What is a mental disorder and what types are there?

Mental disorders

By 2021, diseases that are associated with mental disorders will appear in the top five diseases that lead to disability. This data is provided by the World Health Organization. According to recent studies, alarming symptoms worry every third resident of Russia.

Mental disorders occur for a number of reasons. These are external factors, heredity and genetic predisposition, although all the reasons are still not known to science.

Anything that disables the nervous system ultimately becomes the basis for the development of mental illnesses. Mental disorders occur for no apparent reason, and after stress, overwork, contact with toxic substances, consumption of alcohol and psychoactive substances.

Often, hereditary mental illnesses manifest themselves in childhood. Main symptoms:

• developmental delay
• excessive emotionality
• severe reactions to harsh remarks and adverse events
• inappropriate behavior

Other mental health problems become noticeable during adolescence. For example, signs of schizophrenia. Deviations that are associated with genetic predisposition also make themselves known early.

Mental illnesses are treatable. In our magazine, experienced psychiatrists and psychotherapists write about all the phenomena of psychiatry: about the clinical picture, diagnosis and methods that can return you to normal life. Who else to trust in such a serious matter if not competent and experienced doctors?

Doctors use clinical and laboratory methods to diagnose diseases. At the first stage, psychiatrists talk with the person and observe his behavior. There are laboratory and instrumental diagnostic methods - Neurotest and Neurophysiological test system.

Special medications can combat the disease. Experts prescribe antidepressants, tranquilizers, nootropics, and antipsychotics. Individual, group, family and gestalt therapy are also considered effective methods of rehabilitation.

Symptoms of a mental disorder

The World Health Organization divides the symptoms of mental disorders in humans into 4 main groups:

1. Sensory-perceptual symptoms in which a person has a distortion of reality and can hear, feel or see things that others cannot sense.
2. A common neurological symptom is cognitive impairment. The patient is increasingly experiencing a disorder of clear speech, memory lapses occur, and pathological beliefs about an event are established.
3. Symptoms of a behavioral nature, when the patient may show unreasonable aggression towards relatives or stop performing daily functions.
4. Emotional disorders most often occur as the main symptom; the patient may constantly feel a feeling of fear or sadness.

Prevention

There is no reliable way to prevent the disease. However, if you are showing signs of a mental health disorder, it is worth taking steps to combat stress, increase your resilience and restore low self-esteem, thereby controlling your symptoms.

• Pay attention to the first signs. Work with your doctor or therapist to find out what may be causing your symptoms. Make a plan so you know what to do if symptoms return. If you notice any changes in your symptoms or how you feel, contact your doctor or physician. Consider involving family members or friends to monitor for signs.
• Get routine medical care. Don't neglect checkups or skip doctor's visits, especially if you feel unwell. You may have a new health problem that needs to be treated, or you may experience side effects from medications.
• Get help when you need it. Mental health is harder to treat if you wait until symptoms get worse. Long-term maintenance treatment may also help prevent recurrence of symptoms.
• Take care of yourself. Adequate sleep, a healthy diet and regular physical activity are important. Try to maintain a clear schedule. Talk to your doctor if you have trouble sleeping or have questions about diet and physical activity.

Signs of a mental disorder

Every second person with a mental disorder, starting from the early stages of the disease, experiences characteristic symptoms. They can appear with different intensities and frequency, but they are easy to notice with constant observation of a person. If one of the signs appears, you cannot leave it unnoticed and you should seek professional help.

Signs of a mental disorder most often go beyond certain cultural norms or beliefs in modern society. It is customary to identify the main signs of the course of the disease, which are most common among people with this diagnosis - memory impairment and sound thinking, sudden changes in a person’s behavior and mood for no known reason.

Definition of Mental Illness

First of all, it is worth deciding what mental illness is. In psychological science, this term is usually used to describe a state of a person’s psyche that differs from a healthy one. The state of a healthy psyche is the norm (this norm is usually denoted by the term “mental health”). And all deviations from it are deviation or pathology.

