I, as a good little webmistress, keep an eye on my web analytics. So yes, I know some things about my audience, and one of the things I know is what people are searching for when they find me. This sometimes influences what I write about, like today: What is the worst mental illness?
What is the Worst Mental Illness?
That depends on how you judge it. You could judge it by suicide rate, in which case:
- Anorexia is the worst with about a 20-25% suicide rate*
- Bipolar is second worst with about a 15% suicide rate^
- Schizophrenia is third worst with about a 10% suicide rate**
You could judge the worst mental illness based on disability rates in which case you would probably get:
- Schizophrenia as the worst
- Bipolar as second worst
- Depression as third worst (although more people with depression are on disability overall)
Perhaps schizophrenia is the worst as it’s associated with more psychosis (delusions and hallucination). Perhaps major depression is worst because of the number of treatment-resistant cases.
Or perhaps the answer is simply this: The worst mental illness is the one you have.
Psychological / Psychiatric Pain Scale
I’ve had doctors want me to put my mood on a pain scale of 0 – 10 where 0 is practically dead and 10 is no pain. And I have done that appointment after appointment, as requested. I’d imagine many people have done this exercise.
But even if you consider yourself a “3” and I consider myself a “4” that doesn’t indicate that one disease is worse than another. It doesn’t even indicate who is in more pain. It just means that in our own heads that is our experience. Once you learn you can experience more pain than you ever thought possible, the scale shifts. Trust me.
But what does that matter. If half as much pain as you experience drives me to commit suicide, who the heck cares how we compared?
Mental Illnesses are Individual
What I’m saying is that my struggle with bipolar disorder is mine and unique to me. I have a unique set of symptoms, a unique set of challenges and a unique set of techniques that I find helpful. Bipolar disorder and all mental illness are heterogeneous that way.
But believe me when I tell you, no matter what the diagnosis, no matter what the illness, no matter what the pain scale, no matter what the statistics say, it doesn’t matter. Because when you’re on the floor of your kitchen with a razor blade in your hand, you know one thing for sure – your mental illness is surely the worst in the world for you at that moment. And you’re absolutely right.
* FYI, that’s a contentious number people argue over there. I suspect it includes all manner of anorexia-related death.
^ This is also a contentious number with some experts saying it’s closer to 6-10%.
** The number here may be lower than commonly accepted too at around 6%.
I love this, thank you.
The worst mental illness is Stigma. Plain and simple . As an advocate for people with bipolar disease and as my own advocate the worst disease on the face of this planet is the disease of ignorance and stupidity towards people who suffer so horribly. I really have nothing else to say other than I wish all of us peace and the best that the world can offer. We are all warriors and never forget that.
Well said article….I too wish to write about my experience, I journal a lot and am in the process of compiling my thoughts on my roller coaster experience
Autism is much worse than all of these, as a sufferer myself
completely and utterly false.
This is my first time on this site. I had to sit back for a minute and take it all in. It seems like it offers a great resource into bipolar. My onset (bipolar 1) was at age 14. I am 58 now, so yes for the most part of my life it was there.My
daughter (23) has bipolar 2. So there lies many challanges. Many. For now, thats all. Thank You.
It was years before I was able to try a drug which actually worked for me. It is not foolproof though as when I was physically ill and my kidneys collapsed my drug built up and led to mania. Also UTIs have, in the past, affected the efficacy of the drug. Before this I suffered psychosis frequently despite having a diagnosis of Bi Polar. For all the mental illnesses no one size fits all and the symptoms are affected by so many other things. A course I went on used a scale of -5 to +5. 0 is an even normal (if we can call anything that) mood and anything between -2 and +2 is within the range. Beyond that is where the problems occur. If you google mood charts there are many. Daily tracking is what keeps me level.
