There are so many stereotypes and
myths in society today relating to mental illness and the people that suffer
from it, so we have decide to do a three part feature on mental illness in our
blog. Part I (below this blog) provided a brief
introduction to Mental Illness and review Anxiety and Mood disorders. Part II will review Personality Disorders, Psychosis,
Schizophrenia, and Schizoaffective Disorder.
Personality
Disorders:
People with personality
disorders have chronic, pervasive problems managing life’s ups and downs.
People with personality disorders suffer life-altering, negative, consequences
in social, career and family arenas. There are a range of personality disorders
which include: Borderline Personality
Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder,
Dependent Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder,
Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, Histrionic
Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder and finally, Schizoidal
Personality Disorder. We will not go into a description of each type of
disorder but will give a general description of the common manifestations of
personality disorders.
Some of the characteristics in
common with all personality disorders are trouble maintaining relationships,
disturbances in self image, difficulty with impulse control, and with managing
strong emotions in a healthy way. People with personality disorders can seem
over-the-top emotionally; often their emotions and behaviour seem way out of
proportion to the situation and can lead to conflict with others. People with
personality disorders can seem rigid in their thinking and often denigrate
themselves; often people with personality disorders do not accept themselves,
their reactions and their situations.
Some of the symptoms of personality disorders are:
stormy relationships; frequent mood swings; social isolation; angry outbursts;
difficulty making friends; suspicion and mistrust of others; problems with
impulse control; and substance abuse problems.
Psychosis:
Psychosis is a
word used to describe medical conditions that affect the brain, so that what a
person thinks is real is different from what other people think is real.
Although we don’t completely understand what causes psychosis, many medical
researchers think that people are born with a vulnerability or tendency towards
psychosis. This doesn’t mean they’ll automatically become ill, but that if the
person is exposed to enough stress it can trigger psychosis. Psychosis is a
medical condition and it can be treated. Many people recover fully after they
are ill with psychosis for the first time and never have it again. Others may
have more during the course of their life. Almost all people with psychosis
improve with treatment.
The brain is a
part of your body, and it can get sick too. Psychosis is a serious brain
illness. When a person has psychosis, what they think is real is not the same
as what other people think is real.
Some doctors
think certain people are born with the possibility of getting psychosis. Some
people are born with the same genetic risk but never get psychosis. The ones
that do get psychosis may also experience a “trigger”. Triggers may be stresses
like a sad life event, injury, illness or street drug use. A person with a
family history of mental illness is more likely to get psychosis if they also
have a “trigger”.
Schizoaffective
disorder:
Schizoaffective disorder is an illness that combines the symptoms
of schizophrenia and a mood disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is one of the
most challenging disorders to diagnose because of the combination of
schizophrenia and bipolar mood symptoms; symptoms which can present as
schizophrenia, major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. According to the
Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders, because of the difficulty diagnosing this
illness there are no statistics on incidence rates. Moreover, “The proportion
of schizoaffective disorder identified in persons undergoing treatment for
psychiatric disorders has ranged from 2% to almost 30%, depending on the study
cited. ”
There are two main types of schizoaffective disorder; bipolar and depressive. People with schizoaffective disorder may present psychotic-type symptoms such as paranoid delusions, hallucinations, distorted thinking and speaking, and mania. Schizoaffective disorder with depression includes bouts of major depression presenting in combination with psychotic symptoms. Women seem more prone to the disorder, which is generally diagnosed in early adulthood. Sometimes adolescents are diagnosed with this illness after an initial diagnosis of bipolar disorder has been incorrectly made; again, the symptoms of mania can imitate psychosis.
Misdiagnosis of this illness is common in both adolescents and adults because the illness is so complex. When symptoms of bipolar disorder, psychosis and depression are all present, it may be difficult for clinicians to sort them out. In terms of prognosis, despite the severity of symptoms, the effects of this illness are generally episodic in nature and, compared to the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the outcome is more favorable.
Schizophrenia:
Schizophrenia is characterized by a
broad range of unusual behaviors that cause profound disruption in the lives of
people suffering from the condition, as well as in the lives of the people
around them. Schizophrenia strikes without regard to gender, race, social class
or culture.
Schizophrenia
is a complex illness. Mental health experts are not sure what causes it.
However, genes may play a role. Certain events may trigger
schizophrenia in people who are at risk for it because of their genes. You are
more likely to develop schizophrenia if you have a family member with the
disease.
Schizophrenia
affects both men and women equally. It usually begins in the teen years or
young adulthood, but it may begin later in life. It tends to begin later in
women, and is more mild. Childhood-onset schizophrenia begins after age 5.
Childhood schizophrenia is rare and can be hard to tell apart from other
developmental problems in childhood, such as autism.
Do You Have Schizophrenia Quiz? http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/schizophrenia.htm
Part III will review Self Injury,
Suicide and Violence, and end with a synopsis of Mental Health issues in Canada
today (to be posted in two weeks).
The stigma attached to mental
illnesses presents a serious barrier not only to diagnosis and treatment but
also to acceptance in the community. We
hope that by sharing a little information we can do our small part to educate
some people not familiar with, or have lingering questions about, mental
illness.
