This week we were learning about Common Mental Health Problems.
As categorised by The National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE), the most common mental health problems include depression and anxiety disorders such as generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is worth noting that it is possible to have more than one mental health problem – and when combined they can exacerbate each other, making the conditions much worse.
The most common mental health problems are:
Depression – The main symptom is a low feeling and a loss of pleasure in things that were once enjoyable. Other symptoms include feeling irritable all the time, having drastic changes in appetite, as well as feeling tired all the time, not being able to sleep, and having problems with memory and concentration. People with depression typically lack confidence, criticise themselves harshly, have a low opinion of themselves and have overwhelming negative thoughts as well as feelings of worthlessness and guilt.
Generalised anxiety disorder – The main symptom is difficulty in controlling ones worries. Sometimes it is having a large number of worries; sometimes it is a smaller collection of overwhelming worries – in both cases the worries are excessive and out of proportion in relation to the particular situation. People with generalised anxiety disorder may be easily irritable, have problems sleeping or concentrating, and could also have physical symptoms such as restlessness, feeling easily tired, or having tense muscles.
Panic disorder – The main symptoms are having unexpected or recurring panic attacks, the anxiety that worrying about having another panic attack brings, as well as an elevated heart rate, which can compound the other symptoms. A panic attack may have no obvious cause, or it may happen because of a particular situation that the person feared, or wanted to avoid. People that have panic attacks may modify their behaviour due to not wanting to experience them anymore and could develop phobias as a result.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder – The main symptoms are having obsessions (which are recurring images or thoughts that are difficult to get rid of), and compulsions (which are strong feelings or impulses that certain physical acts or mental processes must be performed or repeated). Obsessions and compulsions feed off of each other; the compulsive physical acts are rituals that reinforce the obsessive thoughts, which then further influence the necessity of performing the actions again – and so on.
Post-traumatic stress disorder – The main symptoms can be both psychological and physical, and usually follow on from life-threatening or distressing events. The most common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are intrusive and distressing memories as well as re-living the event through flashbacks or nightmares. There can also be physical reactions such as shaking, sweating, and having vague discomforting feelings reminiscent of the event. These two aspects can combine and overlap, and make a person feel as if they were physical transported back and were re-living the trauma.
It is important to note that a person does not have to remember the event for the trauma to “trigger” and manifest symptoms – it could have occurred before they were able to form memories. Or alternatively, the person may not remember what caused the trauma because they have repressed the distressing memory.
There are other, more severe mental health problems, such as Bipolar disorder, addiction, and self-harm, as well as eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. While a lot of these can be treated with counselling, they do tend to require more specialised training and a wealth of experience. Things like psychosis and schizophrenia, along with other personality disorders, tend to be treated by psychiatrists rather than counsellors. Problems that originate from physical brain damage (such as developmental learning difficulties), or from wear and tear to the brain, (such as dementia), are often beyond the remit of any talking therapy. While counselling cannot provide a cure for these problems, it can help manage their secondary symptoms.
