po’fokes’ mentalities

The Human Brain

One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nation's mental health, published yesterday... Although parallel studies in 27 other countries are not yet complete, the new numbers suggest that the United States is poised to rank No. 1 globally for mental illness, researchers said..."we're also [the world] leaders in this one particular domain that we'd rather not be," said Ronald Kessler, the Harvard professor of health care policy who led the effort, called the National Comorbidity Survey Replication...The exhaustive government-sponsored effort, based on in-depth interviews with more than 9,000 randomly selected Americans, finds that the prevalence of U.S. mental illness has remained roughly flat in the past decade - a possible glimmer of hope given that previous decades had suggested the rates were gradually rising...But the rest of the news from the survey - which did not include some of the most serious disorders, such as schizophrenia, for which patients are often institutionalized - is mostly discouraging...Less than half of those in need get treated. Those who seek treatment typically do so after a decade or more of delays, during which time they are likely to develop additional problems. And the treatment they receive is usually inadequate. - Rick Weiss, Washington Post

There is no big secret to the fact that many of us in the “lower income” brackets struggle along with this or that sort of neurosis, or whatever. Were we rich enough, we could simply pay some psychologist to treat us through counseling and other forms of therapy, but, seeing as how we ain’t that rich, we have to attempt to treat ourselves, which is sometimes worse than doing nothing. Many of the drug treatment programs and AA and so forth can at least outline a basic strategy of just taking it one day, or sometimes one minute (maybe even one second), at a time.

In my own situation, and in many of the situations concerning veterans, we may have un-diagnosed (or under diagnosed) PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), which tends to stay with you for life, and what becomes necessary is that you recognize the anger and the goofiness as it begins welling up inside of you, and then getting out of there, or taking a few deep breaths and figuring out how best to avoid whatever it is you fear is going to happen. Mostly bad things happen when you get like that, and you sometimes feel this overwhelming (and it is overwhelming) need to do whatever it is that is going to torpedo you, and you know it, but still you go ahead and do it. At that moment, nothing else much seems to matter.

There are also a whole gamut of other mental problems that exist to plague and ruin our lives: bi-polar syndrome (which used to be manic-depression); schizophrenia; psychotic this or that; PTSD; neurosis; personality problems; severe clinical depression; ADD; being an adult child of an alcoholic; etc, and the list goes on. Chances are, without money to purchase first rate psychotherapy (and that stuff’s expensive), these problems are going to hang around for a while, and continue to plague our existences. It is also sometimes very difficult to take whatever therapy you do manage to find seriously. You always feel as if you’re one step ahead of whatever the idiot you are telling all this stuff to is going to say (or do or recommend) next. For the most part, they (counselors) seem so removed from any emotional attachment to you, that you cannot trust them, or don’t want to anyway. It is just extremely difficult.

In the long run, it is probably best to take seriously, anything anyone with an appropriate credential might say to you, and work on your problems for your own sake, and not for their sake. You’re right in believing they don’t care; how could they? They have umpteen people to deal with everyday, and they’d be one huge freaking mess if they became emotionally involved with everyone of their clients. They simply can’t afford to get close to people outside of their own circle of family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and so forth.

The best many of us can manage is to seek to recognize our own most debilitating problems, and through sheer force of will try to overcome the behaviors, if not the impulses, to act out whatever crap we have this overwhelming need to act out. Do it for yourself, because they are certainly problems, many of which are simply not going to go away (I’m sixty and still feel these needs), and they will continue to mess with your life every bit as much as some asshole you meet on the street, or who is handling your forms at whatever agency. Just shine the jerks on, and go about your business trying as well as you might to cope with whatever you are presented with.