MENTAL HEALTH

1
MENTAL HEALTH
2
Mental Health

• What our culture defines as mentally healthy
• Able to deal with the world as it is
• Able to accept themselves and others
• Able to be comfortable with silence and being
  alone
• Able to adapt to change
• Cope with stress
• Trust their own senses and feelings
• Establish long term and short term goals

3
Mental Health

• Mental illness is not related to an individuals
  willpower or morality
• Approx 51 million people in the US have a
  diagnosable mental disorder
• No one is immune from mental disorders even
  children
• 1 out of 5 people has had a direct experience of
  mental illness with either themselves or a close
  family member
• About half of Americans will develop a mental
  illness some time in their lives
• ½ will start by the age of 14
• ¾ will start by the age of 24

4
Anxiety

• Worry or excessive concern
• Out of proportions to any realistic concerns
  about family, work, finances or health
• Feel
• Helpless
• Unable to concentrate
• Fatigued, unable to sleep
• Restless
• Treated with antidepressants and counseling

5
Manic Depression or Bipolar Disorder

• Fluctuates between depression and manic activity
• Manic phase
• Lots of energy
• Hyperactive
• Poor judgment
• Reckless behavior
• Grandiose delusions
• Inflated self esteem
• Treated with lithium

6
Depression

• Different from feeling blue
• Over a lifetime 1 in 6 adults (more then 32
  million) experience depression
• 19 million per year have an episode of major
  depression
• 8 of teenagers have major depression
• 10 of college age students have been diagnosed
  with depression
• Cost 44 billion dollars a year in the US

7
Depression

• You have depression if for at least two weeks you
  have
• Experienced persistent feeling of sadness,
  anxiety or emptiness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in ordinary
  activities including sex and five or more of the
  following symptoms
• Changes in appetite, either weight loss or gain
• No energy
• Restless or irritable

8
Depression

• Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness or despair
• Difficulty thinking, making decisions or
  concentrating
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Chronic aches and pains that do not respond to
  treatment
• Excessive crying

9
Depression

• Signs that you need help
• You feel pessimistic about life
• You avoid old friends
• Crowds bother you
• You dont get along with other people
• You have a poor memory
• Not doing well in school or work
• You have made a will have been thinking about
  your funeral

10
Depression in Men

• More then 6 million men suffer from depression
• Symptoms are different from women
• Irritability
• Fatigued
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Anger
• Headaches
• Men deny symptoms and refuse help
• Depressed men are two to four times more likely
  then depressed women to commit suicide

11
Depression

• Depression in kids
• Sudden change in interest or habits
• Inability to concentrate
• Prolonged period of the blues
• Intense anger and disruptive behavior
• Unexplained fears and thoughts of death

12
Depression

• Treatment
• Antidepressant therapy
• Many new drugs available with minimal side
  effects
• Psychotherapy

13
Suicide

• A permanent solution to a temporary problem
• One suicide every 15 min and one attempt every
  minute
• 20 of high school students consider suicide
• 8-11 in every 100,000 teens commit suicide

14
Suicide

• Women attempt suicide more than men
• Men commit suicide more then women
• Every 90 minutes an elderly person in the US
  commits suicide
• Suicide is a cry for help

15
Suicide

• Signs to watch for
• Pulling away from people and favorite activities
• 500 times more likely to commit suicide if you
  are severely depressed
• A crisis that overwhelms a depressed person
• Suicide plans
• Take every suicide attempt seriously

16
Suicide

• Your responsibility
• Ask questions about their suicide plan
• Persuade them to get help
• Call a local mental health agency for advice
• If they have injured themselves bring them to the
  nearest emergency department
• 5150 available

17
Suicide

• Long term effects on families of people who kill
  themselves
• Guilt
• Shame
• Anger
• More likely to commit suicide themselves
• Drug or alcohol problems

18
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Classified as an anxiety disorder
• Inappropriate, intrusive thoughts
• Examples include
• Repetitive hand washing
• Checking on locked doors
• Unable to eat food that has been touched by
  others

19
Panic Attacks

• Sudden intense fears with physical symptoms such
  as
• Palpitations
• Sweating
• Chest pain
• Dizziness
• Choking
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Numbness

20
Panic Attacks

• May start as early as 6-7th grade
• Can be successfully treated with medications

21
Schizophrenia

• Distorted sense of reality
• One out of 100 has a schizophrenic episode in a
  lifetime
• Unknown cause
• Theories involve dopamine levels in the brain
• Heredity
• Environmental issues

22
Schizophrenia

• General characteristics
• Delusions
• Think your mind is controlled by outside forces
• Auditory hallucinations
• Voices in your head
• Disorganized speech and thoughts
• Mixes words together
• Expresses thoughts with unusual words

23
Schizophrenia

• General characteristics
• Inappropriate emotions
• Emotions absent or strong
• Deteriorating work and social function
• Increased social withdrawal
• Poor performance at work or school
• May be gradual and difficult to recognize

24
Schizophrenia

• It is controllable but not curable
• Stabilized with medications
• 50 of schizophrenics chronically ill but
  controlled with medications
• 20 only have rare periods of normalcy and
  require permanent hospitalization
• The rest are in between

25
Therapy

• Choosing a therapist
• Find someone with whom you can communicate
• You must feel comfortable
• Only an MD can prescribe medications
• PHD, clinical psychologists, social workers,
  psychiatric nurses are also options and they can
  work with an MD for medications

26
Therapy

• Therapeutic approaches
• Psychoanalytical
• Behaviorists
• Crisis intervention
• Decision based on
• Amount of time available for therapy
• Amount of money
• Medications
• Major breakthrough in treatment options
• Used in conjunction with therapy