16 October 2015
Types of Mental Health Problems
There are various types of mental health problems you should be aware of to help better your understanding of the illness. Having a stronger understanding of the types of problems an individual can be diagnosed with can help you to further support your family and friends. This can be done by being aware of what they may be going through, although you may not have personal experience.
Although the problems featured below do not cover all mental health problems that exist, this provides a guide to help you find out more information on diagnosis, treatment and support options for various types that do exist.
Anxiety & Panic Attacks
If you feel uneasy, a sense of fear and also worry then anxiety can be often be used to describe these feelings. Everyone feels anxious at some point in their life, as it is common to feel tense or fearful of a situation or decision you are facing. Examples of these are sitting exams, attending interviews, moving away from home and much more.
When can anxiety be addressed as a mental health problem? If we all feel anxious at various stages in our lives, it can become confusing to some as to how it then becomes an illness. If your feelings of anxiety are strong, last a long time and leave you feeling overwhelmed then this can be a sign of a mental health problem.
You may find your experience panic attacks on a regular basis, or you are worrying about things on a daily basis that would not normally have affected you otherwise. The smallest things in life can progress into bigger issues, causing you to become stressed and fearful of everyday routines.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder is a type of mental health problem that mainly affects your mood. You can often experience mood-swings going from one extreme to the other; feeling high such as manic or hypomanic episodes, to feeling very low.
Again, although we all experience lows and highs at times, this becomes a mental health problem when these changes in mood become distressing and have a huge impact on your life. When you’re feeling low you can often be left feeling defeated and have little to no motivation to do daily tasks. When you are on a high however, this can make you feel fantastic and livelier and makes you a happier person.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
This is an anxiety disorder related to body image. This type of disorder can cause a disruptive effect on your life and makes you experience various concerns about your appearance. Everybody’s experience with BDD is different, but can also appear very similar when it comes to developing habits.
Routines and habits can include an excessive use of mirrors or picking at your skin. You can also feel a sense of shame, guilt, depression and also suicidal thoughts. The biggest worry is that those with BDD do not tend to seek help due to the worry of looking vain or people judging them.
You can often spend hours during the day thinking of various negative points about your body. Whether it is facial features, breasts or genitals, lack of symmetry or even your weight.
Borderline Personality Disorder
BPD is a type of mental health problem where your attitudes, beliefs and behaviours cause you longstanding problems in your life. There are many symptoms of BPD, but a few that exist are feeling worries about people abandoning you, very intense emotions, not having a strong sense of who you are and also finding it difficult to make and keep stable relationships.
An important thing to realise for someone who has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder is that this does not mean you have a bad personality. Everybody has positive and negative personality traits and behaviours that can cause problems, but if you have BPD these behaviours can often stop you from living life as you want to.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is a unique and innovative treatment model for Borderline Personality Disorder. DBT helps to treat patients with a history of chronic suicidal behaviour.
Dissociative Disorder
There are five types of dissociation;
- Amnesia: You can’t remember incidents or experiences that happened at particular times.
- Depersonalisation: Feeling that your body is unreal, changing or dissolving.
- Derealisation: You may see objects changing shapes, size or colour or feel that other people are robots.
- Identity Confusion: Feeling uncertain of who you really are and struggling to define yourself.
- Identity Alteration: This involves a shift in your role or identity that changes your behaviour in ways that other could notice. For instance, you may be very different at work from when you are at home or another place of comfort.
Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder
This disorder has two main parts: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwelcome thoughts, images, or doubts that become repetitive in your mind. You may be constantly thinking you are contaminated by dirt and germs or experiencing a sudden urge to hurt someone.
Compulsions are repetitive activities that you feel you have to do. This can be checking the door I locked a specific number of times, repeating a phrase in your head to prevent harm coming to a loved one and anything else you do repeatedly that can affect your day-to-day life.
The OCD cycle is as followed: Obsessive though > Anxiety > Compulsive Behaviour > Temporary Relief.
There are many more mental health problems out there and if you believe you or someone you know shows signs of any of the symptoms mentioned for these problems, be sure to seek help.