3 ms·

After wrestling with this linguistic problem for quite some time, the best term I’ve come up with this far is “mental injury”. I strongly prefer it to “illness”

After wrestling with this linguistic problem for quite some time, the best term I’ve come up with this far is “mental injury”. I strongly prefer it to “illness” because illness connotes a disease of the flesh, and there is no proof that any of the things we typically call mental illness (with a few notable exceptions like alzheimer’s and possibly seizures) are actually based in the body. In contrast, most of the common “mental illnesses” can be linked to specific forms of psychological trauma or injury. For example, depression and anxiety being caused by emotional abuse. Or PTSD resulting from a traumatic event. The other term that comes to mind is “fracture” or “break”. Like, I fractured my femur when I was in college. I got surgery, the femur healed. My femur didn’t get an “illness” and I certainly don’t feel any stigma or shame around the experience, other than regretting skiing way too fast. It would be cool to say the same about the depression I experienced. “What happened to you?” “Oh, I fractured my mind after a really bad relationship with an emotionally abusive ex. Yeah, my mind broke pretty good, but thankfully it was a pretty clean break, I got it set right and after a few years of psychoanalysis and some quality entheogens it’s as good as new.” It’s time to ditch the illness/disease model for mental illness and use terms like injury/fracture/break that both accurately describe the situation and clearly indicate that the situation can be remedied. The idea of chronic and untreatable mental illness is a self fulfilling prophecy and does far more harm than good.

ken 8y ago
That's interesting. The Wiktionary definition of "illness" says "an instance of a disease", and their definition of "disease" specifically says "distinct from injury insofar as the latter is usually instantaneously acquired". If one gets PTSD from a traumatic event, then, is that by definition not mental illness? Wouldn't that literally be a "mental injury"?
- mindgam3 8y ago
  Unless I’m missing something obvious - always a possibility - I believe we’re in complete agreement on PTSD being a great example of a “mental injury”. You may want to re-read my original comment.
WalterGR 8y ago
there is no proof that any of the things we typically call mental illness (with a few notable exceptions like alzheimer’s and possibly seizures) are actually based in the body. Then where are they based? Literally all we are is a body. The idea of chronic and untreatable mental illness is a self fulfilling prophecy and does far more harm than good. Who has this idea? I’ve never heard of depression or anxiety being described as untreatable. Just like the common cold is an “illness” and nobody claims it’s untreatable.
- mindgam3 8y ago
  They are symbolic constructs, based in the mind and expressed through the body. Like memes. As opposed to genes, which are also expressed through the body but which are chemical in nature. Perhaps “garden variety” depression and anxiety aren’t the best examples here, although both of them do have their severe forms and even clinical labels like “treatment resistant depression”. I’m thinking particularly of more severe diagnoses like bipolar or schizophrenia, which are generally assumed in mainstream western psychiatry since at least the 60s to be lifelong illnesses whose symptoms may be treatable with medication but for which there is no known “cure”. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who watched his sister receive a bipolar diagnosis after a suicide attempt in late teens, and then watched her develop more severe “bipolar” behaviors as a result of the so-called antipsychotic drugs she was prescribed. Only years later did I realize that her suicide attempt was a direct result of severe chronic parental abuse that she was enduring at the time. Of course the relevant information never made it to the doctors who were forced to come up with a reason for a young girl attempting suicide, hence bipolar. My sister died by suicide last year. I can’t speak for others, but in her case the bipolar label was both a convenient cover-up for severe child abuse and essentially a death sentence for my sister’s soul and ultimately her life. I suspect that the same could be happening in many cases where abnormal or self-harming behavior is in fact a reaction to abuse. It’s just so much easier to tell someone that they have a chemical imbalance in their brain and it’s nobody’s fault, rather than confront a child abuse situation.

ken 8y ago

That's interesting. The Wiktionary definition of "illness" says "an instance of a disease", and their definition of "disease" specifically says "distinct from injury insofar as the latter is usually instantaneously acquired". If one gets PTSD from a traumatic event, then, is that by definition not mental illness? Wouldn't that literally be a "mental injury"?

mindgam3 8y ago
Unless I’m missing something obvious - always a possibility - I believe we’re in complete agreement on PTSD being a great example of a “mental injury”. You may want to re-read my original comment.

WalterGR 8y ago

there is no proof that any of the things we typically call mental illness (with a few notable exceptions like alzheimer’s and possibly seizures) are actually based in the body. Then where are they based? Literally all we are is a body. The idea of chronic and untreatable mental illness is a self fulfilling prophecy and does far more harm than good. Who has this idea? I’ve never heard of depression or anxiety being described as untreatable. Just like the common cold is an “illness” and nobody claims it’s untreatable.

mindgam3 8y ago
They are symbolic constructs, based in the mind and expressed through the body. Like memes. As opposed to genes, which are also expressed through the body but which are chemical in nature. Perhaps “garden variety” depression and anxiety aren’t the best examples here, although both of them do have their severe forms and even clinical labels like “treatment resistant depression”. I’m thinking particularly of more severe diagnoses like bipolar or schizophrenia, which are generally assumed in mainstream western psychiatry since at least the 60s to be lifelong illnesses whose symptoms may be treatable with medication but for which there is no known “cure”. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who watched his sister receive a bipolar diagnosis after a suicide attempt in late teens, and then watched her develop more severe “bipolar” behaviors as a result of the so-called antipsychotic drugs she was prescribed. Only years later did I realize that her suicide attempt was a direct result of severe chronic parental abuse that she was enduring at the time. Of course the relevant information never made it to the doctors who were forced to come up with a reason for a young girl attempting suicide, hence bipolar. My sister died by suicide last year. I can’t speak for others, but in her case the bipolar label was both a convenient cover-up for severe child abuse and essentially a death sentence for my sister’s soul and ultimately her life. I suspect that the same could be happening in many cases where abnormal or self-harming behavior is in fact a reaction to abuse. It’s just so much easier to tell someone that they have a chemical imbalance in their brain and it’s nobody’s fault, rather than confront a child abuse situation.