8 Common Mental Health Problems

Mental health problems are often diagnosed during the childhood or teen years, although trauma or life events can force an adult to come to terms with the symptoms. Mental health disorders are treatable, and you can learn to manage the symptoms with therapy and lifestyle changes.

Mental health problems can affect your relationships, schooling, and career if not treated.

Common mental health problems

There are several common mental health problems that our office addresses. Only a professional mental health care provider can diagnose a disorder. This is done after ruling out medical reasons for symptoms and consulting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5^th Edition (DSM-5) from the American Psychiatric Association.

Mental health disorders can coexist. For example, a person may have both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is a well-known mental disorder that is typically diagnosed in childhood. Adult ADHD is often seen in adults who either suffered from it as a child or were never diagnosed due to misdiagnosis or parents believing it was “just kids being kids.”

The symptoms of ADHD include an inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, being easily distracted, impatience, fidgeting, hyperactivity, and impulsive behaviors. These symptoms can cause problems between a child and their peers. People with adult ADHD may be accused of only half-doing their job or not caring about the needs of their loved ones.

Anxiety

Anxiety can take many forms, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder. People of all ages can experience anxiety. You may have an acute case if you are experiencing something scary like public speaking. You can also develop chronic anxiety if you are stressed about an ongoing situation like financial problems or a family member’s chronic illness.

Anxiety is rooted in fear and worry. Symptoms include a rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, dizziness, headaches, insomnia, and fatigue. Depending on the type of anxiety, you may find it challenging to socialize, run errands, and maintain personal relationships.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression. The symptoms can last for weeks or months and are marked by periods of extreme highs and low lows. These episodes are quite different from one another. During the manic phase, the person has high energy and a high sex drive. They may act impulsively and have grandiose thoughts and behaviors. They barely sleep.

During the depressive state, the person feels sad and fatigued. They may believe their situation is hopeless and that no one cares for them. They may sleep too much, miss work, and have changes in appetite. Their mood changes, and they are irritable and angry.

They may stay in the depressive state for months and alternate with a manic episode for a week or two. Once you recognize the pattern, reach out to a counselor for help. Bipolar disorder will cause issues at work and in your relationships and family.

Depression

Depression affects millions of people a year. It is marked by intense sadness, fatigue, and an empty feeling. With depression, you lose interest in the things you love to do. Your appetite changes, and you may lose or gain weight rapidly. Your sleep patterns change, and you may have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep through the night.

Depression can also cause physical ailments like headaches, unexplained body aches, and gastrointestinal issues. Your depression may be due to circumstances like the death of a loved one or divorce. Or, your depression could be chronic with no discernable cause, possibly due to family history, genetics, or brain chemical imbalance.

Eating disorders

Eating disorder behaviors often develop in the preteen, teen, and young adult years. However, people can be diagnosed with an eating disorder later in life. Eating disorders are more common in women, but men are not immune. The three notable eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating.

Anorexia is marked by rapid weight loss and starvation. A person with anorexia will skip meals and feel fear about eating and gaining weight.

Bulimia is similar to anorexia in that people may starve themselves at times, but then eat normally and purge their food during or after the meal. Purging methods include vomiting, laxatives, enemas, or overexercising. People with bulimia may be underweight or at an average weight.

Binge eating symptoms include engaging in bingeing behavior for a period of time of at least two hours. The person may binge eat a few times a month or a week. Some people find themselves bingeing every night after their family goes to bed. The binge eater tends to be overweight or obese.

A physician will ensure that the eating disorder sufferer’s physical health is not in danger before recommending treatment for the mental disorder. A counselor will then work with the client to reframe their thoughts and emotions to change the resulting behaviors.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Nearly a quarter of a million people are diagnosed with OCD yearly in the US. The mental disorder refers to the link between our thoughts and our behaviors. In the case of OCD, a person’s intrusive or obsessive thoughts lead them to compulsive behaviors. These thoughts are rooted in fear.

A person with OCD may engage in counting, organization, cleaning and sanitizing, hoarding, checking and double-checking things, and worrying about harming themselves or others. Images and intrusive thoughts bombard their minds. A counselor will work with the OCD sufferer to catch the thoughts and the emotions to change the compulsive behavior and break the chain.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a stress disorder that develops when a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. This event was emotionally scarring. This could be from a tragic accident, under gunfire in wartime, a mass shooting, an explosion, or a natural disaster. The event made a profound impact on the person’s psyche.

Someone with PTSD may have flashbacks when faced with a trigger. They may experience nightmares. These reactions can paralyze the sufferer and cause emotional and physical distress. The person may become hostile and distant from loved ones, lose interest in things they enjoy, and become isolated. Those with PTSD might also engage in self-destructive behaviors.

The reactions to a memory, flashback, or nightmare can be scary, not only for the sufferer but for their family. The fear is real and tangible to someone with PTSD. Even small triggers like certain scents can cause a reaction, making working outside the home difficult for some people. Reach out to a counselor to discuss ways to manage this condition.

Psychotic disorders

Psychotic disorders describe mental illnesses that break from reality. The most well-known of these mental health problems is schizophrenia. Symptoms of psychotic disorders include seeing or hearing things that are not there. These hallucinations can be seeing images or people or hearing voices or music that is not real.

The sufferer may also have delusions where they believe things that are not true. For example, the sufferer may believe he works for the FBI and that others are out to get him. This is also a form of paranoia. The sufferer does not realize that what they are experiencing is not real.

A person with a psychotic disorder may become easily agitated and violent when confronted. They may have disorganized speech (word salad), where their speech is nonsensical, or the words are out of order in a sentence. However, to the sufferer, they hear the words correctly.

Schizophrenia is a lifetime mental disorder but can be managed with therapy and medication.

Seeking help

If you or a loved one suffers from mental health problems, contact California Christian Counseling today for a consultation. A counselor in your area would love to speak with you about your symptoms and work with you to create a treatment plan. Do not let mental health problems stop you from enjoying life and the relationships that are important to you.