Mental Health

This is a book that will be focusing on the ins and outs of mental health, and I think it's important to be as educated as possible on these disorders, and I'm hoping this book can maybe help people in discovery of mental health issues.

Content (If your looking for a specific disorder look at the numbers beside the disorder).

1. Schizophrenia
2. Bipolar disorder
3. Dissociative identity disorder
4. Anxiety disorder
5. Insomnia
6. Depression
7. Anxious personality disorder
8. Dependent personality disorder
9. Schizoaffective Disorder
10. Misophonia

1. Schizophrenia

This is a disorder that's not spoken about a lot. And if it is, there's several misconceptions and inaccuracies about it. So, today we'll be talking about schizophrenic disorder.

• Myth: schizophrenia is a debilitating disease that will destroy your life.
• Fact: While schizophrenia is a very difficult disorder to live with, it can be coped with like any mental disorder. If you take medication, and go to therapy and learn how to manage it, people have been able to cope with schizophrenia.

• Myth: People with schizophrenia have a split personality.
• Fact: actually, schizophrenia translates into 'split mind'. It's in no way connected to a personality disorder. That would he multi-personality disorder or DID (dissociative identity disorder).

• Myth: People with schizophrenia can't recover.
• Fact: According to statistics, 30 percent of schizophrenia patients fully recover, 20 percent show vast improvement, but 50 percent will relapse. It depends on the person and treatment sometimes.

• Myth: People with schizophrenia are dangerous.
• Fact: violence isn't a symptom of schizophrenia, and patients who are diagnosed are more likely to be victims of violence.

• Myth: People with schizophrenia are unhealthy.
• Fact: Actually, patients are able to maintain healthy lifestyles despite symptoms and treatments.

Facts: Both men and women can be affected. Schizophrenia usually occurs in young adults, the first episode occurs at age 25 typically.

Causes:

Behavioral: social isolation, disorganized behavior, aggression, agitation, compulsive behavior, excitability, hostility, repetitive movements, self-harm, or lack of restraint.

Cognitive: thought disorder, delusion, amnesia, belief that an ordinary event has special and personal meaning, belief that thoughts aren't one's own, disorientation, memory loss, mental confusion, slowness in activity, or false belief of superiority

Mood: anger, anxiety, apathy, feeling detached from self, general discontent, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, elevated mood, or inappropriate emotional response.

Psychological: hallucination, paranoia, hearing voices, depression, fear, persecutory delusion, or religious delusion.

Speech: circumstantial speech, incoherent speech, rapid and frenzied speaking, or speech disorder.

Also common: fatigue, impaired motor coordination, or lack of emotional response.

Treatments:

Antipsychotics reduce or improve the symptoms of certain psychiatric conditions. Anti-Tremors help control tremors, shaking, and unsteadiness.

However, medication isn't the only option. While it might be the safest.

2. Bipolar disorder

Hi, so this is another disorder that isn't talked about a lot. And I'm here to educate as best I can.

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by manic(hypomanic) highs and depressive lows.

There are 3 types of bipolar.

• Type I—this is the classic case of bipolar. People will experience a (sometimes unstable) balance between mania and depression. This type is considered to be more intense.
• Type II—this type fluctuates between hypomania (a more toned down version of mania), and heavy depression. People with this disorder typically experience more depression than mania.
• Cyclothymia—This is a higher functioning version of bipolar. People will experience both mild depression and hypomania. And now for the myths vs facts portion.

• Myth: Bipolar disorder just means mood swings.
• Fact: manic and depressive episodes are far more severe than regular mood swings.

• Myth: People with bipolar disorder are dangerous.
• Fact: People with bipolar disorder are no more dangerous than the general population unless they're under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

• Myth: It's just an excuse for erratic behavior.
• Fact: Bipolar is as real and legitimate as diabetes, or any other kind of disorder. It's not an excuse for anything.

• Myth: Bipolar disorder is a rare disease.
• Fact: 5.7 million of Americans—26 percent of adults deal with bipolar disorder.

• Myth: Bipolar disorder can only affect adults.
• Fact: Actually children as young as five have been identified as having Bipolar Disorder.

• Myth: People with bipolar could control themselves with a little more willpower.
• Fact: You can't control having a broken bone or a medical condition, the same is said for Bipolar Disorder. It's ineffective to simply 'snap out of it'.

3. Dissociative identity disorder

People who suffer from this illness use dissociation as a defense mechanism. The brain uses it involuntarily. The condition involves disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity, or perception.

