What Does a Whole Bubble Off Level Look Like? Part Two

Bubble Trivia Question # 3:  When did the first psychology experiment take place?

            “A Half Bubble Off-Level” is a phrase we can chuckle at because, quite frankly, we see it a lot in others.  Sometimes we even see it in ourselves, particularly if our friends and acquaintances keep pointing it out to us.  We think of the behaviors as differences in personality that maybe got a little quirky.  For example, a man who lines his books up on the shelves by height might get teased for being a little bit “OCD” (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder).  A man who can’t get his books up on the shelves in any order might get teased about being “ADD” (Attention Deficit Disorder).

            We can laugh at quirks of personality.  There is nothing funny, however, about being A Whole Bubble-Off Level.  To be in that category means that the person is mentally ill.  Mentally ill people suffer.  The people around them suffer.  It is a very bad place to be in life.  Later I want to look at seeing the early warning signs for mental illness because, as a culture, we are not very good at doing that.  We are better at seeing the early signs of physical illness.  When we do, we will go to the doctor and get help because we want to be cured.  If a cure is not possible, we hope the doctor can do something to alleviate the suffering.

Because we either don’t pick up on the symptoms of mental illness early in its onset, or we are ashamed to admit that the symptoms are there in ourselves or the people we care about, we do not go for help.  With mental illness, as with physical illness, there are times when a spontaneous cure does occur, but, we can’t count on that.  Untreated mental illnesses, just like untreated physical illnesses, tend to get worse over time. 

If we think of mental illness as being on a scale of 1 to 10, we would start out with “1” being Mentally Healthy (Level) and “10” being Mentally Ill (A Whole Bubble Off-Level).  The numbers in between represent the various other levels of “Off-Level” with “5” being a Half Bubble Off.  So, a person who is a Half Bubble Off is not totally mentally healthy.  Neither is he or she totally mentally ill.  One of the terms we use for this state is Neurotic. 

Before we return to the descriptions of Mental Illness there is one other concept we need to hold in our minds.  That is that “Level” and “Normal” are not synonyms.  Normal is a word that describes whether or not a behavior is acceptable in a certain social setting.  Level is a word that describes a mentally healthy person, regardless of the social setting.

            To be a Whole Bubble Off-level means that the person has lost touch with the expectations of the social setting. 

            Let’s look at another of the Personality Disorders.  This one is called Antisocial Personality Disorder.  It is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others.(a lack of conscience).  It can be diagnosed beginning by age 15, but its roots begin at a much younger age.  This is why we need to recognize the symptoms early on and intervene before the person becomes a full blown “sociopath/psychopath.”  By that time there is little we can do to help them.  Worse yet, this is a group of people who bring a lot of pain and suffering into the lives of others. 

            Next time, we will continue to explore the world of mental illness, so that we can recognize the symptoms earlier.

Answer to Bubble Trivia Question # 3:  In the 6^th century AD, Lin Xie carried out an early experiment in China.  He asked people to draw a square with one hand and draw a circle with the other hand at the same time (ostensibly to test people’s vulnerability to distraction).  This may have been the beginning of psychology as an experimental science.

What Does a Whole Bubble Off-Level Look Like?

Bubble Trivia Question # 2: What is the difference between “crazy” and “eccentric?” (answer at end of article)

            The definitive answer to what a Whole Bubble Off-Level looks like is, “It depends.”

I know that is not very comforting.  We want definitive answers to our questions about mental health and mental illness.  There are times when the answer is pretty clear.  In the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” Anthony Hopkins’ character, Hannibal Lecter, was definitely a whole bubble off-level.  At least most of us would agree that he was.

            This is what the problem is.  There is a Psychological Truism that says:  “All behaviors can be classified as either normal or abnormal depending on the setting in which they occur.”  Are there any settings in which cannibalism is normal behavior?

