Mental Illness Awareness Week

Canada observed Mental Illness Awareness Week during October 6--12 of 2019. Established in 1992, it is coordinated by an alliance of national organizations called the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH.)

Mental Illness, historically treated as a matter of shame and denial, is starting to be discussed openly. Much of that credit belongs not only to organizations like CAMIMH, but also to cultural leaders and political parties taking the lead in exposing Canadians to the causes and cures of these debilitating conditions.

The treatment of the mentally ill in the past is a tale of horrors. For long, the mentally ill were considered to be demon-possessed and “cures” centered on driving out evil spirits by painful means.

We now know that mental illnesses are a function of an imbalance of certain brain chemicals. A healthy brain has proper amounts of the following four main chemicals: Dopamine, Glutamate, Norepinephrine and Serotonin. Dopamine controls behavior, emotion and cognition. Glutamate affects early brain development, cognition, learning and memory. Norepinephrine regulates stress levels and is vital in the “Fight vs. Flight” response and, finally, Serotonin plays a vital role in sleep, depression, appetite and mood.

Genetics plays an important role in the manifestation of mental illnesses, as does the environment. In many cases, the underlying genetic condition needs a “trigger,” such as deep stress, a life-changing event or drug use, to manifest. In some cases, mental illnesses are triggered by purely environmental or behavioral factors.

Mental illnesses are a ‘spectrum’ of disorders, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe. For example, while the general public associates schizophrenia with its worst symptoms, such as visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions or even split-personality disorder, the fact is, a large majority of patients are able to recover and lead productive lives. Long term studies show that 25% of all schizophrenic patients fully recover, 35% become much improved and are able to live independently, 15% improve but need an extensive support network, while only 15% need additional intervention or do not recover.

However, the stigma associated with mental illnesses remains its greatest challenge. It prevents the mentally ill from seeking early detection and devastates family members, who may even deny that the condition exists with their loved ones. By education and advocacy, Canadian society is slowly removing this stigma.

One in three Canadians will suffer from some sort of mental illness during their lives; about 8% will suffer from major depression. The number of serious mental sufferers is about equal to those suffering from Alzheimer’s. Thus, mental illness is closer to many Canadians than they may realize. A change in attitude and education is of great value to all Canadians.

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "Karma Nation," a literary romance and "The Yoga Zapper," a fantasy novel. (www.mohanashtakala.com) Published by Books We Love (www.bookswelove.com.)

When Writers Can’t Write Anymore

Hemmingway in Idaho

            Every writer lives with a great fear: the loss of ability to continue writing. Often, it is writer’s block, mostly caused by poor plotting or structural problems in a manuscript, but sometimes, it may have a more serious origin.

            On July 2, 1961, fifty-seven years ago, in Ketchum, Idaho, Ernest Hemmingway killed himself with a shotgun blast. In the spring of the same year, he had been requested to contribute a single sentence for a presentation volume marking President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. He told his lifelong friend and biographer, A.E. Hotchner: “It just won’t come anymore,” and wept.

            It was a year earlier, in 1960, that Hemmingway discovered that he could no longer write. It turned out to be a devastating blow to a prolific author who deeply connected his self-worth with his creativity. That discovery triggered a deep depression from which he could not escape.

            In some ways, Hemmingway was uniquely vulnerable to depression. Part of it was hereditary: his father had committed suicide in 1928, ironically enough, in the manner. His grandfather, brother, sister and granddaughter all did the same. Hemmingway also suffered from an enormous list of medical conditions: bi-polar mood disorder, chronic alcoholism, brain injuries and hemochromatosis, a disease that results in damage to the internal organs and is linked with depression. He also had a morbid fascination with guns and death; as a child hunting in the Michigan wilderness; as a correspondent covering the Spanish Civil war and in the uncounted hundreds of big game he killed in Africa. Indeed the pages of his works are filled with violent death, whether human or animal.

            Yet, writers as a group are particularly vulnerable to depression. In an article titled “The Neurological Similarities between Successful Writers and the Mentally Ill,” Cody Delistraty[1] lists several reasons for this. Writers think a lot, and people entangled in their thoughts tend to be withdrawn. He says, “add long periods of isolation and high levels of narcissism that draws someone to a career like writing, and it seems obvious why they may not be the happiest bunch.” Other findings suggest an unusually high percentage of alcoholics in the writing community.

            But brain science may give a clearer explanation. In the same article, a connection between creativity and the inability to suppress the precuneus portion of the brain is suggested. The precuneus part of the brain regulates self-consciousness, memory and creativity. For ordinary people, it is most active during rest, when the brain is allowed to “day-dream.” For creatives, however, it doesn’t turn off.  And this may explain why the best writers find unusual associations and unique, even bizarre, ways of looking at the world. They cannot stop thinking. Unfortunately, this condition is also tied in with depression.

            Hemmingway is a classic example of misdiagnosed, or even undiagnosed, mental illness. Today, our understanding of mental illness has significantly advanced and cures are more readily available. One can only wonder what further works of genius he might have produced had such treatments been available during his decline.

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[1] https://thoughtcatalog.com/cody-delistraty/2014/03/the-neurological-similarities-between-successful-writers-and-the-mentally-ill/

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper" (www.yogazapper.com) published by Books We love (www.bookswelove.net)