Mental illness fundamentalism

Once people have made the fundamental decision to continue on medications, the question becomes how best to live with their new partner how to reach accommodations that will make the relationship healthy and satisfying. The shift in emphasis from whether to how best to maintain a medication relationship solidifies their investment in the biomedical model of mental illness and its claim to appropriate treatments. While many may still dream about a future free of pills, by this point they have likely made a lifelong commitment to drug therapy. The decisive moment comes with the realization that I ve accepted now that this is the way I am. This [using medications] is what I ll need to do for the rest of my life. ... 

LeDoux, Joseph. Synaptic Self How Our Brains Become Who We Are. New York Penguin, 2003. LeDoux, a researcher at New York University, examines some of the most fundamental issues of brain science, such as consciousness. LeDoux is a fine writer, and included in the discussion is his interesting perspective on the biology and chemistry of mental illness. 

Griesinger devoted only little space to the use of medicaments in the treatment of mental illness, but Kraepelin s textbook of psychiatry (1899) made various references to the use of pharmaceuticals in the treatment of the mentally ilL Some of these are preparations having a certain tradition in psychiatry, whereas others were substances that had been discovered in the intervening period (Table 2.3). And yet, comparison of this list with Griesinger s recommendations shows how little progress had been made in the 40 or so years that had elapsed although the number of hypnotics had grown somewhat, no fundamentally new types of activity had been found. 

The NIMH is the federal agency funded to respond to so-called mental illness in America. When I was a full-time consultant to NIMH (1966-1968), it was fundamentally a psychosocial and educationally oriented institution. It sought ways to improve the nation s mental health through psychological, social, educational, and economic means. For example, it was greatly concerned with improving our schools and reducing poverty. 

After World War II (WWII), the National Institute of Health broadened its research scope to include chronic diseases such as cancer and mental illness. In 1948, the institute was expanded and the name was changed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At present, the NIH consists of 17 institutes and is an agency within the U.S. Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. Its budget in 1999 was U.S. 15.6 billion. The establishment and subsequent growth of the NIH reflects the emerging priority placed on scientific inquiry and treatments based on xmderstanding pathologic processes at a fundamental level. This trend continues currently as evidence-based medical practice. 

Culver and Gert conclude We believe that the same criteria apply to mental conditions as to physical conditions.. . . Thus we differ from those who hold that mental illness either does not exist at all or else belongs in some fundamentally different category from physical illness there is no fundamental... 

The fundamental parallels between the criteria of witchcraft and mental illness may be thus summarized as follows ... 

The explosion of research into neuroactive and other peptides has arisen from a realization of their fundamental role in the control of major body functions further, the action and interrelationship of many neuropeptides has led to a belief that an imbalance of these substances may give rise to many mental and physical illnesses including senile dementia, schizophrenia, Parkinsonism, and other disorders. 

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