Ever think about the mentally ill?

If you are an average American, your answer to this question is - not very often.

I think about mental illness, and the people affected by it, rather frequently.

Partly because I ran secured psychiatric facilities for 9 years. Partly because I have a sister who is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Since this is a subject so near and dear to my heart, I'd like to do two things: Share some about mental illness and ask you for something.

Did you know that in 1991 the National Institute for Mental Health estimated that 2 - 4 million individuals in the United States are severely mentally ill? This sounds like such a divergent number but it's difficult to gather this type of data; my only reason for citing this number at all is to demonstrate that mental illness affects a lot of people.

If I could tell people any one thing about mental illness is that's individuals with mental illness suffer.

They suffer the symptoms of their illness, the estrangement and disenfranchisement of society and the consequences of their frequent poor choices. Medications, although they are significantly better than they were in the past, still have lots of uncomfortable side effects. The one group of side effects that many people have told me about is that their mind feels less sharp, it's difficult to concentrate, they feel drained of energy, don't feel like their real self, and their passion is gone. But it's a catch 22; without the medication they have all kinds of non reality based beliefs that their acting upon causes many troubles in their lives, and with medication they feel lethargic, dull and not themselves. Would you like to have to make that choice?

Just as with anyone else, all mentally ill individuals are not alike. But my experience has been that there exist some really common behaviors you will find for many individuals who either will not take medication or whose symptoms appear to be treatment resistant. Many of these individuals are up much of the night, talk on and on about negative things, have ritualistic behaviors (things like incessant washing of body parts/clothing/surfaces, or spraying everything with disinfectant, or needing to always walk in an incredibly specific pattern) that make it difficult for those around them. Sometimes they misconstrue people that they encounter out in public places, and so they respond according to their misperceptions in a loud, inappropriate manner. Due to their pervasive thoughts they miss social cues and often act in a manner that those around them find uncomfortable. On some level these individuals are typically aware of all this, yet don't seem able to control themselves totally.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) estimates that around 1/3 of the homeless population is mentally ill.

Ok so I've told you some information about mental illness. Now I'd like to ask you for something.

The next time you see a person who is acting way over the top not normal, think about this information. Remember that, although this person may be making your or someone else's life very difficult, the truth is that their own life is way more difficult.

So, go ahead and go out of your way to be as nice as possible to them.