Mental Illness

At least about six million people have depression in the united states annually. This depression is more common in women than men. As a result of this, it has led many to believe that men are not easily depressed. This is far from the truth. In the medical community, there is no differentiation between the number of depression in both men and women. A reason it is so could be that men are diagnosed differently from women. For most men, symptoms are generally common ones which can be easily diagnosed ...

support group is a group of similar people going through the same bout of depression. In supports groups, you will have a listening ear to problems you are passing through and also find people who are going through similar problems with you so that it can enable you to share your experiences with them.

You will find most depression groups at counseling centers. Some groups meetings are held at least once a week. Most discussions at these group meetings entails how depression affects ...

Depression comes in different forms and stages and it affect men and women differently. The signs of depression can come in different ways which can be undetectable. People frequently associate a depressed person with sadness. Another sign people look for is been extremely introverted with suicidal cues. Depression signs can come in so many forms, it could come as an extremely happy person, overly nice person, too much energy etc. Having another illness coupled with depression can also make the ...

Without a doubt, women are more prone to depression than men because they are more emotional than men. The sad fact is that this depression in women is hard to overcome. They are certain type of depression associated with women which are very common. Below are some of the type of depression which are mostly common in women.

Post-Natal Depression: You normally find this type of depression associated with pregnancy. It occurs after women have given birth. It can be caused by a drastic ...

Did you wake up in the middle in the night asking yourself, "Am I depressed?". If you are asking yourself such questions, then maybe you have started noticing certain changes in yourself. The best way to know if you are depressed is knowing the signs of depression. If depression are left untreated, it could develop into a major depression. It is easier to treat depression in the early stages.

Here are certain clues to know if you are depressed.

Do you feel unexplained ...

Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. A sound mind in a sound body has been recognized as a social ideal for many centuries. The Indian sages and seers had paid particular attention to the unconscious; wherein lay the suppressed unfulfilled desires and compulsions of several kinds which led the individual astray; by mastering their minds, they attained the highest levels of emotional equilibrium. Mental ...

1. Psychotherapy
(a) Psychoanalytic Therapy
(b) Supportive psychotherapy

2. Behavior Therapy
(a) Thought Stopping
(b) Response Prevention
(c) Systematic Desensitization
(d) Modeling


3. Drugs – Benzodiazepines, Anti depressants like Clomipramine,
Antipsychotic like haloperidol

4. ECT – In the presence of severe depression with OCD.

1. Antidepressants are the treatment of choice. The usual antidepressants are imipramine, newer antidepressants like tetracyclics (mianserin), trazodone, fluoxetine, amineptin and amoxapine and Tricyclic like imipramine, amitriptyline etc.

2. Psychological Treatment
I. Cognitive Therapy – Its aims at correcting the depressive negative cognitions (ideations) like hopelessness, worthlessness, helplessness and pessimistic ideas.
II. Psychoanalytic ...

One of the most frequently seen somatoform patterns is Hypochondriasis, which is characterized by multiple complaints about possible physical illness where no evidence of such illness can be found. They express a preoccupation with health matters and unrealistic fears of disease. Although hypochondriacal people repeatedly seek medical advice, their fears are not in the least lessened by doctor’s reassurance.
Individual with this disorder may complain of uncomfortable and peculiar ...

Conversion disorder, earlier called hysteria, involve neurotic pattern in which symptoms of some physical malfunction or loss of control appear without any underlying organic pathology.

The term hysteria was derived from the Greek word meaning “uterus”. It was thought by Hippocrates and other ancient Greeks that this disorder was restricted to women, and that it was caused by sexual difficulties, particularly by the wandering of a frustrated uterus to various parts of ...

The term somatoform derives from the Greek soma for body, and the somatoform disorders are broad group of illnesses that have bodily signs and symptoms as a major component. These disorders encompass mind-body interactions in which the brain sends various signals that impinge on patient’s awareness, indicating a serious problem in body.

Somatization Disorder
It is characterized by the following clinical features.
1.Multiple somatic symptoms in the absence of any ...

Its symptoms are identical to Major Depressive episodes in the number and severity of symptoms but that do not meet the 2-week duration requirement. The episode last at least 2 days but less than 2 weeks and most typically have duration of between 2 and 4 days. Episodes must recur at least once a month for a period of 12 consecutive months and they must not be associated with the menstrual cycle. The brief depressive episode must cause clinically significant distress and impairment in social, occupational ...

A hypomanic episode last at least 4 days and is similar to manic episode except that it is not sufficiently severe to cause impairment in social or occupational functioning, and no psychotic features are present. Both mania and hypomania are associated with inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, great physical and mental activity and over involvement in pleasurable behavior.

