I don’t know whether to be sad that nothing much has changed since Tom Eagleton, or to be angry with the Jackson operation for how they’ve been handling Jesse Jr’s mental illness, but after he’s absent a solid month, a vague press release (citing a “mood disorder”) and the whole aura of a shameful secret that surrounds this story just isn’t the right way to handle a mentally ill politician forty years after Eagleton’s withdrawal.
Twenty percent of the population has a mental illness, and five percent have a severe enough illness that it interferes with their daily life. The list of accomplished people with major depression is staggering. Jackson is a smart and capable man. With good treatment (and treatment for mental illness, especially depression, is miles ahead of what it was in Eagleton’s day), it’s likely that he’ll be able to have a remarkable career.
I think the smart political move is for Jackson surrogates to stop stonewalling and start talking about the positive steps he’s taking to address his problem. But, for a variety of reasons, I’m pretty used to treating mental illness like any other illness, so maybe I’m underestimating the stigma that accompanies it.
Laura
Pretty sure the vagueness is because he doesn’t actually have a “mood disorder” and is being treated for something else…
Poopyman
It has been my observation that clinical depression is fairly common among highly intelligent and empathetic people. Pretty much the kind of person you’d like to see in elected office.
Betty Cracker
Agree that Jackson shouldn’t be stigmatized for mental illness. My first thought is that he should be stigmatized for being an influence-peddling hack, but that’s just my impression from far away from his district. Maybe he’s a better pol than I realize.
Mike in NC
So it’s not 27% after all?
c u n d gulag
All I care about, is that he gets the best treatment, and can live out the rest of his life to the fullest.
But I’m with Betty Cracker – hopefully that won’t be in the political realm.
Violet
They’re stonewalling so much it’s not even clear if he has a sort of standard mental illness like depression or he’s saying that to hide something else, like an addiction problem. Or even cancer or something.
The whole thing is stupid. He should have been upfront from the beginning and been a model for how to deal with it. The sort of secrecy does no one any favors.
Enough people have depression these days that I suspect there’s something else going on that he doesn’t want to reveal. But who knows.
Maude
Mental Illness is in the brain. It is physical.
Crazy is not the same. People do that to themselves and make everyone around them miserable.
Command voices like Son of Sam are not related to Mental Illness. That’s just evil.
The stigma isn’t going anywhere and I doubt it will ever end.
Jackson was attacked at the news that he has a mood disorder. How viscous. He is also not white.
Cacti
Unfortunately, mental illness is still poorly understood by much of the public.
People tend to think because they’ve felt blue or scared before, they understand what it’s like to have a depressive or anxiety disorder.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: After the last round of redistricting, I’m now in his district. There are a fair number of people here who are not happy with the situation, and the stonewalling isn’t making it any better.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Mike in NC:
I’m sticking with the 27% number because it would be crazy not to.
Ann
Great post! The Washington Post and NYTimes have been approaching it as a political scandal, not recognizing what appear to be serious mental health considerations involved. Why should this still be a scandal in 2012?
The Moar You Know
There’s a lot less stigma associated with mental illness these days – I couldn’t count on both hands the number of people I know who are on anti-depressants – but Jesse Junior’s in a special (bad) place as there’s a lot of folks who want to see him (and by proxy, his dad) not only fail but get taken out of the game for good. And they’ll use any means available to achieve that goal.
I think “his people” are right to be handling his situation with a great deal of secrecy, given the circumstances.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
‘Should not be’, true, but a fair portion of the population views mental illnesses as either weakness or dangerous, depending on the illness. And by ‘fair portion’ I mean a quarter to half. For a politician, that’s going to destroy his career.
@Maude:
Axis I – neural and biochemical disorders. Chronic depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia are on that list. Command voices are schizophrenia, and they are a terrible thing. Anyone who hears them is very, very ill. So ill that there may be no recovery, since schizophrenia tends to cause ongoing cognitive degeneration.
Axis II – personality disorders. Rather than some physical problem, your personality is impairing your life or those around you. Basically, it only counts if you’re hurting yourself or others. Narcissists are on that list, and people like Sarah Palin are poster children for Axis II problems – which is why, even though luck made her rich and put the day off, she’s likely to destroy herself. And take others with her.
JustMe
One of the problems people have is that they are unable to understand mental illness as a sickness that needs to be treated, or they don’t acknowledge that simple reality that this needs to be addressed with medical intervention. And Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s staff isn’t helping on this matter. They’re acting like a secretive family trying to cover something up.
