The Cave of Mental Illness

This is an essay I wrote in the Winter 2014 Semester for my Western Humanities class. I felt like I needed to share it. It is a bit long, but I assure you it's worth your time. Also, take some time to watch the quick video at the end.

Jacob Hansen

Professor Julie Ransom

IHUM 201

Connection to Major

10 April 2014

The Cave of Mental Illness

A mere seven months ago I had a different perception of reality. I found myself, as psychologist Kay Jamison puts it, “enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind” (68). I, like Jamison, suffer from bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed about twenty months into my mission. Though I was in this cave, during the manic episode I experienced I felt more creative and energetic than I ever had. I felt little need to sleep and could think and make connections very quickly. I understood the world differently than others, and, so I thought, at a higher level. It was as if I had discovered a new revolutionary way of living and I was confused at why others didn’t conform to it. For good or bad, I was a prisoner in the cave of my own ill mind. We gain valuable insights on the experiences and perspectives of the mentally ill by examining Plato’s allegory of the cave and Plato’s character.

            Plato’s allegory of the cave gives us a little glimpse into the experiences of the mentally ill. When I was in the throes of mental illness I felt like one of the prisoners which Plato describes who had “from their childhood” had their “legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads” (Jowett 1). These chains were my mental illness. Though I had only recently begun the struggle against this demon, it seemed as if I had known nothing different. It was hard to imagine life before being in the mentally ill state.

            As I was chained by the bewildering beast of bipolarity, I had a clouded view of reality. I saw only shadows of the real world. For instance, I thought the mental hospital I was in was really a large airplane and believed that one of my doctors was President Spencer W. Kimball. Being in the cave I felt as if the shadows were so very real. The truth to me was “literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Jowett 2). Seeing what I thought was the truth and making it known and having other people not agree with me was confusing and somewhat irritating. I claimed that I had seen evidence in Boyd K. Packer’s talk that I would soon be called as the next apostle. Though I read the same words as others read in the talk, I interpreted them very differently. I was seeing shadows.

            Plato offers insight not only into the experiences of the mentally ill, but into their perspectives as well. I became so accustomed to my life in the cave that the shadows became increasingly familiar to me and I grew to actually enjoy living in the cave. I became attached to my new state and began to, as Plato says, “fancy…the shadows” (Jowett 2). Many of the symptoms of bipolar disease are in reality quite enjoyable and desirable. According to The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic disorders, some of these symptoms include increased energy and activity, high euphoric mood and reduced perceived need for sleep (Basile 167). The aforementioned Kay Redfield Jamison, who herself suffers from bipolar disorder states, “When you’re high it’s tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty” (68). I, being a missionary at the time of my episode, found many of the symptoms to be rather exciting and useful. I felt I was becoming the kind of missionary I had always wanted to be.

The perspective of the mentally ill can be very interesting and enlightening. In fact, perhaps mental illness, after one has come out of the cave and properly controlled it, can actually be an asset and not a hindrance. In a TED talk, Joshua Walters relished the positives of his bipolar disorder by saying, “I could either deny my mental illness or embrace my mental skillness” (Walters, “On being just crazy enough”). In Brian Adams’ personal narrative on bipolar disorder, he states, “I am certain that every useful thing I have produced has been enabled by the power my illness has given me; I achieved this and that because of my manic depression not in spite of it” (156). I felt very similar to Adams. Just as I became ill, I felt I was beginning to do the best work I had done my entire mission.

Being in the cave I could commiserate with the others who were also chained by various mental illnesses. I understood why they acted the way they did because I realized they were seeing similar shadows. One cannot fully understand how it is to be in the cave unless one has lived there and experienced the confusion and darkness. It is almost like living in a different world and experiencing a different reality.

            What happens when perception clashes with reality? What happens when one comes out of the cave of mental illness and medicine and counseling have brought them back to the light of the real world? Plato states, “At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows…” (Jowett 2). When I came out of my manic state, I suffered some sharp pains. I was frustrated when others told me that the connections I saw in things really weren’t there. It was hard, as Plato states, “to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world” (Jowett 2). It was a stark contrast to life in the cave.

            Many see mental illness as a debilitating monster that chains us down, but what if we saw it in a different light? What if we compare the mentally ill person to the one outside the cave? What if those without mental illness are the ones who are chained? They are chained by their own preconceived notions about the mentally ill and they are unable to turn around their heads and see the reality. Those without mental illness see only the shadows of what the mentally ill do, but because they don’t see what the mentally ill see, they don’t understand why they act the way they do. Those inside the cave have imprisoned themselves in their own chains and they have robbed themselves of the opportunity to, in this case, rise to the level of the mentally ill and try to understand their view of the world.

            We must be ever so careful that we do not devalue the perspectives of the mentally ill just because their perception of reality is different than ours. At the beginning of the allegory, Plato states, “And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened…” (Jowett 1). The question becomes, who is the enlightened one? Is it the mentally ill or is it the others? What exactly does it mean to be enlightened? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines enlightenment as “the state of having knowledge or understanding.” One can argue that a mentally ill person has knowledge or understanding that one who is not mentally ill lacks. They understand things in a different way because they see things differently. Contrary to what many believe, perhaps they think on a higher and not lower plane. While it is true that the mentally ill may be enlightened in a certain sense, it is still difficult for us to understand their abstract way of thinking. In this case, those who don’t experience mental illness are really the ones who are ignorant and confused. According to Bennett Simon, Pre-Socratic thinkers “asserted the superiority of those who think abstractly” and believed “the philosopher is the one who “abstracts”…” (392). So then, if we think that the mentally ill have an abstract way of thinking we can make a claim that they are a philosopher in a certain light. In today’s vernacular, they “think outside the box.” The scholars, just like the mentally ill, see things in an abstract way.

