First draft

Understanding of almost every idea changes and grows in society over time.  This applies to mental illnesses as much as any other idea.  In early history, insanity was pretty widely considered to be caused by evil spirits, demons, or possession.  Things that we do not characterize as mental illnesses today, such as speech impediments or depression, were often considered to be signs of insanity in the past.  The Greeks were the first known culture to recognize mental illnesses as just that, an illness.  The common school of thought was that insanity was caused by an imbalance of bodily humors (2693).  The idea of insanity is rather subjective.  Who decides when one is insane?  How can one tell when one is insane, or just has a colorful personality?  To better understand mental illnesses, we must look at the cause of the problem, the possible behavior therapy to solve it, and also consider pharmacological solutions.
Once insanity was taken out of the realm of supernatural and placed into the field of medicine, humanity tried to figure out what the underlying cause was.  As I said before, the Greeks believed that there was a biological cause.  It is now generally accepted that there are definitely biological factors that cause mental illnesses.  Some are linked to abnormal amounts of a chemical in the brain called neurotransmitters.  These chemicals let the nerve cells in the brain communicate with one another.  If these neurotransmitters are faulty, messages will not be transmitted properly to other parts of the brain.  Many mental illnesses are passed along genetically from one generation to the next.   Susceptibility is gained from ones genes (webmd.com). Mental illnesses are also able to be caused by psychological distress.  Things like abuse, neglect, or trauma in ones youth can lead to developing a social disorder, and even more serious mental illnesses.  Psychological causes are related to another cause, environmental factors.  Environmental factors are considered to be stressors that make life more difficult, such as a divorce, living in poverty, or substance abuse.  Most mental illnesses are believed to be caused by a combination of the proceeding three factors (303).
One form of treatment for mental illnesses is behavioral therapy.  This is the process of reinforcing desired behaviors, and eliminate undesired ones.  Certain ideas held in behavior therapy have been seen in ancient philosophies (Robertson).  The term behavior therapy is believed to have been coined by B.F. Skinner in during a research project in 1953 (Skinner).  Behavior therapy is usually thought of as having three distinct points of origin. These include South Africa, The United States, and the United Kingdom.  Behavior therapy can be argued to be more effective than psychopharmacological therapy for many disorders, such as depression, ADHD and OCD (Flora).  Behavior therapy believes that most behaviors can be learned and unlearned, without giving much thought to the underlying mental and personality factors to a given behavior.  Behavior therapy is performed by conducting physical experiments with patients, encouraging or discouraging behavior, a similar process to training a person to do something (Paul). 
Another field of treatment is psychopharmacology, the study of drug-induced changes in mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior (Meyer).  This idea predates recorded history.  Many tribal cultures can be observed using psychedelic drugs that they find in the wild to obtain a spiritual state.  Medicinal usage started becoming more popular after most societies started lists of herbs that helped heal physical ailments.  Research into psychopharmalogical drugs became exceedingly popular in the 1950's, and this was the first time psychiatric drugs had been used to improve mental health.  It is noteable that this form of treatment is not meant to cure the mental disorder, only to lessen the symptoms.  Behavior therapy tries to do both.  Side effects of taking these drugs commonly last only a short time, and can be managed easily.  The most common side effects are the ones you see in commercials.  Drowsiness, dizziness, general sensitivity, mood swings, those types of problems not usually considered to be serious.  The common side effects are usually physcological.  The less common, more severe side effects relate to ones physical self.  People occasionally experience symptoms like muscle spasms, paralysis, or rigidity.  Treatment is often halted when this occurs (NIMH).  Antipsychotics are most often pills or liquids, but they also can come in shot form.  Patients with schizophrenia can expect improvement within days.  Delusions are usually decreased within a few weeks.  Almost all patients taking medication notice improvement within six weeks (NIMH).  It's common for patients to relapse, or have symptoms return suddenly.  This is usually caused by a failure to take ones medication as directed.
There are over 300 recognized, distinct mental illnesses.  New treatments are being discovered every day, and psychiatrists are making great gains in the field.  There's still a lot not known about insanity, but professionals are making great progress in helping people deal with it, with behavior therapy and psychopharmacology. 







"Mental Health Medications." National Institute of Mental Health. Web. 14 Sep. 2010
Flora, S.R. (2007). Taking America off Drugs: why behavioral therapy is more effective for treating ADHD, OCD, Depression, and other psychological problems. SUNY
 Lindsley, O., Skinner, B.F., Solomon, H.C. (1953). Studies in behavior therapy (Status Report I). Walthama, MA.: Metropolitan State Hospital
Insel, T.R., Wang, P.S. (2010). Rethinking mental illness. JAMA, 303, 1970-1971.
Robertson, D (2010). The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy. London: Karnac
Paul, G.L. & Lentz, R.J.(1977). Psychosocial treatment of chronic mental patients: Milieu versus social learning programs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Meyer, J. S. and Quenzer, L. S. (2004). Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain and Behavior. Sinauer Associates