What is Mental Health?

Have you ever felt in your head that you’re alone? That there is no one there to hear your thoughts and no one who understands what you are feeling. Maybe you feel like what you are experiencing is crazy or different from everyone else. It might make it hard to talk about your problems and get help; especially when you don’t even know where to start. Mental health has been called a “taboo subject” in our society, but it’s a topic that we need to start talking more about because it doesn’t discriminate.

Mental illness is a complicated issue that prevents countless individuals from living to their full potential. It affects our daily lives in more ways than we realize.
An average adult experiences a mental health problem in any/every given year. Mental health problems are common and affect people of all ages, incomes, and backgrounds.
Mental illness is a mental health problem that is difficult to manage, or that causes distress and impairment in a person’s everyday life.

Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered several different types of mental illness:

 

• Anxiety disorders(including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD), and phobias)
• Personality disorders
• Psychotic disorders(schizophrenia)
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Eating disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)

Anxiety Disorders-

A mental health disorder is identified by feelings of uneasiness, anxiety, or panic that are strong enough to hinder one’s day-to-day activities. Some examples of anxiety disorders are panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). Symptoms include stress, inability to set aside uneasiness, and restlessness. 

The treatment includes the following: 

• counseling or medication
• antidepressants

Personality Disorders-

How we behave, how we react, our thoughts and feelings, and how we link in relationships are all part of what defines our personality. A healthy personality allows a person to function well in day-to-day life. Even after occasional stress, a healthier personality can help us accept challenges and move forward.

Personality traits represent patterns of thinking, perception, and reaction that are connected with time and stability.

People with antisocial personality disorder, for example, are more likely to have a family member with a personality disorder or depressive family history, which is a risk factor for borderline personality disorder and obsessive personality disorder. On the one hand, some people do not consider themselves mentally ill, and on the other, the Community’s psychiatric services consider individuals with personality disorders to be complex and difficult to exclude from such diagnoses and associated behaviors.

 For some people, their characteristics – the way they think, feel, behave, and relate to others, which leads to considerable distress or impairment – are personality disorders. 

Psychotic disorders- 

Psychosis is a symptom of an emotional condition that typically starts in adolescence and causes serious changes in thinking, behavior, emotions, and ability to communicate. Psychosis is a rare symptom, but it is important to pay attention to early warning signs of psychotic disorders.

Symptoms of psychosis can be caused by a serious psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, a range of medical conditions, or trauma. Symptoms of a psychotic disorder can come from conditions that affect brain function, such as brain tumors, but patients can also diagnose a psychotic disorder without the disease.

Like other diseases, psychosis can be caused by depression, neurological disorders, or traumatic events.

To maintain mental and physical strength under these conditions, patients need to follow the treatment of psychotic disorders recommended by their doctor. Since the risk of relapse is high if antipsychotics are taken or discontinued too often, it was important for people with psychotic disorders to follow a treatment plan that was developed in collaboration with their doctors and family Treatment for psychosis can be very disruptive, but some treatments help people deal with it. Antipsychotics are the main form of treatment for people with psychotic disorders.

Depression-

Depression is a mental illness that negatively influences how you feel, the way you anticipate, and how you react. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities once enjoyed physical problems and decreased ability to function at work and home.

Fortunately, depression is treatable.

Depression symptoms that are mild to moderate include:

• Frequently feeling sad.
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, including hobbies, work, socializing, and other interests.
• Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain — that aren’t related to dieting troubles sleeping or sleeping too much.
• You feel tired after just a few hours of work, or without doing any work.
• Purposeless physical activity increases.
• Worthless or guilty feeling.
• Concentrating, making decisions or thinking becomes difficult.
• Frequent suicidal thoughts.

Bipolar Disorder-

A disorder associated with episodes of mood swings varying from depressive lows to insane highs.
The exact root of bipolar disorder is unknown, but a fusion of genetics, environment, and altered brain structure and chemistry may play a part.

Manic episodes may involve symptoms such as peak energy, lesser demand for sleep, and loss of connection with reality.

Depressive episodes may involve some symptoms such as :

• less energy
• less motivation
• loss of interest in day-to-day tasks

Mood episodes last days to months at a time and may also be correlated with suicidal thoughts. Treatment is generally lifelong and often demands a combination of medications and psychotherapy.

Eating Disorders- 

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses. This disorder involves severe problems with your perceptions about food and your eating behaviors.

It can lead to health issues, such as heart and kidney problems, or at times even death. Eating disorders affect your body’s ability to get proper nutrition. But some treatments can help.

Types of eating disorders:

• Binge-eating
• Bulimia nervosa 
• Anorexia nervosa

Treatment outline for eating disorders is shaped to individual needs. You will possibly have a team of providers serving you, including doctors, nutritionists, nurses, and therapists.

Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)-

A disorder is identified by a failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.

This condition can last months or years, with triggers that can revive memories of the trauma followed by intense emotional and physical reactions.

Symptoms may contain nightmares or flashbacks, avoidance of circumstances that bring back the trauma, intensified reactivity to stimuli, anxiety, or depressed mood.

Treatment includes a variety of psychotherapy as well as medications to manage symptoms.

Conclusion-

It’s important to not feel ashamed of having a mental illness. Everyone has some sort of illness. Everyone has some sort of issue they are dealing with.
Someone who has a mental illness should ask for help, just as someone with a physical illness should.
Please remember that – Asking for help doesn’t make you weak – it reveals strength, even when you don’t feel strong.