Posted by LostBoyinNC43 on December 24, 2012, at 9:47:22 [reposted on December 26, 2012, at 10:23:03 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Please sign this official White House petition » LostBoyinNC43, posted by SLS on December 24, 2012, at 5:20:35
No I am not diagnosed with schizophrenia myself. However, I am diagnosed with major depression, chronic and severe. The reason I think schizophrenia should be formally re-categorized is due to the fact it is the "most biological" of the mental illnesses. And if you could possibly get schizophrenia formally re-categorized as Neurological, bipolar could probably be followed up behind it. With some forms of clinical depression behind that.
Hence, I believe I could benefit by getting the ball rolling with schizophrenia. This is not my original idea btw. Freud strongly believed schizophrenia was primarily, a neuro illness and did not believe it was very treatable by talk psychotherapy or milder forms of treatments that might work (or might not) for neurosis, mild to moderate depression and so on. Additionally, Neuropsychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, MD has been outspoken on his belief that this needs to occur at some point. That guy has been interviewed on the TV show Sixty Minutes at least once for his views.
I just believe now is a good time to get the ball rolling. And get these more severe forms of mental illness (I personally consider them medical illnesses, myself but I dont say that much publicly because I dont believe many will understand.
BTW, dementia is currently formally classified as a Neurological illness, not a psychiatric one. If you believe dementia is a Neurological brain based illness, you ought to believe schizophrenia is also a Neurological illness and sign my petition.
thanks,
Eric AKA "LostBoyinNC"
> This is a great topic that you have brought up.
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> What is your definition of "mental illness", and in what ways is schizophrenia different as a phenomenon that it should be excluded from that definition?
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> Actually, I think your proposal will do very little more than amplify the stigma associated with the term "mental illness". Alzheimer's Dementia is also a mental illness, and is no less biological in its phenomenology than Parkinson's Disease. Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder have also been demonstrated to have genetic and physiological underpinnings. What about ADHD? Should this disorder be removed from the domain of mental illness, despite the fact that it alters mental function? Surely, schizophrenia alters mental function.
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> Do you have schizophrenia? What about any other psychiatic challenges? If so, do you feel somehow stigmatized when anyone refers to you as having a mental illness? Is it possible that you yourself stigmatize mental illness by wanting to separate yourself from it? If your goal is solely to get more funding for research into schizophrenia, why not just get the government to appropriate a greater share of its NIH budget to the NIMH? Why leave everyone else out in the cold?
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> I am very happy to see people like you become activists for the mentally ill. However, I am not sure that I can support your idea at this point.
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>
> - Scott
poster:LostBoyinNC43
thread:1033828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20120327/msgs/1033834.html