text: It is the disease the medical community refuses to accept, and most experts claim is just a mental illness. Morgellons disease has been described by those who suffer from it as causing fatigue and memory loss, while also leading to large sores on the body which are constantly itching to the sensation of bugs or parasites crawling underneath the skin. From these sores they claim sprout colorful fibers that cannot be described and, according to one person, 'cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable or mineral.' That person is Joni Mitchell, who claims to have suffered from Morgellons for most of her life, and who has recently been hospitalized after she was found unconscious at her home. Mitchell, who suffered from polio as a child, remains in the hospital, but is said to be in 'good spirits.' Scroll down for video . Joni Mitchell (above) has suffered from Morgellons disease throughout her life, and has recently dedicated herself to trying to get it accepted as a medical condition . Sufferers say they are constantly itching, and large sore develop on their skin from which colorful fibers (above) grow . Mitchell spoke of the disease in a 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times, saying; 'I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it's from outer space.' She went on to say; 'Fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm ...  Morgellons is a slow, unpredictable killer - a terrorist disease: it will blow up one of your organs, leaving you in bed for a year.' This is far different than the way many in the medical community describe the disease however, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, is incredibly rare and effects predominantly middle-aged white women. The Centers for Disease Control reports that the symptoms are very similar to those of mental illness, from the sensation of crawling and bugs and parasites to the concept of false beliefs. The CDC even conducted a study at one point, and found that most people who claim to suffer from the disease were likely just experiencing anxiety, depression or, in some cases, issues with substance abuse. Mitchell admitted to briefly having problems with addiction in a Reader's Digest interview, saying; 'I didn’t get involved for years, and then I went on Rolling Thunder and they asked me how I wanted to be paid, and I ran away to join the circus: Clowns used to get paid in wine – pay me in cocaine because everybody was strung out on cocaine.' A 2012 paper published in a peer-reviewed medical journal found that half of the 115 subjects tested positive for a prescription or illicit drug, among them; amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, and even cocaine. Futhermore, most of the fibers collected from their skin were cotton, likely from clothing or bandages, and no parasites were detected in any of the individuals. The medical community believes Morgellons is likely a mental illness and that sufferers are anxious, depressed or even suffering from substance abuse (Mitchell above in 1996) Cindy Casey Holman, the director of the Charles E. Holman Morgellons Disease Foundation and herself a registered nurse takes issue with this study. 'A serious and often deadly systemic infection is present in Morgellons samples. Still patients are being prescribed antipsychotics while the infection goes undetected and untreated,'  she told CBS News. 'Clouding the picture is that some patients do exhibit psychiatric manifestations. But spirochetal infections, such as Borrelia burgdorferi, are well known to affect the central nervous system and cause psychiatric symptoms. Yet the infection is ignored while dermatologists offer dangerous antipsychotics as the only treatment.' Some individuals have said that taking antibiotics cured them of Morgellons, though some experts could bring that back to the idea of mental illness and claim it is simply a placebo effect. Researchers and experts meanwhile do accept that Morgellons exist, just not as an actual medical condition. Mitchell meanwhile has long been committed to having Morgellons recognized for what she believes it to be - an 'incurable disease.'
target: Joni Mitchell was hospitalized on Tuesday after being found unconscious in her California home .
  Mitchell has suffered from Morgellons disease throughout her life, and has recently dedicated herself to trying to get it accepted as a medical condition .
  Sufferers claim they feel the sensation of bugs or parasites constantly crawling under their skin and biting them .
  They also say they are constantly itching, and large sore develop on their skin from which colorful fibers grow .
  The medical community believes it is likely a mental illness and that sufferers are anxious, depressed or even suffering from substance abuse .
  Mitchell, who has been a heavy smoker since she was 9-years-old and had polio as a child, has admitted she dealt with cocaine addiction in the 70s .
  Individuals have said that taking antibiotics cured them of Morgellons, though some experts say it is simply a placebo effect .