TheOtherWA
It’s weird and stupid to handle it this way if it’s depression. The stigma around depression is starting to go away, but political types are still afraid of any “image” problems.
Culture of Truth
23 people died in Cook Country due to the recent heat wave.
DougJ
Only 20%? How do you describe what’s wrong with the other 80%?
Redshift
@DougJ:
Willfully ignorant and proud of it, to quote Molly Ivins.
Patricia Kayden
Wonder if Jackson, Jr., is considering stepping down while he gets treatment for his illness. That would allow him to get well out of the public eye.
cmorenc
@Ann:
The scandal, if any, is that Jackson (or perhaps his spokespeople from his Congressional office) has handled the matter with the public in such counter-productively inept fashion that invites a much worse range of speculation over the reasons for his absence than may actually be the case (e.g. that maybe he’s drying out from severe alcoholism). They should have said in the beginning that he’s being treated for depression, which most people readily understand enough that even though it does still carry some degree of stigma to many people, it’s not one that carries overtones of moral disapproval the way severe alcoholism still does, and most people understand the difference between depression and psychosis (i.e. “crazy”).
Zifnab
Jackson is a symbol for a cause. Calling him mental ill quickly gets conflated with calling his politics the philosophy of the mentally ill. And that’s a road it should be no surprise that his confidants are reluctant to cross.
If the dialogue wasn’t so toxic, I imagine this wouldn’t be a big deal. But you know the right-wing noise machine is going to have another round of screaming fits, while polite insiders and pundits slowly back away from Jesse like he is radioactive. I don’t think his ego can handle that.
mike in dc
A greater degree of stigma is still attached to mental illness in the African-American community, and even those with good medical insurance tend to be less likely to seek mental health care when they need it. Case in point: my wife, who lost her father, her grandmother and her dog in the past 4 years, and is now on the road to divorcing me. She exhibits some clear signs of depression, but dismisses the notion of counseling offhand. Meanwhile, since I’ve experienced depression and anxiety issues all my life, I’m on medication and doing talk therapy.
I think Rep. Jackson’s staff are trying to cover up because they fear that stigma being attached to their boss.
Campionrules
Problem is – I have no reason to believe that he is mentally ill.
Under an ethics investigation – with potentially criminal problems bearing down if his less than squeaky clean buddy decides to spill his guts now that he’s been indicted.
I don’t know what to think – but it’s a political scandal because of the way Jackson is handling it.
cat
If I was a black politician who also happened to be the son of another prominent black politician I’d be keeping everything that could be used as ammunition by the GOP hidden as best I could regardless.
The GOP these days are vicious thugs and will be much crueller to him then they would to anyone else.
Zach
I wish people would stop putting mood disorder in quotation marks. It’s a medical term with a real definition (a category encompassing depression and bipolar disorders in the DSM); Jackson’s crew isn’t trying to be vague or evade responsibility by using it. They’re protecting his privacy. Given the Eagleton history, even calling it a mood disorder is a commendable degree of candor.
Jackson may be faking this to dodge heat for the bribery/appointment scandal. Maybe the scandal was a symptom of some underlying disorder and also a trigger for some recent breakdown. Maybe it’s totally unrelated. Who knows. Writing that Jackson is being treated for a “mood disorder” is like writing that Blake Griffin dropped out of the Olympics today with a “knee injury.” It’s actually worse, because “knee injury” is more vague.
Linda Featheringill
@Mike in NC: #3
Mistermix: Twenty percent of the population has a mental illness
Mike in NC: So it’s not 27% after all?
Wingnuttery is not addressed in the DSM-IV.
Donut
I have had plenty of first hand experience with people who going through depressions, psychotic breaks, and schizophrenia, so I get what you’re saying about familiarity with mental health issues. That said, it is worth remembering that DC is a town where people in power are a tad bit concerned with image and perception. Any perceived weakness is something that his staff and advisors migh try to hide. Not saying it is right, just pointing it out.
Side note, pointless thought trail: Jackson is a family name that garners a lot of respect here in Chicagoland, but obviously not among all. He is loved and reviled probably equally, just like his pops. The job he really wants, that all local pols crave, is mayor of Chicago. Next to governor, it’s THE office where power lies.
gene108
Nobody in their right minds would feel comfortable disclosing any history of mental illness, even with people you know fairly well.
There’s too much stigma around it.
People are too judgmental about how they’d behave differently in your place and your just wallowing in self-pity.
