Mental Health Issues Essay
Mental health issues can pose extremely traumatic and painful time for both individuals and their family and significantly impact the family’s emotional and financial facets. The emotional and behavioural consequences are often largely ignored when it comes to mental illness. However, an individual’s mental health complications have a significant bearing on other people within their social circle, most notably, their immediate family members. Caring for a family member with a mental health problem can be an extremely hectic time, and coping with the stress can translate into different reactions, including somatic problems, emotional and cognitive issues, including depression, anger, anxiety, guilt, and confusion alongside behavioural troubles, such as social withdrawal and change of attitude (McCann, Lubman, and Clark, 2012, p 227). The same is evident with the case of John. The 16-year-old feels stigmatised and isolated because of his mother’s mental health problem. John cannot bring friends home and is also losing focus at school. This paper focuses on exploring the impact of mental on both individuals and their families, using the case study of John and his family.
Classification of Common Mental Disorders in Adults
Mental health problems form the most significant contributors to the worldwide burden of disabilities and diseases. The most common mental disorders for adults include obsessive-compulsive disorders, bipolar affective disorder, and schizophrenia (Patel, Chisholm, Dua, Laxminarayan, and Medina-Mora, 2016, p 16). Bipolar disorder is classified under the DSM-IV as bipolar and related disorders and includes bereavement-associated depression severity, major depressive disorders, and suicide risk. Bipolar affective disorder is a common mental health problem in adults characterised by mood swings episodes, ranging from manic highs to depressive lows. The manic episodes may cause symptoms such as loss of touch with reality and high energy. The depressive episodes lead to low energy and motivation and loss of touch with reality (Üstün & Ho, 2017, p 9). Another category of mental disorder in adults is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Historically OCD has been classified under anxiety disorder. However, it is now considered to depict a dysfunction in the brain circuit, particularly the striatal-thalamic-cortical loops. While the symptoms stimulate severe anxiety, the primary symptoms include intrusive and unwanted feelings followed by rituals or actions to neutralize them (Üstün & Ho, 2017, p 13). For instance, a feeling that the door handle is contaminated may translate into extreme hand washing. Another serious common health disorder in adults is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia disorder is a severe mental health problem where the affected individuals construe reality abnormally. It is classified under the DSM-V as schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, including delusional disorder (Üstün & Ho, 2017, p 14). Symptoms may include a combination of delusions, hallucinations, and extremely disordered
