11 most common mental disorders

What is a mental disorder? In a nutshell, this is a dysfunction of the brain, which can be caused by both external and internal causes. Often these causes are interrelated. The causes of such disorders can be not only hereditary factors, but also head injuries, birth injuries, drug and drug poisoning, brain damage by infections and even such unexpected moments as, for example, fasting, radiation, conflicts and so on. Here are 11 of the most common mental disorders in the world.

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Phobia

Its main feature is fear in relation to specific situations or objects that usually do not cause excessive fear in themselves, such as a spider or height.

A phobia (in other words, fear) is often accompanied by sweating, tachycardia, depression, as well as panic attacks, darkening of the eyes, a state of horror. To identify phobic disorders a special test is often used. It is called Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale.

Personality disorder

This is a common disorder, based on imbalance. Such people can disrupt their anger at others, have problems with work and in relationships with people, they often have mood swings and anxiety. At the same time, people are not critical to their behavior.

The development of such disorders begins in early youth and lasts throughout life. Such patients often have a high level of intelligence. The cause of personality disorder can be not only genetics, but also improper upbringing or an environment. This category includes paranoid personality disorder, affective disorders, schizoid personality disorder, emotionally unstable personality disorder, hysterical personality disorder, and so on.

Alcohol and drug addiction

It may be as a result of instant exposure (more often it is acute intoxication), and the result of prolonged exposure to alcohol. An alcoholic can drink up to psychosis or dementia. The same applies to drug addiction.

It is necessary to recognize that both such dependencies are chronic diseases, and can only go into the remission stage. Therefore, treatment should be long and diverse. There are drugs that relieve craving for alcohol, even cause disgust, but many alcoholics think that if they come out of the binge, it means that they are cured. This is not true.

Obsessive compulsive disorder

Simply put - unwanted thoughts and obsessive actions. Such people are often unsure whether they have locked the doors, turned off the lights, constantly checking something, knocking on wood, give in to superstitions, are afraid to step on the manhole cover. Often there are exaggerated fears of becoming dirty from contact with people or household items. Such thoughts (doctors call them obsessive) are alarming, repetitive and begin to be perceived as reality.

Human life becomes a nightmare. We can give an example, when the patient washed his hands 60 times before lunch in order not to get an infection, and was still afraid. Another patient could not get to work because he was constantly returning home to check if the gas was on.

Dementia

This term implies a decrease in intelligence for various reasons. The course of the disease is usually gradual, and extremely rarely - sudden. It is characterized by fatigue, weakness, decreased performance, distraction, impaired memory. The most frequent diseases of this group are Alzheimer's, Pick, Parkinson's, Wilson's.

The treatment of such brain diseases is currently facing a number of complications. And first of all, not due to the fact that it is difficult to treat, but because it is difficult to diagnose.

Reaction to stress and adjustment disorder

This group of disorders is the result of tragic experiences and dramatic changes in life. There is a response to mental trauma associated with the risk to life. It can occur after a natural disaster, the loss of a loved one, a serious crime, social upheaval, such as a terrorist attack.

Memories of an experienced event come back again and again to the patient, he is haunted by anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, sometimes aggressive tendencies or suicidal thoughts appear.

Neurasthenia

It is often confused with hysteria, which is a blunder. Neurasthenia is essentially an asthenic neurosis, it occurs as a result of depletion of the nervous system during prolonged mental or physical overload. Unlike hysteria, it is observed more often in men than in women. It develops with prolonged physical overstrain (when there is a lot of work, insufficient sleep, lack of rest), frequent stressful situations, personal tragedies, long conflicts. The emergence of neurasthenia can contribute to somatic diseases and chronic intoxication.

Neurasthenia is accompanied by headache, a feeling of weakness, fatigue, tension, insecurity, irritability, sleep disorders, dizziness, and indigestion.

Schizophrenia

It belongs to the category of psychosis. The disease affects several components of the psyche: mental, emotional, behavioral, and the entire set of mental functions. There are various forms of schizophrenia (catatonic, simple, paranoid). Accordingly, the symptoms may differ, however, the most frequent are hallucinations, negativism, isolation, apathy.

At the same time, schizophrenia, although it has some hereditary interrelation, cannot be called a purely genetic disease. Sometimes, perfectly healthy parents without any mental family history give birth to children who are already in adolescence sick with pubertal schizophrenia.

Bipolar disorder

The disease is also known as manic-depressive psychosis. A fairly common disease with alternating depressive and manic phases. Some known actors and singers suffered from this disease.

It is possible to recognize the disease by first elevated mood, enhanced motor and speech activity of the patient, people of this type talk a lot, joke, laugh, tackle a lot of things. Then they sneak in the same sharp way. Can not concentrate. As a result, many of their endeavors do not end with anything.

Sexual rejection

The most frequent sexual deviations are exhibitionism, voyeurism, frotteism, pathological sexual aggression, transvestism, masochism, sadism, telephone hooliganism for the purpose of sexual satisfaction.

Eating Disorders

The disease is common among girls, and nowadays even among guys at a young age. Varieties of this disease are anorexia and bulimia.