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Anxiety
is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress. For example, you might feel anxious when faced with a difficult problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. It can help you to cope. The anxiety may give you a boost of energy or help you focus. But for people with anxiety disorders, the fear is not temporary and can be overwhelming.
There are several types of anxiety disorders, including:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder People with GAD worry about ordinary issues such as health, money, work, and family. But their worries are excessive, and they have them almost every day for at least 6 months.
- Panic Disorder People with panic disorder have panic attacks. These are sudden, repeated periods of intense fear when there is no danger. The attacks come on quickly and can last several minutes or more.
- Phobias People with phobias have an intense fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Their fear may be about spiders, flying, going to crowded places, or being in social situations (known as social anxiety).
Though causes of anxiety is unknown factors like genetics, brain biology, external factors and stress may play a role.
Addiction or Substance Use Disorder (SUD)
is a complex condition in which there is uncontrolled use of a substance despite harmful consequences. People with SUD have an addiction using a certain substance(s) such as alcohol, tobacco, or other psychoactive substances, to the point where their ability to function in day-to-day life becomes impaired. People keep using the substance even when they know it is causing or will cause problems.
These changes can last long after the immediate intoxication wears off. Intoxication is the intense pleasure, euphoria, and calm that is caused by the substance; these symptoms are different for each substance. With continued use of a substance, tolerance can develop, where someone may require larger amounts in order to fell these effects. Additionally, discontinuing use can lead to symptoms of withdrawal and intense cravings to return to use, often experienced as anxiety.
People with a substance use disorder may have distorted thinking and behaviors. Changes in the brain’s structure and function are what cause people to have intense cravings, changes in personality, abnormal movements, and other behaviors. Brain imaging studies show changes in the areas of the brain that relate to judgment, decision-making, learning, memory, and behavioral control.
People with substance use and behavioral addictions may be aware of their problem but not be able to stop even if they want and try to. The addiction may cause physical and psychological problems as well as interpersonal problems such as with family members and friends or at work.
Borderline Personality Disorder
is a mental health condition marked by extreme mood fluctuations, instability in interpersonal relationships and impulsivity.People with BPD have an intense fear of abandonment and have trouble regulating their emotions, especially anger. They also tend to show impulsive and dangerous behaviors, such as reckless driving and threatening self-harm. All of these behaviors make it difficult for them to maintain relationships. Borderline personality disorder is one of a group of conditions called “Cluster B” personality disorders which involve dramatic and erratic behaviors. Personality disorders are chronic (long-term) dysfunctional behavior patterns that are inflexible, prevalent and lead to social issues and distress. Many people who live with borderline personality disorder don’t know they have it and may not realize there’s a healthier way to behave and relate to others.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events or set of circumstances. An individual may experience this as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening and may affect mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being. Examples include natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist acts, war/combat, rape/sexual assault, historical trauma, intimate partner violence and bullying. People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch.
Symptoms of PTSD fall into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity.
- Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event. Flashbacks may be so vivid that people feel they are reliving the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.
- Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it.
- Alterations in cognition and mood: Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the event leading to wrongly blaming self or other; ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling detached or estranged from others; or being unable to experience positive emotions (a void of happiness or satisfaction).
- Alterations in arousal and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one’s surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
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Obsessive Complusive Disorder (OCD)
features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions. These obsessions lead you to do repetitive behaviors, also called compulsions. These obsessions and compulsions get in the way of daily activities and cause a lot of distress. Ultimately, you feel driven to do compulsive acts to ease your stress. Even if you try to ignore or get rid of bothersome thoughts or urges, they keep coming back. This leads you to act based on ritual. This is the vicious cycle of OCD.OCD often centers around certain themes, such as being overly fearful of getting contaminated by germs. To ease contamination fears, you may wash your hands over and over again until they’re sore and chapped. If you have OCD, you may be ashamed, embarrassed and frustrated about the condition. But treatment can be effective.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually includes both obsessions and compulsions. But it’s also possible to have only obsession symptoms or only compulsion symptoms. You may or may not know that your obsessions and compulsions are beyond reason. But they take up a great deal of time, reduce your quality of life, and get in the way of your daily routines and responsibilities.
