What Is Mental Illness?

A man living in a small town in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri has a vision. He be­lieves God has spoken to him. He begins preaching to his neighbors. Soon the whole town is in a state of religious fervor. People say he has a "calling." His reputation as a prophet and a healer spreads. One day he ventures down into the city of St. Louis and attempts to hold a prayer meeting on a main street. He is arrested. When he tells the police that he talks with God, they take him to a mental hospital.

A high school junior moves to a new town with her family. She doesn't like the new

school. She has trouble sleeping and feels tired all the time. She finds it hard to make new friends and feels unable to keep up with her schoolwork. It is hard for her to concentrate. She sees a doctor who tells her she is in perfect health.

She tells her family about her depression. She says she thinks she is mentally ill and needs to see a psychotherapist. Her family ridicules the idea. All she needs to do, they say, is cheer up. The schoolgirl wonders if she could solve her problem by running away or jumping off a bridge.

Defining Mental Illness

Who is right in the illustrations above? The "prophet" or the police? The schoolgirl or her parents? It is not always easy to identify a seri­ous mental disorder. What seems abnormal to some is considered normal by others. Many people in our society—and in other societies— feel that having visions is an important part of religion. Others feel that hearing voices or hav­ing visions is a sign of mental disturbance. Had the "prophet" stayed at home in the Ozarks, he might have been considered perfectly nor­mal. In St. Louis, however, he was thought to be mentally ill. This was because his behavior

But just being different doesn't mean that you are disturbed. Sometimes, not going along with the crowd can be the most healthful thing to do. When your friends plan to go riding with someone who has been drinking, for example, your refusal to go along may be the only sensi­ble act in the group.

In the case of the high school student, she herself decided that she was disturbed because she was depressed. But occasional depression is not necessarily a sign of mental disturbance. Everyone feels low from time to time.

The problem is that there are no hard and fast rules for defining mental illness. Even the experts disagree. However, various definitions have been devised, and we shall look at some of the more common ones.

Normal and Abnormal

Some people say that whatever most people in a society do is normal. Therefore, behavior that is different from that of the majority is ab­normal. In our society, for instance, taking 10 showers a day would be considered abnormal behavior. This is true because few people take 10 showers a day.

But does abnormal behavior indicate mental illness? Sometimes it does. However, this definition has serious limitations. Most people, for instance, are not particularly creative. Does that mean that highly creative people such as Shakespeare or Einstein were abnormal? Does it mean they were mentally ill? Obviously not. Defining mental illness in terms of normal and abnormal behavior is not always, then, a useful standard.