- Understanding mental health disorders is crucial for promoting mental well-being and destigmatizing mental health.
- Anxiety, mood, and obsessive-compulsive disorders are prevalent mental health conditions that frequently disrupt daily activities.
- Psychotic and trauma-related disorders, like schizophrenia and PTSD, can distort reality and result from traumatic experiences.
- Eating disorders encompass a range of mental health conditions characterized by an unhealthy and distorted relationship with food.
- Diagnostic services, such as open scanner diagnostic services and psychological testing, are essential for accurate mental health assessments.
Mental health is an essential aspect of well-being that deserves more open and honest discussions. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma surrounding mental health disorders, making it difficult for individuals to openly share and seek support for their struggles.
However, the truth is that mental health disorders are prevalent, and there is nothing wrong with seeking help. If you want to learn more about common mental health disorders, you’re in the right place.
Understanding these disorders is the first step towards destigmatizing mental health and creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable discussing their experiences. This guide will cover the most prevalent mental health disorders and ways to access the diagnostic services needed to deal with them.
Common Mental Health Disorders
The first step to understanding mental health is to look at the most prevalent mental health disorders. Here’s how you can explore these topics further and gain insights into promoting mental well-being:
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is a normal, healthy emotion. Still, it can become an anxiety disorder if it starts interfering with daily life. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and separation anxiety disorder.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders significantly impact an individual’s perception of themselves and others, leading to disruptions in their daily lives.
These disorders include depressive disorders, characterized by persistent sadness and loss of interest; bipolar disorders with extreme mood swings between depression and mania; and cyclothymic disorder, marked by chronic mood instability.
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a challenging anxiety disorder that affects individuals, leading to unwanted and repetitive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These thoughts and behaviors can consume a person’s daily life, causing significant distress and interfering with their ability to function effectively.
Psychotic and Trauma-Related Disorders
Psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and delusional disorder. Here’s how you can recognize the symptoms and seek appropriate treatment for these conditions:
Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic
Schizophrenia is a disorder that makes it difficult for people to differentiate between what is real and hallucinations or delusions. Additionally, schizophrenia spectrum disorders include schizotypal personality disorder and schizophreniform disorder.
Trauma-Related Disorders
As mentioned above, trauma-related disorders include PTSD and adjustment disorders. PTSD is a debilitating condition that can make it challenging to function daily. It often results from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, such as combat, sexual assault, or natural disasters.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are severe mental health conditions where individuals develop unhealthy relationships with food and their bodies. They can manifest as anorexia nervosa (severe food restriction), bulimia nervosa (binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors), or binge-eating disorder (recurrent episodes of uncontrollable overeating).
Diagnostic Services for Mental Health
It’s essential to access diagnostic services when dealing with mental health disorders. Here’s how you can take the first step toward getting the help you need:
Accessing Open Scanner Diagnostic Services
Patient-friendly open scanners are particularly beneficial in the diagnosis of mental health disorders. By providing detailed brain images, these scanners enable a more accurate assessment and diagnosis. Moreover, using open scanners helps reduce stigma and creates a comfortable environment for individuals seeking help.
Psychiatric Evaluation
This type of evaluation involves an in-depth assessment of mental health and symptoms by a trained mental health professional. The evaluation often includes a detailed medical history, an examination of any medications used, and a physical and neurological exam.
Psychological Testing
Psychological testing can help diagnose mental health disorders, determine the severity of symptoms, and evaluate treatment progress. These tests include neuropsychological, personality, mood, and intelligence tests.
Neuroimaging and Medical Tests
Neuroimaging can provide valuable information on brain structure and function associated with some mental health disorders. Tests may include computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or positron emission tomography (PET).
Understanding mental health disorders can help reduce the stigma associated with mental health and increase access to services. The most common mental health disorders include anxiety, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, psychotic disorders, trauma-related disorders, and eating disorders.
Diagnostics services include psychiatric evaluations, psychological testing, neuroimaging, and medical tests. If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health, remember that seeking help is the first step in feeling better.
