The Mentally Ill
Hi Doc,
There is no reason to feel a bit strange for bringing up this topic. Schizophrenia and psychosis is a fascinating study. I have read up a bit about it. There are opinions that run the gamut. Most theorists believe that psychotic illnesses are not fixable. A few think that they can be fixed, depending upon the person and the level and degree of their illness. As a psych student, I did a lot of reading about how Jung approached "dementia praecox," aka schizophrenia, and he had a number of successes in treating these sorts of patients. However, it does not work in every case. There are some patients who are too far gone; their ego has been replaced with a more or less collective sort of personality. Cases like that are very sad because they are not fixable.
In recent times, psychiatry has turned to drugs to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately, the cases are chronic, so the drug use is life-long - or at least until the body rejects the drug and then it has to be replaced.
As to psychotic episodes, those aren't always a bad thing. They can be good if it corrects a problem that the person is having. As an example: there was a patient, an American, who once saw Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist/psychotherapist. After listening to her first few dreams, he realized she was working up to a psychotic break that would be devastating to her personality. However, he did see a way she could survive once that break happened so he chose to work with her. During her treatment, he pumped her full of information and symbolic interpretations, knowing that this would be vital for her once the break occurred. She was not aware, however, that she was moving in that direction - and he felt it best not to say too much about it. So, after she returned the to States, within a few years, the psychosis became manifest. She was interned in a mental institute until it all resolved itself. In the end, all of the work she had done with Dr. Jung coalesced her personality and she not only survived the psychotic break, but thrived after it happened. She went on to lead a normal and happier life. So, psychoses aren't the end of the world per se, however, they can be devastating if they spiral downward and lead the person into a destructive pattern of psychotic breaks - one after the other.
sigh.. All of that said, mental illnesses are a fascinating study.
This may seem like a strange topic, but I've been interested for some time in mental illnesses. I would hate to have one myself, but I'm particularly interested in schizophrenia and psychotic illnesses - I read that about one percent of the world's population is going to experience a schizophrenic episode at some point in their lives - I think that works out to be 600, 000 people in Britain. I don't think all of them have the full-blown illness, but they experience at least one episode.
Hi Doc,
There is no reason to feel a bit strange for bringing up this topic. Schizophrenia and psychosis is a fascinating study. I have read up a bit about it. There are opinions that run the gamut. Most theorists believe that psychotic illnesses are not fixable. A few think that they can be fixed, depending upon the person and the level and degree of their illness. As a psych student, I did a lot of reading about how Jung approached "dementia praecox," aka schizophrenia, and he had a number of successes in treating these sorts of patients. However, it does not work in every case. There are some patients who are too far gone; their ego has been replaced with a more or less collective sort of personality. Cases like that are very sad because they are not fixable.
In recent times, psychiatry has turned to drugs to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately, the cases are chronic, so the drug use is life-long - or at least until the body rejects the drug and then it has to be replaced.
As to psychotic episodes, those aren't always a bad thing. They can be good if it corrects a problem that the person is having. As an example: there was a patient, an American, who once saw Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist/psychotherapist. After listening to her first few dreams, he realized she was working up to a psychotic break that would be devastating to her personality. However, he did see a way she could survive once that break happened so he chose to work with her. During her treatment, he pumped her full of information and symbolic interpretations, knowing that this would be vital for her once the break occurred. She was not aware, however, that she was moving in that direction - and he felt it best not to say too much about it. So, after she returned the to States, within a few years, the psychosis became manifest. She was interned in a mental institute until it all resolved itself. In the end, all of the work she had done with Dr. Jung coalesced her personality and she not only survived the psychotic break, but thrived after it happened. She went on to lead a normal and happier life. So, psychoses aren't the end of the world per se, however, they can be devastating if they spiral downward and lead the person into a destructive pattern of psychotic breaks - one after the other.
sigh.. All of that said, mental illnesses are a fascinating study.