Mental Disorders Comparison - Essay Example

? Mental Disorders [Data] In the modern society mental disorders represent a serious threat to human health. Many people suffer from it even not knowing, what they suffer from. Such unawareness may lead to serious consequences. In this paper we will consider two widespread mental illnesses: depression and schizophrenia. Depression Depression is the most widespread mental disorder. You can hardly find a person who did not suffer from this disorder at least once in his/her life. Therefore, there has always been much confusion around the question, what depression really is and how it can be distinguished from just feeling upset. There are many types of depression such as endogenous depression, exogenous depression, seasonal depression, etc, but there is still much confusion around this classification. It is not easy to distinguish the disease from the state of sadness that has been experienced by many people regularly due to this or that reason as, according to Pinsky, “in everyday conversation people say they are depressed when they are feeling unhappy, down, blue, sad, or hopeless. Almost everyone has experienced these emotions, and many people eventually suffer some adversity or loss that could give them reason to be anxious or depressed at times. These feelings are just one part of everyday life for most people” (Pinsky, p.1). Thus, experts use special techniques in order to define, if a person is really suffering from a disorder and if this disorder is depression. Only high-qualified and experienced experts in the field of psychology or psychiatry can make a right diagnosis. If depression is diagnosed on time, there is a chance to treat as, according to Ralph, “if left untreated, depression can lead to school failure, conduct disorder and delinquency, anorexia and bulimia, school phobia, panic attacks, substance abuse, or even suicide”(Ralph, p.1). If a person feel depressed, it is very essential to apply to a doctor on time in order to prevent terrible consequences this disease may lead to if left untreated. Those who suffer from depression usually have the following symptoms: sadness, hopelessness, feeling of despair. They may be indifferent or on the contrary too excitable. Many suffer from the feeling of guilt and defenselessness. Patients usually loose the interest towards the things they liked before. Very often they suffer from sleeping disorders, lose weight or on the contrary become overweight. People may also feel the lack of energy, think much about death or suicide, lose the ability to concentrate on something or make right decisions. Now experts tend to think that the cause of depression lies in the combination of different factors. First, it is genetic factors, which play a very important role as they make some people more predisposed to the disease. Psychological factors are also very important as different people have different psychological peculiarities. These entire if combined with corresponding social factors lead to depression. As depression is caused by the complex of factors, the treatment should be also complex and should address at least two of the mentioned factors. For instance, a person should take medicines and visit a psychiatrist for consultations at the same time. Now depression is considered to be a complex disorder that needs complex approach. Simplistic approach is not effective as more than one factor should be considered in order to help patient overcome this difficult state and prevent terrible consequences. Schizophrenia Throughout history schizophrenia is one of the diseases, which are considered to be the most difficult to cure. This is a challenging disorder that makes people confuse between real and unreal and consequently prevents from managing the behavior and normal functioning. It may seem that schizophrenia is incurable and many cases testifies that it is really so. However, modern achievements in the field of medicine give some hope to manage the disease in order to allow a person with schizophrenia to conduct full-fledged life. If the right treatment is provided, the symptoms can be successfully overcome. Much depends on the desire of the sick person to learn how to manage his/her symptoms (Whitbourne and Halgin, 2013). Now schizophrenia represents one of the main concerns and the scientists do their best to understand it better: “although studied extensively from a clinical, psychological, biological and genetic perspective, our expanding knowledge of schizophrenia provides only an incomplete understanding of this complex disorder” (Hung Choy Wonga and Van Tola). It is very important to notice the signs of the disease on time. Sometimes the symptoms of schizophrenia come suddenly, but still in most cases the disease comes slowly and the patient experiences many signs, which may testify about the oncoming schizophrenia. Thus, friends and relatives of the person with such a diagnosis may recognize that they noticed something wrong in his/her behavior, but simply did not know how to explain it. In the early phase of the disease the patients seem indifferent. They prefer to stay isolated, do not communicate with other people, become uninterested to the life around, have bad results at work or in school. The signs of oncoming disease may be the following: asociality, ignoring personal hygiene, inability to express feelings, sleeping disorders, depressive states, strange statements, inability to concentrate, strange way of speaking, etc. Certainly, these signs do not necessarily lead to schizophrenia, but they should be paid attention to as can lead to other serious mental disorder. Schizophrenia is a challenging disorder that has several main symptoms and forms. The main symptoms are hallucinations, irrational thinking, disorganized speech, strange behavior. The symptoms many vary depending on the form of the disease. Schizophrenia has three main forms: disorganized, paranoid and catatonic. Schizophrenia is usually treated with medications and psychotherapy. As it was mentioned above, much depends on patients and the desire to cure. Self-help means much in treating schizophrenia as people, who recognize and accepted their diagnosis are able to learn how to manage their symptoms. It is necessary the relatives and friends of a person, who is suffering from schizophrenia, should provide him/ her with necessary understanding and support. References Hung Choy Wonga,b, Albert. M. Van Tola. (2003). Hubert H. Schizophrenia: Phenomenology to neurobiology. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews; Ralph, E. (n.d.) Depression in Children and Adolescents: Information for Parents and Educators. Nova Southeastern University; Pinsky, Laura. (n.d.) Depression and medication. Columbia University Counseling and Psychological Service; Whitbourne, Susan Krauss, Halgin Richard. (2013). Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 7 edition. Read More