Mental Illness - What You Should Know

There are extremes to what people normally find as intelligent. Intelligence involves such primary abilities as understanding the complexities of language, reasoning and being able to perceive space and time relationships. It also includes being able to carry out functions dealing with numbers and with solving practical problems. Intelligence is in a very practical way, what the intelligence test measures.

Many descriptions have been used to depict persons with low intelligence scores. The classifications speak of mild, moderate, severe and profound mental retardation. Though these classifications are useful to measure one's intelligence or mental retardation, the data should not cast a shadow on the individual.

The mildly retarded ranges between 8-12 years of mental age and the moderately retarded, between 6-8 years. The severely retarded has a mental age from about 3-6 years and the profoundly retarded is below 3 years.

At best the profoundly retarded will remain like a three-year-old, all his life. The severely retarded, even as an adult, acts like a child barely able to talk and acquire even simple skill. Those who are moderately or mildly retarded may finish four to six grades of school, be able to read and write and with appropriate training in a compatible environment be able to make a living. Since intelligence tests put much emphasis on verbal factors, one can see why some retarded people may appear more retarded than they really are.

There are a few basic causes of retardation. It may be caused by inherited deficiencies. Or it may result from birth injuries or from failures in brain development associated with a toxic condition of the mother during pregnancy. Malfunctions of the endocrine system may cause deficiencies. It can also be caused due to chromosome abnormalities.

Studies have shown no direct evidence to demonstrate that a retarded person can deliberately raise his intelligence score, though some often improve their grades with time and training.

Treatment generally involves coming to terms with the individual's limitations by making the most of his limited capacity. Only a minority is severely or profoundly retarded. Special trainings help the mildly and moderately retarded when emphasis is put on what the individual can be taught to do, rather than deploring what he can not do. Many of these people can be trained to live a useful and productive life.