Re: Define mental illness?

On Sat, 15 May 1999, Abrigon Gusiq wrote:

> Isn't Mental Illness just a way to say "Evolution"? Those who can not handle
No.  It's supposed to refer to a distinct class of behaviors (including
"mental life" as a behavior) that is actually pathological in effect.
This is in part to distinguish it from otherwise non-pathological
eccentricity.

To use an analogy:

If I have a double-jointed thumb--that is, it can bend forwards or
backwards at the base with equal facility, that is an anatomical
eccentricity.  However, if my thumb has gangrene and is a bit of much
that flops in any direction, that is an anatomical pathology (a severe one).

> I have known persons who live on the street, even in the coldest of weather,
> and they are well balanced, or atleast it seems so. So they are not into the
"Street people" does not mean "mentally ill".  I have known well-adjusted
street people, and I have known severely mentally ill street people.
Likewise, I have known well-adjusted people in expensive houses and
severely mentally ill people in expensive houses (although the latter
often spend a good deal of time in a well-upholstered clinical setting,
as well).