Given the pitiful lack of funding for mental illness in our bloated health care system, I don’t see anyone really bothering to try to make a change or capable of it.
mistermix
@Zach: I put it in quotes to quote the story, but it is inexcusably vague. Jackson has been in treatment for a month. He almost certainly has a diagnosis. By not saying what it is, they’re just leading to more speculation.
On your “knee injury” analogy, the way that would be written if the goal was to be transparent would be a lede paragraph with the words “knee injury” (not in quotes) because everyone understands what that is and then a follow-on paragraph with the type of injury (ACL tear, whatever) because not everyone knows that, e.g., an ACL tear is a knee injury. Everyone knows what Depression is, and if they don’t know what Bipolar Disorder is, they probably know what Manic Depression is.
Alex S.
The rumor is that he’s in rehab. And of course, there’s the Blagojevich story.
gene108
@cmorenc:
On what enlightened planet do you live?
Most people don’t know the difference between bipolar, unipolar depression and psychosis. Depression is a catch all term for folks with any sort of mental illness, whether they’re down or whether they’re debating with their inner voices to walk down the street with a gun and start shooting people to spread justice.
@mike in dc:
How helpful are your in-laws in getting your wife to treatment?
Maybe whatever it was from her upbringing that’s causing her to reject treatment can be overcome with help from the in-laws.
The Stolen Dormouse
@Donut: At the same time, DC is the town with perhaps the highest number of psychiatrists and/or psychotherapists per capita in the United States. Someone’s going to them, and with government the largest business in the area, the clientele is likely to include many people in or around the Federal government.
AnnaN
People with mental illness will often self-medicate rather than seek psychological or psychiatric treatment. In this case, Jackson Jr. may have initially been hospitalized in a rehab facility because drug/alcohol abuse may have been spiraling out of control. At which point the underlying disorder would have been discovered and treating one is bad enough when one goes off the rails. Having to deal with both at the same time? I have some empathy.
DMcK
@gene108: Has that really been your experience? ‘Cause I’ve never had any issues discussing my depression/anxiety and associated treatment with anybody: friends, family, co-workers…anybody. The closest I’ve come to encountering anything like a stigma was when I had to explain to a very close friend that, yes, this is not just a case of the blues but a full-on illness that requires me to take medication (he’s rather suspicious of mood-altering pharms). Although I live in NYC, where it’s sort of like earning a merit badge, so maybe this is partially a regional thing?
Original Lee
@mike in dc: This. We have a neighbor whose son was in an amazingly abusive relationship and as a result, has depression and PTSD. He handles it pretty well, as far as we can tell, but we can also tell that he would do a lot better if he got some help. We thought initially that he didn’t have mental health coverage at his work, and obliquely discussed with the parents about how you can usually work out a payment plan with the therapist, etc. They reacted with horror – “nothing wrong with him, he just has some times where he’s in a bit of a funk, he’s always fine after a couple of days” kind of thing, and so he’s not getting treated and we’re the people who think he’s crazy. *Sigh*
Rafer Janders
@DMcK:
You talk about it with co-workers? What industry are you in?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Cacti:
This is quite accurate – and I write about it occasionally. The reporting of Rep. Jackson’s absence and treatment will require another post at The Mood Ring, which is in progress. I take any opportunity I get to try to educate about brain disorders, so (fair warning) expect me to bang on about this quite a bit.
Tripod
@Culture of Truth:
23 out of 5.2 million people. It is such a goddamn small percentage my Windows calculator errors out. What’s your fucking point?
His aspirations beyond the House were already trashed and it’s a safe a seat – He could have taken the stigma hit – handling it in this manner was a bad idea.
rb
@gene108: Nobody in their right minds would feel comfortable disclosing any history of mental illness
Hmm, come on now.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@DougJ: You know that I’m one of your biggest fans. But I must scold you for making light of very serious diseases – even though your humor was rather mild – and targets the 80% who are jerks. I get it, but… until people get that it’s as tacky to joke about brain disorders as it is to joke about cancer. I do however, appreciate the reminder that I need to give my blog more attention.
Thank you Frankensteinbeck for your comment. It’s a complex topic, and I’m always grateful to see well informed people discuss it.
TooManyJens
Yes. One thing that infuriates me is when I hear people sneering about how weak people are these days, and what did we ever do before there were antidepressants and other pills? Well, a lot of people either killed themselves outright or drank themselves to death. But hey, that’s a manly way to go, amirite?
Not saying that people are doing that in this thread; it’s a general complaint.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Campionrules:
And you are a psychiatrist? Why is it that people believe they can diagnose this category disease? Would you say
“Problem is – I have no reason to believe that he has cancer?” Or that he had a stroke? A heart attack?
