As the national attention turns to psychiatric issues during this time, it may be a good starting point for us to raise awareness on mental illnesses in general. Here’s an overview of some of the daunting mental illnesses that many individuals combat every day, contained in the DSM-V:
Eating disorders:
Eating disorders are generally classified by a behavioural change relating to eating routines that have a disruptive impact on food consumption and nutritional absorption. These disorders encompass mental illnesses like Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Orthorexia and other binge eating disorders.
Anxiety and stressor-related disorders:
Anxiety and stressor-related disorders are generally diagnosed when symptoms fitting to respective disorders are so powerful that they begin to disrupt an individual’s behaviour over time. Anxiety disorders include a variety of phobias (as well as social and agoraphobia) panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, while stressor-related disorders generally describe the immediate effect that a traumatising experience can have on an individual.
Mood disorders:
Mood disorders are diagnosed in individuals who experience long-term emotional disturbances, like excessive fluctuation in mood, or excessive sadness, accompanied by the requisite additional mood disorder symptoms that negatively impact an individual intensely and persistently. These will only be diagnosed as a disorder if it has a disruptive effect and inhibits an individual’s ability to function as they did before the onset of such symptoms. Among these disorders are disorders like depression, bipolar and cyclothymic disorder.
Personality disorders:
These disorders are believed to originate from a combination of environmental and genetic factors that culminate in certain personality traits. These traits only become diagnosed as a disorder, again, if they are so pronounced that they have a disruptive impact on an individual’s behaviour and impair his or her interpersonal functioning. This often causes distress and is the reason that most sufferers seek treatment. Maladaptive behaviours are the cause of this distress, rather than innate thoughts and feelings, and is the primary area that clinicians address when providing treatment.
Mental illness is a very prevalent issue, and has moved toward the forefront in recent years. Continually raising awareness about these disorders aids the development of treatments and a climate of acceptance toward these disorders. If you don’t already know if your medical aid has you covered for mental illness, too, then you may want to revise your plan!
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