Dissociative Disorder is split into three separate categories.

• Dissociative identity disorder, the alteration of two or more distinct personality states with different memories between the two. Like two different people that have lived different lives in one body.
• Dissociative amnesia, the temporary loss of memory due to a traumatic or stressful event. This is the most common Dissociative disorder. The patient can lose memory linked to one minute to several years depending on the event, and the person themselves.
• Depersonalization disorder, periods of detachment from one's self or their surroundings, which may be experienced as unreal, while still retaining awareness that this is only a feeling, and is not real. Like your body having a mind of its own.

In childhood and adolescents dissociative disorders are believed to come from traumatic experiences such as great loss or abuse.

4. Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety disorders are far more common mental illnesses.

It is characterized by feelings of anxiousness and fear, where anxiety is a worry about future events, and fear is a reaction to current events.

Anxiety disorders are partly genetic, but can also be due to drug use, including alcohol and caffeine, as well as withdrawal from certain drugs.

This illness usually accompanies others such as bi-polar, eating disorders, and personality disorders, but it can also come alone. Common treatments include lifestyle changes, therapy, and medication.

Although medication isn't prescribed unless the other alternatives aren't successful.

5. Insomnia

This sleep disorder is one of the most worrying.

It may not sound scary, but patients with insomnia report memory issues, depression, and irritability. It is when the body is unable to fall asleep, or stay asleep for long.

It can last between one day and four weeks on average, but there are cases reporting that it has lasted up to two months.

Often when having sleeping issues people turn to sleeping pills, which can sometimes turn into drug addiction, because of the results, if the substance is used for an extended period of time.

6. Depression

This is the most common type of mental illness with over half of the world's population experiencing some symptoms.

It is a state of low mood, and avoidance of activity. It can affect the persons thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being.

People who have depression can feel:

• sad
• hopeless
• anxious
• empty
• ashamed
• restless
• worthless and more...

Depression is caused by traumatic life events, medical treatments, physical and mental illnesses, and also drug use.

7. Anxious personality disorder

Also known as anxious personality disorder, this personality disorder leaves its victims frightened, and socially rejected, because of its tendency to push away any unfamiliar situation the patient may encounter.

People who suffer from this illness avoid as many situations in which they will have to encounter another human.

People who suffer from this tend to push others away, and isolate themselves in their house, or even their room to avoid social interaction.

They feel very little self motivation, and have little self esteem.

Jobs are lost due to this illness, and phycological help is required to over come it.

8. Dependent personality disorder

As the name states, dependent personality disorder is when the patient depends primarily on others they trust to make decisions, and help them with almost every task.

This disorder is a long term condition where people depend on family and friends to meet their physical and emotional needs, with on a minority achieving normal independence.

A study in 2012 found that two-thirds of this disorder came from genetics, and only a third came from environment.

9. Schizoaffective Disorder is a mental disorder made up of abnormal thought processes, and deregulated emotions.

People suffering from this often have delusional thoughts, hallucinations, disorganized speech, thinking, or behavior.

People often mix up schizoaffective disorder with schizophrenia, but schizoaffective disorder is a subcategory of schizophrenia. In schizoaffective disorder, patients often hear voices and see things that can not be explained, even by themselves.

They also have "episodes" in which they can dip into very low, or very high moods, for example running around tirelessly for hours shouting and playing, or on the opposite side lying in bed, motionless for hours.

It is caused by genetic and environmental factors, which both play a role in the development of such a disorder.

Treatment is primarily through trial and error of medications called, "Anti-psychotic medications."

These medications reduce the symptoms such as seeing and hearing things, and also flatten the mood of the patient making the condition easier to deal with.

Therapy is also used to help people talk about how the medication is effecting them, and other things in general.

10. Misophonia

Misophonia is a brain disorder that causes the sufferers to have extreme negative emotional reactions to everyday noises that typically go unnoticed.

Misophonia literally translates to "hatred of sound," but it is not phonophobia, the fear of all sounds. Misophonia is the hatred of only certain trigger sounds.

The exact cause for Misophonia is unknown. Evidence shows that it could be either a genetic disorder passed down through the family, or it could be learned behavior.

Children who grow up with a family member who has Misophonia are very likely to develop it as well.

Misophonia usually starts with one trigger caused by someone close to you, like your parents or a sibling, even an extremely close friend. Just because someone gave you your first trigger, your Misophonia is NOT their fault.

You are not a bad person for having Misophonia. If you lash out at someone, it is a completely uncontrolled reaction, and is no one's fault.