Mental Illness, Mental Disorders

From WebHealth

Mental Health Organizer (click on topic ) Suicide and suicide prevention
Mood disorders:	Anxiety disorders:	Schizophrenic disorders:
Bipolar disorder	Acute stress disorder	Bizarre delusion symptoms
Cyclothymic disorder
Depression and Mood Disorders	Agoraphobia	Catatonic schizophrenia
		Delusional disorder
Dysthymic disorder		Disorganized schizophrenia
Postpartum depression	Anxiety disorder with medical condition
Substance induced mood disorder		Paranoid schizophrenia
		Psychotic disorder
Somatoform disorders:	Generalized anxiety disorder	Psychotic disorder with medical condition
Body dysmorphic disorder	Obsessive compulsive disorder (=OCD)	Residual type schizophrenia
Conversion disorder	Panic disorder	Schizoaffective disorder
Hypochondriasis	Posttraumatic stress disorder (=PTSD)	Schizophrenia
Pain disorder	Social phobia	Schizophrenia treatment
Somatization disorder	Specific phobia
Changes in eating patterns	Substance-induced anxiety disorder	Schizophreniform disorder
Eating disorders	Developmental disorders:
Anorexia nervosa	Autism	Substance-induced psychotic disorder
Binge eating disorder	Attention deficit disorder (ADHD)
Bulimia nervosa	Learning disabilities	Undifferentiated schizophrenia
Back to top of table

[edit] Mental Illness, Mental Disorders Introduction

Mental illness or mental disorder still has a stigma for many people. Medical science has made a lot of progress with regard to psychotropic medications, which are medications that stabilize mental disorders. In the following I will discuss briefly what is known about the most common mental conditions.

This has been arranged by way of links to many subchapters that you can access through the above table entitled "mental health organizer". You can see that mental disorders have been categorized in the DSM-IV (Ref.2), which is the standard classification system that psychiatrists and psychologists use, into five major categories. They are: Mood disorders (depression, bipolar disease etc.), somatoform disorders, anxiety disorders, changes in eating patterns and schizophrenic disorders. All in all there are 31 subchapters to which this table links. In my opinion it is important that the public learns as much as they can about mental illness, how to recognize symptoms and why the psychiatrist or physician uses certain drugs to control the mental condtion. We are also learning through metabolic studies of the brain, through PET scanner research and others that brain hormones can be selectively disbalanced and in schizophrenia and depression this newer knowledge has already led to newer antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. Mental disease may also be less frequent on a population basis with a more balanced diet that avoids refined sugar and limits the amount of refined carbohydrates (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes). Hyperinsulinism and a lack of omega-3-fatty acids can play havoc with the balance of our brain hormones. Avoidance of abuse of any kind in a person's life, regular exercise and enough quality sleep coupled with enough leisure time and hobbies to balance the stress from work are also essential. Many studies throughout the world have also shown that the relaxation response from such diverse activities like prayer, meditation, interaction with friends, partners and family may prevent mental disease to a large extent.

[edit] Eating Disorders

Introduction:

A special case are eating disorders as they affect appearance, yet they may not get recognized, particularly among manequins, actors, athletes and young females where a lot of emphasis is put on slim appearance. It often gets brought to the attention of a physician only when a significant amount of weight has been lost and metabolic changes make it much more difficult to treat.

Eating disorders are abnormal behavior patterns around food intake and body image. Two of them, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, affect mainly women. The third diagnosis of "binge eating disorder" affects men and women equally. All of these disorders are psychiatric conditions that have been defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th edition (Ref.1). They are important to diagnose properly, as failure to do so invariably causes harm. For details of these three eating disorders see this table:

Eating disorders

Anorexia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa

Binge eating disorder

Other mental disorders (back to table above)

Home page

Women's Health

Women's Health (other common problems)

References:

1. Dr. David Burns: "Feeling good --The new mood therapy", Avon Books, New York,1992.

2. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, (DSM-IV),American Psychiatric Association, Washington,DC,1994.

3. Dr. Shaila Misri at the 46^th St. Paul's Hosp. Cont. Educ. Conference, November 2000, Vancouver/B.C./ Canada.

4. JM Loftis et al. J Neurochem 2000 Nov 75(5): 2040-2050.

5. B. Zilbergeld et al. "Hypnosis - Questions& Answers", W.W. Norton & Co, New York,1986: 307-312.

6. MH Erickson & EL Rossi:"Hypnotherapy, an exploratory casebook", Irvington Publishers Inc., New York, 1979: chapter 8, 314-363.

7. G Steketee et al. Compr Psychiatry 2001 Jan 42(1): 76-86.

8. DS Mennin et al. J Anxiety Disord 2000 July-Aug 14(4): 325- 343.

9. J Hartland: "Medical &Dental Hypnosis and its Clinical Applications", 2^nd edition, Bailliere Tindall,London,1982, page: 326-336.