Psychosis. Anorexia nervosa. Dementia. Autism. Sound familiar? Yes, these are some examples of mental illnesses, also known as mental disorders. We are aware of its presence yet fear to discuss it and some even fear to accept it. Here I will refer to them as mental disorders.
In our fast-paced society, stress comes in all forms and everywhere, crowded places, pressure at work and even in the food we consume. It is not uncommon to hear of incidences of depression and anxiety. Do you know that over a third of people globally meet the criteria of mental disorders in some point of our lives[1]? There are various forms of mental disorders, generally categorized based on two major systems: ICD-10 (International Classification of Disease) and DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) [2]. The general treatments are psychotherapy and medication. Of course, methods involving peer-support and self-help are employed to aid recovery.
The good news is that the people, who meet the criteria, are usually suffering from mild forms which have very good chances of recovery. On the other hand, there are some who suffer from more serious forms and a small subset of this group may not even recover. Such people will have to depend on medications to relieve them of the symptoms for the rest of their lives. Very often people with mental disorders, regardless whether early onset (occur at a very young age) or late onset (occur in adulthood), are very often subjected to stigmatism and discrimination by the society. Sadly these factors further hindered the recovery process for these people or even create a relapse of the illness. This situation gets worse if patients do not receive support and encouragement from their close family members.
Through the years, much effort have been put in to create awareness and to educate the society to accept people suffering from mental disorders. Many movies have been inspired by true stories of people suffering from more serious mental disorders. Currently trending in the movies is on psychosis – Schizophrenia, to be specific, and autism. We will take a little closer look at Schizophrenia in my next article.
[1] “Mental Disorders” Wikipedia. 10Jan2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder
[2] “Classification and Diagnosis of Mental Illness”. The Merck Manuals. 13Jan2011. http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec07/ch098/ch098c.html
[3] “ Schizophrenia: The Drug Deadlock” Nature 468, 158-159 (2010) | doi:10.1038/468158a