Today, such definitions as “mentally ill” or “mental illness” are officially prohibited as degrading the honor and dignity of a person. However, these diseases themselves have not gone away. Their danger to humans lies in the fact that they entail serious changes in such areas as thinking, emotions and feelings, and behavior. Sometimes these changes become irreversible.

There are changes in the biological state of a person (this is the presence of a certain developmental pathology), as well as changes in his medical condition (the quality of his life deteriorates until it is destroyed) and social condition (a person can no longer live as a full-fledged member of society, enter into certain productive relationships with the people around you). From here comes the conclusion that such conditions bring harm to a person, therefore they must be overcome both with the help of medication and with the help of psychological and pedagogical assistance to patients.

Causes of mental disorders

Scientists have found that the reasons for changes in a person’s mental state can be external factors such as psychological or social. Biological factors include a genetic predisposition to constant depression or nervous breakdowns, especially if, while a person was growing up, there were complex relationships between parents that left a certain imprint on the child’s psyche.

The results of many years of research have shown that the causes of mental disorders most often come from the patient’s unfavorable childhood. Drugs and alcoholism, temporary restriction of a person’s freedom in a confined space, frequent depression, difficult life situations and incidents can also lead to the development of the disease.

Etiology

Personality disorder means a disease of the soul and a state of mental activity that differs from a healthy one. The opposite of this condition is mental health, which is characteristic of those individuals who can quickly adapt to daily life changes, solve various daily issues or problems, and achieve their goals and objectives. When such abilities are limited or completely lost, one can suspect that a person has some kind of mental pathology.

Diseases of this group are caused by a wide variety and multiple etiological factors. However, it is worth noting that absolutely all of them are predetermined by impaired functioning of the brain.

Pathological reasons against which mental disorders can develop include:

• the course of various infectious diseases, which can either themselves negatively affect the brain or appear against the background of intoxication;
• damage to other systems, for example, diabetes mellitus or a previous stroke, can cause the development of psychoses and other mental pathologies. Often they lead to the appearance of one or another disease in older people;
• traumatic brain injuries;
• brain oncology;
• congenital defects and anomalies.

Among the external etiological factors it is worth highlighting:

• effects on the body of chemical compounds. This includes poisoning with toxic substances or poisons, indiscriminate use of medications or harmful food components, as well as abuse of addictions;
• prolonged influence of stressful situations or nervous strains that can haunt a person both at work and at home;
• improper upbringing of a child or frequent conflicts between peers lead to the appearance of a mental disorder in adolescents or children.

Separately, it is worth highlighting burdened heredity - mental disorders, like no other pathologies, are closely related to the presence of similar deviations in relatives. Knowing this, you can prevent the development of a particular disease.

In addition, mental disorders in women can be caused by labor.

Types of mental disorders

Currently, the most common diseases include some types of human mental disorders. These data can always be tracked in the reports of the World Health Organization, where schizophrenia is among the top five most common diseases among the entire world population. It can originate during early human development, but in the transition period its signs will begin to increase.

In second place in popularity are types of disorders associated with the abolition of dependence on psychotropic or narcotic substances, including alcohol. Depression, as a type of mental disorder, occurs in every fifth inhabitant of the planet and is accompanied by pessimistic views of life and an apathetic mood.

Psychological mental disorders

According to the International Classification of Diseases, psychological mental disorders belong to groups F10 – F19 and are associated with human behavior disorder due to excessive use of psychoactive substances.

Most often, this type of disorder occurs against the background of addiction to a certain type of psychotropic drug. A person is convinced on a subconscious level that it is psychotropic substances that give him a dose of pleasure and without them he cannot exist normally. Over time, addiction occurs, which cannot be eliminated without professional help and treatment.

How dangerous are mental illnesses?