What exactly gives anyone the right to “have a reason to believe” (or not)that some one has a brain disorder (mental illness)? Do you understand how this comment is a glaring example of stigma in operation? Mental illnesses are real, physical diseases. Belief is immaterial.
@Zach: Thank you. I may borrow that, with attribution, for a future blog post.
NB – I have strong opinions on this topic, as is no doubt obvious.
EconWatcher
If 20% of the population has a mental illness, wouldn’t that suggest that the definition of mental illness is so broad that the term is not very meaningful or helpful? Or to put it another way, if it’s not serious enough to interfere with your life (apparently, it only is for 5%), then isn’t it just a quirk?
DMcK
@Rafer Janders: I do, quite freely! My attitude is, it’s just an illness, like arthritis or diabetes. The way I see it, if I self-stigmatize, rather than speak freely of it like I would of any other disorder, it does me more harm than good. I could care less about other peoples’ reactions, in fact it gives me the opportunity to explain myself and (hopefully) educate them on the topic a little. However, the truth is I’ve never encountered any static from anyone, which is why I’m fairly surprised that other folks in this thread speak of a widespread culture of stigmatization. Again, New Yawkah heah, so I’m still curious to know if this is just a regional phenomenon.
Nemesis
Yesterday, CNN was running the Jackson non-story ad-nauseum.
The man has a right to privacy. That said, as a public person, he and his family should expect to be questioned about his absence from the limelight.
A frequent excuse we hear out of Hollywood is “exhaustion”. Perhaps that could have called off the lazy bored media dawgs.
Like many, Ive been through tough times emotionally, like losing nearly $500,000 in the market in 2000-2001. I fought back, but it was, and still is, difficult.
Best of luck Mr Jackson.
Rafer Janders
@EconWatcher:
“Based on rates from 2007-2009, 41.24% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with cancer of all sites at some time during their lifetime.” — source, National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of Health.
If 41.24% of the population has cancer at some point, wouldn’t that suggest that the definition of cancer is so broad that it is not very meaningful or helpful?
Rafer Janders
@DMcK:
No, my question was, which industry are you in? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you don’t work in law/banking/financial services/consulting etc. There are still quite a few industries (and job levels — OK for the secretary to admit it, not so good for the partner, etc.) in which admitting to illness is still detrimental to one’s career.
EconWatcher
@Rafer Janders:
Dude, it’s a whole lot different to say 40% of the population will get cancer at some point in their lives than to say 40% (or 20%) of the country has a certain illness right now. Or to put it another way, do you understand the distinction between saying that 40% of the population will get cancer at some point in their lives, as opposed to 40% having cancer right now, at this moment? You are not making a valid comparison.
I believe the current US cancer rate is about 400 per 100,000 of the population.
Full of Woe
Given that right-wing critics were insinuating Chief Justice Roberts’s ACA ruling was somehow adversely affected by his epilepsy medication, I am not at all surprised Congressman Jackson might be reluctant to discuss his mood disorder with the press.
NJDave
Yes, the term mood disorder sounds vague, but it’s very hard to get these diagnoses right. My son was originally diagnosed with ADHD and pediatric bipolar. Later, that was rejected by another therapist as he thought it overused by providers who aren’t certain what’s going on but are certain that bipolar would be covered by insurance (if you have it). His diagnosis was ADHD, Attachment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and depression. But he didn’t recommend any change in treatment. (Then why use a different diagnosis?)
Other professionals have used the term mood dysregulation.
From my admittedly limited search, it seems that substance abuse is the most common ‘co-mobidity’ in patients with a mental illness. One study suggested that the correlation with bp was 60%.
Also, as patients present different symptoms at different times. But mood disorder is a useful term when the precise diagnosis is uncertain.
From all of this I know two things:
1) Mr. Jackson MAY have some form of bp/depression, etc.
2) It’s none of my business.
Rafer Janders
@EconWatcher:
No, it would suggest that a lot of people have a lot of problems. Looking around you, looking at the US, does it appear to you that this is NOT the case?
If you have a mental illness, it WILL interfere with your life. In some way, it will affect either your job, your finances, your personal relationships, your home life, etc. Maybe not all of them, maybe not all at once, but something or someone you love and need is going to suffer. Your life will never be as you imagined and wanted it to be.
Now, for 5% of people, things will get REALLY fucked up. Their lives will be disaster zones. But don’t imagine that all the others aren’t hurting in one way or another.