            When we look at another person we are making judgments all of the time..  There are people that we think of as off-level, even if we use a different term to describe it.  “A little bit odd.”  “A lot of emotional baggage.”  “Not playing with a full deck.”  “A screw loose.”  If we interact with this person on a regular basis we learn to make accommodations for the behavior. For example, we know that Aunt Betty has an irrational fear of dogs.  When she comes to visit we lock Fido in the back bedroom, even though Fido is the most docile dog in the whole world.

            So, most of the time, most people can function pretty well in society.  The people that know them well make accommodations.  The people that don’t know them well may never bump up against the off-level behavior

When these off-level behaviors escalate to the point that they deviate so far from our social expectations that the person is perceived as no longer able to relate to others, is in significant distress, or is emotionally disabled we start thinking of them as a Whole Bubble Off- Level. 

There is more than one official category for Whole Bubble Off-Level behaviors.  One of them is Personality Disorder.  One of these is Paranoid Personality Disorder.  This disorder is characterized by irrational suspicions and mistrust of others.  A person who believes things like:   “The clerks in stores always short-change me.”  “Everybody is out to get me.”  The FBI is watching me.” would fall into this category. 

If a person with Paranoid Personality Disorder comes to the attention of the mental health profession there will be attempts to help him.  Or he may just be labeled “eccentric” and left alone.

On the next post we will look at some more Whole Bubble Off-Level disorders.

Answer to Bubble Trivia Question # 2:  Often the answer to that question is – money and social status.  A woman who lives in the house built by her wealthy ancestors, with a trust fund to keep her comfortable, may collect cats.  Her neighbors might label her “eccentric.”  A woman with poor social connections in a poor neighborhood” hoards” cats, and her neighbors probably think she is “crazy.”

What Does “Level” Look Like?

Bubble Trivia Question # 1:  In the movie “The Bad Seed” (1956) Patty McCormick’s character was an 8-year old girl who was a whole-bubble off level.  What did she do that got people so upset with her?  (Answer at the end of the article)

While I was reading the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning I noticed someone made a comment about “level heads” in reference to an upcoming decision making process.  “Ah,” I thought.  “How nice that Level is a legitimate term, not just my own personal buzz word.”

In the Richmond T-D instance, I’m pretty sure the writer was referring to good decision making.  The way I am using the term is broader.  I am equating the definition of Level with mental health.  A person who is “a half-bubble off level” is a little bit crazy.  A person who is a whole-bubble off level is a lot crazy. 

I do realize that “crazy” is not a scientific term.  However, that is often the term we use when we describe what other people think or do.  “What were you thinking when you signed a promissory note for Uncle Bob?  We’ll never see that money again!  Are you crazy?”  (translation:. at least a half-bubble off level, maybe even a whole-bubble off).

Both as a psychologist and as a Christian I have always been interested in the subject of mental health.  “Mental Health” is one of those terms that is very difficult to define.  Yet it is something that we all want for everybody, for a lot of reasons.  We seem to be able to recognize the off-level behaviors of others more easily than we can our own.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
   To see oursels as ithers see us!

To a Louse, on seeing one on a lady’s bonnet at church. Robert Burns 

I came up with an analogy that is probably not the best one, but is the only one I can think of at the moment.  A person who breaks the law is a lawbreaker.  A person who frequently breaks the law is very likely to come to the attention of law enforcement authorities.  A person who doesn’t break the law will go un-noticed.

So it is with Level people.  Often we don’t notice them.  It is the off-level behaviors that we pay attention to.  We pay attention to them because those behaviors are our “red flags” that maybe the person isn’t trustworthy, and we should watch out for them. 

Before we can say with any certainty what Level looks like, we “need to look at Off-Level in all of its intriguing forms.   In the next blog we will begin our exploration of the definition of “Whole Bubble Off-Level.”

Answer to Bubble Trivia Question # 1:  She lured others to their death.  This is a very interesting movie.  It is not suitable for viewing by young children.

