Column: Mental illness deserves legitimacy

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, as good a time as any to become more aware of what mental illness is, what it isn't, and the challenges that those struggling with it face every day.

Mental illness has touched my family. It has touched me.

Some in my family continue to treat mental illness like an estranged in-law. It's there, but it's not there. It is the black sheep nobody talks about.

Our culture has been like that, too.

The mentally ill have been stigmatized; stereotyped as crazy, half-baked, a few bricks short of a full load, even inherently dangerous.

They are regarded as worse than the estranged in-law. They are treated like an evil step cousin twice removed; somebody we would sooner disown than acknowledge as part of our family.

But the reality is that the mentally ill are part of our family whether we like it or not. They are our neighbors, co-workers, fellow community members, residents and citizens.

It's time we understand and accept them since they live amongst us. A little good, old-fashioned, genuine compassion wouldn't hurt, either.

Persons suffering from mental illness face numerous obstacles toward their healing.

Some are medical. Mental illness is such an insidious disease that finding the right combination of treatment is akin to a tight-rope balancing act. Medications don't always work, and may have to be altered or changed frequently.

Psychotherapy alone may not provide optimal benefits. Various modalities of counseling or therapy may need to be tried along with intricate medication management before a patient can be stabilized and his or her potential unlocked, releasing a brain wrought with disease from its sentence.

Other obstacles are economic. Finding or sustaining work that exists within a person's mental tolerances can be difficult, and many mentally ill people require the assistance of a healthy person to help them manage their finances.

But most obstacles are social. Ignorance and indifference pose the greatest threats to healing, because a large part of becoming mentally or emotionally healthy is to feel socially accepted and welcome. It isn't enough for most people to feel that way just within themselves.

We all want assurance from our loved ones, our neighbors and our co-workers that we are accepted for who we are. Social efficacy is as important as self-efficacy, and may even be especially essential for those with mental illness.

But as soon as we hear the words "mental health," our brains naturally seem to conjure up unflattering images of a person laying on a couch and inviting the head-shrinking psychiatrist to their pity party.

We see mentally ill people somehow as weak, unable or unwilling to cope, perhaps lazy, and even a danger to society.

Frankly, I resent the stereotypes -- and the prejudices -- to which mentally ill people are subject, because asserting them in our culture can have significant consequences for those who suffer from mental illness.

Stigmas and stereotypes, which cast people in a negative or disadvantaged light, can lead to either direct or indirect discrimination.

"Discrimination may be obvious and direct, such as someone making a negative remark about your mental illness or your treatment," the Mayo Clinic web site reports. "Or it may be unintentional or subtle, such as someone avoiding you because the person assumes you could be unstable, violent or dangerous due to your mental health condition."

Judging people based on their mental illness can cause them to judge themselves, the clinic states.

According to the Mayo Clinic, ripple effects of prejudice toward the mentally ill include a reluctance to seek help or treatment; a lack of understanding by family, friends, co-workers or others you know; fewer opportunities for work, school or social activities, or trouble finding housing; bullying, physical violence or harassment; health insurance that doesn't adequately cover mental illness treatment; and the belief that one will never be able to succeed at certain challenges, or that one can't improve their situation.

Here's the truth about mental illness: It's a brain disease.

According to a June 2012 article published by the American Psychiatric Association, entitled "The Roots of Mental Illness," leading medical experts are now beginning to agree that mental illness has biological processes just as any other disease of the body does.

"All mental processes are brain processes, and therefore all disorders of mental functioning are biological diseases," said Eric Kandel, MD, a Nobel Prize laureate and professor of brain science at Columbia University. "The brain is the organ of the mind. Where else could [mental illness] be if not in the brain?"

Experts at the National Institute of Mental Health, like Dr. Thomas R. Insel, agree with Dr. Kandel.

Dr. Insel said all chronic diseases, including mental illnesses, have behavioral components as well as biological components.

"The only difference here is that the organ of interest is the brain instead of the heart or pancreas," he said. "But the same basic principles apply."

Medical science has shown that mental illnesses are, more often than not, caused in part by either DNA or chemical dysregulation in the brain where there can be a misfiring of synapse.

The Mayo Clinic reports that mental illness is thought to be caused by a variety of factors, including inherited genetic traits, environmental exposures, and brain chemistry.

"Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that carry signals to other parts of your brain and body," the Mayo Clinic Web site states. "When the neural networks involving these chemicals are impaired, the function of nerve receptors and nerve systems change."

Research through WebMD concurs with this.

"Some mental illnesses have been linked to abnormal functioning of nerve cell circuits or pathways that connect particular brain regions," the WebMD web site reports. "Nerve cells within these brain circuits communicate through chemicals called neurotransmitters. 'Tweaking' these chemicals -- through medicines, psychotherapy or other medical procedures -- can help brain circuits run more efficiently."

Then there is a genetic factor to take into consideration.

"Mental illness is more common in people whose blood relatives also have a mental illness," according to the Mayo Clinic web site. "Certain genes may increase your risk of developing a mental illness, and your life situation may trigger it."

In short, it isn't as simple as someone choosing to be lazy or unmotivated.

Mental illness is much more complicated than our culture has given it credit for over the years. Yet we seem content to continue buying the Reader's Digest version.

I suppose it's just easier to adopt stigmas than it is to become more aware, better educated, and develop a more accurate understanding of mental illness. Stereotypes have to get started somehow, so there must be at least some truth to them...right?

So, now, who's being lazy or unmotivated?

Take some time, whether it's this month or some other month, to learn more about mental illness.

Our world can only benefit from less prejudice and ignorance, so let's begin treating mental illness with the same concern, the same relish as we treat other health issues.

You see, I can write with some authority on this topic, because I know all too well how those suffering from mental illness feel.

I am one of them.