So sure, it’s a quirk. Like a stroke, or a heart attack, or diabetes, or cancer. It’s just one of those loveable little defects that make us who we are!
NJDave
Let’s try this again, hopefully with a name that comes through.
Yes, the term mood disorder sounds vague, but it’s very hard to get these diagnoses right. My son was originally diagnosed with ADHD and pediatric bipolar. Later, that was rejected by another therapist as he thought it overused by providers who aren’t certain what’s going on but are certain that bipolar would be covered by insurance (if you have it). His diagnosis was ADHD, Attachment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and depression. But he didn’t recommend any change in treatment. (Then why use a different diagnosis?)
Other professionals have used the term mood dysregulation.
From my admittedly limited search, it seems that substance abuse is the most common ‘co-mobidity’ in patients with a mental illness. One study suggested that the correlation with bp was 60%.
Also, as patients present different symptoms at different times. But mood disorder is a useful term when the precise diagnosis is uncertain.
From all of this I know two things:
1) Mr. Jackson MAY have some form of bp/depression, etc.
2) It’s none of my business.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@EconWatcher:
Define “not serious enough to interfere with your life.” Does having to find a new job every year because the previous one “didn’t work out” count? How about being far behind your peers in income and career advancement because you’ve jumped from job to job? How about having a bad credit rating and being unable to get a loan because you forget to pay your bills? Or having family members constantly angry with you because you don’t do things that they ask?
There are lots of ways that having a mental disorder can interfere with your life short of being completely unable to function day to day. And I say this as someone who wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was 42 because “girls don’t have ADHD, so you just need to try harder.“
Nick
Abraham Lincoln had such terrible depression that he didn’t carry knives out of fear that he might kill himself. Seems that his political career turned out fine – well, until the very end…
EconWatcher
@Rafer Janders:
Let’s try this again. Definitions are not true or untrue. They’re either helpful or unhelpful for categorizing things in a way that furthers meaningful discussion or analysis.
A definition of mental illness that includes 20% of the population at this moment, and that includes illnesses that do not interfere with daily life, does not seem very helpful to me. In fact, it would seem to elevate quirks that do not interfere with daily life (by definition) to sound more serious than they are, in a way that could be stigmatizing to those so categorized, and misleading to the rest of us.
Or to put in another way, if a layperson calls someone “mentally ill,” that would certainly suggest an affliction that interferes with daily life. But apparently, the mental health profession uses a broader and looser definition. I think that may be unwise.
Or to put it yet a third way, have you seen the DSM lately? It’s got an awful lot of categorizations that seem pretty broad and fuzzy.
Felinious Wench
I have a rule I follow: once I’ve been around someone for a while, either personally or professionally, and they’ve seen how normal and competent I am, I tell them I’m bipolar. I explain the illness to them. And I always get the same thing, “I would NEVER have guessed that.”
Those of us who have a mental illness and have learned how to function very well with meds and lifestyle changes are the ones who can change this, one person at a time. I can’t walk around telling people before they know me, because then they put me in a box. But, I can tell people openly once they do.
It’s just another part of me. Blue eyes, 5 feet tall, my mom’s hair, and my dad’s mental illness.
Elie
Mental illness is way more prevalent than 20%. It is severely under and mis diagnosed and is responsible for severe misery for the afflicted person as well as all others who love and are connected to them. It ranges from depression all the way to full blown psychosis and includes the various personality disorders (narcissism, borderline, antisocial)that terrorize our culture. Unfortunately, some of the “illness” such as narcissism and milder forms of sociapathy actually seem desirable in our culture of corruption and general meanness. Sometimes, like Maude upstring, it almost seems to conflate with spiritual states of being — being “evil” or “possessed”
I’ll tell you this, it accounts for a whole lot of what is wrong with us these days — not just this country but the world. We can, however, in small ways, help ourselves by being kind, respectful and forgiving of what we don’t know –and of each other. Life is hard.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@AnnaN:
That’s been my assumption, too — at this point, everyone realizes that “exhaustion” or “dehydration and exhaustion” is code for “substance abuse.” I would not be surprised to find out that Jackson found out in rehab that he has underlying mood issues that he’s been masking with substance abuse, because it’s really, really, really common for people who are bipolar, schizophrenic, or have major depression to do that.
I was strangely amused years ago when Mariah Carey’s PR folks announced that she had been admitted to the UCLA Neuropsychiatic Institute for “dehydration and exhaustion.” Trust me, you don’t go to UCLA Neuropsychiatic because you need rehab. You go there because you’re bipolar or schizophrenic and need immediate medical assistance.
