Mental health is just as important as physical health. In fact, in some ways, mental health can be even more important as the state of your mental well-being can have an impact on your overall physical well-being.
In the past, talking about mental health challenges was often a stigmatizing experience. This caused people to suffer in silence, and it also held back research into treatment for common mental health issues. Thankfully, the stigma surrounding mental health has been diminished in recent decades, and treatment for common mental health issues is available thanks to concerted efforts to move medical science forward.
Defining Common Mental Health Disorders
Defining what is and is not a common mental health disorder can be challenging since everyone is different and mental health is not an exact science. If you break your arm, an x-ray can show where the break has occurred. If you have experienced a mental health concern, figuring out why it occurred and how to treat it can be more complex since there are many variables involved.
Despite that, there are some common mental health disorders that are more fully understood in the medical community than others, including:
Depression
Depression may manifest as extreme sadness and is usually the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Depression is not to be confused with occasional sadness related to circumstances.
Anxiety
Anxiety disorders may leave a person feeling “on edge” at all times, but they can also show up as unwanted or invasive thoughts, obsessive thinking, or irrational fear.
Bipolar Affective Disorder
Bipolar affective disorder often results in someone experiencing extremes in emotions. Most notably, these emotions will be at one end of the spectrum or the other. Someone with bipolar affective disorder may experience manic episodes in which they display disordered thinking and unusual bouts of energy. Conversely, bipolar can result in extreme depressive episodes with little warning.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a mental health condition that is usually triggered by a traumatic event. Someone who suffers from PTSD may relive or replay the event in their mind on a regular basis. Symptoms of PTSD may include anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.
Author Resource:-
Alester Brown writes about physiotherapy. She advises people on health care, online therapy, anxiety discussion groups & depression message boards. You can find her thoughts at depression guide blog.
