Mental Disorders

A phobia is an irrational fear of something that does not pose a serious enough threat. Some phobias have some rationale behind them, e.g. fear of snakes, while others have no rationale at all, e.g. fear of noise.

Being exposed to the fearful situation usually causes the person to have a panic attack, characterized by anxiety, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and an extreme desire to flee the situation.

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder in which memory, thought processes, and behavior become progressively impaired. It is named for Dr. Alois Alzheimer, the German neurologist who first described it in the early 1900s. He discovered during an autopsy of a woman who had died of progressive dementia that her brain was riddled with plaques and tangles of abnormal nerve cells, the hallmarks of the disease.

(Generalized anxiety, hyperventilation, panic attacks)

Anxiety, often referred to as excessive nervousness, is a pervasive sense of apprehension. Sometimes the feeling is prompted by worry over an impending event, such as a school examination or medical test. This type of anxiety is a normal response to a specific circumstance. In contrast, generalized anxiety produces feelings of foreboding that stem from almost any uncertainty or even no apparent provocation. When carried to extremes, this type of anxiety leads to emotional exhaustion, sleeplessness, and an increased risk of stress-related illnesses.

Dementia is a general term given to someone suffering a progressive decline in cognitive ability (thinking, reasoning, etc). This occurs because of some kind of damage of the brain, usually caused by disease. Two common types of dementia are Huntington's and Parkinson's.

Many, people mistakenly equate sadness with depression. From time to time, everyone feels sad often for a good reason such as a setback at work or the death of a loved one. Most people cope with such feelings and over time, shake off the sadness.

Depression is a broad term which is used to define changes in how a person feels and thinks, which, of course affects many aspects of behavior. Many people suffer from minor depression which may last for a few hours or a couple of days. But in some cases this can be much more severe, lasting for many days, weeks, or even months. Of course the severity of the depression can also vary, from mild to very severe.

Fear is a strong emotional response to danger, real or imagined. A phobia -- the Greek word for fear -- is a persistent, irrational fear that is out of all proportion to its cause. People with phobias recognize that their fears are excessive and constraining, but they feel powerless to confront them and often go to great lengths to avoid the dreaded object or situation.

Hypochondria is a preoccupation with symptoms of an illness when there is no physical evidence of disease. In some people, it is a chronic state but with others, it is sporadic, occurring mostly during periods of depression, anxiety, or stress. Hypochondria is thought to be slightly more common in men than women. The condition affects all age groups, with the peak of incidence in men during their thirties, and in women during their forties.

In everyday language hysteria refers to any emotional extreme. For example, an episode of hysterica, weeping or laughter. When used medically, the word refers to a disorder, formerly called hysterical neurosis, in which unconscious psychological conflict is transformed into physical, or somatic, symptoms.

(Down's Syndrome and other Chromosomal Abnormalities; Mental Deficiency)

In general, mental retardation is characterized by subnormal intelligence, defined as an IQ of 70 or lower, that prevents a person from functioning normally in society. The impairment often becomes evident during infancy or early childhood; sometimes the signs first manifest themselves after the child enters school and is unable to keep up with other children.

Multiple Personality Disorder, also referred to as MPD, is a situation where an individual literally has more than one altered states/personalities. This is more than just talking to yourself, which we all do from time to time. This is a situation where the personalities are able to control behavior, they have their own personalities, their own memories, their own histories, and even their own physical characteristics.

Paranoia is characterized by a pervasive distrust of others. In the past, it has been classified as a manifestation of a relatively rare class of mental illnesses, known as delusional disorders, but many psychiatrists now regard it as a distinctly separate condition. Regardless of classification, a paranoid personality is beset with delusions that make it impossible to form normal relationships with others.

Post-traumatic stress syndrome is a psychiatric disorder that arises from having endured an event that is outside the range of usual human experience. In the past, it was referred to as shell shock, and was associated mostly with war. Now, it is generally recognized that any devastating event -- a flood, earthquake, plane crash, rape, assault, accident, or fire -- can precipitate the syndrome in susceptible persons.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is characterized by severe disturbances of thought, perception, feeling, and behavior. Mental health professionals classify it as a psychotic disorder, defined as being out of touch with reality and unable to separate real from imaginary experiences.