Rafer Janders
That’s because, as Mnemosyne wrote so well above, you don’t understand what “does not interfere with daily life” really means. A constant level of anxiety, panic, depression etc. that constantly saps your energy, focus, ability to think etc. does interfere with daily life. It doesn’t do it in any particularly dramatic way, it doesn’t result in you being committed or strapped down to a restraint chair, but it has a low-level but constant, sustained, destructive affect on one’s ability to do all those things that others take completely for granted.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Elie:
I think there’s something to the idea that the way we’re currently expected to live our lives makes it difficult for people with abnormal brain chemistry to cope. My stepbrother has pretty severe ADHD, but he lucked into a career as a house painter that allows him to use his strengths and ignore his weaknesses. If he had to work in an office or as a store clerk, he would be frickin’ miserable every day of his life.
trollhattan
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
FTW
I guess I’m enough time zones away to render the story invisible, as I didn’t know anything of it. Besides, we have Lindsay Lohan to entertain us. Regardless, any time something like this is turned over to handlers, people are going to assume the worst. A “public person” has the right to handle personal affairs privately but an elected official needs to either reasoably inform their constituency of their status or step down and resume life as a private citizen.
You shouldn’t be allowed to have it both ways.
Felinious Wench
@Rafer Janders:
I am in a leadership position in a Fortune 50 company, and I have a high level of corporate responsibility. I have worked in the oil industry previously, which is about as conservative/backwards/unenlightened as any industry you will find. I am now in tech. Try telling a group of hardcore engineers that you’re mentally ill.
But, I do it. I make sure they know me well and know how good I am at what I do, and then I drop it in conversation. Because if I don’t, this will never change. And almost every time, people tell me about themselves, or family members, or girlfriends/boyfriends with an illness, and are RELIEVED to talk about it with someone.
Has it hurt me professionally? No, not at all. Because, again, people knew me before I “came out” with the illness I have. So, it’s my way of teaching them, and I do teach them about how bipolar is genetic and what chemicals are affected in the brain and what kinds of symptoms can manifest. Because if I don’t, this won’t change.
It’s a risk, absolutely. But for me, after I’ve watched my dad’s family self-medicate with alcohol and drugs, end up in mental hospitals, commit suicide, destroy marriages and children, etc. because they were too ashamed to get the help they needed, it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Because so many people need help and these illnesses can be very easy to control, and it’s shame that keeps them from getting better. And many people go off their meds because they don’t want to “be on medication because I’m not really sick.” Yeah, we are.
Bit of a soapbox, but I’m very passionate about this. Other people are not in situations or in a place within themselves where they’re OK to be open about their illness, I respect that completely, and I am very aware of the damage some people face if they’re open and honest. For me, I’ve chosen to be as open as I can and talk about it with people. Hopefully, some people have changed their perception as a result.
TooManyJens
@EconWatcher:
The article didn’t say 20% have a mental illness right now, BTW. It was in the last year.
I do wonder what a mental illness that does not interfere with daily life is supposed to mean, because for a lot of diagnoses, interfering with daily life is part of the definition.
EconWatcher
@Rafer Janders:
You seem to accept that a mental illness is whatever the profession (presumably through the DSM) says it is. Why do you accept this? Could there be a bias, where a profession gets to decide what kinds of things are problems that it gets paid to address?
One last shot, from the following article critiquing DSM IV,http://harpers.org/archive/1997/02/0008270:
According to the DSM-IV, something called frotteurism (302.89) is the irresistible desire to sexually touch and rub against one’s fellow passengers on mass transit. Something called fugue (300.13) consists of travel in foreign lands, often under an assumed identity. In reality, it may very well be that the frotteurist is a helpless victim in the clutches of his obsession, but it’s equally possible that he’s simply a bored creep looking for a cheap thrill. Perhaps the fuguist is in psychological flight from a memory that cannot be borne and will utterly fail to welcome the news that he is not the Regent of Pomerania traveling incognito in Provence, but maybe he’s just having his spot of fun. The DSM-IV is a stranger to such ambiguities. The DSM-IV says that the frotteurist and the fuguist, despite all conceivable arguments to the contrary, have lost their marbles, period and end of discussion.
