What is Mental Illness?

Do you even know anything about your mental health? Yeah. Mental health is psychological wellness that also affects your physical health. It springs out to every part of your daily activities and should always be in your concern. Mental illness has been a rising dilemma globally. It influences your mood, thinking, and behavior. It is an unfortunate thing. It affects your healthy relationships, coping ability, and productive activities. A lot of people, including you, have a mindset that: the absence of pain in the body equals healthiness, which is wrong. The conclusion of healthiness is the balance between your physical and mental health. Many a time, you take emotions and feelings as a mental impairment which is not. An instance is the anger emotion when you get frustrated.

Fortunately, mental illness is a treatable illness. From many studies and researches from medical personnel, the types and treatments have been discovered. Understanding of the human brain has been made easy, and also, mental illness is not a respecter of anybody. Mental illness does not discriminate. It affects any gender of different age types. This article will emphasize the type of mental illness, the causes, symptoms together with its treatments.

Causes of Mental Illness

Our daily activities are comprehended with our psychological strength. Mental illness can be caused by:

• Stress
• Hormonal imbalances
• Past experiences either from parents or relationships
• Unnecessary thoughts
• Genetics
• Self-condemnations

Common Symptoms of Mental Illness

The different types of mental illness have a lot of symptoms, including mild and severe ones. Here’s a list of symptoms you might have been experiencing.

• Down or sad feelings
• Inability to concentrate
• Confused thought
• Fears and worries
• Excessive tiredness
• Relationship problem
• Eating problem
• Inability to cope with stress
• Sex drives problem
• Suicidal thoughts
• Anger, violence, or hostility
• Alcohol and drug abuse.
• Delusions and hallucinations
• Withdrawal from friends and family.

Some physical health symptoms might surface from mental illness. Such as stomach upset, headaches, back pain, and aches.

Types of Mental Illness

Paranoia

This is a type of mental condition. It is an irrational and persistent feeling. It is of three types: paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder, and schizophrenia. It hinders you from functioning socially and resists you from keeping close relatíonships.  Its symptoms are trust issues, aggressiveness or hostility, high suspiciousness, relationship difficulty, easily offended. This illness can be caused by an alteration in the brain’s chemical balance, trauma, stress. The cause can be a combination of many risk factors. Early diagnose is advisable to get the required treatment on time.

Anxiety Disorder

This disorder comes with excess worries, fears, nervousness, and tension. It includes other disorders like generalized anxiety disorder, social phobias, and phobias, panic disorder, obsessiveness, compulsive disorder. A lot of people suffer from this illness. About 25% of the population suffers from anxiety. It usually develops when a task is to be done or when nursing an expectation. This feeling is a normal feeling. It is the ability of your body to express emotions. It’s a healthy feeling, but a persistent expression needs medical attention. The symptoms include panic attack, nausea difficulty, faintness, and rapid heartbeat.

Depression

This is a commonest mental illness. It occurs to 40% of the population. A human being experiences depression once in his or her lifetime. It involves mood reduction, loss of interest in what you usually enjoy, and lack of energy frequently. It’s almost the same with sadness, but they vary. It is a helping factor of suicidal thoughts which hinders you from your normal activities. It affects your mood, thinking, and acts. It occupies your ability to manage your day effectively, which also, in a way, causes less productivity. Depression is caused by various factors which develop from several things like family history, personality: low self-esteem, other fatal medical conditions, drug and alcohol abuse.

The symptoms of depression include withdrawal from friends, families, and other usual activities they enjoy most. Tiredness, sickness, headache, stomach ache, loss of appetite, weight gain and weight loss, dependence on drugs and sedatives, sleeping problems, and sadness.

Eating Disorder

This mental disorder does not have direct complications like other mental illnesses, but it is usually accompanied. It is not commonly known as a mental illness. Eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders. It shows quick symptoms. It is either loss of appetite for food or an extreme appetite for food. An individual has a different eating pattern, i.e.eating disorder occurs to everybody, but some people experience it more often. It tends to increase consistently. It is rampant among female adolescents and young women. Its risk factors are dieting and depression, low self-esteem, impulsivity, and obsessive thought, anxiety, and depression. The symptoms are fatigue, secret eating or craving, altered thinking, anxiety, depression, excessive or fluctuating exercise pattern, social withdrawal, high sensitivity to cold and weight loss, weight gain, and weight fluctuation.

Bipolar Affective Disorders

It involves mood disorders, either low or high mood. It is also referred to as mania depression. This illness takes months before it is suppressing. It could be as a consequence of the brain’s chemical, genetic factors, environmental factors, physical illness, or stress. It tends to begin in your early adulthood. It involves bipolar I disorder (takes 1 week), bipolar II disorder (it’s frequent and long-lasting), cyclothymic disorder (short episodes which is persistent and unpredictable mood swings), and mixed disorder (it is the combination of about 2 types of this disorder)

Its symptoms are sleeping difficulty, aggression, irritability, unrealistic plans, reckless behaviors. Rapid thinking and speech, much energy, loss of appetite, anxiety, guilt feeling, the problem with concentration and delusion, and hallucinations.

Behavioral and Emotional Disorder in Children

It requires immediate attention and treatment. It is common in children. The emotional and behavioral disorder occurs when your child engages in challenging and difficult stuff which is beyond his or her age. It is more customary in boys than girls.  Its symptoms in children include naughtiness, defiance, and impressiveness. These symptoms vary in children. Some might be extreme. Its causing factors are gender, gestation, temperament, difficulty in learning, intellectual disabilities, and brain development.

Schizophrenia

It is a psychotic disorder that affects your psychological strengths. It affects your thinkings and emotional balance. Schizophrenia causes disturbed imagination, which can result in suicidal thoughts. Its symptoms are hallucinations or delusions, impaired memory or amnesia, social withdrawal, blunted emotions, and disordered thought.

Treatments for Mental Illness

There are categories of treatments that can be used to treat mental illness. Before considering any of these treatments, professional medical personnel must be consulted.

Psychotherapy

It is a therapeutic type of treatment. It is a practical treatment that explores your thinking, feelings, and behavior. It could be behavior therapy or hypnotherapy. It stimulates the integrating center(brain) towards recovery. Psychotherapy, together with medication, has been an effective treatment for mental illness over time. They work effectively than when used separately.

Medications

This type of treatment does not really cure mental illness, but it has been a good helping factor in managing symptoms. The use of psychoactive drugs has been helping. Examples are antidepressants drugs, antipsychotic drugs, and anti-anxiety drugs. It is an effective combination with psychotherapy means of treatment.

These two (psychotherapy and medications) have been effective treatment with time. Although there are some other types of treatment. Most of these illness requires hospitalization because of some severe cases. Some cases require close monitoring and accurate diagnosis.

You can also try these other two forms of treatment. They do not require professionalism. They are the support group treatment and self-plan treatments. The support group treatment provides you the guidance needed to work towards recovery. You will get close to people who have experienced the illness before, while the self-plan treatments require some homework from you. You must be self-educated on the type of illness you are experiencing. You draw out plans and takes the necessary steps for your recovery.

In Conclusion

Mental illness is not a thing to be ashamed of. Speak to someone and seek medical help. Your psychological health also equates to your total well-being. The ball now lies in your court whether to take the necessary steps to keep your mental health or not. The place of diet cannot be overemphasized. Always eat a good diet and exercise. I know this article has educated you about mental illness, do well to stay safe and HEALTHY. Invest in your greatest asset. Stay safe.