What Makes Mental Illness Scary?

For centuries, mental illness has sparked many negative emotions amongst us ranging from fear, shame, guilt and pity.

Being a mental health professional, I have been closely connected to those with mental health issues and their loved ones. As a professional, I would say that being mentally ill is not the end of the world. However, it is not easy either. Sometimes I wonder, given a choice between a physical illness and a mental illness what will opt for? almost as a reflex, I say that physical illness is many times better that mental illness. But, if I pause and give this a thought, I wonder if my fears about being mentally unwell is justified.

Why are we all afraid of being mentally ill or scared of people with mental illness? there are many factors that sets mental illness apart from physical illness. Let us try to look into these factors closely and see if we can understand why is being mentally ill so different from any other illness.

 Fear of loss of control:

The biggest fear that mental illness brings in us, is the fear of a loss of control. If we lose control over our mind, well there is nothing much that we have a control on. We can no longer regulate our thoughts, emotions, behaviour and actions. But, is this actually true? if a person is suffering from mental illness, for instance depression, does he not a have a control over his behaviour and actions? a person with physical illness such as stroke is unable to control his body movements, his speech as well as loses bladder control and thus experiences an equally apprehensive loss of control.

Being mentally unwell is no doubt distressing and disabling, but the extend of disability depends on the severity of illness. Barring few severe mental illness, people with mental illness are still able to regulate themselves and have a control over their minds to varying extent.

Fear of never being well again:

Another fear that haunts people who are mentally unwell is will they ever be well again?

A person who has schizophrenia may have to continue the medications for life but so does someone who has diabetes. Majority of mental illnesses are for a short span of time and they can be effectively treated. The second category is those illnesses that come and go in episodes. For e. G, you may have depressive episodes or someone with bipolar disorder may have episodes where they have manic or depressive phases. However, in between these episodes they might be able to lead a productive life. There is a category mental illness which is severe, lasts for life and needs to be managed forever but so is the case with a lot of physical illnesses that are chronic, disabling and needs life long treatment.

Fear of medications that are used in psychiatric disorder

Every single medication that has ever been used can have some or other side effects, even the placebos. If you look into the side effect profile of even commonly used medications like flu medicine, you will be scared to use it. So, what sets the medications used for mental illness apart from their counterparts?

The general perception is that these medicines are addictive, have a lot of side effects, they will make you drowsy and sleepy and that once started it has to be taken for life. There are a vast range of medications that we use in psychiatry like antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anti-anxiety and sleeping tablets. As far as addictive potential is concerned, only a small fractions of these medication are actually addictive (for instance sleeping tablets). Most of the medications that are used to treat mental health disorders are not addictive. For using the addictive medicine, there are guidelines and recommendations to prescribe them so as to ensure that the person taking them does not get dependent on it.

Like any other medication, these medicines do come with side effects. However, there are many newer medicines available today with minimal side effects. And if a person develops a side effect with one of the medications, there is always an option of adjusting the dose or substituting the medicine.

Thinking about the durations of treatment, how long the medications needs to be continued depends on a lot of factors like the severity of illness, response to treatment and existing psychosocial support. Like any other long standing illness such as hypertension or diabetes which requires long term treatment, medications for mental health disorders may need to be taken for a long term, but not necessarily for life.

Fear of being locked down

The picture of being mentally ill, especially in a developing country like india is portrayed as someone who is tied and isolated in a mental institution. Only a minority of people who have mental illness need hospitalization at some point in their lives. The reason why a mentally ill person needs to be in hospital can be if there is a grave risk to their life or a risk to others due to their mental illness. Admissions are usually for a short term or for as long as it is needed.

Fear of not being understood by others

How can someone understand what I am going through if they have not experienced it themselves? fear of not being understood is something that refrains a mental ill person from sharing how they are feeling with their friends and family. It is hard, as a lot of people are not comfortable and are scared to talk to people about their mental health problems. This lack of understanding emerges from the lack of awareness about mental illness and the most effective way to increase the awareness is by talking about it.

Stigma

Last but not the least, there is this whole issue of stigma that is attached to being mentally ill. This stigma can affect various domains of the lives of people with mental illness. It can affect their personal relationships, their jobs as well as their social lives. A lot people are discriminated on the grounds of mental illness and I believe that is what makes being mentally ill so scary. Majority of people are not able to sustain a job or form a lasting relationship not because of the mental illness itself but because of the stigma associated with it.

It is high time that we deal with the emotions that comes with the term mental illness. Once we as a society are able to fight the fear, shame and guilt that is linked with being mentally ill, it will be far more easier to treat mental illness as well as live with mental illness.