Any mental illness harms a person no less than the illness of his body. In addition, medical science has long known that there is a direct connection between mental and physical illnesses. As a rule, it is mental experiences that give rise to the most severe forms of physical diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, etc. Therefore, peace of mind and harmony with the people around you and with yourself can cost a person additional decades of his life.

Therefore, mental illnesses are dangerous not so much for their manifestations (although they can be severe), but for their consequences. It is simply necessary to treat such diseases. Without treatment, you will never achieve peace and joy, despite external comfort and well-being. Actually, these diseases belong to the field of medicine and psychology. These two directions are designed to save humanity from such serious illnesses.

Organic mental disorder

Organic and symptomatic disorders manifest themselves in patients at the cerebral level; they can manifest themselves against the background of brain injuries, after a severe stroke, or against the background of abuse of alcohol, narcotic and psychotropic substances.

Organic mental disorder can be diagnosed based on two main characteristics. The first include cognitive dysfunction, when a person has problems with memory or habitual learning. Impairments may be associated with loss of alertness, concentration and awareness. The second group includes vivid manifestations of hallucinations, anxiety and depression, as well as disturbances in emotional behavior.

Diagnostics

To determine the diagnosis and check for related complications, you may undergo:

• Physical examination. Your doctor will try to rule out physical problems that may be causing your symptoms.
• Laboratory tests. These may include, for example, thyroid function testing or alcohol and drug screening.
• Psychological assessment. Your doctor or psychiatrist will talk with you about your symptoms, thoughts, feelings, and behavior patterns. You may be asked to complete a questionnaire to answer these questions.

Acute mental disorders

Transient and acute psychotic personality disorders are characterized by the most rapid development of diseases. The condition of a sick person can deteriorate significantly in just a few days, with several main signs observed - depression and passive mood, accompanied by intense hallucinations, states of seizures and delirium.

Acute mental disorders are conventionally divided into two categories - polymorphic state and schizophrenia. The latter occurs most often, the true causes of which have not yet been established. The risk group may include people who have been subjected to severe violence (not necessarily of an intimate nature), as well as those who have experienced severe emotional stress.

Disease six: when emotions run high

A mental condition characterized by emotional instability, increased excitability, high anxiety and lack of connection with reality is commonly called borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder is an emotionally unstable personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder has been described in a wide range of scientific literature. In such a state, a person cannot control his emotional-volitional sphere. At the same time, there is debate in science about whether borderline personality disorder should be considered a serious type of mental disorder or not. Some authors consider nervous exhaustion to be the root cause of borderline personality disorder.

In any case, borderline personality disorder is a state between normality and deviation. The danger of borderline personality disorder is the tendency of patients to suicidal behavior, so this disease is considered in psychiatry as quite serious.

Borderline personality disorder has the following symptoms: a tendency to unstable relationships with idealization and subsequent devaluation, impulsiveness accompanied by a feeling of emptiness, the manifestation of strong anger and other affects, and suicidal behavior. Treatment methods for borderline personality disorder are varied, they include both psychotherapeutic (art therapy, play therapy, psychodrama, symbol-drama, psychodrama, sand therapy) and medicinal methods (in the treatment of depressive conditions).

Chronic mental disorder

In medicine, chronic disorders are usually understood as a condition of a sick person when it occurs over a long period of time and with characteristic attacks. Types of such disorders include paranoia, epilepsy, manic or depressive psychosis.

Chronic mental disorder, like most diseases of this type, is characterized by periods of improvement and sharp deterioration in a person’s condition. Even after all signs of the disease have been suppressed, the patient is left with a persistent mental defect that is difficult to treat.

Disease three: when egocentrism is above all else

Another type of mental illness is narcissistic personality disorder. What it is? In this state, a person is confident that he is a unique subject, endowed with enormous talents and entitled to occupy the highest level in society. Narcissistic personality disorder gets its name from the ancient mythological hero Narcissus, who loved himself so much that he was turned into a flower by the gods.

