User:Amandagrueter/sandbox

How Do We Know Mental Illness is really “Mental”? How do we as a society decide if someone has a mental illness? We compare them to a standard we consider normal. Who decides what normal is? We are all built differently on the outside which means we are all built differently on the inside. There is a guide that psychiatrists and clinical psychologists use to help diagnose disorders called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This “manual” describes and categorizes mental disorders. I don’t believe that any disorder is the same. I could be diagnosed with depression and so could you but that doesn’t mean it affects us the same way. For example in “Frankenstein” Frankenstein was considered a monster to other characters in the book and to the readers but if we just took the time to put ourselves in his shoes and understand his background and what had happened to him, we might see him differently and be more sympathetic to his actions. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short, has been revised many times over the years. It used to state that homosexuality was a disorder. I don’t believe it is at all. I think that as humans we start looking for love and companionship at a very young age. We find what is comfortable for us personally. It may be in a pet a friend in our parents or later in life a lover. I believe that as long as you have love and happiness in your life who cares where it comes from. Do we classify dog and cat lovers as mental? Or someone who chooses to be alone? As a society we have stopped looking at the big picture and have started putting everyone and everything under a microscope instead of just letting people be the way they are. We have started to put everything into a category instead of remembering that we are all human and we are all here together and we are all different, there is no normal. If we stop and take a step back we will see that some questions are not meant to be answered. We just have to accept that people are the way they are. We want everything to be black and white but when it comes to human behavior nothing is black and white. if it was we would have everything figured out. We need to start worrying about our own lives and feelings and about the people we care about. The current DSM is being revised again. DSM-V is scheduled to be released in 2013. One of the main changes is the definition of mental disorder. Defining any mental disorder is an imperfect science. Part of the current definition states that there is no definition of the term that covers all situations. This will most likely stay as a part of the definition. For example my sisters and I all have depression but that doesn’t mean we all have the same symptoms and it doesn’t affect us all the same way. Also how we handle it is different. My youngest sister has trouble being accepted. She is a people pleaser and gets upset when everyone around her isn’t happy. She has to fit in no matter where she is. I, on the other hand, have situational depression. When bad things happen to me I have a hard time moving past it. We each have depression but it is not at all the same. Who is to say one is worse than the other? Doctors don’t treat everyone who has depression with the same medicine so why should we classify it as being the same? I am lucky because when I was diagnosed with depression I was diagnosed correctly. Some people are not diagnosed correctly and are put on medication that does not work for them. In these situations it is up to us to know ourselves and what does and does not work for our bodies. We have to be comfortable communicating with our doctors and telling them exactly how we feel so we can be properly diagnosed. It is up to us to make sure we are getting correct treatment. It is also important that people with mental disorders to find a therapist they are comfortable with. There is usually an underlying issue that can cause people to feel depressed or anxious. This is another reason it is hard to put all mental issues in one category. Some issues are the root of things that have happened to us and some things are genetic. This is another reason it is important to be open so that we can find the root of the problem. A great quote from the article Redefining “Mental Illness” from The Seed magazine is “doctors don’t define a broken leg as unable to walk so why should psychiatrist define a mental disorder solely based on the behavioral symptoms?” Even physical disease can be hard to define. Someone who is abnormally tall or short may consider it to be a benefit. It becomes a part of who they are. So who is to say mental disorders change people? What if we started to think of it as a part of who they are? If we are comfortable with whom we are then why should we change our imperfections? Isn’t it our differences and personalities what makes us human and separates us from animals? Being different from one another is a good thing. It is questions like these that have delayed the publication of the DSM-V. When we stop asking ourselves questions that have no definite answers and stop thinking our way is the only way then maybe we can start accepting people for who they are. I wouldn’t like it if everyone was just like me and thought the same way I do. I like to hear other people’s opinions even if I don’t agree with them. How do we know what we believe unless we challenge it?

Amandagrueter (talk) 19:38, 29 April 2012 (UTC)