Mental Illnesses

Disorders such as these can profoundly disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, moods, ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands of life.

Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character, or poor upbringing.

Anxiety Disorders: more than just the feeling of anxiousness but rather a constant and overwhelming worry and fear that can be disabling. 

• Panic Disorder - You feel terror that strikes at random. During a panic attack, you may also sweat, have chest pain, and feel palpitations (unusually strong or irregular heartbeats). Sometimes you may feel like you’re choking or having a heart attack.
• Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) - you feel overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. You fixate about others judging you or on being embarrassed or ridiculed.
• Specific Phobias - You feel intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights or flying. The fear goes beyond what’s appropriate and may cause you to avoid ordinary situations.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder - You feel excessive, unrealistic worry and tension with little or no reason.

Symptoms include:

• Panic, fear, and uneasiness
• Sleep problems
• Not being able to stay calm and still
• Cold, sweaty, numb or tingling hands or feet
• Shortness of breath
• Heart palpitations
• Dry mouth
• Nausea
• Tense muscles
• Dizziness

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Depression: It's more than just being sad or going through grief of some sort, we all have those feelings and they come sporadically. However, depression is overwhelming sadness to the point you become disinterested in all things including stuff you used to love to do. 

Beyond sadness here are some signs:

• extreme irritability over minor things
• anxiety and restlessness
• anger management issues
• loss of interest in favorite activities
• fixation on the past or on things that have gone wrong
• thoughts of death or suicide

Physical symptoms include:

• insomnia or sleeping too much
• debilitating fatigue
• increased or decreased appetite
• weight gain or weight loss
• difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• unexplained aches and pains

There is no single cause of depression. Brain chemistry, hormones, and genetics may all play a role.

Other risk factors for depression include:

• low self-esteem
• anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• physical or sexual abuse
• chronic diseases like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or cancer
• alcohol or drug abuse
• certain prescription medications
• family history of depression

Depression can lead to:

• alcohol or drug abuse
• headaches and other chronic aches and pains
• phobias, panic disorders, anxiety attacks
• trouble with school or work
• family and relationship problems
• social isolation
• overweight or obesity due to eating disorders, raising the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes
• self-mutilation
• attempted suicide or suicide

There are many ways that depression can be cured but one must seek professional help. There is antidepressant medicine that one could choose to take. Another option is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This method uses magnetic pulses to stimulate the parts of your brain that regulate mood. Treatments are usually administered five days a week for six weeks. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure in which electrical currents are passed through the brain.

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Mood Disorders: 

• Bipolar Disorder - also known in some parts of the world by its older name, “manic depression,” is a mental disorder that is characterized by serious and significant mood swings. A person with this condition experiences alternating “highs” (what clinicians call “mania“) and “lows” (also known as depression). 

1. Manic episode (bipolar I disorder) is characterized by extreme happiness, extreme irritability, hyperactivity, little need for sleep and/or racing thoughts, which may lead to rapid speech. People in a manic episode feel like they can do anything, make plans to try and do all those things, and believe that nothing can stop them. For bipolar I to be diagnosed, this episode must have last at least a week and represents a noticeable change from a person’s usual behavior.
2. Hypomanic episode (bipolar II disorder) is characterized by the same symptoms as a manic episode, except the symptoms need to only have been present for at least four (4) days.
3. Depressive episode is characterized by extreme sadness, a lack of energy or interest in things, an inability to enjoy normally pleasurable activities and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. On average, someone with this condition may have up to three years of normal mood between episodes of mania or depression.

There is no set cure for such disorder however, there are psychiatric medications as well as self help methods that could be used in healing or at least mitigating the effects. One of the biggest challenges are finding and maintaining a treatment routine that works best for a person over the long-term.

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• Borderline Personality Disorder - a mental illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior. These symptoms often result in impulsive actions and problems in relationships. People with borderline personality disorder may experience intense episodes of anger, depression, and anxiety that can last from a few hours to days. 

People with borderline personality disorder may experience mood swings and display uncertainty about how they see themselves and their role in the world. As a result, their interests and values can change quickly.

People with borderline personality disorder also tend to view things in extremes, such as all good or all bad. Their opinions of other people can also change quickly. An individual who is seen as a friend one day may be considered an enemy or traitor the next. These shifting feelings can lead to intense and unstable relationships.

Other signs or symptoms may include:

• Efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment, such as rapidly initiating intimate (physical or emotional) relationships or cutting off communication with someone in anticipation of being abandoned
• A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, often swinging from extreme closeness and love (idealization) to extreme dislike or anger (devaluation)
• Distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self
• Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating. Please note: If these behaviors occur primarily during a period of elevated mood or energy, they may be signs of a mood disorder—not borderline personality disorder
• Self-harming behavior, such as cutting
• Recurring thoughts of suicidal behaviors or threats
• Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lasting from a few hours to a few days
• Chronic feelings of emptiness
• Inappropriate, intense anger or problems controlling anger
• Difficulty trusting, which is sometimes accompanied by irrational fear of other people’s intentions
• Feelings of dissociation, such as feeling cut off from oneself, seeing oneself from outside one’s body, or feelings of unreality

Borderline personality disorder has historically been viewed as difficult to treat. But, with newer, evidence-based treatment, many people with the disorder experience fewer or less severe symptoms, and an improved quality of life. It is important that people with borderline personality disorder receive evidence-based, specialized treatment from an appropriately trained provider. Other types of treatment, or treatment provided by a doctor or therapist who is not appropriately trained, may not benefit the person.

