Mental Illness Depression Bipolar Disorder Schizophrenia Anxiety Disorders Eating Disorders Personality Disorders

Depression People with depression are not just sad. Their depressed mood is constant and lasts for a period of time They lose interest in work and relationships. They can be irritable and may experience sudden weight gain or weight loss. They may sleep all the time or very little. They have difficulty getting up to face the day.

Depression cont’d They may drink excessively or use drugs to help manage their overwhelming feelings. They have thoughts such as “the world would be better off without me.” Some act on these thoughts and attempt suicide. Others hide what they are really thinking and put on a brave face when among others.

Bipolar Disorder People with bipolar disorder (previously called manic depression) experience emotional extremes. In the manic phase of their illness, they can be hyperactive and show poor judgement, or have faulty beliefs and perceptions that lead to risky behaviours or financial losses. In the depressive phase, they experience the symptoms described above under depression.

Schizophrenia A serious mental illness that affects more than 300,000 Canadians. While the condition is rare in childhood, it can begin onset in the mid- to late teen years. It interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others.

Schizophrenia cont’d Many people living with schizophrenia have hallucinations and delusions, meaning they hear or see things that aren’t there and believe things that are not real or true.

Anxiety Disorders This is a collection of problems that involve, in one way or another, excessive worry, fear, avoidance and irritability. Examples are: Panic attacks where the heart races, people break out in a sweat and they can, literally, feel they are about to die Agoraphobia characterized by extreme fear of leaving home or of deviating from a highly prescribed pattern of travel

Anxiety Disorders cont’d Social phobia where people are so anxious in the presence of unfamiliar others that they avoid social situations. Obsessive compulsive disorder where, for example, people perform certain acts repetitively (hand washing, repeating a certain string of numbers, touching a certain object – there are endless examples) in the belief that doing so will prevent some feared event or consequence Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which emerges after a person has witnessed or experienced an event where they feared for their life (or another’s) and felt they could do nothing to save themselves (or the other person)

Eating Disorders These disorders emerge when people (most typically girls and women) either starve themselves (anorexia nervosa) or eat huge amounts of food (binge) and then cause themselves to vomit (purge) (bulimia). Anorexia- persistent starvation affects organ function & can ultimately result in death. People with anorexia have distorted body images in that they perceive themselves as fat even when they are skin and bone. Bulimia can result in damage to the oesophagus, mouth and teeth due to repeated exposure to the corrosive nature of acidic vomit.

Personality Disorders These involve patterns or ways of thinking, feeling and behaving, in relation to oneself and others, that are longstanding, not easily changed and lead to distress for the individual and problems across a wide range of life circumstances and situations. Being longstanding, personality disorders often have their roots in childhood experiences and events.