Mental illness
When someone experiences severe and / or enduring mental health problems, they are sometimes described as ‘mentally ill’, but there are difficulties with this term.
They include:
The lack of a universally agreed cut-off point between normal behaviour and behaviour associated with mental illness The label mental illness is highly stigmatising
The term mental illness can misleadingly imply that all mental health problems are solely caused by medical or biological factors For many people, the existing systems of categorising illnesses do not relate closely enough to their experiencesWhen someone experiences severe and or enduring mental health problems they are sometimes described as mentally ill. However, there are certain difficulties with this term. There is no universally agreed cut-off point between normal behaviour and behaviour associated with mental illness. What is considered abnormal behaviour or an abnormal reaction to circumstances differs between cultures, social groups within the same culture, and even different social situations.
The label mental illness is highly stigmatising. It encourages people to think of ‘the mentally ill’ as different, rather than seeing them as ordinary people who have more severe emotional difficulties to cope with. Popular misconceptions, fuelled by the media, see mentally ill people as violent and dangerous. These stereotypes are contradicted by ordinary people’s experiences of mental health problems affecting themselves, their friends, family and colleagues.
The term mental illness can misleadingly imply that all mental health problems are solely caused by medical or biological factors. In fact, most mental health problems result from a complex interaction of biological and social / psychological factors.
For example, some people may be biologically vulnerable to experiencing depression, but with strong social support during difficult times they can reduce their risk of becoming severely depressed.Similarly, in people with a higher than average genetic risk of schizophrenia, a particular psychotic experience may be triggered by stressful life events and circumstances.
For many people, the existing systems of categorising illnesses do not relate closely enough to their experiences. Some people, including some professionals, prefer not to accept diagnoses which may be misleading or stigmatising, for example ‘personality disorder’ or ’schizophrenia’. They find these terms unhelpful and prefer to talk about ‘psychotic experiences’.
