Mental Illness

A mental illness is considered a medical condition, which may be a variety of psychiatric or psychological disorders.

There are a lot of conditions which fall into the category of mental illness, including depression, Dyshtymic disorder, Bipolar disorder, Cyclothymic disorder, Panic disorder, Social phobia, Specific phobias, Agoraphobia, Obsessive Compulsive disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Dementia, Eating disorders, developmental disorders, Behavior disorders, Personality disorders, Psychotic disorders, Paraphilias, Dissociative disorders, Impulse Control disorders, Somatoform disorders, Sleep disorders, Amnesia and some others.

Mental illness can be further subdivided because each one has its own set of symptoms and criteria, for example Impulse Control disorders are divided into Kleptomania, Pyromania, Gambling addition, and Thrichotillomania.

These are not contagious diseases. They are brain conditions. It is believed that a few of the people who suffer from of any of these mental conditions usually have migraines or asthma. It is also important to know that being hit in the head can also cause some of these mental illnesses.

There are a lot of theories about this kind of illness and a lot of psychiatrists continue working on the research to find cures for them. There have been years of investigation throughout history and finding causes and cures has become important to society. Years ago mental illness was not considered important and most people preferred not to talk about them. However, psychology and psychiatry are really important in our lives now.

Today, even the law considers mental illnesses in cases where the patient is not able to recognize what they did and instead of putting them in jail they send them to a clinic to receive treatment.

Mental illness is not a result of a weak personality and can affect people of any age, religion, race or income. The most important thing is to accept that someone has one of these conditions and to help them receive treatment, as most of these mental illnesses are treatable and controllable.