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In my development as a human being, I've had problems. However, as time passed, I have solved many of them, and some of them were hard to solve. Many of the problems had by many mentally ill people can not be addressed with medication. While medication could be a prerequisite, it does not address specific issues that we may have when we are stabilized.  

Impulsivity is a common problem. When trying to interact with people in a professional field, too much impulsivity can get you eliminated. It is very easy to send an email or two that will make someone not want to deal with you any more. Many but not all people with psychiatric problems have poor impulse control. Because I am aware of having impulsivity, it is less probable that I will allow it to damage my life circumstances. 

However, not all people with mental illness have impulsivity, only some. There are a number of persons with mental illness who do better in most ways than I. Most of these individuals are bipolar, or at least they do not have a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Paranoid-type, which is my diagnosis. 

For me, it is a miracle that I've learned how to think clearly, and to process information, as well as people's inputs to me, in a sensible manner. It could be said that much of my development came later in life. This is also the pattern for aging schizophrenics. The illness gets better much later in life. And if you've survived as long as I have, there is the possibility of living your remaining years as a person who is much better off. A sibling seems to have this in common with me.  

Other problems of some mentally ill people include having excessive trust. This problem could partly be fostered by a combination of medication and being exposed to treatment professionals, many of whom nurture naiveté. If you trust everyone and try to go out in the world and do anything, you'll be eaten alive by the first con artist or scammer who comes along. This encounter will frequently be online, but not always. Some scammers operate over the phone and some in person.  

Naive people can also be cheated by an automobile mechanic. Probably half of mechanics will exaggerate what is wrong with your vehicle. In some instances, they will find a way to acquire the car. In other instances, some of them want you to pay thousands of dollars, when, in fact, the car doesn't actually need anything, and the vehicle is not worth as much as the mechanic wants you to pay. 

Not knowing and/or not asserting one's rights is one of the biggest behavior problems of mentally ill people in treatment. It happens in many areas of life. And yet, mental health treatment practitioners have never identified this as a behavior problem in anyone I've seen, during the more than thirty years I've been in the presence of practicing psychologists. Instead of this, the tendency is for therapists to offer a shoulder to cry on after people treat you as a doormat.  

Not being able to handle relationships is yet another area in which there could be a deficiency. Before I became married to my wife, I had several relationships, mostly with mentally ill women. Some of the relationships were fine, while some ended with some problems. Learning from those experiences made it possible for me to choose someone good for me with whom to commit. 

The above are all areas of life in which medication won't fix anything. While medication can give you a neurological basis for the possibility of clear thought, or while it might address extreme mood problems, it won't substitute for having life skills.  

Many of life's lessons necessarily involve pain. Many mentally ill people don't have a great way of dealing with pain. Some can't handle it while others invite too much of it. Either of these traits can impede learning from mistakes.  

Medication doesn't provide life skills, and it doesn't always equal clear and rational thought. Both have to be learned over time, often through trial and error. Yet, if someone has a major mental health diagnosis, and is not cooperative with some type of treatment, the chances of doing any of this are minimal.