Psychiatric disorders are more common than one imagines. These disorders are concerned with our psychiatric condition, but can severely affect our personal functioning. Psychiatric disorders are persistent and a patient can relapse often. Such disorders affect the quality of life, often rendering the normal functioning of a person impossible. The reasons for these disorders are still unclear. Doctors are still unable to accurately say why it affects certain people.
The stigma attached to psychiatric disorders further complicates the matter. It hinders the diagnosis and treatment, since most patients are reluctant to come forward. But it is important to understand that mental disorders are treatable. Even in case of conditions that cannot be cured, treatment can improve control. Psychiatric pharmaceutical companies are coming up with newer drugs in order to make the life of patients easier.
Treatment can significantly improve the quality of a patient’s life, allowing him/her better control on his/her condition. Hence, it is important that we understand the common disorders. Seeking treatment in time is critical. So, here are some of the most common metal disorders:
Anxiety Disorders
Patients of anxiety disorders experience frequent and crippling bouts of apprehension and fear. This can occur in anxiety inducing conditions like an interview. Some amount of anxiety in such conditions is natural. It becomes a mental problem when these attacks occur frequently, stay for an extended period of time or paralyse normal functioning. It can worsen to nausea, panic attacks, nightmares headaches and obsessive thoughts.
Patients of anxiety disorder can be so severely affected that they may experience fear in normal conditions. Some patients cannot leave their home. The disorder can become so severe in some patients that they cannot handle normal social situations. This can lead to avoidance of social gathering, which can affect their normal functioning.
Depression
Depression is characterized by a persistent lack of positive mental state. Patients suffer from low mood that affects their cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions. It actually refers to a range of mental health problems. The degree of depression can vary widely between patients — from severe to mild depression. A depression patient may experience some positive lift in mood in a day, but the low mood reasserts itself in a very short span. Depression patients often wake up feeling low.
Patients experience irritability, loss of libido, fatigue, loss of interest, confidence, appetite and attempt at suicide. This is also one of the most focused areas for psychiatric pharmaceutical companies. Today we have drugs that can help in controlling the effects of depression and to regulate the mood change.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
OCD patients experience obsessive compulsive behavior. Either of the two conditions can be present. But frequently we see that both conditions are found in most patients. A patient showing obsessive behavior is often obsessed with an idea, image or urge that come from his/her own mind. They will show excessive obsession with symmetry, hygiene, hoarding, or some behavior pattern. It is important to note that the obsessive behavior is not the same in all patients.
A compulsive behavior is when the patient is compelled to behave in a certain manner. A patient will keep repeating a certain behavior pattern, such as cleaning an already clean surface. When obsession combines with compulsion, we have a situation where the patients will be obsessed with a certain idea and compelled to follow through with some action. OCD can also rage from severe to mild. Patients with severe OCD must take mediations from psychiatric pharmaceutical companies. Milder cases can be curbed with psychological coping mechanisms.
Phobias
Phobia is a persistent, unreasonable and extreme fear of an object or situation. Sometimes, it can develop due to some distressing event. But this need not be the case at all. Sometimes phobias can happen for no reason at all. The patient feels debilitating and crippling fear even when he/she knows that their fear is excessive and out of proportion to any actual risk.
Dementia
Often developing in older people, dementia is characterized by disturbance in the consciousness and cognitive health of the person. It can lead to sever memory loss and change in behavior. Common forms of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease. With the rising number of patients, many psychiatric pharmaceutical companies are focusing their research on dementia.
