2 - Mentally Challenged Versus Mentally Ill

The mentally challenged (at one time called mentally retarded) and the mentally ill are not the same. Mentally challenged people have a physical impairment resulting from brain damage or lack of brain development. The result is that intellectual capacity is below average. Sometimes the damage occurs before birth due to chromosome deficiencies in the developing baby. Sometimes the damage occurs during the birth process if the baby is deprived of oxygen for too long at that time or if the baby receives an injury to the head during a difficult birth. A person with Down’s Syndrome (having an extra chromosome in the body) is considered mentally challenged. Excellent progress is now being made with mentally challenged people, but they cannot be cured in the sense that their intellectual ability cannot be restored to full potential.

Mental illness refers to having faulty reasoning about something. It means having unusual misconceptions about life, which are sometimes accompanied by strange behaviour. For example, people with schizophrenia are considered mentally ill because they experience hallucinations, delusions, and confused thinking patterns. Many people with mental illnesses find that therapy or drug treatment is helpful in controlling or reducing their mental problems. Some mentally ill people are able to return to a normal lifestyle as fully functioning members of society.