How does MENTAL ILLNESS affect your IDENTITY?

Patient suffering from MENTAL ILLNESS and that is affect their IDENTITY

10 Jul, 23

How does MENTAL ILLNESS affect your IDENTITY?

A "sense of identity" is intensely a psychological concept. It is abstract and sometimes difficult to comprehend fully. It has complexities and becomes even more complex as it unfolds with time.

Identity extends a little further to include all of one's memories, experiences, and relationships, as well as how they have impacted them. Because of the broad range of possible deviant behaviours, almost any behaviour could be labelled as deviant, depending on the context. Any behaviour associated with mental illness is one type of deviance that can have a significant impact on identity.

What is MENTAL ILLNESS?

Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions characterized by disturbances in mood, thinking, and behaviour. Feeling low on energy and emotions, sleep and eating disorders, anger issues, suicidal thoughts, and addictive behaviours are all examples of mental illnesses. Many people experience mental health issues from time to time.

A mental illness can make you unhappy and cause difficulties in your daily life, such as at school, work, or in relationships. This can lead to an identity crisis - wherein you start doubting your existence and individuality.

At Zivanza, our experts offer concrete lines of treatment that include a combination of medications and talk therapy (psychotherapy) to manage the symptoms.

What is an IDENTITY CRISIS?

Generally, identity has the central quality of personal sameness and continuity in stable mental health; when you wake up in the morning or when things in life change, you are unlikely to consider yourself to be a drastically different person.

However, in case of an identity crisis, people may start disassociating themselves from the life they are currently leading. Some people may encounter an identity crisis all of a sudden, for e.g. waking up one day and experiencing an internal turmoil and not being able to connect themselves with the errands going on around them. In other words, they no longer believe they are living their ideal lives; something is wrong.

How can mental illness AFFECT your identity?

No brownie points to guess that a mental health disorder can result in affecting your identity. Mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and schizophrenia can make it difficult to maintain one's distinctiveness. These disorders can inevitably cloud one's identity leading to an identity crisis.

Bipolar disorder, for instance, is distinguished by abrupt and severe changes in behaviour and mood. This portrayal may leave friends and family perplexed and unsure of what to expect next. They may become sceptical of the dynamics of your relationship with them. The extreme swings from mania to depression can be so unsettling that you begin to question whether anything you do represents who you truly are. The mood swings that happen in bipolar disorder can be frustrating and disheartening, leaving you wondering what you'll do next.

On the other hand, people suffering from Schizophrenia face additional difficulties because the disorder impairs a person's ability to make appropriate decisions, manage emotions, and interact with others. Hallucinations and delusions make seeing the world for what it is even more difficult. In fact, a patient with this condition has no idea how severe their mental illness is or even if they have one at all.

The bottom line is any type of mental health disorder can cause an identity crisis that can be accompanied by anxiety, depression, insecurity and vulnerability.

WHEN does mental illness BECOME our identity?

The combination of mental illness and identity allows one to accept rather than deny the mental illness. Instead of attempting to become someone who is free of anxiety, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, we accept that our illness affects our identity, which is fine.

Nevertheless, this is less likely to occur when we conceal our illness or symptoms. When we conceal our illness and begin to think of our sick self as our true self, we harmonise our illness and our identity. Don't deal with mental illness all alone. We are right here!

DON’T deal with mental illness all ALONE. We are right here!

At Zivanza, we address mental health issues by identifying and treating underlying causes and aggravators. We provide programmes that are specifically designed to treat a wide range of mental health disorders. If you need help for yourself or a loved one, don't hesitate to look into the various treatment programmes we extend.