I find this particular blog very depressing and counterproductive. I have bipolar 1 disorder with psychotic features and also suffer with an eating disorder. I once scratched fat pig into my thigh with an exacto knife until it bled because I felt so bad about myself. I also took way too many aspirin and ended up in the hospital a couple of times with breathing difficulties and hearing loss. I just wanted the emotional pain to stop. My mother had a mental illness and shot herself. So yes there probably is a genetic component to my mental illness as well. But what good does it really do to focus on all that stuff. Yes the statistics reflect the reality for many of us. Personally I’d rather focus on recovery and feeling better about myself than ruminating on who is sicker than who. All that does is reinforce a sense of hopelessness!!!
I agree with Renita that we should focus on recovery and staying well rather than thinking about whether what we have on the mental illness spectrum is worse than another. We don’t really want to feel dejected thinking our illness is worse than the next person. The important thing to remember is that we need strategies and if we use them our illness may not affect us so badly. That does not mean it was not serious in the beginning. As a dyslexia tutor I remember a child psychologist saying there is no such thing as ‘mild’ dyslexia as any difficulties the child has can affect them considerably especially if it interacts with other variables such as home background, quality of teaching and more ….
The suicide rates for depression are the highest of any other mental illness. If you’re going by psychosis, then yes schizophrenia but you’re ignoring the fact that many many many people with bipolar disorder experience psychosis as well. Bipolar is also largely treatment resistant. It is estimated that anywhere up to 20% of bipolar patients will not respond to medical intervention. The majority of those who do, have to go on trial and error journeys for possibly years before they find the right combination of medications to manage the symptoms – not even treat them. Having people in my family with all of these illnesses – anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar; schizophrenia even does not go into periods of great up and down. It is these severe mood swings that make bipolar unmanageable, and mania does not necessarily go hand in hand with a euphoric or pleasurable mood anymore as recognised by the DSM V; it can be terrifying and aggravating and you can’t stop. Famous creative bipolar sufferers who suicide include Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Cobain, Van Gogh…
There’s been so many times I wished I had Cancer or something instead of bipolar-depression, because at least then I wouldn’t be a freak for being sick, and people would understand what was happening. But when it’s in my head, and all people saw were on my wrists Im an attention seeking bitch who deserves to get bullied for what I am. So many times I hit 0.
This past week I had an opportunity to sit down and ask questions to an individual whose partner is Bipolar. It was a wonderful opportunity to get some information and learn traits, characteristics, and tools that my doctors had not provided me. She also took one look at me and knew I was in a bad place and made me make a few calls to my therapists office.
One things she said stood out. She has a form of cancer and people flock to help her out because people understand cancer. Bipolar is often a deadly disease but people hesitate gerring involved or even run away becausethey dont understand mental illness. Mental Illness scares people.
Basically it doesnt matter which mental illness is worst because everyone is ultimately fighting the same battle. Notto become a causality to our reality. We are fighting not to be a statistic which if we win its epic.
Actually people with Bipolar have a suicide rate much closer to 4% and people with Borderline personality disorder have a suicide rate over double that. I mean no offense, I have just done a lot of research on the subject.
If you’re throwing numbers, please cite them.
Bipolar Disord. 2003 Feb;5(1):58-61.
Suicide risk in bipolar patients: the role of co-morbid substance use disorders.
Dalton EJ, Cate-Carter TD, Mundo E, Parikh SV, Kennedy JL.
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Bipolar disorder is associated with a high frequency of both completed suicides and suicide attempts. The primary aim of this study was to identify clinical predictors of suicide attempts in subjects with bipolar disorder.
METHODS:
We studied 336 subjects with a diagnosis of bipolar I, bipolar II, or schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) was administered and subsequently two expert psychiatrists established a diagnosis. Predictors of suicide attempts were examined in attempters and non-attempters.
RESULTS:
The lifetime rate of suicide attempts for the entire sample was 25.6%. A lifetime co-morbid substance use disorder was a significant predictor of suicide attempts: bipolar subjects with co-morbid substance use disorders (SUD) had a 39.5% lifetime rate of attempted suicide, while those without had a 23.8% rate (odds ratio = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.03-4.21, chi2 = 4.33, df = 1, p = 0.037).
