Jurate Macnoriute
Mental Illnesses. Short Review

Though I am not a psychiatrist, but for convenience of readers of the 18th issue of THE SECRETS OF PERFECTION who have no medical background I have prepared this short review.

Over the fifth part of population suffers some easier or severer mental illness, that is a great disaster of contemporary world. At present alienists separate none the less as 374 refractory or incurable mental illnesses. Main of troubles are schizoaffective disorders, mood disorders, anxiety, pervasive development disorders like autistic, cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's disease, sexual disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, chronic pain and illnesses, personality disorders like narcissistic, paranoid and others. Alcoholism, the drug habit, homosexuality also are ascribed to category of mental illnesses.

As researches of scientists shows, main reason of mental illness is a biochemical abnormality or irregularity in brains; mental disorder cannot be mainly caused by psychological factors, bad parenting, bad friendship, problems in living, stresses, etc. Some individuals go crazy for slightest things. Some individuals never become insane, never undergo alcoholism or the drug habit, never seduce themselves for homosexual relations, against all the odds with their friends, enemies and living conditions.

Mental disorder does not depend on development of commonwealth, high living standards -- we see that in democratic and rich country like the United States mental illnesses occupy no less part of population than in poor countries.

Short descriptions of most popular and frequent mental illnesses:

1. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a mental disorder with a severe distortion of perception of reality, such as illusions and hallucinations (an audio, visual, or tactile perception that has no external cause or stimulus), and disorders of thought. Characteristic symptoms: inappropriate behavior and speech, loss of will and drive, insensate face, poor expression of emotions. The cerebral atrophy follows schizophrenic disorder. Schizophrenia becomes progressively worse and only medication can help.
2. Mania, depression and bipolar or manic-depression. Mania -- little sleep, capability of anything, euphoric mood, excitement, higher energy and tirelessness, overconfidence, impulsiveness, imprudence. Patients with mania speech is rapid, thoughts too quickly. Some from them suffer from delusional thoughts, visual and auditory hallucinations. Mania is as if related with creativity. Relationships of individuals with mania are chaotic. Contrasted to mania is state of depression. Major depression is defined if melancholy state continues more than a few weeks. Depressions symptoms: changes in appetite or weight, sleep, mentally-controlled activity; decreased energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, difficulty thinking, concentrating, recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Depression is one and half time frequenter among women than men. A lot of depressive patients commit suicide. Bipolar an affective disorder characterized by the occurrence of alternating periods of euphoria (mania) and depression. Bipolar patient have a high risk of death by suicide. Among bipolar individuals there are many ones who show a talent in the arts, sciences, political and military leadership. Biographical dates show that van Gogh was bipolar. In one of his letters of 1880 year he wrote: "In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."
3. Alzheimer, progressive mental deterioration manifested by loss of memory, ability to calculate, and visual-spatial orientation; confusion; disorientation. It begins in late middle life and results in death in 5–10 years. Pathologically, the brain is atrophic.
4. Autism, undeveloped language, cognitive deficits, lack of interest in communication.
5. Paranoia signifies highly exaggerated and not warranted suspiciousness or mistrust. Paranoiacs boast their rationality and objectivity. The most common delusion is unsound fear of persecution -- belief that they are being poisoned, drugged, spied upon, killed. Frequently they have delusional jealousy. Erotic delusions are based on the belief that one is loved by someone of eminent persons. Paranoiacs with grandiose delusions believe that they have special supernatural powers. Individuals with somatic delusions fear some evil with their bodies. It is fixed that mania often grows into paranoia and irritability. Many psychiatric disorders are accompanied by some paranoid features. An example of paranoiac artists is S. Dali (paranoiac-critical method).
6. Mental retardation or mental deficiency strictly is not reputed as a mental illness, but the greatest number of mentally ill is among persons with mental retardation. Ability to learn and to function of mentally retarded is more limited than others of this same age.
7. Alcoholism is a dependency on alcohol characterized by a strong need to drink, loss of control, inability to stop drink, physical dependence, withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol causes destruction of brains cells and development of alcoholic epilepsy, delirium tremens, alcoholic psychosis: envy delirium, alcoholic delirium, alcoholic hallucinosis, alcoholic paranoid, Korsakoff's syndrome. Alcoholics degrade as persons, often their life ends in death through alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver, internal bleeding, alcohol poisoning, accidents and suicide. A lot of artists abuses alcohol as source of inspiration, they misinterpret that drink helps for development of genius. In reality nobody can exchange absence of talent for alcohol or drugs. It is estimated that half of patients suffering severe mental illnesses are drugs or alcohol abusers, especially bipolar patients. Often alcoholism masks other severe mental disorders.
8. The drug habit. Narcotics' poisoning is more slashing than of alcohol, major its hallucinosis. Brett Whiteley, Howard Arkley, Jean-Michel Basquiat, the artists who died of drug poisoning.
9. Homosexuality is characterized by sexual desire for those of the same sex as oneself.
10. Criminality, a specific kind of dangerous insanity. It is determined that aside existing at birth dishonesty, sleaze and sadism criminals have symptoms of traditional mental disorders like paranoia, schizophrenia, mania and others. Large part of criminals are drug addicts and alcoholics. In 1876 criminologist Cesare Lombroso (1836 - 1909) wrote about inborn criminality in his capital work, L’Uomo delinquente or The Criminal Man.
11. Though religion is a form of psychotherapy some researches rate religiosity also as mental illness. I have short touched the theme of religiosity in the article Stylistic Closeness Between Mentally Ill and Gothic Arts.