On the mental illness buffet

I have a friend who told me he had 5 mental illnesses according to what his psychiatrist told him.  He told me he guessed he had “went to the mental illness buffet and ate too much.”

His psychiatrist really didnt either appreciate or understand his sense of humour, but I thought he had really hit on something.  Perhaps it shows a bit of the insanity of insanity.

I thought of questions I would have asked his psychiatrist.

• Is mental illness primarily a brain disorder?? (He would have said yes)
• If I have 5 mental health diagnoses does that mean I have 5  different brain disorders or do I have one disorder that shows itself 5 different ways??
• How do you know??
• If the symptoms for one disorder are similar to the symptoms of another how do you know what brain disorder is causing what??
• What brain disorders do I have??
• If you dont know how do you know I do??
• If you are deducing brain disorders based on observable behaviors is that not just a form of superstitious thinking??
• If I went to another psychiatrist how likely is it that he will say I have the same 5 disorders??  Another heart surgeon would say I have the same heart disease.
• If the other psychiatrist is likely to say something different (he is) who should I believe and why?
• Does the medication you are prescribing address the brain disorder you say is causing my problem??   If I have 5 different disorders do I need 5 different medications or does one address all of them??  If one addresses all of them are you still sure I have 5 disorders???

Probably some silly questions I know, but the point is serious.  Labels have consequences and the process whereby you label people has consequences.  When the way you make sense of things makes no sense it leads to much nonsense.  And believe me that has consequences.