Mental disorders of this kind are manifested in the fact that patients have enormous conceit, they are absorbed in fantasies about their high position in society, believe in their own exclusivity, need admiration from others, do not know how to sympathize with others, and behave extremely arrogantly.

Usually, others accuse people with such mental pathology of self-centeredness. Indeed, selfishness and narcissism are sure (but not the main) signs of this disease. Narcissistic personality disorder is difficult to treat with medication. As a rule, psychotherapy (art therapy, sand therapy, play therapy, symbol-drama, psychodrama, animal therapy and others), hypnotic suggestions and methods of advisory psychological conversation are used in treatment.

Temporary mental disorder

Unlike a chronic disorder, a temporary one involves understanding such conditions of a sick person in which short-term mental abnormalities are observed, ultimately amenable to complete recovery.

A temporary mental disorder can manifest itself in a person in the form of delirium tremens. This pathological condition is most often caused by prolonged alcohol consumption. Temporary disorders also include severe mental states, experiences and nervous conditions caused by external environmental factors.

The fifth disease: when suspicion reaches its limit

Mental disorders have long been known to mankind, although their symptoms and treatment options could not be fully determined. This also applies to paranoid personality disorder. In this state, a person is excessively suspicious; he suspects anyone and anything. He is vindictive, his attitude towards others reaches the point of hatred.

Paranoid personality disorder also manifests itself in symptoms such as belief in “conspiracy theories,” suspicion of one’s family and friends, constant struggle with others for rights, constant dissatisfaction and painful experiences of failure.

Psychoanalysts call the cause of such mental disorders negative projection, when a person strives to find in others those qualities that he is not satisfied with in himself, he transfers them from himself (considering himself ideal) to other people.

Overcoming this mental disorder with medications is ineffective; as a rule, active methods of psychological interaction are used.

Such a mental state of the patient, as a rule, causes many complaints from others. People of this type cause hostility, they are antisocial, so their mental illness entails serious consequences and, above all, social trauma.

Treatment of mental disorders

To treat a mental disorder or reduce a person’s suffering during an exacerbation of the disease in modern medicine, there are effective methods that can be practically successfully used only with professional supervision or while in an inpatient hospital.

Treatment of mental disorders should only take place in combination with the use of psychotropic medications and professional psychotherapy. For patients, the use of pills alone is not enough; it is important to regularly conduct conversations or exercises to get rid of the symptoms and causes of a serious mental illness.

How to treat?

Before treating a person for a psychological disorder, a specialist must correctly establish a diagnosis and identify the cause that influenced the development of the disease. First of all, you need to consult a psychologist. The specialist talks with the client in a calm atmosphere, conducts tests, assigns tasks and carefully observes the individual’s reactions and behavior. After conducting a psychological diagnosis, the psychologist identifies disorders in the client’s psyche and determines the method of corrective assistance.

If a person has encountered a number of life difficulties as a result of which he has developed psychological disorders, he can turn to psychologist-hypnologist Nikita Valerievich Baturin for help.

It is important to consult a psychotherapist as soon as the first symptoms of inappropriate behavior appear. If the disease starts, you will have to resort to the help of a psychiatrist and even forcibly hospitalize the person in a psychiatric hospital. A mentally ill person requires urgent treatment in a medical institution if she has a mental disorder in the acute phase or the person is in a state of strong agitation, prone to violent acts or displays suicidal intentions.

Treatment of mental disorders in men

Among men, acute and organic types of mental disorders are most common, which require a more serious and long-term approach to treatment. Psychosis, schizophrenia, addiction to illegal drugs and manic episodes – these diseases affect more than 40% of the male population. According to WHO statistics, men are much less likely to admit that they have mental disorders than women.

Treatment of mental disorders in men occurs under constant supervision by a professional psychotherapist. The most effective treatment is achieved only if it is comprehensive, that is, a combination of medications with techniques and exercises that are based on a direct conversation between the patient and the doctor.

