Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia
Hello Everyone! My first
post I will be discussing mental illnesses. The reason I will be discussing
mental illnesses in today's blog post, because it's extremely important that
everyone knows about mental illnesses (signs & symptoms, who's affected,
treatment, etc.), they’re a lot of people in today’s society who have no knowledge
about any mental illnesses. There are people probably heard about mental
illnesses but that doesn't mean that they have knowledge about them. They're so
many mental illnesses out in the world and it will take me years writing about
all of them, so I think it's best to discuss the most common mental illnesses
that a lot of people suffer from.
The first mental illness that I will discussing is Depression
(aka Clinical Depression). Many individuals who hear about depression
automatically assume that it’s just someone being sad, but that’s not the case;
being sad and being depressed are two different things. Depression is a mood
disorder that impacts a person everyday life negatively. The signs and symptoms
of depression are the following: Persistent sadness and/or anxious, feeling of
hopelessness or pessimism, feeling of guilt or worthlessness, loss of interest
in favorite hobbies, decreased energy, difficulty concentrating (remembering,
or making decisions), difficult sleeping, appetite and/or weight changes,
thoughts of death or suicide, and irritability. For a person to be diagnosed
with depression, some of the symptoms must be present most of the day, almost
every day for at least 2 weeks. It does not matter what sex and age an individual
is, everyone could get depression; and depression does not affect everyone the
same; depression affects adult women, adult men, the elderly, young children,
and teens differently. If you suspect anyone might have depression contact a
doctor immediately (NIMH, 2016).
The next mental illness that will be discussed is Bipolar
Disorder. This mental illness is a brain disorder that causes shifts in mood,
activity levels, mood, and ability to carry out day to day task. Individuals
who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder experience two types of mood called
manic episodes (extremely high, upbeat, energized behavior) and depressive
episodes (very sad, down, hopeless periods). There are different types of
bipolar disorders, they are all the same thing, but the only thing different is
the time of both episodes and how severe both episodes are. The signs and
symptoms of the manic episodes are the following: Has a lot of energy,
increased activity levels, trouble sleeping, becomes more active than usual,
becomes agitated or irritable, touchy, feels like thoughts are going really
fast, and/or does risky things (spends a lot of money and/or has reckless sex).
The signs and symptoms of depressive episodes are the following: Has very
little energy, trouble sleeping, decreased activity levels, feels like they can’t
enjoy anything, feels worried or empty, forgets a lot, eats too little or too
much, and/or thinks about death or suicide. The only way for an individual to
be properly diagnosed with bipolar disorder is if the suspected individual
speaks to a doctor or licensed mental health professional (NIMH, 2016). If one
of them says someone is bipolar, then they are 99% correct; there are very rare
occasions when someone is misdiagnosed.
The last mental illness that a lot of people suffer from is
schizophrenia. This is a severe mental illness that affects the way a person
acts, feels, thinks, and behaves. Schizophrenia is described as people who seem
to lose touch with reality. The signs and symptoms of schizophrenia start
between the ages of 16 and 30, and there are even rare cases of children who
have schizophrenia. The signs and symptoms are separated into three different categories
which are positive (psychotic behaviors not seen in healthy people), negative
(disruptions to normal emotions and behaviors), and cognitive (individuals
notice changes in their memories and way of thinking). The positive symptoms are
the following: Hallucinations, delusions, though disorder (unusual way of
thinking), and movement disorder. The negative symptoms are the following:
reduced expression of emotion (via facial expression or voice tone), reduced
feeling of pleasure in everyday life, difficulty beginning or sustain activities,
and reduced speaking. The cognitive symptoms are the following: hard time
understanding information and using it to make decisions, trouble focusing and
paying attention, and problems with working memory. The most common method used
to diagnose if someone has this mental illness is a physical exam (NIMH, 2016).
These are common and serious mental illnesses that people
suffer from, especially in the United States and it’s important that all my
viewers know about these mental illnesses. One of you may know someone or meet
someone who is suffering and doesn’t even know it. So, it’s crucial that if any
of you notice a person has symptoms of any of these mental illnesses, you need
to try your best to get them help as fast as possible!
NIMH.
(2016). Mental Health Information. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/index.shtml
Great post Nick! Mental health is just as important, if not more important, than physical health in my opinion. It seems like more and more people in today's society suffer from mental health issues. One cause of that is probably because the importance of mental health is just not taught in health education classes. I am currently doing a study on college students and depression and I am quite surprised with the results. It seems as if many people think that over 30% of college students struggle with depression. That is a big problem. I appreciate the topic of mental health because it is something that I have become quite passionate about.
ReplyDeleteIf you continue to talk about mental illnesses, I am interested in learning about more types of mental illnesses such as personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and PTSD. Overall, I think this post was very informative and it really helped me to understand signs to watch out for, for both myself and friends. Mental health should never be pushed aside.
Rachel Kaiser
Hey Nick! Mental Illness is such an important topic to discuss. A person can have excellent physical health, but if their mental health is not well, that can pose a series of health issues. Physical and mental health go hand in hand if you ask me. I would love to know more about the prevalence of each of the mental illnesses, like how much of the population has been diagnosed. I know for several health studies that the number of people diagnosed with mental health illnesses is not as high as it should be since people who do suffer have not always reported it. I think it would be particularly interesting to look at mental health rates among college students. I know that rates have increased drastically over the years.
ReplyDeleteHello Nick,
ReplyDeleteMental illnesses are a tough subject because it is hard to diagnose people suffering from them and more often then not, if people do not personally know someone with a mental illness, then people are afraid of the unknown. We can not predict when someone will suffer from an episode so often times when one happens people become scared of the person with the illness. I agree that diagnosis is a major factor for all, not just those discussed, illness because if it is possible to help them then they can start to get treatments. I would love to see the statistics of documented illnesses among college students compared to other age groups in the population.
Great first post, I am looking forward to your other posts.
Hey Nick,
ReplyDeleteThis post was very informative and mental illness is a topic that needs continuous discussion because people don't really seem to care much about mental illnesses, but more on physical. Mental illnesses are starting to cost people's lives and that's starting to get scary. People don't understand that whatever happens with your body and mind can take so much control of you, that sometimes, you cant even do anything about it. It's good that your putting out this information so more people can be aware because I sure didn't know much of the signs and symptoms of some of these illnesses. But now I'll be more aware and ready to see if anyone I know has them. This was a good first post and I hope it impacted other readers as well.
Amazing job nick! I loved your first post. Can I say that I really like how you have your color scheme really dark and gloomy. It goes perfect with your them. This is such a serious topic and it is a very real problem so thank you for addressing it. I glad you picked some of the top mental illnesses and you broke them down into details. They are very different and should be treated differently.
ReplyDelete