Mental Health
Mental health encompasses an individual's emotional, social, and cognitive well-being. It plays a crucial role in every stage of life, from childhood through adulthood, influencing how a person handles stress, relates to others, and makes decisions. Mental health issues can affect mood, thinking, and behaviour, and are influenced by various factors including biological elements, life experiences such as abuse or trauma, and family history of mental health problems. There are more than 200 classified mental illnesses, with common ones including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and dementia.
Key aspects include:
Multiple personality disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)
Counselling for adults and children
Cognitive-behavioural therapy
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the scientific study of mental states and behaviours. It is a broad field that includes numerous sub-disciplines such as human development, sports psychology, clinical psychology, social behaviour, and cognitive processes.
Key areas include:
Neurocognitive psychiatry
Behavioural psychology
Emergency psychiatry
Cognitive psychology
Psychotherapy & Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour, encompassing both conscious and unconscious processes. Psychotherapy aims to enhance a person's mental and emotional well-being by identifying and reducing negative impulses, feelings, or emotions, and improving social skills and connections. This often involves regular, one-on-one interactions to help individuals change their behaviour and overcome problems.
Key components include:
Personal interaction
Addressing pseudoscience
Schizophrenia & OCD
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder where individuals interpret reality abnormally, with persistent and often severe disabling effects. Globally, around 24 million people, or 1 in 300, suffer from schizophrenia. This disorder can result in a combination of delusions, hallucinations, and extremely disordered thinking and behaviour, impairing daily functioning. While schizophrenia and OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) are distinct in their causes and symptoms, some overlapping characteristics can make individuals vulnerable to both disorders.
Key aspects include:
Streptococcal infections
Generalized anxiety disorder
Intrusive thoughts
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Child mental health focuses on the identification, classification, treatment, and maintenance of optimal psychological functioning and well-being in children and adolescents. Specialists use psychotherapy and sometimes medication to address mental health issues in this population. This field also addresses obesity-related conditions such as diabetes and nutritional deficiencies, and mental health problems such as depression. Child psychiatry, also known as Pediatric psychiatry, involves addressing issues such as:
Key areas include:
Child abuse and neglect
Emotional and behavioural disorders
Social impact
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Aggression and violence
Stress and Anxiety
Stress is primarily a cerebral perception of pressure, releasing important neurochemicals and hormones that prepare us for action (fight or flee). It's a feeling of emotional and physical pressure linked to heart-related issues like coronary artery disease, heart attack, and heart failure. Extreme responses to stress can lead to panic attacks. Stressors are situations and pressures that cause stress. Events that make you feel confused or anxious can trigger this focused emotion. The majority of people experience stress and anxiety occasionally. Pressure may manifest as fear, stress, or apprehension and can be a response to anxiety or the inability to identify significant stressors in life.
Positive psychology
Generalized anxiety disorder
Depression and Bipolar Disorders
In everyday life, the term "depression" can refer to various topics. It's challenging to understand because it describes both a mental condition and a feeling. "Depression" may refer to a temporary feeling of unhappiness resulting from daily setbacks, fatigue, loneliness, and anguish. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a mental condition characterized by erratic changes in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to perform daily tasks. There are four main types of bipolar disorder, each causing significant changes in mood, energy, and activity levels, ranging from highly elevated, energized "manic episodes" to very sad, "down" or depressed episodes. Hypomanic episodes are less severe manic episodes.
Childhood abuse
Mood stabilizers
Natural disasters
Manic depressive behavioural disorder
Sleep Disorders
Sleep-wake disorders often occur alongside medical conditions or other mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, or cognitive disorders. Sleep difficulties are linked to both physical and emotional problems. Sleep problems can contribute to and complicate mental health conditions and can also be a symptom of other mental health issues.
Restless leg syndrome
Sleep apnea
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Neurodevelopmental conditions interfere with the growth and development of the brain or, sometimes, the central nervous system. These issues affect memory, learning ability, self-control, and emotion, emerging as a person develops. Neuropsychology and behavioral neuroscience are closely related to neuropsychiatry, a growing psychiatry subspecialty that deals with mental issues potentially linked to nervous system conditions.
Pervasive developmental disorders
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Addiction Psychiatry
Addiction psychiatry is a subspecialty within psychiatry focused on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals with addiction-related disorders. This includes dependencies on legal and illegal drugs, gambling, food, and other impulse control disorders. Addiction occurs when a person ingests a substance (e.g., alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in a behaviour (e.g., gambling, sex, shopping) that is enjoyable but becomes compulsive and interferes with daily responsibilities and activities such as work, relationships, or health.
Adult and Geriatric Psychiatry
Geriatric psychiatry is a branch of medicine focused on diagnosing and treating mental disorders in older adults. It is a subspecialty of psychiatry that deals with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in the elderly, emphasizing the psychological and biological aspects of normal aging.
Evolutionary Psychology and Psychoanalytic Theories
Psychoanalysis is a treatment technique related to the investigation of the unconscious mind to address mental disorders. It aims to release repressed emotions and help patients confront them. Evolutionary psychology and psychiatry suggest that psychological issues arise from the malfunctioning of mental modules adapted to ancestral environments but not modern ones.
Strokes and Trauma
With increased awareness of the severe impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in recent years, a common question is whether TBI can cause strokes. Many well-known athletes have discussed how TBI affected their lives long after retiring from sports. Research has found an association between TBI and stroke. Following trauma, strokes are common, and although modern concepts of stroke pathology do not directly link it to trauma, various mechanisms can cause ischemia or haemorrhage due to a previous traumatic event.