to ask what you think 'severe mental illness' means?

[ButteryPie]

Something recently has made me think that most people think it means something different to what I think it means. So, if someone said they were unable to work due to suffering from a severe mental illness, they had children and a dp who works part time, what is your assumption?

(please don't worry about offending me etc - I'm genuinely intrigued as to what people think from that sentance, whether more detail is needed, etc)

detached from reality and a danger to themselves/others?

Something more than depression - severe depression, psychosis, bio-polar, schiziophenia or a diagnosed Personality Disorder.

And please do feel free to jump to wild conclusions - that is what I want. Wondering if I've just attracted a load of strange people or if I should have been less vague.

"if someone said they were unable to work due to suffering from a severe mental illness, they had children and a dp who works part time, what is your assumption?"

Not sure what you're actually asking, sorry.
I suppose I would assume it had a sever impact on their life - so being completely unable to work would qualify. Being unlikely to ever recover would be another (in the same way as I'd class any severre illness). Having regular, often appointments about it.

sorry what I meant was not sure where the children and the part time working DP fit in

And would it change your perception if you were reading a piece of writing by that person that seemed sensible?

What the fuck has having a working partner got to do with the definition or diagnosis?

I would think they had such deep depression that they simply couldn't get out of bed or out of the house.

I would have thought that with anything more severe, like schitzophrenia or any of the other serious psychiatric disorders, they wouldn't have children in the house and the partner would be unable to work part time.

I had episodes of psychosis and ended up having a stay in a psych hospital. I consider that 'severe mental illness'

no, not at all. I can't imagine any situation wjhere I'd think "this person cannot have a mental illness because..."
(Unless they were wrting X's guide to happiness and inner peace I suppose)

To me, severe mental illness is of a nature that restricts your life or makes you vulnerable or stops you from functioning normally in society and, in rare cases, makes you a potential danger to yourself or others. Those few people who are a danger, always have severe mental illness. (Most people with mental illness, even severe mental illness, are not a danger and I don't think they are, I want to make that clear)

oh iswym bubbles

What Memoo said

that someone had a mental illness that met the criteria for severe as dx'ed by a psychiatrist or psychologist. implicit would be that, untreated, it was having a massive adverse effect on their quality of life. I wouldn't see that as incompatible with having a partner/children/being able to put together a coherent piece of writing.

Just off the top of my head, and it's only my opinion, but I would say someone who is unable to carry out some basic life tasks needed to keep them safe, keeping themselves clean/fed, not able to meet the needs of their children, maybe isolated from the rest of society either in a physical sense or in their mind.

Severe to me means they're struggling a lot with 'life'.

About your last post, no, it wouldn't change my perception because I think most mental illnesses go through phases and doesn't mean you can't be intelligent or coherent.

Probably I would think the same as ILoveTIFFANY ...
That said, 'severe' when said by the sufferer might well not be 'severe' as described by doctors, etc., IYSWIM.
So if it was sufferer referring to 'severe' MI, then I'd just take it that there are MH issues, but I wouldn't read much more into it.

My mother is suffering from a severe mental illness at the moment. It means that she cannot function normally.

She has anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia, has been prescribed cbt and citalopram by her GP. I consider this to be severe. If she was of working age rather than retired she would have been signed off work for 8 weeks and counting ...

I'm probably worng Stealth! There weren't any other posts when I started thinking and wrote that.

I would think someone with severe mental illness would be more capable of doing some good writing than they would be able to look after children, and that ability would depend on the illness. There are lots of them!

I would porbably think they were depressed or had some sort of anxiety state (only because I think they are the most common mental illnesses) which meant they weren't able to cope with, or their condition was caused by work..I wouldn't feel it had any bearing on their ability to write sensibly at all.

I'm trying to not give too many details to confuse things as it is this one issue I'm wondering about. It just seemed that those facts got misunderstood - it was worded something like 'I can't work due to a severe mental illness, my husband only works part time and we have two children, so money is tight' and people jumped to assumptions. (I knew they would, but I thought they would be different ones, iyswim - neither are overly important, I just think maybe I put it across badly and want to do better)

Although I would keep in mind that their POV might be influenced by their mental state

I would require a lot more detail as it would depend on the precise diagnosis and whether the condition is treatable with medication.

Is there someone you are particulary concerned about, perhaps with regard to their ability to care for their children while their dp is working? Or do you suspect that they have exaggerated, or are exaggerating, the severity of their mental illness?

bubbles - people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder etc do often have partners and children that they live with, though.

butterypie, i would imagine that the person under discussion had a mental illness which caused them to have episodes when they were unable to manage normal day to day living. this could be pretty much any form of mental illness, i suppose.