CONCLUSIONS:
Lifetime co-morbid SUD were associated with a higher rate of suicide attempts in patients with bipolar disorder. This relationship may have a genetic origin and/or be explained by severity of illness and trait impulsivity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12656940
ps i heard the suicide rate in bipolar was 20%
also anorexia, I heard had a 20% death rate but that was through starvation, not suicide. a person starving themself to death with anorexia is not committing suicide
also hyperacute mania used to have a high death rate (50% or more) in Victorian times when the only tranquillizers available were “morphia”, chloral hydrate and bromides ~ the death was due to physical collapse or heart failure ~ in fact as far as I know mania is the only mental illness that is inherently deadly (that is, death takes place not as a result of a decision or series of decisions or any type of organized behaviour in severe mania the behaviour is totally disorganized and a person is running around just because they cannot keep still!!!
i used to get asked to rate my depression as a percentage and i never rated it over 15% which i thought was pretty accurate considering how extreme depression can get, as a person with more than 40% would find it very difficult to even get to an appointment and someone with over 85% would have great difficulty even answering the question or speaking at all…
… then i took a test and came out with “high depression; low anxiety” ~ see it’s all bullshit!!!
I never thought of one or another as being worse or easier to deal with. I just sort of see it as something that is a part of my life. My best friends both have mental issues and we all know it. For us, it is a relief to know the person you are talking to most of the time understands your thoughts or what you’re going through.
I completely agree with this. There is no “worse” mental illness. My bestfriend, who was going through an abundance of family and personal issues, once said to me that she “feels bad complaining because her problems aren’t even bad compared to mine” (I suffer from Bipolar Disorder as well, and was diangosed at fifteen).
I simply replied with: “this is the worst YOU have personally felt – and that’s all that matters”.
Hi Kelsey,
That’s compassionate both of your friend and of you to say. And maybe that’s the point – to learn compassion for others as we know we cannot truly feel what anyone else is going through.
– Natasha Tracy
I think we always want to get concrete responses to these types of questions–that’s why we ask them. I was watching Oprah’s Life Class and they were talking about how all pain is the same and how we’re always trying to judge and compare and deny other people their pain because we feel would “handle it better.” I like the idea that pain = pain, whether it be mental, emotional, physical, spiritual…
I think we should reconsider before labeling things “best” and “worst”, as you mentioned, there are many ways to be ranked and framed.
Hi M.C. Silver,
Yes, people keep asking the question, “what’s the worst mental illness” on Google, and that’s how they find their way here. I wrote the article because people were asking the question and as you pointed out, people are looking for a concrete answer, even though none can be found.
You are correct, pain is pain. It all sucks, really. Ranking it doesn’t make it suck any less.
– Natasha Tracy
Schizophrenia is probably the worst. Almost nothing good comes from schizophrenics. I’m xchizo and I can tell I’m annoying, I don’t try to be but we are socially inept. We are robotic in conversation and have no self identity. It’s a tough job but some of us gotta do it
Hi MarrInde,
Well, I don’t have schizophrenia, so I don’t speak with the same experience that you are, but I know that people with schizophrenia have made all sorts of wonderful contributions to society, and of course, the lives of individuals.
Social interaction isn’t everything and many people can see beyond rough social edges.
Believe me, you have a lot to give, even if you can’t see it.
– Natasha Tracy
Social interaction may not be everything, but communication is probably the most important skill to have, and those without social skills also tend to have poor communication skills. I wont get too much into this, but I’ll just say that when it comes to employment or having friends/dating or sometimes even selling yourself and earning a decent living (which, I guess, all falls under employment as well), communication and social interaction is key. I notice my life only improved AFTER I learned how to improve my social skills and after I overcame social anxiety. I was not lucky enough to meet those people who could see beyond rough social edges before I changed. At least they didn’t see beyond it to accept me at the time.
But keep in mind that all this is now in my PAST.
I have changed now. However, I can see most of these posts were posted back when I was still struggling to change.
“I’m annoying, I don’t try to be but we are socially inept. We are robotic in conversation and have no self identity.”
Sounds like my autism spectrum disorder.
