is this true about mental illness

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i gotta say, this is a little unnearving. im extremely mentally ill and dont want to take meds

The truth is, it's mental illness itself that kills people, kills minds, and saps creativity. Brain studies and anecdotal evidence has shown that mental illness does brain damage, and the more it's left untreated and unaddressed, the more damage it does. This was first noticed in epilepsy, where it's called kindling. There is no medication that can reverse this damage, so anyone who struggles with mental illness needs to stay on medication.

What mental illness do you have?

It has been established that mental illness is the result of abnormal brain mechanisms...characterized at cellular and molecular
levels. Schizophrenia usually does not appear until one reaches late adolescence and early adulthhood, just when
so many young people begin their college years...and is highly disabling in its lifetime course.

The Mood Disorders are characterized by pervasive, prolonged and disabling exaggerations of mood and affect that are associated with behaviorial, physiological, cognitive, neurochemical and psychomotor dysfunctions...for example: Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Mood Disorders are usually chronic in nature and with a marked tendency to remission
and excerbation throughout a patient's lifetime. Anti-depressants are very effective in the treatment of Mood Disorders as well
as in the management of pure anxiety disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive states.

Finding the "right" medication is always a "hit and miss" approach...whatever mental illness one's psychiatrist is attempting to treat. What works for one person may not work for another person as "chemically" we are all different at the cellular and molecular level. Medications simply relieve "symptoms" of a mental disorder, they don't "cure" the mental disorder.

Well, everyone that dies DOES die of a mental incapacity. That is FACT! They don't REALLY consider you dead until BRAIN DEAD! But FEW problems can TRULY be treated through drugs.

Read the disclaimers on some drugs claiming otherwise sometimes. The disclaimers say things like "THOUGHT to work", speak of trials, percentage of cases, etc.... And look at the list of side effects! The most popular side effect of drugs used to treat depression?????? DEPRESSION!! !! Some go in with malaise and mild depression, and end up attempting SUICIDE! TECHNICALLY, such a drug should be BANNED and not approved, but they apparently think enough benefit that they overlook it.

Outside of the few that treat SYMPTOMS, like excess seratonin, etc... The BEST you can hope for is a reduction of symptoms or to remain static. They won't directly make you live longer or reduce progression.

kindling is different, because it can overexcite nerves, which can cause problems, and cause physical seizures which can cause problems.

Such an occurrence could definitely fit in with the SAID principle. "Specific Adaption/Implied Demand"

The body has natural processes that adapts the body to the environment it experiences. I don't see any reason why a brain would not be subject to the same phenomena. People can train reaction times, sudoku ability, learn languages, etc... I don't see why a brain would not be effected by a long term mental illness.

Of course to say such changes are irreversible is patent nonsense. The brain, as opposed to almost all other human organs, is the one thing that constantly grows and changes over time. Sure it gets a little "long in the tooth" as we age. But it is still capable of growth and positive change up until it ceases to function.

I've had a number of things that are considered mental illnesses, as well as being diagnosed in many ways that do not fit. In either case, I would have had the sort where I would be supposed to (according to psychiatry) take meds the rest of my life. I have not done so, and I've recovered from some of them and got others at a level I find acceptable.

Here is a link to National Empowerment Center. They are a place run by people who've had psych labels of various sorts, and they give advice to other people, on how to handle these things, with or without medications (they believe it's the person's choice which way they want to handle it). Often people who have been wherever you are, give better advice than people who are paid professionals with no similar experience, or people who believe that you have to do it one way and only one way (and that one way is usually with drugs, although there are some people who are equally bad with insisting you have to use diet or psychotherapy or a particular religion or pseudo-religion).

My own personal belief is that mental illness is usually caused by infectious diseases such as viruses and intracellular bacteria. I read that in the past mental illness often started immediately after an acute infections. Now that vaccines likely cause acute infections to slowly transform into chronic infections, the connection isn't as noticeable.