Not content with the merely weird, the DSM-IV also attempts to claim dominion over the mundane. Current among the many symptoms of the deranged mind are bad writing (315.2. and its associated symptom, poor handwriting); coffee drinking, including coffee nerves (305.90), bad coffee nerves (292.89), inability to sleep after drinking too much coffee (292.89), and something that probably has something to do with coffee, though the therapist can’t put his finger on it (292.9); sleepwalking (307.46); jet lag (307.45); snobbery (301. 7, a subset of Antisocial Personality Disorder); and insomnia (307.42); to say nothing of tobacco smoking, which includes both getting hooked (305.10) and going cold turkey (292.0). You were out of your mind the last time you had a nightmare (307.4 7). Clumsiness is now a mental illness (315.4). So is playing video games (Malingering, V65.2). So is doing just about anything “vigorously.” So, under certain circumstances, is falling asleep at night.
Steve
The situation certainly seems unfortunate. I wonder if Hillary Clinton is shedding any tears over it.
AnnaN
@ EconWatcher
You can’t be diagnosed with a mental illness unless it actually does interfere with the normal operations of life – interpersonal, family, career, etc. That’s how the DSM works.
A “quirk” is a personality trait that doesn’t impair a person’s ability to function properly. The 5% of people who are REALLY mentally disturbed are those who are under going treatment and still completely incapable of functioning. These are the people who are on an MH disability.
Thankfully, most mental disorders are treatable. The 20% number which is being bandied about is more easily interpreted as: “at any given moment, 20% of the US population has a diagnosable mental disorder.” That 20% right now in July 2012 will not be the identical 20% in July of 2013 nor was it made up of the same individuals in July of 2011. People can suffer from severe and crippling depression that can keep them from functioning but with med mgmt and behavior therapy can cope and recover and are no longer part of that 20%.
DMcK
@EconWatcher: A bad cough could indicate the flu. Or throat cancer. That’s why it’s called a symptom, not a diagnosis. Anyway, I can tell you from first-hand experience that yes, Virginia, mental illness actually exists!
rikyrah
I hope he’s getting better. but, the press doesn’t like him. I don’t blame him for not wanting to make it public.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@EconWatcher:
Ah, yes, I know it well. Mental illness doesn’t really exist, because everyone has one symptom! Ignore the fact that you have to meet multiple criteria on that list and you can make any disease go away.
I sometimes have joint pain but I don’t have any other symptoms of arthritis, so therefore arthritis is a totally bogus, made-up “disease” that doctors invented to make money from. After all, if we’re going to declare that diseases are fake because many people meet a single criterion, we can discard most of modern medicine, which would be quite a relief.
AnnaN
@Econ Watcher
You come across as being almost deliberately obtuse on this. There is a norm for behaviors. There are deviations from the norm.
The “profession” doesn’t determine what interferes with normal life. Individuals and society do. An individual who goes voluntarily to a doctor for treatment is doing so because they are having a problem. There is something wrong in their life that they cannot put right.
Society gets involved when the person poses a danger to theirself or others. The little snippets you quote regarding the DSM are not meant to be taken as individual issues but are meant to help form a picture of the patient as a whole.
As I wrote above, you come across as being deliberately obtuse or, more insufferably, snickering behind your lace handkerchief as you mockingly expose those who are in the profession of making money off the merely quirky.
EconWatcher
@DMcK:
Holy smokes, who ever said mental illness doesn’t exist? I suggested that the definitions used by the profession may be too broad, and there could even be a financial incentive for that.
One commenter here suggested that a 20% estimate of the percent of the population that is mentally ill is too low. At what point would you think the definition is so broad as to be meaningless? 30%? 50%? 80%? Remember, most of these illnesses are defined by reference to observable behavior, rather than some identified physiology. Would you call behavioral patterns of 20, 30, 50, or 80% of the population an illness?
Of course, you can do anything you want with a definition. But at some point you’re not talking about anything at all.
TooManyJens
@EconWatcher: You have to really want to interpret the DSM a certain way to claim that it says clumsiness and nightmares are mental illnesses. Why you want to interpret it that way, I don’t know, but the rest of us don’t share your desire.
DaRealMcKoy
I think this is a missed opportunity for Jackson, if he truly is suffering from a ‘mood disorder’. As a black woman with Bipolar II, I know it would be a great thing for the AA community if he spoke out about his struggle and recovery (when it comes). There’s still an opportunity for him to do that; I hope he takes it.
EconWatcher
@AnnaN:
Who is being deliberately obtuse? Maybe you can answer me this: Do you think everything identified in the DSM as such is really a mental illness? Because that’s where the 20% figure is coming from. If so, why?
