Our mental health can vary according to our circumstances and can change across our lifetime, in the same way as our physical health does.
Mental health problems are among the most common of all health conditions, directly affecting about a quarter of the population in any one year. Depression and anxiety are the most widespread conditions.
Mental Health – Type of Dementia
Dementia is the loss of mental functions, such as thinking, memory and reasoning, that is severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily life. Dementia is not a disease itself, but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. Symptoms may involve changes in personality, mood and behavior.
Causes of Dementia
• Vascular disorders, such as multi-infarct dementia, which is caused by multiple strokes in the brain
• Depression
• Infections of the central nervous system such as meningitis, HIV, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a quickly progressing and fatal disease that is characterized by dementia and muscle twitching and spasm
Causes of Mental Health Illness
Although the exact cause of most mental illnesses is not known, it is becoming clear through research that many of these conditions are caused by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors.
Symptoms Of Mental Health Disturbance
ACTING DIFFERENT THAN USUAL. Can you link this change in behavior to something that has happened recently? Any event, such as the death of a close relative, or even something positive – like a job promotion – can trigger a troublesome emotional reaction.
BECOMES AGGRESSIVE, RUDE, AND ABUSIVE OVER MINOR INCIDENTS.
Are there remarks about groups or individuals “out to get me?” If that last remark was made in all seriousness, and blowups and violent physical behavior occur, there is a strong indication some help may be required.
The greatest symptoms which trigger mental health concerns have to do with the person’s ability to function. When they suddenly start missing a lot of work or school or losing jobs, not eating or eating too much, barely sleeping or not sleeping at all, and seem to be irritable or angry with everyone and everything, these are usually early symptoms of mental health issues. As symptoms progress the individual may experience self harm such as cutting or burning themselves and taking unnecessary risks with their safety. Any significant drastic change can be a symptom of a mental health issue
Ffailure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
Our mental health can vary according to our circumstances and can change across our lifetime, in the same way as our physical health does.
Mental health problems are among the most common of all health conditions, directly affecting about a quarter of the population in any one year. Depression and anxiety are the most widespread conditions.
Anxiety disorders – Mental Health
Anxiety disorders can take many forms. You may experience free-floating anxiety without knowing exactly why you’re feeling that way. You may suffer from sudden, intense panic attacks that strike without warning. Your anxiety may come in the form of extreme social inhibition or in unwanted obsessions and compulsions. Or you may have a phobia of an object or situation that doesn’t seem to bother other people.
Symtoms Of Anxiety Disorders
• Apprehension, uneasiness, and dread
• Impaired concentration or selective attention
• Feeling restless or on edge
Mental Health – Type of Dementia
Dementia is the loss of mental functions, such as thinking, memory and reasoning, that is severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily life. Dementia is not a disease itself, but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. Symptoms may involve changes in personality, mood and behavior.
Causes of Dementia
• Vascular disorders, such as multi-infarct dementia, which is caused by multiple strokes in the brain
• Depression
• Infections of the central nervous system such as meningitis, HIV, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a quickly progressing and fatal disease that is characterized by dementia and muscle twitching and spasm
Causes of Mental Health Illness
Although the exact cause of most mental illnesses is not known, it is becoming clear through research that many of these conditions are caused by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors.
Symptoms Of Mental Health Disturbance
ACTING DIFFERENT THAN USUAL. Can you link this change in behavior to something that has happened recently? Any event, such as the death of a close relative, or even something positive – like a job promotion – can trigger a troublesome emotional reaction.
BECOMES AGGRESSIVE, RUDE, AND ABUSIVE OVER MINOR INCIDENTS. Are there remarks about groups or individuals “out to get me?” If that last remark was made in all seriousness, and blowups and violent physical behavior occur, there is a strong indication some help may be required.
