A little bit crazy.

I suffer from a mild form of bipolar disorder, as I have written about previously. Looking back, it started in adolescence, though I didn't understand what was going on until my mid-20s. It is mild, though, and I have never suffered either a hypomanic or major depressive episode (though I have had some very dark periods), and have been able to control the disorder with minimal impact on my life. In this sense, I guess you can say that I am a little bit crazy - nothing major, nothing which requires hospitalization or heavy pharmaceuticals, nothing which puts my life at risk. I'm just a little bit crazy.

Being a 'little bit crazy' isn't like being a 'little bit pregnant' - there is a range of severity with any mental health issue, just as there is with almost any other kind of health issue. You can have a mild case of the flu, which can be annoying, but doesn't require much in the way of treatment - or you can have the kind of flu which can kill you if you don't have medical intervention (and perhaps even then). You can have, say, a rotator cuff problem which requires nothing more than regular light exercise, or you can have such significant shoulder problems that surgery is required. I think that this is the thing which most people don't really consider when it comes to mental health, because of the stigma attached to mental "illness".

And make no mistake - there is still a huge stigma attached to any mental health 'problem'. While I've known for about 25 years that I've suffered from this mild bipolar condition, I've largely kept that to myself, for this very reason. Attitudes are changing somewhat, but still . . .

One good example that I have seen played out countless times in discussions about religion: atheists see belief in God as essentially irrational, in that there is no demonstrable "proof" that such an entity exists. That's why religious belief is called "faith". Yet if you say this, in almost any form or phraseology that I have seen over the decades, people will instantly assume that you're saying that all believers are "delusional" and basically "insane". And it's not just the people of faith who will think this - I've seen plenty of atheists jump to the same conclusion.

But that's silly. There is clearly a difference between types of religious faith, as well as degree, just as there is in the range and severity of mental health 'problems'. I dare say that most people who don't really spend a lot of time thinking about it have what can be characterized as only a nominal religiosity - ask them, and they'll say that they believe that there's a God, but they don't really spend a lot of time dwelling on Him/It/Them. Even among the devout there is a wide range of manifestation of religious fervor - the little old lady who goes to her local church every Sunday and prays for relief from her arthritis pain is significantly different from the kook who straps on a bomb and goes off to blow up unbelievers. The couple who pray for the intervention of the Virgin to save the life of their child are different from, say, the guy who taps his bat three times against his left shoe before stepping up to the plate. Et cetera, et cetera.

I'll be honest - I see all of this as 'magical thinking', and not grounded in reality. But it is not all the same. Much of it is harmless, just amusing and not truly toxic either to the believers or to the world. Just as my mild bipolar condition is not the same as severe bipolar disorder, let alone true depression or schizophrenia. I'll be even more honest - most such 'magical thinking' is of very little real concern to me. I see the bulk of it as just adding some richness to society. And I wouldn't even necessarily say that people should get rid of it. Hell, I can't say that I really want to be rid of my mild bipolar condition - it is manageable, and there are benefits to it, and I'm used to it. Yeah, sure, in some ideal world I wouldn't suffer the periodic bouts of mild depression, just as in some ideal world everyone was rational and grounded in reality.

But we don't live in that ideal world. I'd settle for having a little superstition and magical thinking, acceptance of the fact that we all have our quirks and small problems, in exchange for getting rid of the toxic manifestations of religion as well as true mental illness. How about you?

Jim Downey

(Cross posted to my blog.)