Mental illness
A mental illness is an illness of the mind. People with a mental illness may behave in strange ways, or have strange thoughts, in their view or the view of others. Mental illnesses develop during the life of a person. This may be linked to genes and experience. What is considered as a mental illness has changed over time. What is considered to be a mental illness may not be one in a different culture.
People with a mental illness sometimes have problems dealing with other people, or leading what is called a normal life. Treatment and certain medications can help people with certain mental illnesses lead a better life.
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Mental illnesses are common [change]
According to the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in the US, the most common type of disability in the United States is major mental illnesses (which include major depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder).
Twenty-three percent of North American adults will have a mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But in more than half of these cases, the mental illness is not bad enough to disrupt daily life activities.
Partly inherited [change]
There may be a genetic basis which makes some people more likely to develop mental illness. A study published in The Lancet, a medical journal, found the same set of genetic markers in people with five different types of illness: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).[1]
Treatment of mental illnesses [change]
Mental illnesses can be treated by:
And all human rights of persons with mental illness are protected by:
References [change]
- ↑ Kolata, Gene 2013. Same genetic basis found in 5 types of mental disorders. The New York Times. [1]
Other websites [change]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mental illness |
