What is the Difference Between Mental Health and Mental Illness?
May is Mental Health Month
My therapist recently told me this is the number one question that his and other therapists’ clients ask — which prompted this story. He agreed that my life experiences included every aspect of the mental health system, and that the number one answer is resilience.
My childhood was wonderful and happy, although we were very poor — born in 1933, Great Depression, and in a tiny apartment with 2 older brothers & parents, and my father’s brother & his 6 kids & wife. My mother was amazing, coming from Nova Scotia farmlands that were poorer, she always gave a feeling that we were good — and taught us to never want more than we had. When I was hurt (in a minor way), she taught me to look at it realistically as well as my feelings — which taught me resilience. I recall, when I fell and scraped my knee, she said, “Let’s go see what did that to your knee”. I do not understand why some in mental health believe that poverty is a cause for mental illness!
My mother was a teacher and taught me to love learning, without pushing it on me, a first step to a good mind. However, I was born with a strong will, which occasionally got me into minor trouble throughout my K-12 years. Adolescence was a difficult time, as I began to experience normal emotional growing pains, with a will to learn and know outer life, beyond home and school. I felt hurt in high school, because I was never accepted in groups, especially by women. However, I did have one close friend, and she and I were kind of nerdy, loving learning and succeeding. We both graduated with highest honors, and all straight A’s.
My will and a love of sewing led me to work as a stitcher in garment factories, which paid for my college education, and an apartment — and taught me about the fashion industry and production, which enabled my own successful design and manufacturing business for 20 years, from 1960s to 1980s.
In 1963, the greatest disaster of my life, my mother died. I cannot say much about it, because my grief expression was considered mentally ill by psychiatrists and my siblings. I was mentally institutionalized, and given ECT shock treatments.
I had been performing in my custom fashion design business, and teaching fashion design in a Junior College. The president of that college helped me so much by telling me I still had my job at the college, when I got out of the mental hospital — and that gave me great resilience to bounce up from my fear and anger at the mental health system — which wrongly diagnosed me as mentally ill, when I was grieving my mother.
In 1975 I began the Transcendental Meditation program (TM) and went on a “Residential Weekend” at one of their sites. It was a beautiful experience of finding my deep inner spirituality. The night I came home I had a dream, that I later called a spiritual awakening. In the morning I felt like a different person, did some yoga-like motions, while feeling I was getting rid of the trauma of the ECT shock treatments from the previous decade. I was not able to explain this to my roommate, who called my brother and said I was acting very strangely. Two brothers took me off to Westford Lodge, a mental hospital. They had to carry me in, because I objected, and then some doctor punched me with some drug needles. Again, psychiatrists wrongly diagnosed as ill, when I was experiencing a deep spirituality. Fortunately, this time it was for only 10 days.
In 1978 my father died, and again my grieving was considered mentally ill, and I was mentally hospitalized for 10 days.
In the 1980s my spiritual awakening led me to research and understand all religions and spiritualities. It also led me to study the “Mental Health System”, and I found and joined, M.P.L.F. (Mental Patients Liberation Front). It was started and run by Judi Chamberlain, who wrote the book, On Our Own 1988. “The story explores her experiences while being a patient as well as the lessons she learned while using services controlled by the patients themselves”. We expressed much anger at the mental health system. We called ourselves psychiatric survivors, were anti-drugs, and wrote booklets on adverse effects of many psychiatric and psychotic drugs.
Dr. Daniel Fisher, a psychiatrist, was connected to MPLF, was an ex-patient with schizophrenia and founded the National Empowerment Center, where “research has shown that people can fully recover from even the most severe forms of mental illness. In-depth interviews of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have shown that these people are capable of regaining significant roles in society and of running their own lives. In most cases they no longer need medication, and use holistic health and peer support to continue healing.”
A poem I love by Emily Dickerson, clearly explains society’s perspective on the difference between mental health and illness:
“Much Madness is divinest Sense –
To a discerning Eye –
Much Sense — the starkest Madness.
’Tis the Majority –
In this, as all, prevail.
Assent — and you are sane –
Demur — you’re straightway dangerous –
And handled with a Chain.”
What is Good Mental Health?
Diana Meresc answers on Medium.com “Mentally Healthy people are Resilient and refuse to give up in the face of adversity … Instead of making excuses, they learn from their mistakes and move on…Mentally Healthy people can understand and manage their Emotions”
Kimberly Fosu, Medium.com, “By becoming aware of the illusions and the delusions of the world, you begin to see the universe and everything in it in a different light. Then you start feeling good about yourself. By putting your ego aside, you become emotionally stable, which allows your higher self to lead you.”
Jodie Helm, Medium.com: “Society tries to place us in certain roles that fit the system it has created. When we don’t fit nicely and neatly into what society dictates is “normal”, problems begin to arise.
In the 1990s, for a Boston University conference, I structured “Color of Emotions” to help all people understand them to become mentally healthy.
Not only does a smile represent mentally healthy, it can actually make you feel good when you smile. Try smiling sincerely, when you’re down, and you will see what I mean. “I smile to myself when I feel confused or anxious, and immediately my heart lifts my spirits
Ralph Waldo Emerson — “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Thank you for reading. Love and best wishes to my readers and everyone.
