Studies have shown that the life expectancy of people suffering from a mental illness is on average twenty-five years less than the normal life expectancy. This statistic is staggering. It is my opinion that the shortened life span may have more to do with the treatment of the disease, rather than the disease itself. In reality, there are many reasons for the reduced life expectancy in individuals, like me, who have suffered, or are suffering, from a mental illness, including the tendency to not take proper care of ourselves. However, one less-recognized and less-discussed reason may be the inappropriate care that we are given by the very people trying to help us live long, meaningful lives.

Since the discovery of the receptors dopamine and serotonin and the role they play in our mental health, research has focused on finding ways to pharmaceutically change the levels of dopamine and serotonin in our brain. The pharmaceutical industry has the financial clout and political influence to lobby for further research and the approval of drugs for the treatment of mental illness. On the other hand, there is no monetary incentive for advancing non-pharmaceutical modes of treatment. While there is promising research being conducted to examine the causes of mental illness, such as trauma and childhood experiences, as far as treatment goes, drugs are still the king.

The use of drugs to treat mental illness has resulted in adverse side effects, physical illness and disease, thus contributing to an already reduced life expectancy. For example, eating disorders, diabetes and liver problems may result from a prolonged use of drugs to treat mental illness, leaving patients with not only the stress of having a mental illness but also having to regulate and treat new medical problems. Not feeling well both mentally and physically plays a part in the shortened life span. That being said, we as consumers seem to find ways of endangering our own health. From smoking, using extreme amounts of caffeine, and using illegal drugs as a form of self-medicating, we work against ourselves.

During my brief stint as a caseworker on the ACT team, I noticed how prominent multiple diagnosis were among the peers I served. In fact, my work ended up going beyond psychosocial rehabilitation. Much of my time was spent managing doctors-visits and sorting through medications that consumers were taking. This took away from other areas that I feel are vital to recovery, like finding employment, peer services, therapy groups and other activities that give hope and a sense of responsibility of recovery to my fellow consumers.

I am now enrolled in a class at school where we are studying portions of the brain and pathways that produce behavior and their associations with chemicals. In doing research for the class, I came across information which has given me hope on the topic of treatment. Most of the research has been related to biologically-based and epigenetically-based causes of mental illness. However, i have found that promising research is being done combining not only these two facets, but also research related to trauma and other conditions that can cause our brains to fire in a certain manner. This shows to be a very promising outlook on the future in treatment of mental illness.
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With these new innovations in research being conducted, it will be less likely that we will be led astray by false propaganda from pharmaceutical companies in regard to the treatment of mental illness. Please do not get me wrong. I am a strong believer in medications for use in helping to alleviate symptoms for the short term. However, I feel that it should be used for a limited duration while therapeutic treatments are implemented. Long-term success should not rest solely on long-term use of medications. We as consumers must accept more of the responsibility for our own recovery. This means exercise, nutrition, and avoiding bad habits which can exacerbate our mental illness and lead to physical ailments as well. It is my hope that, in the future, more attention will be given to treatments not involving long-term reliance on medicine. Until that time, where more viable treatments are afforded to us, it Is essential that we stay on the planned care, given to us by our doctors and therapist.