The greatest symptoms which trigger mental health concerns have to do with the person’s ability to function. When they suddenly start missing a lot of work or school or losing jobs, not eating or eating too much, barely sleeping or not sleeping at all, and seem to be irritable or angry with everyone and everything, these are usually early symptoms of mental health issues. As symptoms progress the individual may experience self harm such as cutting or burning themselves and taking unnecessary risks with their safety. Any significant drastic change can be a symptom of a mental health issue
Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
Commonly known as insanity or madness, schizophrenia is a chronic psychotic disorder with onset typically occurring in adolescence or young adulthood. Schizophrenia results in fluctuating, gradually deteriorating, or relatively stable disturbances in thinking, behavior, and perception. Severity can range from mild and subtle with very good adaptation to everyday life, to severely disabling requiring constant supervision in a restricted environment.
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Schizophrenia is a brain disease that interferes with normal brain functioning. It causes affected people to exhibit odd and often highly irrational or disorganized behavior. Because the brain is the organ in the body where thinking, feeling and understanding of the world takes place (where consciousness exists), a brain disease like schizophrenia alters thinking, feeling, understanding and consciousness itself in affected persons, changing their lives for the worse.
Causes of Schizophrenia
Experts now agree that schizophrenia develops as a result of interplay between biological predisposition (for example, inheriting certain genes) and the kind of environment a person is exposed to. These lines of research are converging: brain development disruption is now known to be the result of genetic predisposition and environmental stressors early in development (during pregnancy or early childhood), leading to subtle alterations in the brain that make a person susceptible to developing schizophrenia.
It’s not known what causes schizophrenia. However, researchers believe that an interaction of genetics and environment may cause schizophrenia. Problems with certain naturally occurring brain chemicals, including the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate, also may contribute to schizophrenia.
Symtoms Of Schizophrenia
Bizarre or inappropriate behaviour
Preoccupation with spiritual matters
Incoherent illogical speech
Distorted Perceptions of Reality
People with schizophrenia may have perceptions of reality that are strikingly different from the reality seen and shared by others around them. Living in a world distorted by hallucinations and delusions, individuals with schizophrenia may feel frightened, anxious, and confused.
Cognitive symptoms (or cognitive deficits) are problems with attention, certain types of memory, and the executive functions that allow us to plan and organize. Cognitive deficits can also be difficult to recognize as part of the disorder but are the most disabling in terms of leading a normal life.
Over time, it becomes difficult to function in daily life. You may not be able to go to work or school. You may have troubled relationships, partly because of difficulty reading social cues or others’ emotions. You may lose interest in activities you once enjoyed.
Diagnosing Schizophrenia
Using mental state features alone (such as third person auditory hallucinations) is not a reliable way to diagnose schizophrenia. After all, psychotic features such as hallucinations and delusions can occur in affective disorders, dementia and acute organic psychoses. It is therefore important to look at the form of the illness as well as the content.
Treatment of Schizophrenia
Patients with schizophrenia often do not respond to treatment or only partially improve and remain functionally impaired. While medication has been found to be effective for the treatment of “positive” symptoms of the disease, treatment of the “negative symptoms” of depression (including lack of energy, motivation, and emotional range) has historically not been very successful. In nearly 25 percent of those patients, the condition is so refractory to neuroleptic pharmacotherapy that they require custodial care.
First, ensure that your loved one is taking prescribed medications. One of the most common reasons that people with schizophrenia relapse into a new episode is that they quit taking medication. Family members might see much improvement and mistakenly assume medications may no longer be needed. That is a disastrous assumption. A later psychotic outbreak will likely happen
The large majority of people with schizophrenia show substantial improvement when treated with antipsychotic drugs. Some patients, however, are not helped very much by the medications and a few do not seem to need them.
Therapy of Schizophrenia
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been shown to be good for a person with schizophrenia.
Psychodynamic therapy is quite controversial. The actual therapy does not seem to work so well.
When a person suffers from schizophrenia, it is helpful for the whole family to get support. This usually reduces stress and worry, and helps people cope.