Public Comment

Aren't we all "mentally ill" in one way or another?

I can't claim that I am unique for having psychiatric and/or psychological issues. Essentially, all people are walking around with various mental flaws and defects of one kind or another, and don't get treatment for it, or they might deal it in inappropriate ways. I haven't met anyone who is completely healthy in their consciousness. Mental flaws are an integral part of the "human condition." They are part of what gives us personhood. If people were perfect, then what would be the point?

Part of it depends on how the observer defines "mental defect." Making war when your country isn't in jeopardy is certainly not a safe or sane thing to do. Pacifists believe any violence, even in self-defense, is unjustifiable. Some would call pacifism a mental defect, and pacifists would cite that getting violent back toward a violent person doesn't address the problem of violence. 

Psychiatrists are often here to deal with those of us whose brain doesn't work adequately without intervention. And yet, what we call a normal mind or brain has severe issues, due to how homo sapiens have evolved or failed to evolve. 

My condition has been bad enough that I require the help of mental health professionals and I need to be medicated. In my past, I needed hospitalization for severe psychosis. I rely on antipsychotics to prevent a repeat of that. I was noncompliant about three times in my past, and this resulted in relapses each time. 

People considered "mentally ill" have nothing to be ashamed of. Our problem may make it impossible to survive without help from treatment practitioners and from the social services systems. That doesn't mean anything negative about who we are or what we are. Mental illness is a separate issue from character. 

People with mental illness are "real people" too. We need to give ourselves the self-affinity that comes with perceiving ourselves as enough. When we see ourselves as good enough, it is the hallmark of genuine success. People with a psychiatric "disorder" aren't defective. Everyone has problems. 

If there is some symbol of success in the world, most commonly it is our ability to earn money. Yet, there are other things. And as a last resort, if it is too hard for us to like ourselves, maybe getting our minds off the subject will do the trick--if we need to feel better. The content of consciousness can be shifted. We can shift our consciousness away from the issue of "am I good enough to like myself?" to "what things can I do today that are necessary or that will contribute to my existence?" Success is only a perception, after all. And we can replace supposed success or the lack of it with other perceptions. 

1966, Star Trek, "Mudd's Women": a narcotic that turned women perceived as unattractive into women perceived as beautiful turns out to be a placebo. Captain Kirk's line is: "Either you believe in yourself, or you don't." Although the episode was highly sexist, as it came from the nineteen sixties when sexism wasn't acknowledged by the mass media, the basic idea holds. 

When I was age thirty and seemed to have nothing going for me, there were a few people in my life who saw something in me that I didn't see. And they were right about me. 

If we can learn to value ourselves, it becomes possible to compete in the world. The greatest "great equalizer" is attitude. If we have the attitude that we are good enough to compete, and maybe even "win" in some arena, then we have already achieved greatness, even if no one else realizes it yet. But at some point, they will.