# Are there any lethal mental illnesses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452 "2005-02-23T01:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452/21 "2005-02-23T08:44:53Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There is a disease called Kuru (New Guinea laughing sickness) that is isolated but kills in days. > [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Don’t forget familial fatal insomnia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal\_familial\_insomnia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia) Just to clarify, I’m pretty sure fatal familial insomnia and kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are all spongiform encephalopathies (so called because the brain ends up with lots of dead pockets, like the holes in a sponge) and are usually considered to be caused by prions. I’ve heard complaints about the prion theory, usually something about how the cause can’t be something simple like a malformed protein when there are widely differing symptoms between the various spongiform encephalopathies and thus are more likely to be the work of a “slow virus,” but I don’t really think that objection holds water, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452/22 "2005-02-23T09:30:00Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] > [@](#): > > **Fire Engine** : I’d say that would be self-inflicted. > > Has anyone figured out exactly how they do that? Is it a psychic thing – mind over matter? Do old people just learn to do it naturally? How do they self-inflict diabetes and cancer? That must take a lot of concentration and will power. > > What do you think makes people decide to self-inflict starvation? I was obviously taking about the former of the post. Considering the latter part referred to the susceptibility to those illnesses, maybe when you were nit-picking my post you didn’t notice the actual content of the post I was referring to? As for your final comment, I guess if we knew that we’d be able to treat it then wouldn’t we? Starvation of one’s self is just as self-inflicted as self-mutilation and suicide. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452/23 "2005-02-23T13:53:40Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > > [@uglybeech](#): > > > > Schizophrenia is considered “psychiatric” but a lot of people think it’s related to exposure to a virus. > > No no no no! In UTERO exposure to flu by mother MAY be related to later schiz. The most conclusive data is related to genetics. Getting the flu, say, at 22, won’t do it. How is that no no no? That’s exactly what I was talking about. Unless you can explain how in utero exposure to a virus not qualify as exposure to a virus. And I was saying _a lot of people think_ which equates to MAY. > [@inkleberry](#): > > MS ignorance is a major annoyance of mine. Fills with grrr. :mad: Sorry I didn’t mean to offend. I can imagine it must be difficult to hear other people talk about it casually. But in my defense - you yourself listed Parkinson’s. I don’t see how in the world Parkinson’s would qualify and not MS??? Anyway I wasn’t even calling either a mental illness or fatal I was just asking how neurological disorders that could have psychiatric symptoms (huntington’s, parkinson’s and ms) were counted? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452/24 "2005-02-23T14:04:31Z")
Egomania can get you killed by others. I’m thinking of Alexander the Great, if you buy the poison theory. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452/25 "2005-02-23T17:26:04Z")
My best vote goes to Huntington’s Disease, already mentioned above. Huntington’s is a genetic disorder that causes the brain to more or less fall apart, figuratively speaking. It can start with mood swings and uncontrolled movement, but it eventually progresses to loss of short term memory, concentration and the ability to communicate. Eventually the person becomes completely dependant on others for care; often, by that point, the person will have lost the ability to swallow. If the disease progresses, death will follow when the brain ceases to tell the lungs to breathe and the heart to beat. I can’t think of a more hideous way to die. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-lethal-mental-illnesses/291452.md?page=1)