According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), Lyme disease may cause schizophrenia, depression, OCD, seizures, anxiety, panic attacks, and symptoms similar to ADHD, autism, and bipolar disorder. The symptoms vary widely from person to person. Most people do not remember being bitten by a tick or mosquito. The symptoms can also start out gradually.

Mental illness brochure from ILADS (pdf file): http://www.ilads.org/PsychiatristBrochure.pdf
Home page for ILADS: http://www.ilads.org/

One possible treatment for infections that may work is therapeutic doses of oral vitamin C. See http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitaminc.html for more info. One doctor who uses it claims it can treat schizophrenia. I plan to try this treatment soon to treat chronic fatigue.

Hang in there. Don't let doctors hold you down by telling you that you have to learn to live with your problems or tell you that you must cope with a lifelong illness. Search the web and try everything (as long as it's safe and has evidence it's effective) until you find a cure. There is hope. Even if you don't find a cure, there are alternative treatments that are probably much safer than drugs and just as effective.

Last edited by zendell on 12 Jan 2008, 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

To make such a broad claim about such a heterogenous group of so-called conditions is irresponsible. Before you think I'm picking on you, I think the same thing about people who insist that the following causes are usually or always the case:

1. Chemical imbalance in the brain. (Mostly biological psychiatrists.)
2. Assorted life experiences or attitudes. (Mostly psychotherapists.)
3. Demonic possession or demonic obsession. (Some religions.)
4. Possession by weird alien spirits. (One particular pseudo-religion.)
5. Spiritual crisis. (Usually the new age movement.)
6. Energy imbalances. (Also usually the new age movement.)
7. Anything that is treated by a certain particular cure being sold. (Non-psychiatric quacks.)

...and on and on and on.

All of which strike me as remarkably similar viewpoints to each other, it's just what the main cause is that has changed. I happen to believe that some of those are true some of the time, but to say anything is even usually the case, requires a certain amount of disregarding of the evidence of how different the causes and forms of assorted things considered "mental illnesses" are.

anbuend, I don't think infectious diseases are the cause in every case. I said usually, not always. Some mental problems, such as depression and anxiety, certainly have non-infectious causes.

Yes, and I responded about "usually" as well as "always". I don't think either of those words can be used for any single set of causes.

i find it hard to believe mental illness does irreversable brain damage. i was so scared because brain damage is serious business

Epilepsy only does damage if it causes so much neuronal excitability that the active neurons start dying off because of the over-excitation (neurons can only take so much continual activity). But not all epilepsies cause this; usually the more severe.

loving you! ok that was a bad joke..

Hang in there rb. Mental illness is more common than you might think. They say a 1/4 of people have it at any one time or something like that. Most peoples perception of mental illness is limited to stuff like schizophrenia, and major/manic depression. But actually anxieties and mental stress are more common. Most people do not even consider that they are mentally ill and in a way they can do without the stigma. But those common things are actually related to the more well known mental illnesses. mental illness can be part predisposition and part conditioning. Conditioning could be be physical trauma or learnt behaviors.

Some people with mental illness do need medication. Not all. My cousin has schizophrenia he doesn't take medication anymore. This is not recommended for everyone with schizophrenia. In his case he is able to have a degree of self control and recognizing the signs of an episode early on. he work as a translator and has a son.

Not taking medication rarely causes brain damage, so far as you can say not doing anything causes anything. It might be advisable to take it for other reasons.

Words like often, usually, etc. What basis do you have for these? It is easy enough to put them them in a statement them believe it yourself.

Sure prion attack can cause a form of demetia (spongiform). The incidence is so incredibly rare much rarer than autism. The progression is quite marked and it is fatal.

i think my biggest problem is i will freak out if i take meds because it will change my whole people. i remember when i took seroquel and felt like a big piece of s**t wearing glasses. i didnt like it and i couldnt even requignize myself, i almost flipped out with the whiteout in the mental hospital, it was completley wack son