In the mental health profession, the word 'insight' is used, and is the attribute most valued in their patients. What it means is this:
If a patient has insight into their own condition, then they are aware and have an understanding of the causes and effects of their illness. This in turn leads the patient to desire courses of action that will foster growth and move them away from illness and towards true health. Therefore, if a person lacks insight into their own condition, they are unable to progress towards a positive mental state. This is because they will believe things that aren't true and act in accordance with those false beliefs. How do you get a person to eat food when he is convinced that everyone is trying to poison him? But if that person realized that those self-same paranoid thoughts were a product of his deteriorating mental condition, and not of other people's intentions, then he will be more likely to let you help him eat.
Right, so we now have some understanding of what insight means in the mental health profession. The first thing I want to say is this: that in my theory, the reason many people do not have insight is actually due to an instinctive tendency of the mind towards self preservation. It's the mind's way of facing the unfaceable. When experiencing overwhelming physical pain, the brain will shut the body down, and we will lose consciousness. I also believe that if we experience mental pain to an overwhelming degree, the mind will respond by dampening certain neuro-transmitters in the brain (stay with me here, I won't use more jargon than I have to), which in turn makes us mentally 'unconscious' to our own condition, and lack insight. People who are struggling with mental health problems aren't exhibiting signs of madness, they are showing the brain's way of trying to cope with an overwhelming sense of a real or perceived pain.
This leads onto another important point. If this is true, then it explains why some people have insight into their own condition and others don't. The people who lack insight don't have it because they aren't yet able to internalize the pain and make some sense out of it all. So as a defence mechanism, the mind keeps them from actively thinking about what they can't yet face, and seeks in abstract, strange ways, to bring the person to the point where they can one day begin to accept reality.
My final point is one to ponder. For those people who do have insight into their own mental illness, they have to be very brave indeed. Why? Because they alone are fully aware of their own mind having slipped away, and are not spared the brain's way of cushioning the pain. They have come to the point where they can perhaps handle what once seemed so overwhelming, and now with gritted teeth they turn and face it in all its awful glory. It takes courage to face your own pain. If you work with someone who has insight into their mental health condition during a period of illness, give them a little respect. They've faced a mountain and climbed it, step by terrifying step.
Oh, and if you happen to come across someone who lacks insight, before ridiculing their 'strange' behaviour, remember that it's only the mind's way of coping with too much pain in their life. They deserve your compassion, not condescension.
If a patient has insight into their own condition, then they are aware and have an understanding of the causes and effects of their illness. This in turn leads the patient to desire courses of action that will foster growth and move them away from illness and towards true health. Therefore, if a person lacks insight into their own condition, they are unable to progress towards a positive mental state. This is because they will believe things that aren't true and act in accordance with those false beliefs. How do you get a person to eat food when he is convinced that everyone is trying to poison him? But if that person realized that those self-same paranoid thoughts were a product of his deteriorating mental condition, and not of other people's intentions, then he will be more likely to let you help him eat.
Right, so we now have some understanding of what insight means in the mental health profession. The first thing I want to say is this: that in my theory, the reason many people do not have insight is actually due to an instinctive tendency of the mind towards self preservation. It's the mind's way of facing the unfaceable. When experiencing overwhelming physical pain, the brain will shut the body down, and we will lose consciousness. I also believe that if we experience mental pain to an overwhelming degree, the mind will respond by dampening certain neuro-transmitters in the brain (stay with me here, I won't use more jargon than I have to), which in turn makes us mentally 'unconscious' to our own condition, and lack insight. People who are struggling with mental health problems aren't exhibiting signs of madness, they are showing the brain's way of trying to cope with an overwhelming sense of a real or perceived pain.
This leads onto another important point. If this is true, then it explains why some people have insight into their own condition and others don't. The people who lack insight don't have it because they aren't yet able to internalize the pain and make some sense out of it all. So as a defence mechanism, the mind keeps them from actively thinking about what they can't yet face, and seeks in abstract, strange ways, to bring the person to the point where they can one day begin to accept reality.
My final point is one to ponder. For those people who do have insight into their own mental illness, they have to be very brave indeed. Why? Because they alone are fully aware of their own mind having slipped away, and are not spared the brain's way of cushioning the pain. They have come to the point where they can perhaps handle what once seemed so overwhelming, and now with gritted teeth they turn and face it in all its awful glory. It takes courage to face your own pain. If you work with someone who has insight into their mental health condition during a period of illness, give them a little respect. They've faced a mountain and climbed it, step by terrifying step.
Oh, and if you happen to come across someone who lacks insight, before ridiculing their 'strange' behaviour, remember that it's only the mind's way of coping with too much pain in their life. They deserve your compassion, not condescension.
No comments:
Post a Comment