Disordered Eating
is a broad umbrella term that includes disordered relationships with food, exercise, and one’s body. Disordered eating is clinically defined as “a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that do not warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder”. This means that disordered eating is not a diagnosis in itself, but rather a term used to describe the behaviour patterns seen in someone who does not fit within the specific criteria for any of the eating disorders listed in the DSM-5. If your child has disordered eating patterns, their symptoms may look like those of individuals with clinically diagnosed eating disorders. However, not all individuals who engage in disordered eating behaviours have eating disorders. If your child is struggling with disordered eating, they may show similar signs and symptoms as someone with an eating disorder, but perhaps to a lesser degree or at a lower frequency. Disordered eating behaviours stem from a distorted relationship with food, body and exercise and may be largely influenced by diet culture.
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Depression
is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in things and activities you once enjoyed. It can also cause difficulty with thinking, memory, eating and sleeping.
It’s normal to feel sad about or grieve over difficult life situations, such as losing your job or a divorce. But depression is different in that it persists practically every day for at least two weeks and involves other symptoms than sadness alone.
There are several types of depressive disorders. Clinical depression, or major depressive disorder, is often just called “depression.” It’s the most severe type of depression.
Without treatment, depression can get worse and last longer. In severe cases, it can lead to self-harm or death by suicide. The good news is that treatments can be very effective in improving symptoms.
There are several different types. Depression is treatable — usually with talk therapy, medication or both. Seeking medical help as soon as you have symptoms is essential.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. Neurodevelopmental means having to do with the way the brain grows and develops. ADHD is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active.
There are three different ways ADHD presents itself, depending on which types of symptoms are strongest in the individual at the time of diagnosis:
- Predominantly inattentive presentation
- Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation
- Combined presentation (a combination of inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms)
Adults can also have ADHD. Though it’s called adult ADHD, symptoms start in early childhood and continue into adulthood. In some cases, ADHD is not recognized or diagnosed until the person is an adult. Adult ADHD symptoms may not be as clear as ADHD symptoms in children. In adults, hyperactivity may decrease, but struggles with impulsiveness, restlessness and difficulty paying attention may continue.
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Self Harm (Non Suicidal Self Injury Disorder)
Self-harm is when you injure yourself on purpose. Also known as nonsuicidal self-injury disorder, people who self-harm do things to hurt themselves but don’t want to cause death. They may injure themselves:
- To help them cope. Some people self-harm because it feels good to them, to prove they can tolerate pain or to relieve negative feelings.
- To direct emotion inward. Some people self-harm to punish or take out their anger on themselves.
- To communicate with others that they’re in distress or need support. Self Harm can take many forms. Some are more common than others, but all come with risks. Some of the most common self-harm behaviors include:
- Cutting with sharp objects to break through or injure skin.
- Burning with something hot like cigarettes, matches or heated sharp objects, or with chemicals like household cleaning products.
- Hitting with solid objects — like punching a wall — which can lead to impact injuries.
- Scratching/rubbing that leads to skin damage.
Various mental health conditions can contribute to self-harm behaviors. Trauma and addiction can also cause individuals to self-harm.
Mood Disorder
is a mental health condition that primarily affects your emotional state. It’s a disorder in which you experience long periods of extreme happiness, extreme sadness or both. Certain mood disorders involve other persistent emotions, such as anger and irritability.
It’s normal for your mood to change, depending on the situation. However, for a mood disorder diagnosis, symptoms must be present for several weeks or longer. Mood disorders can cause changes in your behavior and can affect your ability to perform routine activities, such as work or school.
Mood disorders include:
- Depression and its subtypes
- Bipolar disorder and its subtypes.
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
