I am not playing around with semantics. There is a big difference between intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses. If you don't use accurate terminology people often don't know what you are talking about. I have a degree in psychology. Both kinds of conditions might affect the mind, but they are not the same thing. A mental illness is not listed in the same area of diagnosis as an intellectual disability. They are most certainly different. Usually when a professional talks about someone's cognitive faculties they are talking about how he or she is able to do and understand certain cognitive tasks, such as math and reading, and abstract concepts.
Here are two of the requirements to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability:
1. IQ under 67; some people list it as under 70.
2. Occurs before the age of 18
Someone with a mental illness, however, does not necessarily have a intellectual disability. A person can have a genius IQ and have a mental illness. A person can also develop the mental illness past the age of 18. Also, not everyone who has a mental illness has a psychotic disorder like Schizophrenia. Things such as Obsessive Compulsive disorder are also considered to be mental illnesses that are caused by something in the brain, but Obsessive Compulsive disorder does not affect cognitive skills. Also, people with a mental illness can be given medicine that may alleviate some, if not all, of their symptoms. You cannot give someone medicine to alleviate an intellectual disability. You help people who have intellectual disabilities by teaching them new ways to compensate for the disability or help them use the abilities that they do have to reach their fullest potential. I realize that their are a few people who have such severe intellectual disabilities that they have to have constant care, but this is not true about most of the people who have intellectual disabilities.
Furthermore, people with learning disabilities also have something that doesn't work right in the brain. Many of them are very intelligent. A learning disability is not classified as an intellectual disability. They can, however, have trouble with abstract concepts.
It is possible for someone to have both a mental illness and an intellectual disability, but this certainly is not always the case.
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tim411
14 years ago
Blynn,
This is simply a classification issue.
And as the rocky history of psychology has shown - classification is not a strong point for psychologist.
Hence hodge-podge categories like PDD-NOS.... "not otherwise specified" because they can't specify.
The debates that go into proper classification of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals of Mental Disorders are huge. Newer versions completely changing previous classifications.
Proving the fact that diagnosis is a convention.
A cognitive faculty can be considered: understanding/intellect, sense perception, memory, imagination.....
All of these are cognitive faculties.
Not simply "understanding/intellect".
When people refer to cognitive faculties they are not just refering to "understanding/intellect".
Mental and Intellectual disabilities affect any one of these faculties.
No offense, but I'm not entirely impressed by psychology degrees.
They're a soft science - more concerned with classifications of things into categories and labeling (as can be seen with our discussion). Aside from the fact that most undergraduate work in psychology only requires a single mathematical course in the form of statistics.
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blynnpatton
14 years ago
I understand what you are saying about cognitive things. That still does not change the fact that mental illness is not the same thing as intellectual disability. It also does not change the fact that cognitive faculties usually make people think of cognitive skills. I don't know what else to say. Someone can have one or the other. They can also have both of them at the same time. A person can also have ailments such as the flu and pneumonia at the same time, but this doesn't make them the same thing.
Psychology is not a soft science. Also, I have also been studying to become certified in Special Education. Even a medical doctor would not consider mental illness and an intellectual disability the same kind of condition. Most of the time when someone talks about cognitive faculties, they are talking about cognitive skills. If you don't use proper terminology, people will not always know what you are talking about.
Not all mental illnesses are of the psychotic nature. For example, some people have obsessive / compulsive disorder. This does not affect their skills in cognition.
Also, there are treatments that may alleviate, some if not, all of they symptoms of a mental illness. The same cannot be said about intellectual disabilities.
If I went by your definition that any condition that affects or happens in the brain was a mental disorder, I would have to say that a brain tumor or an aneurysm was also a mental disorder.
The main differences is that a mental illness is just that an illness. An intellectual disorder is not an illness. That would be like saying someone who loses a limb has an illness. It is not just a matter of classification. A mental illness is not the same thing as an intellectual disability.
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josebut8
13 years ago
This movie turns my stomach. It came on the other day when I had the sound turned down on the TV and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I turned the sound up... Using mentally handicapped people as a kind of emotional pornography. And the smug tone of the film-makers (and Penn) who think they're doing something so noble...bleccch! I just threw up.
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