friends?, her family? Neocons?everbody but you?”

Society in general.
In this case presumably American society since this was clearly to whom Kate was referring.

”I for one, do "have great difficulty in accepting that “mind” is an epiphenomenon of a brain at work" and I DO attribute " independence, agency and freedom " to my mind.”

Yep, and that’s why you blame Kate for a condition over which she has no direct control.
Is this mistaken view of yours based on your ignorance of neuroscience and biology, or is it due to your commitment to a religious worldview that is based on a bronze-age understanding of human anatomy?

” I don't believe most people are like that, or maybe its just that my family are OK and I Chose better friends.”

Are you saying that you have a mental condition and your family and friends are more understanding than what Kate reports, or are you saying that you believe that if you ever had such a condition they would be more understanding.
We need to be specific here and understand whether you are speaking from experience or just wishful thinking.

AF: "or maybe its just that my family are OK and I Chose better friends."

I assume from this that AF also suffered from mental illness for years but got treated better by friends and family. He is fortunate. Of course not everybody has the attitude that caused Kate so much grief; no one is suggesting that. But it is pretty well accepted that many people, it looks like that might include AF, belittle people who suffer from mental illness in the way that Kate describes.

AF: ""Psycho-babble( bipolar, manic depression, evil spirits) it all means the same thing."

That statement says a lot about AF, none of it good. Are there charlatans in the mental health field? Of course, why would it be different from any other field. Are that people in the people in the field who are sincere but are on the wrong track? Of course, why would the mental health field be different from every other field? But it requires someone who is quite ignorant to say that all mental health treatment is psycho-babble. Unfortunately, there is a lot of that going around.

epiphenomenon: a secondary incidental condition or symptom that appears during the course of an illness.

So AF doesn't think the mind is a secondary incidental condition or symptom that appears during the course of an illness.

I'll go along with that. Of course, it has nothing to do with the discussion here.

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