Other Mental Health Illnesses

In my last couple of posts, I’ve differentiated between the different types of depression and the different types of anxiety disorders. Here I’ll describe a couple other common mental health illnesses.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

OCD causes a person to have intrusive thoughts or urges (obsessions) that cause them a lot of anxiety. Many people then have to repeat certain behaviours (compulsions) to try and eradicate the anxiety. From my own experience, I often feel like I have to do my compulsion over and over again until it feels right.

Some common examples of compulsions are feeling compelled to continuously wash ones hands; to move things around until they’re ordered in a certain way; to touch things over and over; to check stoves, door or car locks, or light switches; or to constantly be cleaning things. OCD causes a severe disruption to a person’s life since they spend so much time focusing on and their mind is constantly dwelling on their obsessions. Many people dealing with OCD know that their compulsions are irrational and yet they aren’t able to stop these behaviours or routines.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD results from the occurrence of a previous trauma. Some common events that can lead to PTSD are: rape, abuse, natural disasters, fighting in the military or a serious accident. A person does not have to experience the traumatic event themselves in order to suffer from PTSD, sometimes witnessing a loved one going through such a distressing event is enough to cause this illness.

People who suffer from PTSD have an extremely difficult time getting over these incidents and it causes them to be anxious and depressed for months or even years after the event occurred. These people may experience flashbacks or nightmares of the event that reinforces the anxiety and depression they are experiencing. Others may avoid any type of activity that reminds them of the event. People suffering from PTSD often feel on-edge, disconnected, irritable, have a hard time feeling emotions and experience trouble sleeping.

Schizophrenia

People who suffer from schizophrenia tend to have disordered thoughts and speech, meaning they have a hard time communicating with other people. They often lose their train of thought and thus their sentences are not formed and instead come out like just a jumble of words. They feel strange and don’t really understand the world around them. People with schizophrenia may experience periods of psychosis in which they lose the ability to tell what is real and what isn’t. This is categorized by hallucinations (hearing, seeing or smelling things that aren't really there - e.g. hearing voices that aren’t real) and/or delusions (believing things that aren't true - e.g. thinking they have superpowers).

People with schizophrenia experience a loss of motivation, a hard time concentrating, a lack of interest in activities and exhibit trouble completing tasks. Schizophrenia causes people to feel isolated so they withdraw and it disrupts their social functioning, making it hard for them to carry on relationships, work or go to school. If someone suffers from schizophrenia, there is an increased chance that they suffer from other mental health illnesses like anxiety or depression as well.  

There are many other types of mental health illnesses that I have not mentioned here, such as eating disorders, personality disorders, ADD or ADHD and dementia. I have not gone into detail on these because I simply am not as knowledgeable on them as I am with the other illnesses I’ve listed. For more information on the different types of mental health illnesses you can visit the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) website.