I have changed and learned how to act normal over time, and I now lead a normal social life, have a job and a car (finally in my early 30’s) but it took a lot of hard work to get where I am now. I wouldn’t say that I cured my autism, but I overcame social anxiety, which is a huge part of the reason things got better for me. However, no matter how much I overcome social anxiety and talk to people and do public speaking or practice and perfect my social skills, etc., it still doesn’t change the fact that I am different and weird and have unusual ways of thinking. Therefore, it is still a challenge to stop myself from weirding friends out and date successfully.
HOWEVER
I am currently dating, and after failing with an incredible amount of women, I finally managed to attract one after overcoming social anxiety and learning how to act normal and stop being the weird, oversensitive nice guy that scared women away. What I didn’t expect was that the one person I happened to attract would have developing schizophrenia….
SO….
I wont even get into further details about my relationship with a schizophrenic international student who has dropped classes and is now in jeopardy of being deported. I’ll just say that I find it EXTREMELY IRONIC that I put all this hard work into changing, becoming normal, and learning how to make and keep friends and attract women as oppose to sitting in a room all day and night for weeks isolating myself and wondering what’s wrong with me and thinking about suicide………………. AND THEN end up attracting and falling for someone who will give me a lifetime of hardcore stress!
Makes me wonder if remaining isolated and never learning how to interact with people would’ve been worse than getting into a relationship with someone who will stress me out. I’ve gone from worrying about ending my own life to being with someone who COULD end there life someday, and I doubt I will stick around if she does that to herself… I really don’t mind her schizophrenia, per se. But I REALLY hate the fact that the symptoms of her schizophrenia are causing her emotional pain and doubt and I hate the fact that there is a chance she could try to end her life.
So, in the end, I have to ask myself… did I find true happiness after all? Now I’m in a situation where if I stay with this girl for the rest of my life, I will suffer and be stressed along with the pleasures of being with her, but if I leave, I will still suffer. I wonder if I knew everything that would have happened as a result of overcoming social anxiety and learning to attract people before doing so, would I have still lived most of my life trying to be normal and desperately wanting to become a charismatic people person? One thing I will admit is that I prefer what I’m going through now WAAAAY more than my old days of social phobia and the bullying and teasing and losing jobs and isolating myself. At least now I have the skills to act and function normally in the work place and not freak people out… so I will not end up homeless and helpless once my parents start passing away.
But if my girlfriend kills herself, my interest for continuing my life will fall back down to the level it was before I learned how to interact normally amongst other human beings.
Very ironic….
Anyway, I should just embrace what I have now because most males on the autism spectrum can’t say they have friends, and even less could say they have a girlfriend. Let me not over think and over analyze and predict or invent problems that haven’t even occurred yet.
And I just noticed something – judging by the amount I’ve typed, it’s obvious that I haven’t gotten rid of all my autistic traits. I’m sure all the normal people are looking at this and thinking “that’s too much to read.”
On another note, I do question where we draw the line when it comes to the definition of “normal.”
I’ve dealt with bipolar and schizophrenic and other types of people, but I notice that since they don’t have autism, the way I act and think still tend to come across as unusual to them and they will do things that normal people do like ask “are you ok?” or call me “weird.” Even people with social anxiety disorder have a tendency to look at people n the autism spectrum sideways from time to time. Yes, we autistics might be odd in behavior and have unusual thoughts and ways of socializing, but we were the ones who also made electricity, the iphone, and a lot of other inventions possible all because of our weird, extraordinary, highly unusual, out of the box ways of thinking. So, next time anyone sees that weird nerdy kid in school who is highly intelligent but seems to struggle with fitting in and keeping their academic grades up, remember that it was those kinds of people who change the world. We should get recognition for that as oppose to only having the light shine on autism whenever someone shoots up a school or movie theater, etc. I’m sure that half of those school shootings weren’t kids with autism, but another disorder with traits similar to autism. I should also clarify that sociopath and antisocial are two separate things from autism! Not showing emotion isn’t the same as not *having* emotions.
