Reply #9: I hear you, and I see a little of both sides. [View All]

[lvx35]

I suffer from some comparatively mild mental illness issues, and have schizophrenic friends. On the other hand, I work in the mental system, and I see the other side of the picture.

Now first of all, I can tell you horror stories of the mental health system, especially of the mental hospitals and therapists therein.( I have buddies who work there and buddies who've been in there) But I work outside of that level with people trying to get adjusted to society. I can tell you there are great professionals in it all levels too. Anyway, the guy I'm currently working with has schizophrenia and some mental disabilities, and he does things like try to wear holiday clothing (dress like santa claus/easter bunny/leprachaun) and innapropriate times of the year, and part of my duty is to get him to dress normally.

The reason I do this is because the goal of our program is to get them as independant and functional as we can in the world, and this means he's got to dress and act like a 52 year old man is expected to dress and act, otherwise he has no hope of ever getting independant enough to get a job, and have the freedoms "normal" people have. But I the mental health worker am NOT making the value judgement on him, our mission just to get people as functional and we can in THIS society.

Which is what it comes down to, THIS society. And if you look closely at it, nobody is sitting on top making all these value judgements either, its a huge collective process that just happens. History is filled with accounts of utopian peaceful societies, like the native americans who thought the mentally ill were more in touch with the spirit world and treated them reverently. But when these societies clashed with imperial militaristic societies, they were wiped out due to their lack of devotion to warfare. As happened when the europeans came to America, and as happened to the tribal europeans when Roman forces wiped out their cultures.

So the point is that this whole thing is nobody's fault, nobody is sitting on top deciding these things, we just happen to live in Rome; beneath the veneer of all our technology we are as barbaric as ever. Once you accept it and take it upon yourself to survive in this barbaric world, with all the rackets and control and bullshit, I think we all are a lot better off.