A man living in asmall town in the ozark mountains of missouri has a vision.He belives God has spoken to him.He begins preaching to his neighbours.Soon the whole town is in a state of religious ferovr.People say he has a"calling".His reputation as a prophet and a healer spreads.One day he ventures down into the city of st.louis and attempts to hold a prayer meeting on a main street.He is arrested.When tells the police that he talks with God,they take him to the mental hospital. A high school junior moves to a new town with her family.she doesn`t like the new school.She has trouble sleeping and feels tired all the time.She finds it hard to make new friends and feels unable to keep her with schoolwork.It is hard for her to concentrate.She sees a doctors who tells her she is in perfect health. She tells her family about her depression.She says she thinks she is mentally ill and needs to see psychoterapist.Her fsmily ridicules the idea.All she needs to do,they say,is cheer up. The schoolgirl wonders if she could solve her problem by running away or jumiping off a bridge. Defining Mental illnes: Who is right the illustration above?The "prophet"or the police?The schoolgirl or her parents? It is not always easy to idntify a serious mental disorder.What seems abonormal to some is consider normal by others.Many people in our society__and in other societies___feel that having visions is a sign of mental disturbance.Had the "prophet"stayed at home in the Ozarks. the problem is that there are no hard and fast rules for defining mental illness.Even the experts disagree. In the case of high school student,she herself decided that she was disturbed bescuse she was depressed.But occasional depression is not necessarily a sign of mental disturbance. Everyone feels low from time to time.
