The Link Between Depression and Other Mental Illnesses

Social Phobia continued...

Social phobia is a common disorder, affecting over 5 million people in a given year. It often begins in childhood and rarely develops after age 25. People with social phobia are often aware that their fears are irrational but are unable to lessen or erase these fears.

The symptoms of social phobia are much the same as they are for other anxiety disorders, and include trembling or shaking, intense sweating, nausea, difficulty talking, dry mouth and a racing heart. Like other anxiety illnesses these symptoms range from being mild and tolerable to so severe that they become socially debilitating.

Social anxiety is often treated with a combination of medication and talk therapy.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense, recurrent, unwanted thoughts and rituals that are beyond the person's control. Examples of these rituals can include hand washing, counting, checking, hoarding, repeating, cleaning and the endless rearranging of objects in order to ensure they are in precise alignment. To the person affected, these rituals and thoughts are recognized as senseless and distressing, but extremely difficult to control. If the person does not perform these rituals, anxiety increases dramatically and the person becomes concerned that something terrible will happen because of his or her neglect.

While anxiety disorders generally affect women more often than men, OCD affects both genders equally. However, the degree to which OCD affects each person varies. For some it is mild, but for others, it can control their lives if left untreated. This disorder is typically first seen in adolescence or early childhood. OCD is sometimes accompanied not only by depression, but also eating disorders, substance abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other anxiety disorders. OCD affects more than 3 million Americans in any given year.

Treatment is less straightforward for patients with OCD. While some patients benefit from medications alone and others to behavior therapy alone, a combination of medications and behavioral therapy is often most effective.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a type of major psychotic illness. A psychotic illness prevents people from being able to distinguish between the real and imaginary worlds. Symptoms of schizophrenia may occur episodically or be chronic. A person with schizophrenia may experience jumbled thoughts, images, and sounds that come and go in phases, often suddenly and severely. Because the severity and duration of schizophrenic episodes varies, some people can understand reality and function at work and at home, while others may be unable to function at all. Examples of schizophrenic symptoms include the following:

• Hallucinations -- seeing, hearing, smelling or feeling things that aren't really there
• Delusions -- false beliefs from which the person cannot be dissuaded
• Inability to make sense out of the world
• Emotions, thoughts, and moods that do not correspond to an event
• Hyperactivity  or social isolation
• Catatonia -- a set of symptoms that can vary from near motionlessness to abnormal purposeless movements
• Speaking in sentences that do not make sense
• Feelings of emptiness and depression
• Isolation from the outside world, including family and friends
• Severe mood swings
• Inability to function in school, work, or other activities
• No longer washing or grooming oneself

Previous Page  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Next Page