When you say "mental illness", which disorders are you specifically refering to?

Mood and/or personality disorders, usually.

Chronic depression, bipolar, antisocial personality disorder, avoidant, histrionic and schizophenia.

Mood and personality, mostly. But sleep if it enters into it. ADHD is often included because it is often comorbid with the mood disorders. I could go down the list and say yes/no, but what would be the point. I’m thinking anything that requires meds or can’t be treated by therapy alone.

@wundayatta Oh, but you totally should go down the list. I’d be so much fun! Yes. Yes, I’m that dorky.

When I think of mental illnesses, I tend to think of the ones that have a detrimental effect on one’s ability to function on a daily basis. There are mental illnesses that affect peoples’ quality of life, but I don’t think of those when discussing mental illnesses—my reason: quality of life is affected by many things (food choices, EQ, personality), not just mental illnesses.

I don’t have time to go down the full list, nor do I understand what many of them are. However, like many on this question, I talk about the disorders/illnesses that have detrimental effects on a person’s ability to have a reasonable quality of life. I also talk about those disorders/illnesses that require medication and intensive therapy to bring about a reasonable quality of life.

I tend to think the same as @linguaphile on this one.

Asperger’s isn’t on the list as a mental illness, but it is in the DSM as a mental disorder. It is closely related to Schizophrenia. I know other similarities with other disorders/syndromes exist. Usually I associate disorders mental and personality along with mental illness as they are all incurable.

I generally think I mean depression/anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders.

@SpatzieLover Mental and personality disorders? Did you maybe mean mood instead of mental? Or… I’m confused? Wow, Asperger’s isn’t on that list. Actually, a lot is missing. That’s my bad, I didn’t look it over very much. I meant to post a full DSM list.

Yes, mood. Yes, I noticed quite a few missing that’s why I answered as I did

@SpatzieLover Thanks for bringing it to my attention. So, update, better list.

Sleep apnea is in the DSM? I don’t like that. It’s a physical disorder. Not mental.

@wundayatta There isn’t a clear line between physical and mental. Mental disorders often have physical components, like bipolar.

I don’t usually have a specific diagnosis in mind, but simply any disorder that diverges sharply from the conventional.

@YARNLADY When you say diverges sharply from the conventional, are you talking about a certain level of severity, or the simple fact that it’s a disorder means it’s unconventional, or…?

@Aethelflaed Many people try to pretend that there is no such thing as normal, yet each of us has an idea what we consider to be not normal.

@Aethelflaed Or for those us that have therapy as part of regular life “typical” in place of normal or conventional.

@Aethelflaed Sure, mental disorders have physical components, but sleep apnea is a physical disorder and has nothing to do with any mental volition. It might be part of the autonomic system, but I don’t think that can be affected, except possibly by a yogic adept, purely by thinking.

In any case, the solution is a CPAP machine, not therapy.

@wundayatta But the criteria for putting something in the DSM isn’t if it can be resolved through talk therapy.

@Aethelflaed What are the criteria for getting sleep apnea into the DSM? Probably that a bunch of psychologists agree on it.

@wundayatta The major issues address by the Work Group were 1) whether to include narcolepsy in the DSM-IV and 2) Whether to subsume Breathing-Related Sleep Disorder under dyssomnia related to a known organic factor… The the DSM-II-R, breathing-related sleep disorder was subsumed under the two disorders “Insomnia Related to a Known Organic Factor” and “Hypersomnia Related to a Known Organic Factor.” The Work Group has now proposed that breathing-related sleep disorder be added as a separate disorder to the Sleep Disorders section of DSM_IV because of its clinical significance (both prognostically and for its treatment implications). Since breathing-related sleep disorder is a common cause of symptoms of insomnia and excessive sleepiness, symptoms frequently encounters in clinical psychiatric practice, the clinical psychiatrist should be aware of their features. Also, the clinical picture and treatment are very distinct from other organic causes. Finally it should be noted that this proposed diagnosis may require laboratory confirmation of the presence of a breathing disorder. (emphasis mine, source, pg 603)

So, because it was added to the DSM-III, which was back before they knew as much about it, and then it stuck around like almost everything except gayness in 1994’s DSM-IV, when they still didn’t know about as much about it (and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, though it will be updated and go from “breathing-related sleep disorder” to several divided disorders, including sleep apnea). And because it’s an issue that comes up for psychiatrists and psychologists often enough, and the DSM is first and foremost a way for mental health professionals to justify to insurance companies why they should get paid (and mental health professionals do deserve to get paid).

Oddly enough, just before I was going to get my bipolar diagnosed, I was seeing a sleep doctor for the apnea. They told me to go get my brain taken care of before coming back to them. I told them the whole story, so it was probably pretty obvious to them what was going on with me.

Later I went back for my sleep studies, and ended up with a CPAP machine. I think the teaching faculty member remembered me from the first visit. I can only imagine what she thought. But all in all, I think the medical professionals I’ve been with have been all very respectful of me despite the disorder.

What bothers me is that my GP gave me a referral to a shrink about 9 months before I actually went to one. He told me that he thought I “might” want to go see someone. Here’s a referral just in case.

The way he did it made me think there wasn’t any urgency. Later I asked him why he didn’t tell me it was urgent. I had no idea how bad off I was doing. I would have believed him, I think. He said in his experience, it does no good to emphasize these things. So he was laid back because he didn’t think it would help to come down hard on me. I wonder where I would be now if I had been treated six months earlier.