Dark and Scary

Most illnesses, though scary, have a specific set of treatments that go with the specific diagnosis. Diabetics can measure their blood sugar, and then, depending on the type of diabetes, they either take insulin or adjust their diet or exercise regimen to bring the blood sugar measurement into the proper range. Heart disease requires that the sufferer make dietary or lifestyle changes, and in more acute cases, surgery can restore relatively normal health. Many cancers now have very predictable treatments and success rates.

Not so with serious mental illness. Often, even coming up with the diagnosis is a difficult and lengthy procedure.

Think about it for a moment. Who you are and how you perceive the world is handled, if not totally, in large part by your brain. But suppose for a moment that the reality that is presented to you by your brain isn't the reality that is perceived by others. Your brain tells you one thing, but people tell you something completely different. ALL YOUR LIFE, you have trusted your brain and the reality it presents to you, but then, something goes wrong. For some reason, known or unknown, something goes out of balance, and your perception of reality becomes skewed. Why would you not believe your version of reality? Why shouldn't you believe what your brain has been telling you? What other measure of reality do you have?

Then, this skewed perception of reality works to destroy your life. It can affect work, school, financial matters, and sleep patterns. Most often, it strains, breaks, and even destroys interpersonal relationships, whether they be friendships, family relationships, or marriages.

It's hard to get help. Help comes most often in the form of medication and psychotherapy. But in order to get help in the first place, one must admit that one has a serious mental illness. One has to admit that their reality isn't THE reality. That would be scary to admit.

There's no perfect medication for any mental illness. All of them have side effects, some more severe than others. Think about it: Who wants to take a medication that can cause dry mouth, itchiness, diharrea, or "sexual side effects?" ESPECIALLY when the sufferer still denies that the mental illness even exists?

A medication that works for one person may or may not work for another person. Even when it does work, it might take weeks, or even MONTHS before the efficacy of the medication is known. And medicaiton for mental illnesses are often expensive.

In some cases, there are effects of the illness that the mentally ill person actually LIKE. So why take a medication that takes the good parts away?

It sucks, not just for the person suffering with a mental illness, but also for their family members and friends. It's hard to see someone you love in a complete funk brought on not by any actions of their own, but by an abnormal interaction of chemicals and processes in the brain. And worse, when they're in the "funk," they don't realize it, and there seems to be no way to reason with them, to help them see that what they're experiencing isn't normal and can be alleviated by the right kinds of treatment.

I have a lot to learn about mental illness and how to deal with it. I only hope that, by the time I have learned enough to be of assistance, the person I most want to help is still alive to receive the assistance.