A Half-Bubble Off Level

            Once upon a time, there were no computers in the schools.  In the rural Virginia county where I worked as a school psychologist the “Tech Squad” consisted of a middle-aged man who was good at repairing TVs and VCRs.  He would bring them to the School Board Annex, which housed my office, and spread them out on the seldom-used conference table in the main room.  During her slow times, the secretary for the building would chat with him as he worked. 

            My office was just on the other side of paper-thin walls, which meant that I could hear everything that they said.  Unlike me, they were both natives of the county.  Much of their talk was, quite frankly, gossip.  One day they were gossiping about a mutual acquaintance.  After some chuckling over some of this person’s recent behaviors, the “Tech” man commented, “You know, he always was a half-bubble off level.”

            Now it was my time to chuckle.  I had never heard that phrase.  My grandfather was a builder.  I knew that a level was a tool people use to see if something like a wall, or a picture on the wall, etc., is “level.”  I had never thought to use that phrase to describe people. 

            The phrase has stuck with me as I contemplate just what kind of behaviors a person would exhibit in order to find himself labeled by his peers, friends, and neighbors as “a half-bubble off level.”  How different would that look from being “level” or “a whole bubble off level?”  Do most people move between these labels over the course of a lifetime?  Do “level,” “normal,” ”and “mentally healthy” mean the same thing?  Or, are there times in our lives when it is mentally healthier to be “off-level?”  We have psychological terms to describe people:  Normal, Neurotic, Psychotic.  But, just what do these terms mean, and what it means to be a “normal” person? 

         Join me over the next few weeks as we explore the fascinating world of mental health vs. mental illness. 

Following the Manual

                When you grow up a “preacher’s kid” you read a lot of Scripture.   I memorized hundreds of Bible verses because I got rewards for working my way through my denomination’s steps for achieving recognition.

                We were encouraged to read the Bible every day.  That habit never got established with me.  However, I figured I had memorized enough verses to carry me through whatever moral or ethical decision making was required of m e as an adult.  Then I married a preacher, which sealed my fate when it came to church attendance.

 I also went to school to become a school psychologist.  Psychologists administer a lot of tests which have scoring manuals.  Among the most important of those tests is the I.Q. test, which measures a person’s “Intelligence Quotient.”  The results are used to make decisions about a child that can change the course of that child’s life.  There are rules that must be followed by the psychologist or the results won’t be accurate. 

                The professor at James Madison University that taught the course in test administration was strict about reading the manual..  For many of the questions on the I.Q. test the most frequently given responses are sorted into 2 point, 1 point, and 0 point answers.   Sometimes the difference between the 1 point and 2 point answers were unclear to me.    I would debate a response with the professor.    Ultimately, however, we would come to the place where he would say, “Even if you don’t understand the reasoning of the authors, you have to follow the manual.” 

                After years of giving the same test over and over to hundreds of children it is easy to fall into the conviction that one has memorized the manual, and doesn’t need to consult it anymore.  I was well trained, though, and did check it.  I was surprised how often my memory failed me. 

                After almost twenty-eight years of marriage my husband died.  At some point during the aftermath of that event it occurred to me that I didn’t have to go to church anymore.   I bounced around geographically, and landed in a place where “nobody knew me.  I could do as I wished.  To my great surprise, the first Sunday after the move I was in church.

                A few Sundays ago, back in Virginia, I was sitting in the Sunday morning service reflecting on what had brought me there in the absence of any external pressures on me to attend.  It came to me.  The pastor was reading a passage of scripture that I had probably once even memorized.  .  “I forgot that the Bible said that,” I thought.

  Church attendance and Bible reading are not mandatory for Christians any more than reading the manual for the I.Q. test is mandatory after one has passed the Test Administration course.    When we do go back to the Bible, though, we are often surprised at how far away we have drifted.  Memory fails us.

                I still do not read the Bible every day, and sometimes play hooky from church.   On the other hand, I am very aware of how important it is to have people in my life who do read the Bible, and remind me of the rules.  We need others around us to say, like my professor once did, “Even if you don’t understand the reasoning of the author, you have to follow the manual.”