Anyway, my girlfriend now has negative voices that degrade her, and I have had many real life people who have used their voices to degrade me. Not sure which is worse…. She (currently) has no control of her voices or when they come since what she hears are auditory hallucinations. I can always choose to isolate myself from people and get away from whatever harmful words I don’t wish to hear simply by avoiding real life people who judge me, but then again…. at some point I will still have to get out to work and earn money or else I will hear the voices of the real life people who are coming to reposes and issue eviction notices.
I’m not saying being on the autism spectrum is worse than schizophrenia or bipolar or other things, but… I can bet that many of the people who are homeless are mostly either autistic or schizophrenic.
At least my girlfriend’s voices are all related to past issues and real events from her past and present. It crosses over into PTSD. She also has PMDD… (google it).
Actually, never mind about my autism spectrum disorder comment. Just realized it asks what is the worst mental illness. What I have is a disorder, not an illness.
But why are disorders and illnesses still judges negatively? Isn’t it true that the amount of people with disorders and illnesses outnumber the normal people?
But then again, I guess anyone who is lucky enough to pass as normal can be part of “normal society,” and the people who are in charge of making most of the societal rules that everyone must abide by.
You can usually tell which side you’re on (normal vs. not normal) based on whether or not you’ve constantly been bullied and teased in school and how hard it’s been for you to fit in in the social world and how much you’ve struggled to adopt to the rules of society, etc. Some people are successful at converting to “normalism,” whether happily or reluctantly. Some never learn how to act/be normal end up alone and homeless or in some type of home/hospital. As far as I know, I am a successful converter to the normal side, but only time will tell where I end up once I no longer have parents to depend on…..
I agree with much of what you said, however, I do feel like one key disorder is missing – borderline.
Hi Ree,
Are you saying that borderline personality disorder is somehow worse than every other mental illness?
– Natasha Tracy
I’ll never forget what Edgar Rivera said. He was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train by Julio Perez who had untreated schizophrenia. Edgar survived. When he woke up he said, “I lost both my legs. Julio lost his mind. I think I’m luckier.”
Hi DJ Jaffe,
What a kind and generous comment. I can only pray I could show such compassion in such a situation. Stunning.
– Natasha Tracy
Thankfully for the web I could say I felt like whatever bipolar was I had it the worst. Now, I know others have suffered as I have and probably tipped the scales in delusinal thinking more than I khave. Not saying that I look to find others worse off than me but I feel more okay with myself knowing in my worst moments of rage or deepest depths of pain daydreaming of a way to end the torment there is someone out there who can sympathise.
I honestly thought I was alone and after twenty seven years I still have not met anyone (in person) who has as many issues as me functioning or trying to live a normal life. Perhaps one day, I think I would cry I would be so happy.
Oh look it we have matching scars, wow, lets hang out…..heh…..that was meant to be totally literal.
Hi Samantha,
I’m so glad to hear that you know you’re not alone. This can help so many people reframe their illness and feel more connected with others.
It’s not frequent that any of us meets others just like us in real life. I hadn’t either until recently. But keep in mind that most people don’t wear their illness on their sleeve and you may have met people just like you but not known about it.
I know you’re not kidding about the matching scars. But don’t forget, many people keep their scars inside.
I know what it’s like to want to be able to touch someone you can identify with that much. I can’t promise that it’s coming, but I can say that we connect with people on all levels and you might be surprised at who can identify with you, even if they don’t have the exact same illness or challenges.
Until then, you have us.
(As an aside, have you ever tried an in-person support group? You’d have a lot better chance of meeting someone like you in that kind of environment and you might find all sort of benefits to being in one.)
– Natasha Tracy
Brilliant article. You are fabulous!
On the internet I see a lot of people that appear to be trying to suggest they have the most severe case and that others can’t empathise because they have no idea how bad it is etc. In reality, none of us can experience another persons experience. That’s why I love your conclusion!
Hi Bipolar Project,
Yes, sometimes we are our own worst enemy as we try to prove how “bad” we have it as if there is some soft of mental illness prize pack or something. When in reality, we’re all in the same boat. Maybe just with different oars.
– Natasha Tracy
Yes Natasha ! you are right on… great article girl!!!…whatever each one of us is experiencing at in that particular moment of your own particular illness…is the worst…have said that in my head over & over many times.
thanks for this article. it said exactly what i was thinking:)
Hi Judie,
Thanks so much. I’m glad it resonated.