            Let us use a hypothetical example to help us reconsider first: what mental illness really is and second: what those who suffer from it have to offer us. Plato was a scholar and an innovative, abstract thinker. He was the enlightened one outside of the cave. Was Plato mentally ill? Since there was no diagnosis for bipolar disorder in Plato’s time, we cannot be sure, but we can certainly assert that he possessed some of the symptoms. One of the symptoms of bipolar disorder is receiving a flight of ideas (Basile 167). Also, those with bipolar disorder have a sense of grandiosity which drives them to be bold and to go places intellectually that others, for fear of failure, are afraid to go. Plato, along with many other scholars of his day, demonstrated this kind of bold thinking that stemmed from a flight of creative and abstract ideas. What if Plato and other scholars lived in our day and were found to be mentally ill? Would we immediately discount their innovative ideas or would we embrace the chemical imbalance in their brains that allowed them to be more creative, take more risks, and think outside of the box? The point is that Plato’s allegory of the cave invites us to consider the idea of enlightenment. We must not rule out the fact that the mentally ill may in some cases truly offer fresh and interesting perspectives.  

Life outside the cave of the mundane, normal world that most experience is exhilarating. When I was in the thick of my hypomanic episode, I felt like I had wings. The gospel message I shared became even more exciting to me. Wanting to share this excitement with others, I began slamming on the brakes of my bike and contacting people right in the middle of the street. As flights of ideas came to me I would immediately act on them. I would take sharp turns to follow what I thought were impressions from the Spirit. My companion realized something was not quite right when I spent nearly all of our p-day frantically contacting and we failed to prepare ourselves physically for the week. Though it was quite apparent to my companion that something was amiss, I felt as if I had, in Plato’s words, seen “the light of the sun” (Jowett 2). I felt enlightened, as if I had discovered a kind of drive and excitement I had never before experienced.

One who has experienced mental illness has a responsibility to help others who are mentally ill. To one who has overcome their mental illness Plato says you “…must go down to the general underground abode, and get the habit of seeing in the dark. When you have acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the den, and you will know what the several images are, and what they represent, because you have seen the beautiful and just and good in their truth” (Jowett 6). Now that I have come out of the cave, I desire to help those who are still chained inside the cave.

There are often misunderstandings between the mentally ill and those who do not suffer from mental illness. This is because, as Plato states:

Bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light…and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.” (Jowett 4)

We must understand where the mentally ill are coming from if we desire to ever come to accept them. We can see them in one of two ways. We can see them as the person who has gone from the “light of reality” to the darkness of mental illness or we can see them as one who has gone out of the mundane darkness of reality and experienced the bright light of mania and psychosis. Whichever way we see them, we must, as Plato states, “not be too ready to laugh”. Since we have not experienced what the mentally ill call their reality, we have little room to judge. What makes complete sense to them may seem utterly outrageous to us.

            When trying to find common ground between ourselves and the mentally ill, perception is a prime paradox. A popular song by Gnarls Barkley correctly captures the way we perceive those with mental illness and the way they perceive us. It begs the question: what is reality and who is really crazy? The mentally ill person looks at the others without mental illness and says, in Gnarls Barkley’s words, “Come on now…who do you think you are? Ha, ha, ha, bless your soul. You really think you’re in control. Well I think you’re crazy…just like me.” The song ends like this: “Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe you’re crazy. Maybe we’re crazy. Probably” (Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”). No conclusion has been reached on who is really crazy. We ought to be more careful before we judge those who are different because they might think we are just as crazy as we view them to be.

            We have discussed the mentally ill in two different lights. We have compared them first to the prisoners inside the cave and then to the enlightened one outside of the cave. In considering both of these views, we have come to understand in a small way the vast complexity of mental illness and what one in a mentally ill state experiences. Because of my bout with mental illness, I can see life from both inside and outside of the cave. This understanding has helped me to more readily accept the perspectives of the mentally ill and view them in the right light. The next time you are tempted to judge someone with mental illness, ask yourself, “Am I in the cave?” If you are, then it’s time to unchain yourself and see the light.

Works Cited

Adams, Brian. The Pits and the Pendulum: A Life With Bipolar Disorder. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2003. eBook.

Basile, Maria. "Bipolar Disorder." The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders. Ed. Brigham Narins. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 166-170. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Gnarls Barkley. “Crazy.” St. Elsewhere. Downtown Music LLC and Atlantic Recording Corporation, 2006.

Jamison, Kay R. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. New York: Random House, 1995. eBook.

Jowett, Benjamin. Plato, Book VII of the Republic: The Allegory of the Cave. Print.

Simon, Bennett. "Models of mind and mental illness in ancient Greece II: The platonic model." Journal of the history of behavioral sciences. 8.4 (1972): 389-404. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Walters, Joshua. “On being just crazy enough.” TED full spectrum auditions. New York. May 2011. TED talk.