I've been thinking about this lately. It seems that most of us with mental illness have more than one problem. I think that it is likely that there are biological reasons for this-the same genes that make you susceptible for one illness may contribute to another, for example-and some comorbidities are reactions to the original illness (getting depressed because your anxiety prevents you from meeting your potential, for example).

However, I also think that some psych symptoms may be adaptations to the original illness, and serve to preserve functioning while being inherently dysfunctional.

I suffer from a lot of dissociation-depersonalization and derealization. Dissociation is usually a reaction to trauma, but I've never been abused or otherwise traumatized. I think my dissociation comes from the beginning of my psychotic mood disorder (I either have psychotic bipolar I or schizoaffective disorder). I needed a way to detach from the depressive feelings and function in spite of what was going on in my head, so I found a way to separate aspects of myself from each other. This way, I could get out of bed even when I was very depressed, because I could numb the pain temporarily. It lead to other problems, however-I have motivational issues, because I often don't feel like the world around me is real or that anything is worth striving for, because it doesn't exist.

I also have some maladaptive personality traits. My t has hinted that I might have a personality disorder, but she won't tell me which one. I've done some research, however, and it seems that I used to have a lot of OCPD traits (perfectionism, extreme work ethic). I no longer have these traits, because my depression got too severe, and I could no longer maintain them. But while I had them, they gave me a successful life, even as they made it more difficult.

I've read a lot of original research articles on mental illness over the years, as an attempt to understand myself better. I've come across several articles reporting that patients with mood, psychotic, and anxiety disorders score higher on dissociation tests than healthy people, even when the mentally ill people don't have a full-blown dissociative disorder. Furthermore, 40-60% (yes, I was shocked that it was this high, but that is the figure I found) of patients with mental illness have at least one personality disorder.

Thoughts? Do you think any of your symptoms help you cope with your other symptoms, even while they detract from your quality of life overall?