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Chemical Imbalances: Real or Imagined?

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One of the first terms that parents and others hear when someone shows symptoms of having a mental disorder is “chemical imbalance.” It is the catch-all that often is used to explain why someone suddenly shows signs of major depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. I remember being shocked when I used this term in a news article and was later confronted by someone who proudly identified themselves as being “anti-psychiatry.” She told me that there is absolutely no evidence that mental illnesses are real and/or caused by biological problems inside the brain. 

I soon learned that this is an ongoing argument, often a bitter one, waged between different factions in the mental health community. 

So I was happy when I was sent an advance copy of the book: SHRINK RAP: Three Psychiatrist Explain Their Work   written by Dinah Miller, M.D. Annette Hanson, M.D. and Steven Roy Daviss, M.D.. Their book is being published by the Johns Hopkins University Press next month. 

The doctors, who write a popular mental health blog offer their take on “chemical imbalances” and I found their comments helpful.

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Complaints Make A Difference!

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Straitjacket dance criticized

Robert Morris team’s performance called insensitive

By John Keilman Tribune reporter
The Chicago Tribune
 A Chicago dance team that performed in straitjackets last month has drawn criticism from a mental health advocate who said the outfits displayed insensitivity toward people with mental disorders.  

The Robert Morris University competitive dance team wore the costumes, which included wild, frizzy hair and dark eye makeup, at a national contest in Minnesota. Chrisa Hickey, a Barrington mother whose 16-year-old son has schizoaffective disorder, complained to the school after she saw an online photo of the dancers last week.

“It’s accepted as entertainment,” she said. “But if you’ve seen your kid restrained and medicated because he’s having a complete psychotic break, it wouldn’t be entertaining.”

Robert Morris President Michael Viollt said the costumes were inappropriate and will not be worn again. Outfits for the dance team, which until now have not been approved by the school, will go through the same committee that approves the uniforms of sports teams, he said.

He said mental health awareness at Robert Morris is conducted mostly in classes dealing with the subject but added that the university will consider any changes that might help increase sensitivity toward people with the disorders.

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A battle worth fighting!

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When Rose Alberghini, the executive director of NAMI PA York, invited me to speak about barriers to good mental health care, the first obstacle that entered my mind was stigma. The way that the media, especially Hollywood, portrays persons with mental disorders is so crass, cruel and destructive that people are often afraid to acknowledge that they might need help.  

We should not separate the mind from the rest of the body when it comes to illnesses. The heart can get sick and so can the brain. Yet, we insist on viewing mental disorders separate from other physical aliments. Part of the problem, of course, is that we don’t  know the biological underpinnings that cause bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Until we do, there are bound to be arguments. But what we do know is that persons who suffer from mental disorders are rarely portrayed sympathetically.

We would never make a person with Downs Symdrome the butt of a joke. Yet, persons with mental problems continue to be easy targets.

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Charlie Sheen and Bad Memories

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It’s foolhardy to decide that someone has a mental illness based on how they act on television. Diagnosing a major illness, such as bipolar disorder, is tricky at best and requires a thorough evaluation by a psychiatrist. I don’t know Charlie Sheen, although I am a fan of his television show, so I have no idea if he might be manic or ill.
Having acknowledged that, I must admit that what I saw on ABC Good Morning America and NBC’s Today Show stirred painful memories. When my son was in the initial stages of his first breakdown, his mind was racing with thoughts and grandiosity. He couldn’t spit his words out quick enough. He  believed everyone else had a problem, not him. I saw that same behavior on my television.

Emails From Readers

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Since the publication of my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, I have received hundreds of emails from readers. Sadly, many are from parents desperately seeking advice about how they can get their son or daughter help. Others are from readers whose adult children are in jails and prisons because of untreated mental illnesses. A few are from parents whose children committed suicide. But there are others that make me hopeful — encouraging notes from dedicated mental health workers and success stories written by readers who have found a variety of methods to control their symptoms and enjoy life at its fullest.

Here is an email that I recently received that I want to share with you because it provides a viewpoint by a consumer that often is not heard.

“I am in my late 30s and officially diagnosed as mentally ill at age 13 after my first suicide attempt. I had long periods of depression and had my first manic episode at age 16. I was paranoid, hearing voices, unable to sleep or read. All I knew was that I was going crazy, but there were no words for it then or any real help.

I was kicked out of high school after missing 15 days of school while I was too manic or depressed to attend classes. No treatment or help from the school system were offered (despite being a straight A honors student with advanced placement classes and not a single discipline issue) and I was told by my single parent to “get a job.” I did just that and was quickly fired for crying all day at work.

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Why is “Dangerous” the Criteria?

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      I receive emails and letters from parents and family members who have tried to get their loved ones help by having them involuntary committed into a hospital only to be stopped by our legal system. One of the sadder notes came this week from a father whose daughter was so sick that the psychiatrist who first examined her and the independent examiner appointed by the court to review her case quickly agreed that she needed to be hospitalized.

     But when the young woman appeared before a special justice here in Fairfax County, Virginia,  he ignored the two professionals’ recommendations and released the woman because, in his opinion, she did not pose a danger either to herself or to others.

    “Where did this dangerousness criteria come from?” the frantic father asked me in an email.

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