Dysthymia -Persistence of mood symptoms which last for more than 2 years. In children ...

In specific phobia the stimulus is usually circumscribed. This is an example of irrational fear of objects and also situation.

It is characterized by an irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Anticipatory anxiety leads to persistent avoidant behavior, while confrontation with avoided object or situation leads to panic attack. Gradually the phobia spreads to other objects and situations.

The disorder is diagnosed only if there is marked distress or disturbance ...

It persists at least for 2 years, in children and adolescent for at least 1 year. The presence of numerous periods of hypo maniac symptoms and numerous periods of depressive symptom do not meet criteria for major depressive episode.

An obsession is a persistent preoccupation with a certain mental content, typically an idea or a feeling. A compulsion is an impulse to engage in some behavior experienced as irresistible. Thus in obsessive-compulsive (OCD) individuals feel compelled to think about or to carry out some action, often pointlessly ritualistic, seemingly against their own will. These individuals usually having high level of manifest anxiety realize that their behavior is irrational but cannot seem to control it. ...

This category consists of those disorders, which are temporarily related to exceptionally stressful life events (acute stress reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder).

1. Acute Stress Reaction – There is an immediate and clear temporal relationship between an exceptional stressor (e.g. death of loved one, natural catastrophe, accident, rape) and the onset of symptoms.

The symptoms are dazed condition, anxiety, depression, anger, despair, over activity or withdrawal, ...

Manic episode last for at least 1 week.
1. Elevated, Expansive or Irritable Mood
It characterized by –
(a) Euphoria (mild elevation of mood): Increased sense of psychological well-being and happiness.
(b) Elation (moderate elevation of mood): Feeling of confidence and enjoyment along with increased psychomotor activity.
(c) Exaltation: Intense elation with delusion of grandeur.
(d) Ecstasy: Intense sense of rapture or blissfulness.
2. Psychomotor Activity ...

The essential features are symptoms such as markedly depressed mood, marked anxiety, marked affective liability and decreased interest in activities. These symptoms have regularly occurred during the last week of luteal phase in most menstrual cycle during the past year. The symptoms begin to remit with in a few a days of the onset of menses (the follicular phase) and are always absent in the week following menses.

Five (or more) of the symptoms must have been present: 1) feeling ...

Childhood anxiety is becoming a common problem these days as more and more cases turn up with signs of depression popping up in young children.

Many young children experience anxiety when they meet new people and shyly grip a parent or somebody else with whom they are known. Frequently, a parent can softly support them in venturing out of their 'secure zone' to have new understanding of the society and people, while a number of children tearfully oppose anything or anyone whom they ...

Its beginning often evident early in life has resulted in persistent vulnerability to experience fear or anxiety when facing every day problems. In these cases ordinary methods of coping, including the “normal” use of ego-defense mechanisms, have proven inadequate and an individual either experiences disabling anxiety or increasingly relies on more defensive reactions. Although these defenses may help ward off acute feelings of threat, they exact a high price in ineffective and self-defeating behavior. ...

According to DSM-IV-TR
DEPRESSION
o Major Depressive Disorder without history of manic mixed or hypo maniac episode.
o Mania and hypomania
o Dysthymia and Cyclothymia
o Other categories include minor depressive disorder, recurrent brief depressive disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder and substance induced mood disorder.
ANXIETY DISORDERS
o Panic Disorder
o Agoraphobia
o Specific Phobia
o Obsessive Compulsive ...

Substance-induced mood disorder must always be considered in three possibilities: (1) a patient may be taking drugs for the treatment of nonpsychiatric medical problem; (2) a patient may have been accidentally and perhaps unknowingly, exposed to neurotoxic chemicals; and (3) the patient may have taken a substance for recreational purposes or may be dependent on such substance.

When making the diagnosis of substance induced mood disorder, the clinician should specify the substance ...

The concept of mental disorder like many other concepts in medicine and science, lack a consistent operational definition that covers all situation (DSM 1995). Therefore helping to guide decision regarding which condition lie on the boundary between normality and pathology, each of the mental disorders is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavior or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (e.g. a painful symptom) or disability ...

Normal Depression

Normal depressions are almost always the result of recent stress. In fact some depressions are considered adjustment disorders.
GRIEF AND THE GRIEVING PROCESS We usually think of grief, as the psychological process one goes through following the death of loved one. Loss of a favored status or position (including one occasioned by promotion), separation
Or divorce, financial loss, the breakup of romantic affair, retirement, separation from friend, absence ...