Types And Classifications Of Mental Illness

Manic-depressive psychoses involve extreme swings in mood, far beyond the essentially normal feelings of elation or depression. (Ev­eryone has some mood swings.) The hyper-manic may talk incessantly, pursue a flight of ideas, and sometimes require restraint for his protection. In acute depression the patient may feel so guilty, project so much anger upon himself, that he does not want to con­tinue living. He may absolutely refuse to eat and may plan or attempt suicide. The manic stage can be likened to reactions beyond those more commonly observed as extroversion. Manic-depressive reactions often, but not necessarily, move in a cycle. For weeks, months or years the person is depressed; then, for no apparent reason he feels unduly elated — and vice versa. The intellectual and emotional faculties are not impaired.

Related to the depressive phase of the cycle is the condition known as involutional melancholia, which usually occurs in women at the menopause.

Senile dementia describes the childishness of old age, the deterioration of mental and emotional facilities that sometimes accompa­nies the aging process. Often, however, there is some actual damage to the blood-vessels of the brain. This condition rarely occurs be­fore 60.

Hysteria describes the neurotic reaction characterized by lack of control over acts and emotions and by conversion of inner anxiety into physical symptoms (e.g. hysterical pa­ralysis

"Shell shock" was a term used in World War I. as was the term "combat fatigue" in World War II, to describe an essentially hys­terical psychosomatic reaction to military situations involving danger. The soldier's ego seeks to be removed from and escape the zone of danger without disgrace. "If you're sick, you can't fight," runs the winning argument in the unconscious mind.

"Nervous breakdown'' is a popular phrase used to describe almost any kind of mental illness, mild or severe, which incapacitates an individual and compels him to retire from his regular work or haunts. In a more professional vocabulary the milder breakdowns are often described as neurasthenia, psychasthenia, anx­iety state, or mild hysteria

Psychopathic personality is a vague term used to denote individuals who have no par­ticular mental disease but who cannot adjust themselves morally, socially, or legally to their environment. A high proportion of crim­inals vagrants, and delinquents fall into this category.

Particularly to be deplored is the label "psy­cho" on any individual who has ever suffered a mental illness. Careful study of the inti­mate lives of great and famous people reveals that many of them at one time or another suffered from some form of mental illness. Abraham Lincoln, for example, was subject to deep fits of depression.

More than half of all hospital patients are in mental hospitals, and more than half of these are suffering from schizophrenia. Most of these patients (90%) are in state hospitals, of which there are about 600 in the United States. Most of these are large hospitals, with 2000 to 12,000 beds, and most are badly overcrowded and woefully understaffed.

The cost of caring for these patients is high. Approximately 25% of the income of some states must be appropriated for the care of the mentally ill (and the feeble-minded). It costs United States taxpayers over $1 billion a year —or about $3 million a day —to care for mentally ill patients. In strange contrast, rel­atively few millions yearly are spent on research in mental illness.