CalifChick
Posts: 10717
Joined: 10/28/2007
From: California
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quote:
ORIGINAL: afkarr
Approximately only 10-15% of people with an official mental health diagnosis can be classified as severely mentalydisabled,
There is another 20-30% that are moderately functional,
Then there is the remainder- those people are your family, frineds, colleagues, and sometimes yourself.
I would say my personal observations over the past 11 years comes close to this, but I think your numbers might be a bit high in the first category. I would say the severely disabled would be in the single digits (of course, we are talking about those who have sought treatment... the real numbers may be higher). And I'm excluding anyone who is in a group home or other facility due to mental impairments - because their lives are managed by others, they would probably be excluded anyway.
There are so many different perceptions (I won't say misperceptions, because I don't want to get into THAT argument) on this thread that it is hard to know where to start.
In my observations, I can't think of a single person I've run into over the years that has an anxiety disorder or a mood disorder that is unable to function. There might be an exception or two in the agoraphobia category (and without pulling out the book, I can't remember if phobias are a subset of anxiety disorders, but it doesn't really matter), since that phobia produces anxiety when you leave your home, thus rendering it difficult for you to function in everyday society. But even agoraphobics can function "normally" if they never have to leave my house. There was someone in my family that didn't leave the house for roughly 40 years. Other family members accommodated her illness. If you went to visit, you would have no idea of her illness, as she functioned (mostly) normally at home.
I can't think of a single OCD patient (and one of our docs specializes in this) whose OCD is so severe that they cannot function due to their rituals. I'm sure they are out there, of course, but if their OCD is that severe, they probably wouldn't be out meeting people anyway. Most people find significant relief from their symptoms with medication.
The people that are dangerous, IMO, are the ones unable to feel sympathy, empathy, or compassion for other people. They are unable to see, or do not care about, what their actions will do to someone else. Generally these people are referred to as sociopaths.
One of our docs specializes in autism evaluations. Sometimes the results of these evaluations show borderline intellectual functioning, mild mental retardation, or moderate mental retardation (intellectual functioning deficits do not automatically manifest in people with autism; many are intellectually gifted). I'll have to ask her about the question in regards to level of intellect, as a number of these people are in committed relationships, and I find the topic quite interesting.
Cali
_____________________________
AKA "The Undisputed Goddess of Sarcasm", "Big Bad Cali" and "Yum Bum". Advisor to the Subbie Mafia, founding member of the W.A.C. and the Judgmental Bitches Brigade, member of the Clan of the Scarlet O'Hair-a's and Team Troll
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RE: Mental Health and the lifestyle - 
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