Schizophrenia and Eudaemonia

When treating mental illness, it is important to ensure that the patient remains capable of living to his full potential.  All too often, inadequate education and misdirection of the true facts of the illness causes the patient to see himself as nothing more than a patient, often unwillingly.  If the patient does not submit to the will of health professionals, the temptation is to break the patient down to a state where treatment acceptance bears a similarity with agreement.

The dictates of practical ethics, besides being prescriptive for human flourishing, should be seen as identical across the board.  There are no different, separate, ethics for the mentally unwell.  A schizophrenic can be -- indeed, should be -- a potential candidate for the exploration of eudaemonia.  There is a difference between medical suffering and human angst, but it is benefical to treat these as one and the same.

Carol Ryff's Six-Point Scale of Psychological Well-Being is a solid questionaire that measures the reported well-being of humans.  It is based on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and is a quantification of his ideas about eudaemonia.  The six categories and a sample question from each are as follows:

1. Autonomy
I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general consensus.
2. Environmental Mastery
In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live.
3. Personal Growth
I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world.
4. Positive Relations with Others
People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others.
5. Purpose in Life
Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.
6. Self-Acceptance
I like most aspects of my personality.

Those without disabilities that prohibit them from working may perceive not working as a benefit to being disabled.  They may feel that the the mentally ill don't deserve to be treated well.  They believe that disability welfare is theft.  It is a catch-22.  It is exceedingly rare that the mentally ill are qualified for gainful labour, and in a labour-intensive society such as ours, nobody wants to hire the ill.

Consequently, for example, it is difficult for the mentally ill to find purpose to their life.  Something that many people derive their life's meaning from -- work -- is denied, and thus the potential to know human flourishing is denied.  This is unacceptable.  An enlightened society should recognize the suffering of its members.  Contrary answers to the big questions of life need to be recognized as valid.  A common alternative to work is religious piety.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness, not an ethical one.  It is possible to live a full and complete life while suffering from the effects of the sickness.  All it takes is an awareness of ethics beyond the scope of the symptoms of madness, as well as the keen observation that very few people, sane or insane, manage to live a life conducive to human flourishing.  Happiness is not automatic.

To measure the efficacy of a eudaemonic (happiness) focus, we need only look to cases of suicide.  Those who are unable to be happy with their diagnosis have an increased chance of suicide.  Acceptance of one's weaknesses and recognition of one's humanity leads to greater self-acceptance, and fewer suicides.