Treatment of mental disorders in women

Most often, women experience mental disorders associated with depression or constant anxiety. These species are the most resistant to drug treatment. Any treatment is based only on an individual approach, based on the woman’s condition, her age and previous injuries to the disease.

Treatment of mental disorders in women is based on a specific scheme, which includes the use of antidepressants, a combination of other pharmacological agents and mandatory psychotherapeutic techniques.

Complications

Mental illness is a leading cause of disability. Left untreated, it can cause serious emotional, behavioral and physical health problems. Complications associated with mental illness include:

• Unhappiness and decreased enjoyment of life.
• Family conflicts.
• Difficulties in relationships.
• Social isolation.
• Problems with tobacco, alcohol and drugs.
• Lack of attendance at work, school, university or other problems related to work or study.
• Legal and financial problems.
• Poverty and homelessness.
• Self-harm and harm to others, including suicide or murder.
• Weakened immune system.
• Heart disease and other diseases.

Mental disorders in adolescents

One in six people affected by a mental disorder are in the 10-19 age group, one of the most difficult transition periods of adulthood. The main reason for the mental disorder of a teenager is the process of personality formation, which can be negatively influenced by the people around him, as well as a manic desire to try prohibitive drugs for the first time in his life.

Mental disorders in adolescents can only be treated in a comprehensive manner by professionals together with parents. During this period, it is important to create a safe atmosphere for the life of a teenager, to protect him from possible risks and negative factors from others.

Disease two: when hysteria becomes a way of life

A mental disorder that manifests itself in the fact that the patient is constantly looking for a way to attract attention to himself is called histrionic personality disorder. This mental illness is characterized by the fact that a person by any means wants to achieve recognition from others of his importance, the fact of his existence.

Hysterical personality disorder is often called acting or theatrical disorder. Indeed, a person suffering from such a mental disorder behaves like a real actor: he plays various roles in front of people in order to evoke sympathy or admiration. Often those around him blame him for unworthy behavior, and a person with this mental illness makes an excuse by saying that he cannot live otherwise.

According to psychiatrists, people with hysterical personality disorder are prone to exaggerated emotionality, suggestibility, a desire for excitement, seductive behavior and increased attention to their physical attractiveness (the latter is understandable, because patients think that the better they look, the more others like them). The causes of histrionic personality disorder should be sought in a person’s childhood.

According to scientists of the psychoanalytic Freudian school, this type of mental disorder is formed during puberty in girls and boys whose parents forbid them to develop their sexuality. In any case, the manifestation of hysterical personality disorder is a signal to parents who sincerely love their child that they must reconsider the principles of their upbringing. Histrionic personality disorder is difficult to treat with medication. As a rule, when diagnosing it, psychotherapy of the Freudian school, hypnosis, as well as psychodrama and symbol drama are used.

Mental disorders in children

Mental disorders in children under 10 years of age may be indicated by symptoms such as impaired attention and hyperreactivity, which manifests itself in the form of extreme mobility or fussiness. Starting from the very birth of a child, it is very important not to miss the moment of the onset of pathological deviations in his behavior.

The doctor is faced with the task of promptly and correctly dividing mental disorders due to improper pedagogical upbringing of parents or genetic predisposition. The initial signs of the disease in children include decreased appetite, which occurs repeatedly in the form of vomiting or complete refusal to eat.

Lifestyle and Home Remedies

In most cases, a psychological disorder will not go away if you try to treat it on your own without professional help. But there are some things you can do for yourself that will be based on your treatment plan:

• Stick to your treatment plan. Don't miss therapy sessions. Even if you feel better, don't skip your medications. If you stop, symptoms may return.
• Avoid alcohol and drugs.
• Stay active. Exercise can help you manage symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety.
• Don't make important decisions if your symptoms are severe.
• Set your priorities. You can reduce the impact of your mental illness by managing your time and energy.
• Learn to have a positive attitude. Focusing on the positive things in your life can improve your life and even improve your health.