Everyone feels depressed and anxious occasionally. Multiply this one thousand-fold- and you will know how depressed and anxious person feels every day. Everyone had experienced a nightmare/an unpleasant dream, at least once- if you feel like that most of the time and cannot awake from it- we call it psychosis.
A continuum of human experiences could therefore be either considered “healthy” at one end or “severe mental illness” at the other extreme. It is normal for a human to feel a whole range of different emotions; to entertain a variety of thoughts, even distressing ones..
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it”. Aristotle
…but if you cannot control/harness those experiences at a level that is acceptable for the society you live in, you could be called mentally ill. Note that behavior that is considered normal in one culture would raise eyebrows, or even get you in trouble with the law, in another.
To summarize, your vulnerability to mental illness seems to depend on your ability to analyze your thoughts, contain your emotions, control your actions, as well as on your place and time of residence.
Mental illnesses are statistically more common amongst socially disadvantaged people. One of the reasons for that might be their lower educational level. If Aristotle is right, we are much more able to keep our mind in check, if we trained it via learning. On the other hand, when one “falls apart”- which many people do after bereavement, relationship breakdown etc, their mental frailty becomes obvious for others to see. In situations described above the frailty is likely to be of a temporary nature.
Chronic mental illness is known to be associated with long term exposure to adverse life events, say an equivalent of a number of bereavements/breakdowns etc.
Is mental illness always bad?? Did you know that people who are prone to anxiety are often kinder, more thoughtful and caring than an average person. For their own vulnerability seems to sensitize them to the suffering of others. Many famous performers had been diagnosed with a bipolar disease at some point in their lives. And those with Asperger’s Disorder usually possess average to above-average intelligence etc etc.
Is sound mental health always good?? Some would describe psychopaths as people with extreme ability to detach their thoughts from their own emotions, or emotions of the others.. this then enables them to carry out their horrific deeds.
Perhaps one should aim to be somewhere in the middle of the spectrum- emotional enough to fully enjoy the kaleidoscope of life; yet sufficiently in control to cope with the complex reality of the very same life.