In the previous social sensitivity thread I was trying to find out whether any or all mental afflictions in some manner interfered with or prevented the perception of social rules. I don't know whether we got to a clear answer on that. So I thought about it and want to present a variation on the former question that's really an entirely new question. It's this:

Mental illness, in whatever shape or form, is usually painful and distracting. Is it then possible to say that the pain and distraction of mental illness simply make complying with social rules less of a priority than they may be for so-called "normal" people? That the needs imposed by mental illness frequently take priority over dotting the social i's and crossing the social t's?

I certainly know this is true in my case. And has resulted in my living as a marginal, peripheral, semi-outcast on the fringe of any group to which I would otherwise belong. Am I generalizing too much from my own situation?

What do YOU think?