Mental illnesses: symptoms and causes (2023)

FAQs

What is the main causes of mental illness? ›

While there is no cure for mental illnesses, help is available to help you lead a more productive life that you will enjoy more. Working with a mental health professional is essential because it allows you to find the right treatment plan for you.

The outward signs of a mental illness are often behavioral. A person may be extremely quiet or withdrawn. Conversely, they may burst into tears, have great anxiety or have outbursts of anger. Even after treatment has started, someindividuals with a mental illness can exhibit anti-social behaviors.

Untreated mental health conditions can result in unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, and suicide, and poor quality of life.

50% of mental illness begins by age 14, and 3/4 begin by age 24.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has long been believed to be a disorder that produces the most intense emotional pain and distress in those who have this condition. Studies have shown that borderline patients experience chronic and significant emotional suffering and mental agony.

Depression. Impacting an estimated 300 million people, depression is the most-common mental disorder and generally affects women more often than men.

What are the deadliest mental illnesses list? ›

If you think depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder are the mental illnesses most commonly linked to an early death, you're wrong. Eating disorders—including anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating— are the most lethal mental health conditions, according to research in Current Psychiatry Reports.

Personality disorders are some of the most difficult disorders to treat in psychiatry. This is mainly because people with personality disorders don't think their behavior is problematic, so they don't often seek treatment.

Technically, according to DSM-5*, a person can receive more than one personality disorder diagnosis. People who are diagnosed with a personality disorder most often qualify for more than one diagnosis. A person with a severe personality disorder might meet the criteria for four, five or even more disorders!

What is a Mental Breakdown? The term mental breakdown is often used when a person has a mental health crisis that overcomes their emotions. It can stem from other conditions like depression and anxiety but tends to be a severe case.

As much as you might love or care for the individual, if they are emotionally, mentally, or physically abusive, it is okay to step away from the situation. Some examples of emotional, mental, and physical abuse include: Emotional & Mental Abuse: Being dissatisfied, no matter how hard you try or how much you give.

Brain injury and mental health are often seen and treated as two entirely separate diagnoses, or sometimes confused as being the same thing. However, both can be true; brain injury is sometimes an entirely separate issue to mental health, whereas other times brain injury can lead to mental health issues developing.

Some people may only have one experience (known as an “episode”) of mental illness that might only last a few days, weeks or months but others may have long term conditions which do not go away which are managed often with medication.It is also possible to have long periods when you are not ill between episodes, known ...

Do mentally ill people know they are sick? ›

Early studies of anosognosia indicated that approximately 30% of people with schizophrenia and 20% of people with bipolar disorder experienced "severe" lack of awareness of their diagnosis. Treating mental health conditions is much more complicated if lack of insight is one of the symptoms.

This might involve hallucinations or delusions. The two main symptoms of psychosis are: hallucinations – where a person hears, sees and, in some cases, feels, smells or tastes things that aren't there; a common hallucination is hearing voices.

You might worry that you could develop or 'catch' the same illness as your ill parent – but you cannot catch a mental illness from anyone. People might say 'it runs in families' or talk about the genetics or genes causing the illness.

Medication works, and research consistently proves that therapy combined with medication is the most effective treatment for mental illness. It is sometimes possible to treat mental illness without medication, but it's rarely the best option.

The Long-Term Effects of Untreated Mental Illness

However, there are some commonalities. When mental illness is left untreated, it can lead to long-term issues with emotional stability, behavior regulation, relationship difficulties, substance abuse, and even physical illness.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders affecting children. Symptoms of ADHD include inattention (not being able to keep focus), hyperactivity (excess movement that is not fitting to the setting) and impulsivity (hasty acts that occur in the moment without thought).

Each person also varies from day to day, depending on the circumstances. However, a sudden, major change in personality and/or behavior, particularly one that is not related to an obvious event (such as taking a drug or losing a loved one), often indicates a problem. (See also Overview of Mental Illness.

Personality disorders that are susceptible to worsening with age include paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, obsessive compulsive, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, and dependent, said Dr. Rosowsky, a geropsychologist in Needham, Mass.

These changes happen gradually, typically in three phases: early, acute, and recovery. The onset of first episode psychosis typically presents when an individual is between the ages of 18-25, however, may present between the ages of 15-40. It is uncommon for first episode psychosis to present in childhood.

But in the shadows are a cluster of conditions that continue to face deep discrimination: schizophrenia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and BPD. BPD in particular is one of the lesser-known mental illnesses, but all the same it is one of the hardest to reckon with.

What is a person with a mental disorder called? ›

Don't use: “Mentally ill person” or “Person who is mentally ill” Instead, use: “Person with a mental illness” or “Person living with a mental health issue”

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common mental condition that affects the way a person thinks or feels about themselves and others. If a person has BPD they'll have intense mood swings, dread being abandoned, struggle maintaining healthy relationships, and may act impulsively.

Anxiety disorder is the most treatable of all mental illnesses. Anxiety disorder produces unrealistic fears, excessive worry, flashbacks from past trauma leading to easy startling, changes in sleep patterns, intense tension and ritualistic behavior.

Scientists have long recognized that many psychiatric disorders tend to run in families, suggesting potential genetic roots. Such disorders include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.

Cyclothymia, or cyclothymic disorder, causes mood changes – from feeling low to emotional highs. Cyclothymia has many similarities to bipolar disorder.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 1 in every 5 Americans is currently living with a mental illness. Of those, the three most common diagnoses are anxiety disorders, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

mood disorders (such as depression or bipolar disorder) anxiety disorders. personality disorders. psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia)

The lifetime prevalence of mental disorders was higher among females (51 percent) than males (48 percent).

Scientists have long recognized that many psychiatric disorders tend to run in families, suggesting potential genetic roots. Such disorders include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.

What is the number 1 mental illness? ›

Impacting an estimated 300 million people, depression is the most-common mental disorder and generally affects women more often than men.

The top 10 mental health issues and illnesses include anxiety disorders, bipolar affective disorders, depression, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, paranoia, PTSD, psychosis, schizophrenia and OCD. One in four adult Americans will have a diagnosable mental disorder at any given time.

A medical professional determines a diagnosis by interviewing you about your history of symptoms. Sometimes a doctor will require a couple of medical tests to rule out possible physical ailments, but we cannot evaluate mental health itself through blood tests or other biometric data.

Once psychologists and scientists found that mental illnesses are a disease of the body, they began to use the term mental illness more widely. The main difference between a mental disorder and a mental illness is the origin of the condition.