Mental Disorders

Mental disorders are a psychological or behavioral pattern that causes distress or disability in an individual that in not normal behavior. There are many recognized mental disorders in today’s society. As with any health issue, getting the right diagnosis is vital to getting the right treatment.

Bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic-depressive illness, is a mental disorder that causes individuals to have severe mood swings from extreme depression to exaggerated happiness. There are two types of bipolar disorder. Bipolar I is where an individual has had a single manic episode with no major depression. Bipolar II is when an individual has had at least one major depression episode with at least one hypomanic episode. The cause of bipolar disorder has not yet been figured out. There is no known cure, but it is treatable with medication and therapy.

Another mental disorder is schizophrenia. This is diagnosed when an individual has a group of psychotic disorders that affect thought, perception, behavior and communication and it lasts longer than six months. These patients are known to have delusions, they hear voices in their head, their speech is incoherent and they are severely disorganized. The cause of schizophrenia is unknown and like bipolar disorder, is not curable, but it can be treated and managed with drugs, psychotherapy and possibly hospitalization.

These are two of the more recognized mental disorders that we know today, which are being researched to try and find a cause and a cure. Until that day, thank the researchers and health professionals for coming up with treatments.