my answer to your question as to why do some people with mental illness rely on others rather than themselves is the obvious one....mental illness prevents a lot of people from participating a many activities. and most people don't have a mental care staff to see that whatever they need gets done. i'd like to suggest that you do more research on the illnesses that are mentioned here and take what you learn into consideration. a mental illness is "mental"...there is something going on that prevents the "normal" processing of the world around us. some of us fear germs, some fear cars, some fear buses, some fear men, some fear women, some fear white bread, some fear fear...........pat