Homosexuality was once defined as a mental illness. It is not now. Does that mean that gay people used to be mentally ill, but no longer are? Does it mean that the DSM was once fallible, but no longer is? Or could it be that the DSM is just a series of evolving definitions, some of which may be useful, and some of which may be vague, overbroad, or otherwise not particularly helpful? And if the third possibility is correct, then the 20% figure just doesn’t mean much. That’s my only point. I guess I’m just obtuse.
asiangrrlMN
@AnnaN: Yeah, this. Mental illness is the umbrella term, with other diagnoses falling under that umbrella. It’s the first step in seeing what the fuck is really wrong with you.
And, as stated upthread, it’s not easy to pinpoint mental illnesses because there is a lot of crossover, and you can have more than one at a time, obviously.
I have had severe chronic depression for most of my life, and I don’t talk about it much. I don’t hide it, and of course, my closest friends know, but it’s not something I would tell people I know only casually in real life.
Yes, we know more about mental illnesses in general, but there are still many misconceptions about them, too, and stigma as well.
In my personal life, most people haven’t been cruel or mean about it, but I’ve come across, “cheer up!” “Aw, snap out of it!” “Just think happy thoughts” more times than I care to count.
As to Jackson, I think he needs to step down and take care of his shit. It’s not fair to his constituents for him to be so evasive about it. Then, if and when he gets his shit back together, he can run again if he so decides.
gene108
@Nick:
On top of the pressure of managing a civil war, one of his kids died of whooping cough at age 11 in 1862 or 1863.
Who wouldn’t be depressed under those circumstances?
DMcK
@EconWatcher: Yes, and there was once a time when doctors would use leeches to re-balance one’s humours. Medicine is not an exact science. The DSM is a diagnostic tool that evolves according to current standards of the state-of-the art, which practitioners then refer to according to their own professional judgement. You seem intent on wishing the whole of psychoanalysis into the cornfield just because it is subject to the same inexactitudes as the rest of the medical profession.
gene108
@EconWatcher:
Given how poorly many careers in mental health pay, the many people, who go undiagnosed and untreated, I have a hard time figuring out what financial interest people have in the status quo.
If anything too few people are actually diagnosed and getting treatment.
The problem with diagnosing mental illness is our inability to crack open a person’s skull, get a sample of brain tissue and do a complete biopsy to figure out what chemicals are out of balance, without doing more harm to the patient via brain biopsy then the current method of educated guesses.
Diagnosing mental illness is like diagnosing any other type of illness, if you are no longer able to take any physical samples of blood, urine or tissue and rely solely on how you think someone feels to prescribe medications for them.
For example, if someone has serious back problems, maybe it’s actually their kidneys that aren’t working. A quick check is to do a spot urine sample and see, if there are elevated protein levels in the urine. High protein levels indicates the kidneys are stressed.
Now imagine a doctor figuring out, if the kidneys are stressed without the ability to get a urine sample.
That’s how mental illness gets diagnosed.
The fact anything can be diagnosed and any treatment work is remarkable.
My opinion, if you want to question the DSM’s methodology, you need to have something more concrete to back your assertion up than what you have provided here.
The reality is mental illness is the unwanted red headed step child of our health care system, where the resources to handle people are woefully underfunded compared to other conditions.
If there was more money sloshing around the mental health trough it’d be a good thing, even if someone was skimming a few bucks off as profit.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@EconWatcher:
Yep, that’s #2 on the greatest hits list — doctors only diagnose people with depression or ADHD to make money off them! With, of course, the implication that no one actually needs psychiatric medication, so any doctor who says you or your loved one needs it is scamming you.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@EconWatcher: And that’s what the actual 20% statistic on mental illness describes – “will at some point in their lifetime suffer from.” Not that 20% is currently diagnosed as having mental illness, though it is often misquoted for that.
JWL
It’s absurd to suggest much less compare 1972 Vice Presidential nominee Eagleton’s political situation to that of (a mere) congressman from Illinois in 2012.
Tony the Wonderhorse
I’ll go ahead and make an irresponsible dual diagnosis of mental illness and drug use
“exhaustion” is often a euphemism for cocaine
time will tell
Darkrose
A good friend of mine is a filmmaker. She did a short a few years ago about a young, professional black woman in therapy for the first time. At one point the woman says to her therapist, “We’re supposed to take our problems to Jesus.”
My mother never did come to terms with the fact that I was on antidepressants. She’d keep asking me every few months if I still really had to be taking them; she never got it when I tried to make the analogy with her diabetes medication.
I suspect his people simply don’t know what to do, especially if they’re fighting their own attitudes toward mental illness.