– Natasha Tracy
A friend send me this today because she’s pretty keen to what my diagnoses are and I think got a bit of a shock about the rates of suicide in Anorexia Nervosa. Just a few days ago I read (no, I don’t remember where, sorry) that Anorexic patients have a higher pain tolerance as side effect of self starvation. That makes sense to me for many reasons. The point was that because of this Anorexic patients use more lethal means to commit suicide. USUALLY, there is comorbidity with Depression though some say that the A.N. tends to decrease symptoms of depression and/or anxiety disorders. To me it seems kind of obvious, having lived with all of these, that if I’m in starvation mode I don’t really give a crap about anything. No, I don’t feel more pain. I can’t say for sure if I am actually more depressed or *feeling* more depressed but I’m certainly not feeling LESS depressed. I am pretty convinced I’m not as anxiety ridden. Why? I don’t have the energy for it. There is research out there on this as well.
I wrote an article for Veteran Cargiver about PTSD and the taboo of suicide. It will also be published this Saturday in Veteran Journal. Though the PTSD I refer to in that article is about war, there are several levels of Hell that I am familiar with in PTSD that have NOTHING to do with war. If you’d like to read it here’s the link.
http://veterancaregiver.blogspot.com/2012/01/suicide-transforming-taboo-to-hope.html
I agree the worst mental illness is the one you sit with and agonize over or the one that takes you and puts you down for days or maybe the one that is flat out ignored because nobody wants to talk about it. Pain is pain. When we share our pain we have hope.
Thank you for what looks like an exceptional blog and for being vulnerable with your heart. I know that isn’t easy. I wish you well and continued blogging success. :)
Hi Temet,
Yes, the numbers on anorexia are shocking and frightening. You are correct, anorexia patients are known to sometimes have a higher pain tolerance. And you’re also correct that depression is often comorbid with anorexia which is why I think the numbers on their fatality rate are so contentious to some.
Thanks for your link to the piece on veterans and PTSD. If you’re interested in that subject, I recommend checking out http://www.mybacktothewall.com which is a site for an amazing book on the subject (which, full disclosure, I edited, but trust me, that’s not why I think it’s good).
Thank-you for the compliments on the blog.
– Natasha Tracy
Hi Natasha,
The same friend directed me both to the book and the same website and perhaps that is how she came to know your blog as I know she’s conversed with Rev. Parker. I live with PTSD as well so resources are good, though I’ve found a little caution on the information overload to be a good idea. Researching suicide is painful enough but unless we change something up we’re damning ourselves to more of what we’ve seen. I appreciate your bravery.
With Care,
Temet
Hi Temet,
Well, it’s such a small world :) Nice to hear their name is getting out there and people are finding it useful.
Thanks for your comment and compliment.
– Natasha Tracy
I think your question is very relevant to spending priorities. True, everyone would vote “the one they have” as the worst and therefore most entitled to public expenditures. But I would disagree. Some might argue public funds should go to the highest functioning, since they are the ones perhaps most likely to live ‘normal’ lives and ‘recover’ and work. But I would disagree. I think we should be funding treatments and research designed to help the most severely ill which I would say is schizophrenia followed by treatment-resistant bipolar disorder. I personally believe they are worst based on homelessness rates, incarceration rates, forensic rates, liklihood to be stuck “imprisoned by their psychosis”. NIMH has a definition of ‘serious mental illness’ that encompasses no more than 8% of population. I think federal and state governments should adopt that definition as their priority population and require the lions share of all mental ‘health’ expenditures be spent helping this population.
