Do you Believe in the Crazy??

[Shwa]

Morning (here in Maryland) ^.^

Anyways, my AP Psychology class just did a segment on the mentally ill and clinically insane last week and I thought it was a very interesting topic to discuss, so I thought i would bring it over to the OB. Basically I want to know others opinions on those who have such illnesses as:

Schizophrenia
Psychopathy
Alcoholism
Multiple Personality
Scocial Anxiety
Agoraphobia (a phobia, but contributes to the topic a little)
and Psychosis....

Mainly the issue on debate was: Are people with these kinds of illnesses acceptable in society if they can have somewhat (if any) control over thier state of mind and body? How would you reactions be if you knew someone with one of these illnesses and what would you do about it (physically, socially, mentally, and personaly). Do you think they would be safe to themselves and to others around? I look forward to hearing the opinions of others, thanks.

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=maroon]I'm surprised that they would discuss alcoholism in an AP psychology course, but hey, I'm no expert. I just think alcoholism doesn't give you any real insight because it's really simple (RELATIVELY really simple).

Anyway, they aren't socially acceptable because that's why they are considered to have an illness. That's not to say they shouldn't be shunned, but they do need help, whether they help themselves, others do, or even drugs, some form of correctiveness is required.

I don't know how that question can bring much to table. I don't think anyone is going to say, "yes, they are perfectly acceptable and normal people in society," or "no, they should be put into a closet," but hey, I could be wrong.[/COLOR]

[Retribution]

[size=1]...What AzureWolf said.

Those with agoraphobia and social anxiety aren't going to hurt anyone, so I don't see any potential harm they can cause to society. So I suppose my answer would be that sure, people could be around them. However, I don't think that a person with either of the aforementioned illnesses would be too keen on the social interaction.[/size]

[Touchstone]

[quote name='Mage17']Mainly the issue on debate was: Are people with these kinds of illnesses acceptable in society if they can have somewhat (if any) control over thier state of mind and body? How would you reactions be if you knew someone with one of these illnesses and what would you do about it (physically, socially, mentally, and personaly). Do you think they would be safe to themselves and to others around? I look forward to hearing the opinions of others, thanks.[/quote]

[FONT=Georgia]I'm not quite sure what "acceptable in society" means. People with mental illness are a valid part of society who of course need care and support, and my state's mental health system is surely lacking there. They have every right to a job if they're qualified, and if they've got the help they need from therapy or medication are perfectly capable of having friends and living their lives. My grandad has bipolar disorder, and he manages it pretty well with medication; he was married for over forty years and had a family and a successful career. It all depends on how you manage your illness; if you overcome it enough you can live a perfectly fine life in society. [/FONT]

[KatanaViolet]

I'm taking Abnormal Psych classes, so we have pretty much gone over most of these disorders. Now, keep in mind that I'm not an expert... but here's my two cents.

The reasons why all of these illnesses are severe is because you don't really have control over your state of mind. These are disorders because they cause the individual to be unable to function in normal society. Depending on the severity of the disorder, it can make it very hard for them to be with people and have stable relationships.

Take agoraphobia for example. Now for those of you who are not familiar with this disorder, agoraphobia is an excessive fear of public places. The fear is believed to stem from the fact that in public places it is difficult to escape if you suffer from panic attacks or panic attack-like symptoms. I can't imagine having a severe form of this disorder. But personally people who suffer from this are more of a threat to themselves rather than the people around them.

I guess the same could be said for alcoholism. Unless its in the sence of drinking and driving or in the instance of alcoholism and phsyical abuse, these people are more of a danger to themselves, long term effects being loss of employment and/or friendships as well as cirrhosis of the liver and Korsakoff's syndrom (amnesia, memory/concentration difficulties, motor impairments).

Assuming that social anxiety is different from social phobia, which is the fear of social situations that the individual might be exposed to scrutiny by others (ie. public speaking) I would think that social anxiety is a little less severe. Although anxiety is similar in the sence that its is an emotional reaction to possible threats in social situations, the anxiety is more associated with anticipated future problems.

Psychopathy (related to antisocial personality disorder) I think would be more threatening to both the individual and the people around them. The reason is because people who have psychopathy usually have a disregard for the truth, lack of empathy, and an inability to learn from experience. A psychopath is a person who is "intelligent and superficially charming but is also chronically deceitful [and] unreliable" This comes from psychiatrist Hervey Cleckly. However this definition is diffult to use reliably. ASPD and Psychopathy are similar in the sence that they are both characterized by social deviance and behavioral problems. Psychopaths can be callous, decietful, egocentric, fail to form emotional bonds, prone to low anxiety, lack remorse and externalize blame. The DSM-IV criteria for ASPD is all of the above characteristics, the individual is at least 18 years old, and evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15. These people are more likely to become criminals.

Psychosis is defined as referring to several types of severe mental disorder in which the person is out of contact with reality. Hallucinations and delusions are common symptoms. Schizophrenia is a form of psychosis. These people cannot function properly.

Which segues into Schizophrenia, which is actually what we're covering tomorrow. Yep, this disorder has it's own chapter. Now I've allready written enough, so I think I'll just skip Multiple Personality disorder for now and just quickly cover this. Schizophrenia is defined as a type of (or group of) psychotic disorders characterized by positive and negative symptoms and associated with a deterioration in role functioning. Postive symptoms include hallucinations caused by external stimuli (can be either frightening or comforting), and delusional beliefs based on incorrect inferences about reality. Among severely disturbed patients these delusions can be very fragmented. Negative symptoms include affective and emotional disturbances (ex. failure to show signs of emotion, inablity to experience pleasure, lack of volition or will, thought blocking, and apathy). Another symptom category is disorganization, which involves disorganized speech and bizarre behavior. I think that these people are more of a threat to themselves, but it depends on the severity of the disorder. It's indeed a very complicated disorder.

But like I said, I'm not an expert, I'll pulled most of this from the text and what I learned in class. I hope I contributed with all of this haha.

[NekoSama101]

well i have agoraphobia to an extent. It really gets to me every other month or so. I wouldn't say that I can't be in public places. i'm perfectly socialbe. it's just that every now and then there's too many people around and i start hyper ventallating (sp?) and i feel very faint. I don't let it get in the way of my socail life though and i've made a good start on recovery by just dealing with the fact that lots of people are around when ever i have an "attack" i guess you could call it.

[KatanaViolet]

[quote name='NekoSama101']well i have agoraphobia to an extent. It really gets to me every other month or so. I wouldn't say that I can't be in public places. i'm perfectly socialbe. it's just that every now and then there's too many people around and i start hyper ventallating (sp?) and i feel very faint. I don't let it get in the way of my socail life though and i've made a good start on recovery by just dealing with the fact that lots of people are around when ever i have an "attack" i guess you could call it.[/quote]

It's probably not agoraphobia hun...agoraphobia is very severe. maybe a bit of social anxiety..
it sounds like you have mild panic attacks. They can be very dehibilitating.
But I'm not an expert... if they start to really effect you, see a doctor. There are coping strategies available to help with any panic attacks.