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Rara, Olivia, Olivia

Joshua Blackburn

PHE 9.1

October 6 2014

Mental Disorders

Mental disorders have become more common in recent years than ever before.

Though many people suffering from such disorders go unidentified, about one out of every

five people suffer from a mental disorder, light if not severe. The influx of people suffering

mental disorder is mainly due to the increasing amount of pressure (Weir) coming from

society and communities that the world is in today, where competition is tight and only the

fighters make it. Mental disorders arent something that should be taken lightly, and

absolutely shouldnt be ignored. People who suffer from mental illnesses carry a burden that

those who dont have it arent aware of, and depending on what illness it is, the load they

carry differs. Some people may have more than one mental illness, and some illnesses are

more common than others.

A common mental illness is bipolarity, also known as manic-depressive disorder. Its

usually a person with unstable mood (alternative term is mood swings) that goes down to

depression and high to hypomania. When the certain person is experiencing the depressed

mode, they could feel sad or hopeless and lose the interest of everything and they would not

have the fighting spirit normal people supposed to have. Then when their mood shifts in the

opposite direction they could feel euphoric or full of energy. The mood shifts doesnt always

happen and may occur only a few times a year, or as often as several times a day as its worst

stage. This disorder is not disruptive but could create a certain gap in their work or in their

studies where they cannot concentrate and they follow their feeling instead of the situation.

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Narcissistic Personality Disorder is one of the most unique mental disorders that

could be owned by most everybody in this world. A common word we use, narcissist, is to

call people who loves taking selfies or pictures of themselves excessively, that symptom

could lead them to be classified with narcissistic personality disorder. People with this mental

disorder tend to be quick to jealousy and they think that they are super special. They need

praise from the people around them. They believe that their status is higher than others and

they require excessive admiration and they have a high sense of self-importance. People with

narcissistic personality disorder often have a snobbish, disdainful or patronizing attitude.

They might complain a lot but yet lazy to do their job.

Another mental disorder that is commonly found is ADHD, or Attention deficit

hyperactive disorder. This disorder, might continue into adult years, but are usually found in

children, often found more in boys than girls. Many people ignore this disorder, since they

think that the symptoms shown in the kids are normal. These symptoms are categorised into

three things, inattentivity, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. People often think that this kind of

behavior is normal in kids. Kids being hyper, not paying attention (Dharmaputra), going out

and about, exploring, full of mischief, and that sort. There are no test that could conclude

whether a person has ADHD or not, but the diagnosis is based on the pattern of the

symptoms. Combination of genes and environmental factor may cause ADHD, but no exact

cause has been found.

Aside from ADHD, a common behavior mental disorder is OCD or Obsessive-

Compulsive Disorder. This disorder may be caused by several factors, like head injuries,

infection, abnormal function in parts of the brain, and genes ( also a strong factor). People

with OCD usually show symptoms at the age of 30. Some of the symptoms are; checking and

rechecking things, doing things repeatedly, does things to ward of bad luck, excessive

counting, repeating certain words, they can be physically doing things, or in their heads

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(mentally). They think that by doing certain things, they could ward of bad luck. People with

OCD are usually aware that their behavior is excessive or unreasonable.

Another common mental disorder is multiple personality disorder (dissociative

identity disorder), where a person has two or more personalities. This disorder is thought to

be caused by severe trauma at a young age. People with this disorder ultimately alter their

own personality, or are unable to identify who their own personal traits. Though some say

MPD is an extreme case of Borderline Personality Disorder (a mental illness that causes

people to have extreme mood swings and render them almost incapable of maintaining a

relationships and have conflicting emotions regarding themselves), The symptoms differ.

MPD symptoms are patients recreating an image for themselves, while BPD is a patient

altering themselves because of self-loathing.

Schizophrenia is a mind-boggling mental illness that was once thought to source from

being possessed. However, it was later identified as a mental illness, though nobody knows

its cause. People with schizophrenia usually show signs of paranoia, irrationality, and self-

loathing. They have an excessive [dark] imagination, which leads to self-conflicts and

distrust. Nearly one-third of all schizophrenic people have attempted suicide, and outcome

brought from their dark imagination. Hallucinations are also common in schizophrenic

patients, which can lead to abuse of substances. Schizophrenia is one of the most torturous

disorders; symptoms usually start at the age of 20, and requires lifetime treatment.

Mental disorders are not something that should be taken lightly, and people suffering

from mental disorders should surround themselves with a community of people that can care

for them and help them heal. Treatment should be immediate so the severity will decrease. In

general, mental disorders range from light to extreme, making some feel completely fine with

their disorder and others feeling weighed down by it. One of the most common outcomes of

mental disorders is suicide, which is a product of the stress mental disorders cause.

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Works Cited

Bower, Meredith. 10 Most Diagnosed Mental Disorders. Curiosity. Discovery. Web. 4

September 2014.

Chalrinho, Abigail. Speaking Up Against Mental Health Stigma. Feminspire, 19 August

2012. Web. 4 September 2014.

Dharmaputera, Ryuta. Personal Interview. 5 September 2014.

Dissociative Identity Disorder. Mental Health Center. WebMD. Web. 4 September 2014.

Grohol, John M. Schizophrenia and Psychosis. Psych Central, 9 July 2014. Web. 4

September 2014.

Staff, Mayo Clinic.Bipolar Disorder. Mayo Clinic, 5 September 2014. Web. 5 September

2014.

Staff, Psych Central.Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms.Psych Central, 2014. Web.

4 September 2014.

Staff, Psych Central.Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms.Psych Central, 2014. Web.

4 September 2014.

Weir, Kirsten. The Beginnings of Mental Illness. American Psychological Association. Web.

4 September 2014.