We all experience distress in our life due to some traumatic life experience or another. Usually we are able to manage distress and are successful in overcoming it. However, sometimes the traumas we experience may be too difficult for us to deal with.
As mentioned in the healthy mind section, our experiences change our brain. Prolonged distress, thus, causes changes in the brain leading to mental illness. Some people may also be more likely to develop mental illness because it may run in the family. But since all of us can experience adverse life events, we all have the potential to develop mental illness.
Mental illness manifests in different ways in different people. Based on the symptoms that people present with, they receive different diagnoses. The diagnosis can even change, depending on the change in the symptoms of the individual. However, regardless of the diagnosis, certain signs are present in almost all people who suffer from mental health problems:
- Difficulty controlling emotions; appearing very sad or having outbursts of anger.
- Deteriorating performance at work or school
- Relationships being adversely affected
- Physical health getting worse
If you see these signs in yourself or someone you know then they may be suffering from a mental health problem and should get the necessary help. To learn more about treatment, visit the manage mental illness section. To learn more about providing support to people affected by mental illness, visit the caring for sufferers section.
If you search the internet or psychiatry manuals for a list of mental illnesses you will find dozens of diagnoses which can be very confusing. To make things simple, we will talk about some common types of mental health problems. To learn more, select an option below:
