Experienced Mental Health Professional

If you feel you may be suffering from a mental illness, or could be in danger of doing so, we urge you in the strongest terms to seek the advice of an experienced mental health professional - a psychologist or psychiatrist.

(ed. note: Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in mental illness. They have M.D. degrees and are licensed to prescribe medicine. Psychologists hold graduate degrees and practice "talk therapy". Although general practitioners - regular medical doctors - may legally prescribe antidepressants and other medications, most do not have the training or experience to diagnose and treat the more serious mental illnesses.)

This is important for more reasons than to simply relieve your suffering. If left untreated, a mental illness can cause permanent damage. For instance, besides the kindling (a process in which the brain becomes increasingly sensitive to stress and eventually begins to show episodes of abnormal activity even in the absence of a stressor) that occurs with untreated manic depression, there is the damage that bad decisions or the inability to maintain relationships can do to your life. If you get severely depressed, there is the danger of suicide. It is much easier to deal with a mental illness before you become desperately ill. Look at it this way: an office visit is much cheaper than a hospital stay.

Importance of an Accurate Mental Health Diagnosis

Accurate diagnosis is important. It is difficult to diagnose many mental disorders, and if you're misdiagnosed you may not receive the treatment you need. For example, it's common to mistake manic depression for schizophrenia or ADHD.  Sometimes, doctors misdiagnose depression when it's really bipolar. In a case like that, there is the danger that antidepressants may cause one to become manic.

Part of the diagnostic process is obtaining a patient history. That means the doctor will want to know not only your history of psychological problems, but also any mental illness among family members and even distant relatives. Many psychiatric disorders are believed to have a genetic component.

Do not engage in the self-deception of self-diagnosis. It is common for people to hear about illnesses of all sorts on Oprah or some other tv show (or the Internet!) and to then fool themselves into thinking they share the diagnosis with the talk show guest. If you research an illness carefully enough before you consult a doctor, you can even fool him into agreeing with your diagnosis.

Failure to diagnose correctly can be life threatening. A number of serious medical conditions cause disturbances in thought and affect, for example stroke, brain injury as well as cancer of the brain, thyroid or adrenal gland. When the grandmother of Mindfulness author Ellen J. Langer complained to her doctor that a snake living in her head was giving her headaches, he diagnosed her as senile and refused to investigate further. It was only after her death that an autopsy found the brain tumor that killed her.

Mental disturbance can be caused by heavy metal poisoning - the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland was inspired by real hat makers who were sickened by the mercury used in the manufacture of felt hats.

Drugs of abuse can cause mental disturbances that last long after the drug itself has worn off. Besides the damage that addiction can do to your life and that of your loved ones, drugs, including alcohol, can cause such things as paranoia, anxiety and depression.

It is common for people with psychiatric illnesses to "self-medicate", but this ultimately causes more problems than it solves. Besides the alcoholic drowning their sorrows with drink, alcohol suppresses hallucinations for the schizophrenic. Many times, patients have been warned by their doctors of the tempting danger that drugs hold; especially for the manic-depressive.

Neuroses can be caused by unresolved traumas early in life. For example, childhood sexual abuse and violence, or living through times of famine and war. Having an addicted family member usually causes the entire family to behave in dysfunctional ways that leave lasting scars on everyone.

Perhaps you carry a terrible secret, a secret that you've never told anyone. Carrying the memory of childhood trauma continues to cause damage in adulthood far out of proportion to the original injury. Perhaps it is time to find someone you can trust to share your secret with. The injury you suffered can never be undone, but it is within your power to change how you live with it today.

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Reviewed: 03/2006