Public Comment

Affluent people are well connected to some realities but disconnected from others. This dichotomy allows working people to function in their jobs and lives. Bleeding heart compassion would get in the way of being able to pay the mortgage every month. People in general aren't emotionally prepared and don't have time to help every beggar on the street or try to help when they see someone appearing down and out. Affluent people focus their expertise on their jobs so that they and their families will be able to live well and get the best of life. Empathy is fine, but involvement of time and energy would make most people's lives impossible. 

Many people volunteer, and this is commendable. Many people's careers are in the helping professions. Many people do care. Despite this, the predicament is out of control. 

The middle-class citizens often do not understand mentally disabled people. And people do not get it that we who have mental illness sometimes experience incredible suffering. In many instances, the diseases, that as a broad term I'm calling "mental illness," when not correctly treated, can cause extreme mental and even physical suffering, coming from within. 

Mentally ill people usually need medication. But medication won't help if the stomach is empty and if there is no shelter from the elements. 

When a typical person sees someone in public to whom they attribute mental illness, they might think they are not seeing a person. They might think they're seeing a thing, or that they are seeing a "sick person." And the individual with mental illness is dealt with accordingly. This is termed "stigma" by members of National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. NAMI membership is active to try and wake up Americans and make people understand that mentally ill people are people, ones who have neurobiological diseases and who need treatment and help. 

A mentally ill person in a public place may not seem to be "normal" even when we are in recovery. This is because medication affects our appearance as do the symptoms of the illness. When people see a very paranoid person, it is usually apparent the person isn't normal. When people see a person with poorly fitting clothes, whose grooming is not up to par, and/or has uncontrollable movements (brought about by medication) they might believe they are seeing someone less than human. And this is not correct. Mentally ill people are in fact human, no more, no less. 

Public perception is one of the barriers that prevent adequate funding to help people with mental conditions. If people could just contemplate for a few moments that they are materialistically very fortunate, and those less fortunate are suffering, it might sway them to vote into office politicians dedicated to help mentally ill people. Often, mentally ill people are too impaired to help themselves. 

Mental illnesses are not a moral deficiency, and usually not a lack of intelligence. Something goes wrong with the brain, and the individual, for example, if psychotic, can't connect to basic reality. Their minds have split off from reality and can't track. Reality is replaced with internally generated "delusional" content. If a person is bipolar or clinically depressed, other things are malfunctioning in the brain. In bipolar, the mood goes from elation to severe depression and back, and the view of reality is impaired at both ends. A person suffering from depression may believe their life is unbearable. 

Lack of intelligence is not the issue. Lack of morals is not the issue. These are diseases caused biologically, and they need to be dealt with accordingly. That's why doctors normally medicate. 

The writer of this article has suffered from a psychotic condition since 1982. I am in a remission of nearly thirty years mostly because, since 1996, I've consistently taken prescribed medication. In the case of people with schizophrenia, it is often very hard to convince the patient to take the meds and to do this consistently. Yet when we log enough time of consistently treating the illness, many things become possible. 

When I set out to write this essay, I had an idea that I would accuse people of being bourgeois and uncaring. But now I feel a shift from being accusatory. 

Many people cop an attitude of being better people than a mentally ill person, characterized by the fact that they have a job and raise kids. If I could have done that I would have. It is a privilege to be in that position, not a mark of valor. Some get this and some don't. 

Certainly, most have worked for what they have. But often they have been blessed with good genetics and a good environment. Some individuals might have difficulty seeing the fact that, "There but for the grace of God, so go I."