Mental Illness and Health

In a survey conducted for the Joint Commission on Mental illness and Health, 20 percent of adults reported that at one time or other they had felt that they were on the verge of nervous breakdown. We would like to emphasize that these figures should not cause dismay. They do not necessarily mean that we are mentally sicker today than earlier generations were, but rather that we have become aware that many problems and unpleasantness which once were simply taken to be "man's lot" are not inevitable, not necessary, and very often can be overcome.

Actually, it has been estimated that about one fourth of those who are mentally and emotionally ill are ill enough to be seriously hampered; the remaining three fourths have problems that bother them but do not necessarily need professional treatment. Who is normal? Before considering the basic mental and emotional disorders and how to prevent them, it may be helpful to have, as a basis for comparison, a little more detail about the personality structure of a normal, mentally healthy person.

ELEMENTS OF HEALTHY PERSONALITY STRUCTURE,

1.       REALISTIC ATTITUDES

An emotionally healthy adult faces facts, pleasant and unpleasant. He may, for example, enjoy driving a car but realizes there are dangers attached to driving. Because he is mature, he regularly checks brakes, tires, lights, other essential parts of his car. An immature person may say and feel that" accidents never happen to me" and may take no precautions. Or, on the other hand, he may be the type of immature individual who checks his brakes daily and then nightly loses sleep worrying about the "fact" that "accidents always happen to me.

2.       INDEPENDENCE

 A mentally healthy person forms and acts on reasoned opinions. He is not reckless; he seeks a reasonable amount of advice. Once he has the facts, he is capable of making a decision and is willing to face the consequences of his decisions. On the other hand, the immature person often has difficulty making up his mind. He wants others-relatives, friends, business associates-to tell him how to proceed. When forced to make his own decisions, he may become upset, nervous, and even vicious. Many immature people refuse to accept responsibility for their decisions and blame others when some- thing goes wrong, although they may demand inordinate praise if the decision leads to success.

3.       ABILITY TO LOVE OTHERS.

A healthy, mature adult derives pleasure from bestowing love upon spouse, children, relatives, and friends. He is selective in his love relationships and does not require a huge circle of people to be intimate with. On the other hand, the immature person has difficulty giving love and wants always to receive it, to be fussed over, and to be the center of attention. Young children want to be loved and the center of all affection; seldom does a small child show sustained love for others. This is part of normal development in children, but when it carries over into adulthood it interferes with healthy personal relation- ships. A healthy adult will expect to give more love to a child than the child is able to return.

4.       REASONABLE DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS.

While a mature person can bestow love and affection, he also enjoys receiving them. A good love relationship in marriage must be based on the ability of both partners to give, and receive, love and sexual pleasure. The ability to share, to give and to receive love and friendship indicates, that a person is flexible, adaptable, mature.

5.        MODERATE ANGER AND HATE REACTIONS. Any normal healthy per- son gets angry, of course, but keeps his anger within reasonable limits and doesn't indulge in temper tantrums. In work and other situations which he may not be able to control, he may have to curb his temper in the face of petty annoyances in favor of long-term values. The normal person can get stirred to fierce anger when the occasion demands. Such anger is very different from that of the person who goes into a temper tantrum because a storekeeper is unable to provide a desired item.

6.       ABILITY TO MAKE LONG-RANGE CHOICES.

A mentally healthy person can give up immediate gratification for the sake of more lasting values. For example, a mature student working hard before examinations will refuse invitations to parties, forgoing the immediate pleasures to make a good showing on his examinations. Later, when it is appropriate, he may take a vacation as well as go to parties. Similarly, a mature young couple, with educations to be finished and other needs to be met, may decide to postpone marriage for a time. They will consider all possibilities and alternatives rather than rush into an elopement without thought of the possibly greater happiness that a delay might bring.

7.       RELAXED CONSCIENCE.

A normally healthy person accepts responsibilities, does his job well, and insists on and enjoys leisure hours and vacations. He and his conscience are at ease. The poorly adjusted person feels driven to accomplish things, rarely enjoys his work or leisure, al- Other Problems, lows himself no real relaxation, spends weekends and vacations worrying about how things, could have been done better." The mature person enjoys leisure in restful ways so he returns to work refreshed. He may busy himself during leisure hours, but looks upon his activities then as hobbies, not more work.

8. GOOD ADJUSTMENT AT WORK. A healthy person usually likes his work, does not change jobs very often and when he does make a change it is on the basis of a realistic appraisal of the job and the chances of finding something else more rewarding. He will give up a job when there are health and accident hazards which are not being corrected or when the pay is substandard. But he will not change Jobs merely because a supervisor or fellow worker may be difficult to get along with. He does not indulge in constant job hopping because the other side of the fence looks greener.

9. LOVE AND TOLERANCE FOR CHILDREN. A healthy adult likes children and takes time to understand their special needs. He can almost always take a few minutes, no matter how busy he is, to play with a 3-year-old or to answer the questions of an older child.

10. GOOD SEXUAL ADJUSTMENT. A healthy adult is not prudish, enjoys the sex act with a loved one, does not require additional stimulation from love affairs, achieves a satisfying orgasm, and can relax completely after the sex act. Sexual adjustment has broader implications. It means accepting oneself as a male or female without conflict about the accident of birth.

11. ACCEPTANCE OF MASCULINITY AND FEMININITY. This includes under- standing the special problems of the other sex and accepting tolerantly and sympathetically some of the emotional difficulties these problems create. We refer, for example, to the still-existing "inferior status" of women and the "breadwinner" role of men, and the tensions these produce in an excessively competitive business world. For the healthy person, this tolerance toward, and appreciation of, those who are different from oneself extends not only to the opposite sex but to people of different racial, national, and cultural backgrounds.

12. CAPACITY FOR CONTINUED EMOTIONAL GROWTH. The ability to keep learning and growing emotionally is characteristic of the healthy individual. This makes it possible to age gracefully, for wisdom and under- standing can grow even though an individual may have passed his physical prime.