Interesting Facts About Mental Illness

The measure of ones mental health is directly proportional to one's ability to delay gratification. Less mature adults insists on getting what they want when they want it - much like a little child.

Those who worry that they may be "crazy" most generally are not. "Crazy" people believe that they are just fine the way they are. On the other hand, mentally unstable people think that it is everything & everyone around them that needs to change. This is called having a "character disorder."

Neurotics believe that everything is their fault. People with a character disorder believe that every thing is everyone else's fault.

Having angry thoughts is not a measure of mental illness, it is what you do with that anger that determines who you really are. Only 10% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia become violent.

Not everyone is able to use therapy to improve their life. Some people, no matter how much help they are given, reject new input and habitually continue to use old ways that continue to produce old results. They see the world around them as the problem and so they are not willing to change themselves or the way they interact with that world. Sociopaths cannot be helped by traditional therapy. Only those who are capable of truly feeling empathy and grief can benefit from therapy.

The mentally ill often look toward quick easy fixes instead of going through the work it would take to heal their pained heart. Unfortunately, the quick fixes more often than not, give only temporary relief and make matters worse in the long run.

Anyone can undergo so much stress in their life that they develop the ability to "snap"; they may even have a temporary slip into psychosis, However this should not mean that crimes committed while under great emotional stress should be tolerated or go unpunished. Being "out of control" of your mind or "out of your mind" should not equate to getting a "get out of jail Free", card.

If you think you are seriously mentally ill, you probably are not. However if you suspect that you could benefit from therapy, you probably could.

10% of all mentally ill were "normal" prior to birth, but were damaged to some degree during the birth process.

10% of mentally retarded children were normal at birth but suffered head trauma at the hands of a care giver causing them to become mentally challenged.
Shaken Baby Syndrome is the most common cause of non-genetic mental retardation.