What is Depression?
What is Anxiety?
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
What is Panic Disorder?
What is ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)?
What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
What is Social Anxiety Disorder?
What Is Bipolar Disorder?
What Is Schizophrenia?
Everyone experiences occasional feelings of sadness or apathy, but these sensations usually subside after a few days. A woman with Major Depressive Disorder, however, experiences something much more debilitating—despair, lack of motivation, feelings of emptiness—and these sensations last, interfering with daily life and normal, healthy functioning.
Severe depression, though common, is frequently misunderstood, even by those suffering from it. Many feel that seeking treatment is too self-indulgent and/or ineffective, but the evidence shows that most women, even those with severe depression, can get better with treatment.
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Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These disorders affect how we feel and behave, and they can manifest real physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life.
People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something challenging such as a test, examination, recital, or interview. These feelings are easily justified and considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms interfere with a person's ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking, anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally expected in a situation.
Anxiety disorders can be classified into several more specific types. The most common are briefly described below.
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic disorder characterized by excessive, long-lasting anxiety and worry about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. GAD sufferers often feel afraid and worry about health, money, family, work, or school, but they have trouble both identifying the specific fear and controlling the worries. Their fear is usually unrealistic or out of proportion with what may be expected in their situation. Sufferers expect failure and disaster to the point that it interferes with daily functions like work, school, social activities, and relationships.
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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is anxiety that results from previous trauma such as military combat, rape, hostage situations, or a serious accident. PTSD often leads to flashbacks and behavioral changes in order to avoid certain stimuli.
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Panic Disorder is a type of anxiety characterized by brief or sudden attacks of intense terror and apprehension that leads to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Panic attacks tend to arise abruptly and peak after 10 minutes, but they then may last for hours. Panic disorders usually occur after frightening experiences or prolonged stress, but they can be spontaneous as well. A panic attack may lead an individual to be acutely aware of any change in normal body function, interpreting it as a life threatening illness - hypervigiliance followed by hypochondriasis. In addition, panic attacks lead a sufferer to expect future attacks, which may cause drastic behavioral changes in order to avoid these attacks.
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Health experts say that ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is the most common behavioral disorder that starts during childhood. However, it does not only affect children - people of all ages can suffer from ADHD. Psychiatrists say ADHD is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder.
An individual with ADHD finds it much more difficult to focus on something without being distracted. He has greater difficulty in controlling what he is doing or saying and is less able to control how much physical activity is appropriate for a particular situation compared to somebody without ADHD. In other words, a person with ADHD is much more impulsive and restless.
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by thoughts or actions that are repetitive, distressing, and intrusive. OCD suffers usually know that their compulsions are unreasonable or irrational, but they serve to alleviate their anxiety. Often, the logic of someone with OCD will appear superstitious, such as an insistence in walking in a certain pattern. OCD sufferers may obsessively clean personal items or hands or constantly check locks, stoves, or light switches.
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Social Anxiety Disorder is a type of social phobia characterized by a fear of being negatively judged by others or a fear of public embarrassment due to impulsive actions. This includes feelings such as stage fright, a fear of intimacy, and a fear of humiliation. This disorder can cause people to avoid public situations and human contact to the point that normal life is rendered impossible.
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Bipolar disorder - also known as manic-depression or manic-depressive illness - is a mental illness characterized by mood instability that is often serious and disabling. A person with bipolar disorder has unusual shifts in mood, energy, and ability to function that can last for weeks or months. The fluctuations of bipolar disorder are different from the general "ups" and "downs" that everyone goes through because symptoms are severe and can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, or even suicide. There are treatments available for bipolar disorder that have allowed people to lead full and productive lives.
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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that generally appears in late adolescence or early adulthood - however, it can emerge at any time in life. It most commonly strikes between the ages of 15 to 25 among men, and about 25 to 35 in women. In many cases the disorder develops so slowly that the sufferer does not know he/she has it for a long time. While, with other people it can strike suddenly and develop fast.
It is a complex, chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder and affects approximately 1% of all adults globally. Experts say schizophrenia is probably many illnesses masquerading as one. Research indicates that schizophrenia is likely to be the result of faulty neuronal development in the brain of the fetus, which later in life emerges as a full-blown illness.
Disclaimer: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.
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