Has your life driven you mad?

Have you ever had the feeling like someone has scribbled all over your brain? If not, just imagine your brain ticking along nicely, with clear thoughts, good head space & great perceptive & then all of a sudden thousands of tiny little brain people come out from their crevices armed with marker pens & scribble all over your brain! And then, if that wasn’t enough, they start to shred your brain matter to bits, tearing it from the soft fleshy cerebrum & reattaching it to another part of the brain just to cause confusion! This is quite graphic, but its a good way to describe how it might feel if you are suffering from a metal illness of any kind.

No one will ever know what exactly causes a person to become ill. Most people have an individual story to tell & reasons why they developed an illness but for some people there seems to be no rhyme or reason at all. As we know, the brain is a very complex structure. It contains billions of nerve cells–called neurons–that must communicate & work together for the body to function normally. Just as there are different types of neurons there are also different types of chemical neurotransmitters. Researchers studying mental illness believe abnormalities in how particular brain circuits function contribute to the development of many mental illnesses. Connections between nerve cells along certain pathways or circuits in the brain can lead to problems with how the brain processes information & may result in abnormal mood, thinking, perception, or behaviour.

I am an absolute believer that life circumstances contribute massively to Mental Illness. This cant be said for all cases of course, but from my own experience & from speaking with people who have had episodes of illness throughout their life, I truly believe that whats happens through ones life impacts on the brain so much so, it literally can send them mad. There are those who would argue that it is merely a chemical imbalance which just isn’t true. Trauma before birth, such as an infection or exposure to alcohol, drugs & other toxins can cause Mental Health issues just as trauma during birth, such as oxygen deprivation or premature delivery can cause issues. There are also factors such a inherited disorders, such as phenylketonuria (PKU) or Tay-Sachs disease. Chromosome abnormalities, such as Down Syndrome which are abnormalities within the body from birth. I am talking about illness caused by your Psychological state, coping with traumatic experiences such as abuse, bereavement, divorce etc. All of these will strongly influence an individuals mental & emotional state which will in turn have an impact on their Mental Health. It it absolutely mind boggling to think about the nitty gritty of what actually happens inside the brain to make a person lose their marbles as it were. I will never give up trying to find a way to help my mum regain some kind of normal existence, whatever normal is.