Public Comment

"If you're going to take away the money, then you should take away the label." --the words of a long-deceased friend, an activist in mental health with a spotty reputation and background. And he was on spot with that comment. It was his response to the griping of taxpayers who don't want to foot the bill of paying the livelihood of mentally ill disabled people. 

When words of medical and scientific weight are used to describe us as less than, it impacts our lives; it excludes us from employment, and it negatively impacts how we are regarded. And who wants to be defined as less than, a person thought to be intrinsically inferior? When you label someone as "schizophrenic", it shapes how we are perceived by people, and it impacts self-respect. 

Words have power. They shape people's perceptions and thoughts. And when you have enough people agreeing that mentally ill people are bad, are "unclean" are "nuisances", it paves the way for us to be segregated, discriminated against, or worse. 

The word "delusion" has derogatory implications. People with psychosis are said to have delusions, while those considered normal but who are just wrong--have "illusions." What is the difference? "Delusions" seem to be caused by a neurological disease while illusions are mostly the result of being mistaken. Yet it certainly doesn't feel very good to be called "delusional." 

One opening that some perpetrators and abusers take, when targeting people for abuse, is to defame the intended victim(s) with accusations, with insults, or with implications of being less than human.  

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People could be at varying places on the yardstick. On one end of the yardstick are those with severe psychosis who can't acknowledge even the simplest, most basic realities. On the other end, you would find someone whose thinking is about as error-free as human beings get. But who is to be the judge of this? Most people believe themselves to be the correct one. (And if you don't take your own side, no one else will.) 

Psychosis is a physically caused disease that harmfully impacts the mind, especially the ability to reason. Psychotic conditions, as with many other diseases, can kill you. If you have a psychotic condition, you should take it seriously. 

If you are too far gone, you can't realize that you have psychosis. By that time, other people must intervene and get you to safety. 

Illusion poses a threat. And when you come out of illusion, you will likely face trouble that was created by you when ill. And while you were out, much of this trouble was created by not addressing what was needed, and secondly, by your mind and body speaking and acting on illusions. 

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When I woke in the morning before I began this essay, I had a horrible feeling of pessimism. Pessimism--what good is it? Does it impel a person to solve their problems? Or does it cause us to hide under the bed? 

What does getting upset do to us or for us? 

When the mind becomes overly upset, it reduces usable mental capacity. If we are to do things for ourselves that could better our life circumstances, we are better off when we have a method of clearing up the upset emotions, so that we will have more mental resources with which to tackle a problem. Clearing an upset can happen in many ways. Sometimes a pill will do it for us. Sometimes a cognitive technique will do it. 

It seems as though the medications intended to help calm the mind are just as effective when an upset feeling is reality based versus not. The antianxiety pill doesn't care; it just changes brain activity, affecting the function of the mind. The same goes for a cognitive method. If you employ a cognitive method, or a mindfulness method, to clear up a negative emotion, it will work whether the upset from something is from something accurate or not. 

I can't give advice about psychiatric medications or medical treatment in these writings. I can tell you that I consume prescribed medication and it makes the difference. Usually, if doctors say you need treatment, they could be telling you the truth. 

My pessimism came about when I stopped substituting delusions for facts. My life path is in jeopardy. I need to take action to fix that. 

The great writers whose work I've read started out when young with a day job. Meanwhile, even while I'm doing everything in reverse order, and while I have a substantial and multifaceted disability, I need to get a job. I will update you in next month's edition of how the job search is going. 

Those who live in illusion but whose minds haven't gone into total psychosis are a source of opportunity for the unscrupulous. Magical thinking can leave a person and their pocketbook wide open.  

When illusion substitutes itself for facts, we are in trouble. When we reach facts, we may acknowledge this trouble. This can cause emotional upset. When we realize things have been neglected or done wrong, and further, when we become aware of how this has impacted us, it can cause a lot of distress. Consequently, it is not an easy feat to leave psychosis behind and connect to reality. 

They say "naivete is not a virtue." In some instances, the mind produces illusions because it is too hard to face an ugly truth. 

Even when we seek a job, honest work for honest pay, we need to filter out the scams, and we need to be vigilant for them. When you can't accept and deal with how hard it is, your mind is tempted to return to delusion, because delusion might be telling you comforting things. You can't keep following that path indefinitely. At some point, if you are to survive, you must face at least some level of uncomfortable realities.  

Jack Bragen writes commentary and some fiction, and lives in the East Bay.