What is Mental illness and Mental Illness Management

What is Mental illness and Mental Illness Management

What is a Mental Illness?

Mental health is a major concern. A person’s mental wellbeing is very essential for him to live a normal and a happy life. A person may look physically healthy and sound but we can never be sure about what is it that they are dealing with mentally. Mental illness includes depression, anxiety, behavioral aggressiveness, addictive and obsessive behaviors and schizophrenia.

How Mental Illness Affects a Person:

A number of people suffer from mental problems. However, mental problems become a mental illness if the frequency of symptoms or episodes of behavioral aggressiveness become frequent. In such a situation, the routine life of a person is greatly affected. Not just the routine, his relationship with his peers, family, and friends start getting affected as well.

Signs and Symptoms:

When a person is suffering from a mental illness, it gets very frustrating and disturbing for him to carry out the tasks that he would have completed without any hassle earlier. He understands what is it that is happening to him but he can’t do much about it that adds to the frustration. A person becomes miserable and short of patience and hence, we often see how mental patients are hard to control and manage.

The most common symptoms that are observed in someone who is not mentally sound include the following:

  1. Loss of concentration
  2. Constantly feel sad and down
  3. Feeling helpless
  4. Feeling unimportant
  5. Feeling afraid
  6. Extreme episodes of guilt
  7. Frequent mood swings which are usually extreme (too high or too low)
  8. Problems in sleeping
  9. Feeling tired more often
  10. Lack of energy
  11. Lack of motivation and enthusiasm
  12. Feelings of detachment from reality which includes hallucinations, delusions
  13. The inability to deal with everyday stress and problems
  14. Lack of understanding situations and people
  15. Suicidal thinking
  16. Anger
  17. Violence
  18. Aggressiveness
  19. Lack of sex drive
  20. Lack of excitement

When these symptoms become frequent and appear to have become a part of someone’s personality, it marks a high time that the person should be given medical help and attention.

Need for Attention:

A person who is facing mental health problems needs a lot of time and attention from their loved ones. During these rough days, a sense of being loved and the feeling that the person is not alone can-do wonders to a patient. A patient with mental illness is not aware of what he is doing when he is under the episode of an attack. He loses all sense of place, time and surroundings. He loses track of what he does or what he says. They may get so violent that it becomes hard to control them. Someone who understands the situation and someone the patient relies on can manage him and help him out the spell.

Causes of Mental Illness:

Mental illness is usually due to disorders in the nervous system. The network of nerves and the signaling in the brain is what maintains the mental wellbeing of a person. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals in the brain that are responsible to transfer signals and when there is a defect that affects these neurotransmitters, the signs and symptoms start getting visible.

Mental illness could also be hereditary. It gets carried on to generations. If a particular mental illness runs in the family, there is a chance that it may be transferred to the offspring.

Another possibility of getting a mental illness is exposure to certain toxins or environmental stressors during the time when a baby is still in the womb. If a pregnant woman is exposed to radiations, stresses, emotional instability, toxins, alcohol or any similar conditions, there are chances that the child born may be mentally unhealthy.

Measures that should be taken:

When there are patients suffering from a mental illness around, be it home or hospitals, certain measures are to be taken to ensure the safety of the patient and those who are around them. Since mental patients are not aware of what they are doing at times and their episodes of violence can be extreme, it is essential to take care of certain prerequisites.

It should be ensured that any items that may cause harm to the patient or people around them are not placed anywhere that is easily accessible. These items would include any sharp objects, anything that could be thrown at someone, any dangerous items that could be eaten or drunk which may include insect killer medications or toilet cleaners. One should be mindful of the fact that all electrical sockets are properly covered and all electronics are placed cautiously. One smart move would be to use ligature resistant TV enclosures because televisions are usually the first items any violet patient would pull off from the wall and throw in face of this anger and frustration.

It’s better to be careful than finding a cure to an after effect of the violet episode!