Many factors affect the length of time it takes for symptoms to improve once treatment begins, so it is important for people with borderline personality disorder and their loved ones to be patient and to receive appropriate support during treatment.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.

It is natural to feel afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to help defend against danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a typical reaction meant to protect a person from harm. Nearly everyone will experience a range of reactions after trauma, yet most people recover from initial symptoms naturally. Those who continue to experience problems may be diagnosed with PTSD. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they are not in danger.

Not every traumatized person develops ongoing (chronic) or even short-term (acute) PTSD. Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Some experiences, like the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, can also cause PTSD. Symptoms usually begin early, within 3 months of the traumatic incident, but sometimes they begin years afterward. Symptoms must last more than a month and be severe enough to interfere with relationships or work to be considered PTSD. The course of the illness varies. Some people recover within 6 months, while others have symptoms that last much longer. In some people, the condition becomes chronic.

Re-experiencing symptoms include:

• Flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating
• Bad dreams
• Frightening thoughts

Avoidance symptoms include:

• Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the traumatic experience
• Avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the traumatic event

Arousal and reactivity symptoms include:

• Being easily startled
• Feeling tense or “on edge”
• Having difficulty sleeping
• Having angry outbursts

Cognition and mood symptoms include:

• Trouble remembering key features of the traumatic event
• Negative thoughts about oneself or the world
• Distorted feelings like guilt or blame
• Loss of interest in enjoyable activities

The main treatments for people with PTSD are medications, psychotherapy (“talk” therapy), or both. Everyone is different, and PTSD affects people differently so a treatment that works for one person may not work for another. It is important for anyone with PTSD to be treated by a mental health provider who is experienced with PTSD. Some people with PTSD need to try different treatments to find what works for their symptoms.

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Schizoaffective Disorder: a mental disorder characterized by abnormal thought processes and regulated emotions. There are various factors that play into obtaining such a disorder from genetics, neurobiology, early and current environment, behavioral, social, and experiential components. These could potentially lead to or cause long-term unemployment, poverty and homelessness. 

Psychosis: most people think of psychosis as a break with reality. In a way it is. Psychosis is characterized as disruptions to a person’s thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn’t. These disruptions are often experienced as seeing, hearing and believing things that aren’t real or having strange, persistent thoughts, behaviors and emotions. While everyone’s experience is different, most people say psychosis is frightening and confusing.

Psychosis is a symptom, not an illness, and it is more common than you may think. In the U.S., approximately 100,000 young people experience psychosis each year. As many as three in 100 people will have an episode at some point in their lives.

Early or first-episode psychosis (FEP) refers to when a person first shows signs of beginning to lose contact with reality. Acting quickly to connect a person with the right treatment during early psychosis or FEP can be life-changing and radically alter that person’s future.

Early warning signs include the following:

• A worrisome drop in grades or job performance
• Trouble thinking clearly or concentrating
• Suspiciousness or uneasiness with others
• A decline in self-care or personal hygiene
• Spending a lot more time alone than usual
• Strong, inappropriate emotions or having no feelings at all

Signs Of Early Or First-Episode Psychosis:

• Hearing, seeing, tasting or believing things that others don’t
• Persistent, unusual thoughts or beliefs that can’t be set aside regardless of what others believe
• Strong and inappropriate emotions or no emotions at all
• Withdrawing from family or friends
• A sudden decline in self-care
• Trouble thinking clearly or concentrating

Psychosis includes a range of symptoms but typically involves one of these two major experiences:

Hallucinations are seeing, hearing or feeling things that aren’t there, such as the following:

• Hearing voices (auditory hallucinations)
• Strange sensations or unexplainable feelings
• Seeing glimpses of objects or people that are not there or distortions

Delusions are strong beliefs that are not consistent with the person’s culture, are unlikely to be true and may seem irrational to others, such as the following:

• Believing external forces are controlling thoughts, feelings and behaviors
• Believing that trivial remarks, events or objects have personal meaning or significance
• Thinking you have special powers, are on a special mission or even that you are God.

Several factors that can contribute to psychosis:

• Genetics. Many genes can contribute to the development of psychosis, but just because a person has a gene doesn’t mean they will experience psychosis. Ongoing studies will help us better understand which genes play a role in psychosis.
• Trauma. A traumatic event such as a death, war or sexual assault can trigger a psychotic episode. The type of trauma—and a person’s age—affects whether a traumatic event will result in psychosis.
• Substance use. The use of marijuana, LSD, amphetamines and other substances can increase the risk of psychosis in people who are already vulnerable.
• Physical illness or injury. Traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, strokes, HIV and some brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and dementia can sometimes cause psychosis.
• Mental health conditions. Sometimes psychosis is a symptom of a condition like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or depression.

Traditional treatment for psychosis involves psychotherapy and medication.

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