Mental Illnesses: A Crash Course

How many times have you or someone else you know claimed to be “so OCD” for meticulously colour coding their school supplies? Or insisting that their friend is “being bipolar today” for saying hello to them in the morning but not responding to their text later that afternoon? Or having a “panic attack” when they thought they left their keys in the car? Or maybe even feeling “totally depressed” when their favourite celebrity couple parted ways?

Any of these scenarios sound familiar? The sad reality is that, yes, a lot of people will be able to say that they have heard these sorts of things being said on a daily basis. The use of mental illnesses as an adjective to describe certain emotions and sentiments has simply become a large component of our colloquial language. However, what many don’t realize is just how harmful and offensive the casual usage of these psychological terms can be due to the fact that our society is generally uneducated and unexposed to the actuality and severity of mental illness. Not only does the improper usage of these terms invalidate and belittle the experiences and struggles of people with real mental health issues, but it also skews the way the media portrays mental illnesses, leading to even more widespread misunderstanding and misconception on the topic of mental health. For instance, according to a recent study, thanks to cult classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or 1991’s Silence of the Lambs, inaccurate portrayals of characters with mental disorders led to 61% of Americans believing that people with schizophrenia are violent towards others. On the contrary, another survey led by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that people with mental illnesses are more likely to be the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators.

So now I guess the question is how do we combat this? As I mentioned before, incomprehension and unfamiliarity are at the root of the problem, so the best way to solve it would be through developing a basic understanding and awareness on the different mental illnesses in order to grasp the idea that OCD is more than just perfectionism and bipolar disorder is beyond moodiness. Therefore, I have compiled a (incomplete) list of mental illnesses into what you could loosely label as a crash course:

ADHD

ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is a condition that deals with inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD often first occurs and is most easily diagnosed in childhood. While the symptoms vary from person to person, some of the more universal and common indicators of ADHD include the inability to finish or sustain continuous attention on a task or activity, distraction by extraneous stimuli, excessive talking, uncontrollable fidgeting and restlessness, difficulty paying attention, and forgetfulness. In terms of treatment, medication is usually the preferred method but therapy is also available for those who wish

to pursue it or are finding that medication alone is not relief enough. Although medication provides temporary alleviation and in most instances allows people to continue with their daily lives, ADHD medication comes with unpleasant side effects such as difficulty falling asleep, loss of appetite, moodiness, and a certain flatness to one’s personality.

While it is often misconceived that people who suffer from ADHD don’t “want” to complete tasks or pay attention, the fact of the matter is that with ADHD “wants” are not taken into consideration, and people affected simply cannot finish the task at hand.

Bipolar Disorder

Formerly known as manic depression, bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by serious and significant mood swings. Bipolar involves serious manic episodes in which the person affected experiences changes from one’s normal mood accompanied by high energy and depressive states. The periods of mania and depression vary from person to person and can be as brief as a couple of hours to as long as a couple of weeks or months. Manic episodes can be defined by extreme happiness and irritability, hyperactivity, little need for sleep, racing thoughts, rapid speech, impulsivity, and irrationality. On the other side of the spectrum, depressive episodes are characterized by extreme sadness, lack of energy or interest, feelings of complete helplessness and hopelessness, and in severe cases, suicidal thoughts. Medications like mood stabilizers are usually incorporated into the treatment plan for bipolar, along with different coping strategies implemented by psychotherapy.

Anxiety

There are 4 main types of anxiety disorders:

• Generalized: Involves excessive, unrealistic worry and paranoia, usually over small matters or even without provocation or stimulus.
• Panic: This condition is characterized by feelings of terror that strike suddenly without warning. These episodes are called panic or anxiety attacks and usually also include sweating, chest pain, palpitations, a choking or smothering feeling, causing the person affected to believe they are suffering a heart attack or dying
• Social: Defined by overwhelming self-consciousness about everyday social situations. The fear of being judged or ridiculed by others is usually at the center of the worry.
• Specific Phobia: This disorder is centered on the intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights. The level of fear exhibited by the person does not usually match the severity of the situation, causing them to avoid seemingly normal scenarios in order to evade and cope with this fear.

While these disorders have certain characteristics which set them apart from one another, they are all very serious disorders and have similar treatment methods. Most anxiety disorders are treated with a combination of psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication.

OCD

OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder and is a condition that revolves around patterns of senseless thoughts and routine behaviors beyond the control of the person affected. Obsessions are distressing recurring ideas or fears that intrude on a person’s mind. These obsessions then drive the compulsions which are repetitive actions that are performed to relieve the person of the extreme anxiety and stress that accompany the obsessions.

Some of the most common compulsions include hand-washing, checking, and hoarding. People with OCD also often find the need to repeat an action until it “feels right”. For instance, someone might feel the need to touch a certain sequence of objects or repeat a particular action a certain number of times in order to make them feel safe or “prevent” something terrible from happening to the ones they love. Treatment of this disorder is usually characterized by cognitive behavioral therapy but in a few instances medication is implemented as well. Despite the stereotype, there’s a lot more to OCD than a need for orderliness.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that changes how you think, feel, and act. The symptoms are usually dependent on the person and don’t necessarily have a routine or cycle. In general, there are 3 types of indicators that are characteristic of schizophrenia:

• Positive: These changes include behaviors which are an add-on to one’s normal personality such as delusions, hallucinations, different movements, or confused thoughts and speech. For instance, someone with schizophrenia may experience a voice inside their head or believe that they are someone else like a celebrity.
• Negative: These symptoms include the loss in interest or ability to do things like having difficulty following through with tasks, sustaining an emotionless state, withdrawal, and struggling with basic every day tasks.
• Cognitive: Cognitive symptoms have to do with the learning, sorting, and utilizing of information. People with schizophrenia often have difficulty with memory, paying attention, and making decisions as their thoughts become rather unorganized.

Like many other mental disorders, schizophrenia can be treated through the means of anti-psychotic medication and long-term therapy.

Depression

Finally, we have depression, one of the most common and yet most misrepresented mental illnesses. While most people are sad from time to time, people with depression face debilitating sadness and withdrawal for weeks, months, or even years on end.

Other than intense sadness, people with depression may also experience daily fatigue, intense feelings of worthlessness and guilt, impaired concentration, recurring thoughts of death or suicide, and an inability to fall asleep or stay awake for prolonged periods of time. There is a very wide variety of treatments available to those with depression including antidepressant medication, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and various brain stimulation techniques.

Overall, mental illnesses are a very real thing that extend past mere synonyms of crazy and erratic. Hopefully, this article has provided you with some useful information on what some different mental disorders are like and you will be able to utilize that information to better educate others or maybe even support and understand someone you know. Perhaps next time you’ll think twice before calling your mean neighbour a “schizo” or your hyper little sibling “ADHD”.