Mental Illness

[logen]

Several times I have included in one of my posts one of my favorite mantras, that is none of us, no one, is one thing and can be defined intelligently by any single action or statement.
To that end, I have spent a fair amount of my spare time trying to learn, to understand, mental illness, undoubtedly driven by two of my best “young” friends who both committed suicide in their (our) teens and then reinvigorated by a nephew OD’ing after being off drugs for 3years. Now I am no expert by any means, not remotely close by even lay standards but I remain as curious as ever, particularly as to the stigma associated with the condition as opposed to other diseases.
So there have been two people, whose openness regarding their dealing their mental illness situations have left an impression on me. I offer these in separate posts FWIW….

 

[logen]

Wax is a classically trained actress who was in Chariots of Fire amongst many other things, a comedian, an interviewer, and a serious documentarian. Very close friend of Alan Rickman’s who she credits with “standing up” and protecting her from an abusive father.

 

[logen]

This is a bit longer and is with a legendary British comedian, Spike Milligan. He was the driving force behind The Goon Show, a truly iconic British radio comedy whose cast included a young Peter Sellers who was a life long friend of Milligan’s, and Q5, a BBC TV show. Members Monty Python were and are very effusive about the influence both had on them. There are interviews with the individual Pythons in which they freely admit the free flowing stream of consciousness, lack of sketch “punch lines” setup of Flying Circus was taken directly from Milligan’s use those approaches first on Q5.
In addition, Milligan wrote books on his WW2 experiences, several books of poetry, and children’s books. He was extremely honest and outspoken, including, but not limited to, his times in mental institutions. He rather famously, when receiving an award and upon the presenter reading to him a congratulatory note from the Prince of Wales, famously replied that the Prince was forever “a groveling bastard”.

Certainly not a thread for everyone, maybe not anyone, but in my mind great non-clinical insights into a subject many shun.

 

[fuchsia]

This is a bit longer and is with a legendary British comedian, Spike Milligan. He was the driving force behind The Goon Show, a truly iconic British radio comedy whose cast included a young Peter Sellers who was a life long friend of Milligan’s, and Q5, a BBC TV show. Members Monty Python were and are very effusive about the influence both had on them. There are interviews with the individual Pythons in which they freely admit the free flowing stream of consciousness, lack of sketch “punch lines” setup of Flying Circus was taken directly from Milligan’s use those approaches first on Q5.
In addition, Milligan wrote books on his WW2 experiences, several books of poetry, and children’s books. He was extremely honest and outspoken, including, but not limited to, his times in mental institutions. He rather famously, when receiving an award and upon the presenter reading to him a congratulatory note from the Prince of Wales, famously replied that the Prince was forever “a groveling bastard”.

Certainly not a thread for everyone, maybe not anyone, but in my mind great non-clinical insights into a subject many shun.

I served as Training Director at Creedmoor and then Bronx Psychiatric Center for more than 25 years, after starting as a community organizer VISTA volunteer working with families of substance abusers, concerned citizens and recovering people. I was Deputy Training Director of New York City's Addiction Services Agency at age 24. Looking in the mirror at someone who is retired from being retired, I have recently reframed my own understanding of my work to the idea that I was a "story teller", creating pathways for people to move from societal stigmatizing views of mental illness and substance use disorder to the beginning of professional and service provider understanding. A couple of quirks along the way:
* Does Obama care create a false emphasis on medical service in behavioral health care with too little regard for psycho-social issues?
* Do not assume that people stop learning while they are in the throes of behavioral health disorders and that they will not need help putting aside how they have adapted to being ill even after a biological issue is resolved.
* I had the privilege of working with the late Lew Opler who co-authored the PANSS (positive and negative symptom scale) which looks at schizophrenia as having elements of positive symptoms (add-ons that shouldn't be there like hallucinations, delusions and bizarre behaviors) and negative symptoms (things that are missing like the ability to concentrate, emotional expressiveness, self-awareness of feelings). Almost all modern psychiatric drugs have impacted positive symptoms and with the exception of clozaril, very few have had any effect on negative symptoms.
*The work of Vincent Fellitti, M.D. at UC San Diego and Kaiser Permanente in a body of research called ACES (Adverse Childhood Events Studies) highlighted the relationship between substance use disorder and physical and sexual abuse in childhood. Research by one of my colleagues, Kristina Muenzenmaier, M.D. highlighted the relationship between mental illness and physical and sexual abuse in childhood. They are among many researchers who are considering alterations in brain development related to trauma.

Probably way more than my fellow redmen wanted or needed to know but as someone who can't watch tv or movies or about behavioral health problems and who does not like anecdotal representations of one person's story, please forgive my putting in more than two cents.

 

[BrooklynRed]

Thanks for sharing Spike Milligan's interview on the subject. Spike was a good subject as he was diagnosed with bi-polar disease. He was an Irish comedian as he rejected British citizenship when they wanted him to sign an oath of allegiance despite his WW2 service. His humor was brilliant, and I have read his book Pucktoon and his 7-book series on his WW2 experiences which I would recommend.