Hi DJ Jaffee,
An interesting perspective. I don’t know what the current rates of funding are, but in 1999 they looked like this, for the National Institute of Health:
Disease | Research $ | Prevalence | $/person affected
HIV (incl. AIDS) | $1,792,700,000 | 800,000 | $2,240.88
lung cancer | $163,100,000 | 342,457 | $476.26
cervical cancer | $75,200,000 | 231,064 | $325.45
multiple sclerosis | $96,300,000 | 350,000 | $275.14
breast cancer | $474,700,000 | 2,197,504 | $216.02
colorectal cancer | $175,900,000 | 1,041,499 | $168.89
Parkinson’s | $132,300,000 | 1,000,000 | $132.30
prostate cancer | $177,500,000 | 1,637,208 | $108.42
Alzheimer’s | $406,500,000 | 4,000,000 | $101.62
schizophrenia | $196,515,000 | 2,632,396 | $74.65
bipolar disorder | $57,805,000 | 2,227,412 | $25.95
depression | $199,600,000 | 10,732,076 | $18.60
panic disorder | $19,049,000 | 3,239,872 | $5.88
OCD | $12,693,000 | 4,859,808 | $2.61
(Numbers from here: http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm )
So schizophrenia did get the most even if it did fall far beneath diseases like cervical cancer which affects 10% the number of people (!).
And I would tend to agree – helping the most severely ill is very important. Helping those people will help society at large as it will allow them to be _part_ of our society rather than an outsider, possibly homeless and jobless. They can add their valuable contributions – and I think we all want that.
– Natasha Tracy
Hi Natasha, It may be worth adding that the National Comorbidity Survey results indicated 28.5% (USA) Bipolar patients ATTEMPT suicide, while Journal of Clinical Psychology puts that statistic at between 25% to 50%. And as for the nay sayers against medication, International Consortium for Research on Bipolar Disorders; the Dept of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School reported in 1999 that there is a 8-fold decrease in suicide risks when drug therapy is taken, thus supporting the point you have made in the past, I think, that one should not abandon meds. without serious thought beforehand.
But also I have a question for you: When you said, “Once you learn you can experience more pain than you ever thought possible, the scale shifts” do you mean that you feel more able to deal with the bad times? I ask because when it started, no one told me a) how long the worst depression I had would last or b) how bad that would be or, indeed, how bad would be my worst dysphoric hypomania. Knowing how bad it was, how do you feel about the possibility of having to go through it all over again? I’m not sure I could but – hopefully – that situation won’t arise now I have medication.
Hi Graham,
Good points. I do believe the rate of suicide attempt is closer to the 50% mark in bipolar, but that’s me.
“And as for the nay sayers against medication, International Consortium for Research on Bipolar Disorders; the Dept of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School reported in 1999 that there is a 8-fold decrease in suicide risks when drug therapy is taken”
Another good point. Lithium appears to be particularly prophylactic against suicide.
As for your question, I suppose it is the case that you _are_ more capable of handling worse pain. That happens by default over time – you get better at handling whatever life throws at you (hopefully). But actually what I meant was that the new, greater amount of pain becomes the new low and this naturally shifts the scale as you realize you were wrong about the maximum amount of pain there was available before.
And, of course, no one can tell you how bad or how long your (or my, or anyone’s) episode will be and I have been through many. Looking forward, I never want to be in some of the places I have been, but the truth is, I likely will be. Because that’s the illness for you. And I say that as a treatment resistant person, so not everyone is going to have that experience. But for me, I know as bad as it has gotten, it will likely get that bad, or even worse, again. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles with the illness.
I try not to think about it. Really. That’s how I handle it. I just take one day as it comes and know that tomorrow will take care of itself. If I worry about future pain it will ruin any chance I have in the present.
– Natasha Tracy
Really thought this was a good read with a great conclusion. I didn’t realise the suicide statistics for anorexia were so high. It’s terrible.
Thank-you Elinor.
Most people have no idea how deadly anorexia is. The numbers include all those that die of the illness and suicides proper. But I think that’s understandable as anorexia really is just a very slow suicide.
– Natasha Tracy
Hi Natasha,
A girlfriend of Joyce and me stated a wonderful answer to us a number of years ago to a similar question to yours.
“The “worst illness” is the pain and suffering you’re currently experiencing.”
Warmly,
Herb
vnsdepression@gmail.com
http://www.vnstherapy-herb.blogspot.com
Herb,
Yup, my thoughts exactly.
– Natasha