Mental Disorders Essays - Psychiatric Diagnosis, Abnormal Psychology

Mental Disorders There are many diseases and disorders that may affect the human mind. Some of these are serious, while others are minor and may not even be noticed. Some of the disorders and diseases to be covered in this report are delirium, dementia, and schizophrenia, also a discussion of specific symptoms and treatments available for the different disorders. A mental illness is defined as any disease that affects a persons mind, thoughts, emotions, personality, or behavior. For any mental illness, as in a physical illness, there are symptoms that make it possible to identify when a person is suffering from a mental disorder or illness. Some of the more common symptoms of these disorders include extreme moods, sadness, anxiety and the inability to think clearly or remember well. Just because a person may experience some of these symptoms it does not mean that he or she is suffering from an illness. Almost everyone at sometime in their lives will not be able to think clearly or be in a bad mood. These characteristics are just part of human nature and are more than likely than not just a passing mood that will pass in a few moments. A diagnosis of a mental illness may be necessary if the symptoms occur so often that they interfere with the persons everyday life. An amazingly large number of Americans have mental illnesses, approximately 43% of the entire population of the United States. Although most of these are not serious, about 3% of the American population have a mental illness that can be classified as serious. This small population of the public will require treatment to either relieve or cure them of their illness. Since the 1950s, treatment for mental illness has greatly improved and has made recovery faster. These improvements will help the majority of the people who seek treatment return to their normal lives faster. There are two basic terms used to describe the seriousness of mental illness that a person has. The terms used are neurosis, and psychosis. A neurosis is the term used to describe a mild disorder that may cause a small amount of emotional stress, but does not cause a great deal of interference in the patients everyday life. The term psychosis is used to describe a severe mental illness that is strong enough to prevent someone from performing as they normally would. The term insanity is used to describe a person with a mental illness. This is not a medical term. It is actually a legal term that is used in court to try to prove a person to not be legally responsible for their actions. There are more than one hundred different types of mental illness. They are divided into ten categories. These categories include delirium, dementia, schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, somatoform disorders, personality disorders, eating, and finally substance disorders. The first of these categories, delirium is when a person is not aware of their environment and can be distracted very easily or become confused. Sometimes a delirious person may not know where or who they are, their speech may be hard to follow and be very disorganized. Delirium however is not usually a long lasting illness and the person is over it in a week or so. A second form of mental illness is dementia. Dementia can be diagnosed by a loss of the ability to remember and judge things appropriately. A person with dementia may have a difficult time with remembering names, conversations, and not follow rules or laws. Dementia occurs mostly in elderly people and is the result of illnesses such as Alzheimers disease that destroys brain tissue. A third, and very serious type of mental illness, is schizophrenia. This disorder affects a persons way of thinking, their emotions, perceptions, and their behavior. It is determined that a person has schizophrenia if he or she displays one or more of the following characteristics. One of these characteristics that a person may hear voices even tough they are completely alone. Another characteristic is that the person may feel persecuted for no apparent reason.(World Book Encyclopedia). Other more subtle symptoms of this disease include a decrease in the persons ability to work, their inability to maintain personal relationships