Mental health disorders are health problems that affect people's lives completely and need to be recognized and solved. Mental illnesses, the likelihood of which increases with the changing living conditions that prepare the ground for these diseases, progress unless they are treated. Psychiatry departments of hospitals include processes such as diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
What are the Most Common Mental Illnesses?
As mental disorders affect individuals mentally, the bad events they create also manifest themselves physically. This situation negatively affects the individual's lifestyle. The treatment process of mental illnesses should be carried out by a psychiatrist specialist. As a result of the diagnosis, the appropriate treatment process is initiated for the person.
Depression Depression is the most common mental disorder experienced by individuals. It is a disorder that badly affects people's feelings, ideas and actions. Although depression is common, it can be treated. It is also referred to as being emotionless towards stressful situations or happy activities. It is more likely to cause different emotion-oriented and physical problems, and can reduce a person's ability to function at work or at home. The most common symptoms are feelings of unhappiness, depressed mood, numbness to situations, sleep problems, loss of motivation, or feeling tired. In some cases, this can even lead to suicidal thoughts. For depression to be recognized, these symptoms must persist for at least 2 weeks. The treatment of depression is a combination of medication and psychotherapy and has a high rate of positive progress.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Obsessive-compulsivedisorder is an anxiety disorder in which people feel the need to perform an activity over and over again and carry unwanted ideas and obsessions. Even simple daily tasks such as cleaning hands or maintaining control can have a negative impact on an individual's life, especially if they do not feel happy while performing these activities. Many people with OCD have doubts or suspicions about their obsessions; some people with OCD think that these suspicions are true. But even when they realize that these obsessions do not reflect reality, people with OCD have difficulty shifting their focus away from the obsessions or preventing compulsive actions. In order to treat the disorder, cognitive and behavioral treatment processes are combined with medication. People with the condition progress through the treatment process by accepting that they have OCD and learning to cope with the condition.
Social phobia It is a kind of anxiety problem that manifests itself in situations that make people find themselves in communication with other people in their daily lives. The main cause of the disorder is the feeling that people will be ignored and treated badly by the people in their social environment. This condition is called social anxiety disorder . Social phobia can impair people's communication with other individuals and cause difficulties in personal communication. It manifests itself especially in childhood or adolescence. The most common emotional symptoms are fear, sweating, nervousness and anxiety. Social phobia tests are performed to determine the diagnosis. The treatment process of the disorder is carried out together with psychotherapy and different medications.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: Trauma is defined as bad events that affect people's lives and put them in danger. Bad traffic accidents, disasters, illnesses that cause death, wars are examples of traumatic situations. psychological diseases that can occur in people after trauma are stress disorders. Women are much more exposed to traumatic events, which is why women are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The most common symptoms are constantly thinking that the traumatizing situation will happen again and feeling threatened. Psychotherapy is usually preferred for the treatment of this disorder. While the psychotherapy method continues in this process, antidepressant medication is also recommended for the patients. When psychotherapy and medication are applied together, the success rate of the treatment is high.
Panic Disorder: It is a mental disorder that causes stress in the form of seizures with feelings of anxiety, fear, anxiety and panic that occur for no reason. It is common and affects daily life negatively, repeating itself at different times. Panic attacks usually last less than thirty minutes, but can last up to an hour in some individuals. The most common symptoms are sweating, heart palpitations, chest pain, fear of death, etc. Medication and cognitive behavioral therapy are applied in the treatment process of this mental illness.
Bipolar disorder: It is known as bipolar mood disorder. Bipolar disorder is a condition in which a person suddenly has bad thoughts after feeling positive emotions. In some cases, the person becomes withdrawn. It is also possible to define it as feeling emotions at two different extremes. In order to properly identify the disorder, the psychiatrist should carefully examine the person who is ill. When bipolar disorder is at its most extreme, the person has an active, excited mood. At the other extreme, depression, the person withdraws from their surroundings and shuts down. During this period, the person may commit suicide or engage in different behaviors. Antipsychotic and antidepressant medications are recommended for treatment.
Adult attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder: These mental illnesses, which started in childhood and have negative effects throughout life, cause problems such as concentration problems, forgetfulness, inability to do tasks, and difficulty in maintaining tasks. People who are ill often say that they have difficulty in continuing the events that have developed in their thoughts and that they have difficulty focusing on a problem. In the treatment process, various medications and cognitive behavioral therapy can be applied together.
Generalized anxiety disorder: The most common symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder are the simple and manageable level of anxiety that takes place in daily life, replaced by an intense level of fear and a pessimistic mood that is not in accordance with the normal flow. Anxiety increases during periods of intense sadness, anxiety and stress. It is a treatable disorder and medication and cognitive therapy can be applied together in the treatment process.
Substance and Nicotine Addiction: Natural or artificial drugs and nicotine are addictive with frequent use. The basis of addiction is the presence of withdrawal symptoms after the use of drugs or nicotine is delayed; It is the inclusion of physical symptoms such as irritability, chills, headache, abnormal behavior. It also affects people psychologically. There are medication and psychological therapy methods for the treatment of addictions.
Sleep disorders: More than half of all insomnia is chronic sleep problems. The main sleepproblems are insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, not getting enough sleep, oversleeping, sleepwalking and restless leg syndrome. These conditions reduce the quality of life. Some mental illnesses may underlie sleep disorders. Medication and psychological therapies are recommended to solve sleep problems.
How should a healthy sleep be?
In some people with sleep difficulties, a great deal of benefit can be achieved only by regulating the sleep process. There are some points to be considered for sleep hygiene ;
- Adequate nutrition
- Avoiding unhealthy drinks such as caffeine, alcohol and smoking
- Doing regular sports, not getting too tired
- Do not go to bed before sleep
- Forcing oneself to sleep when sleep is not coming
- Waking up at a certain time in the morning even if adequate sleep is achieved
- Not sleeping in the morning and isolating the sleeping room for sleep
