There are a variety of psychiatric diseases that can effect otherwise healthy individuals. Personality, psychotic, impulse, anxiety, mood, and eating disorders are all considered psychiatric diseases. Treatment for these illnesses require the involvement of a trained medical professional, and often include a combination of medication and therapy.
Over 200 forms of mental illness exist. They range from relatively mild and controllable conditions to diseases that are almost completely incapacitating. Warning signs that someone may be developing a psychiatric illness include confused thinking, alcohol or drug abuse, dramatic changes in sleeping or eating habits, and the denial of obvious problems.
Individuals with personality disorders tend to have inflexible and extreme personalities that cause problems in relationships or social situations. Someone with this condition may find that his behavior, or the way he thinks, is very different than the expectations of society. Typically, these anomalies are so rigid that the individual cannot function normally. Some of the psychiatric diseases that are personality disorders include paranoia, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.
Schizophrenia is a well know psychotic disorder. Individuals with psychotic disorders suffer from distorted ways of thinking and awareness. They may suffer from hallucinations, or experience sounds or images that are not real, and delusions, which are false beliefs that the individual believes to be true.
Impulse disorders include kleptomania, compulsive gambling, and pyromania. Many individuals with drug and alcohol addictions suffer from impulse disorders. These people cannot resist urges or prevent themselves from acting in ways that harm themselves or others. Individuals with this psychiatric disorder often ignore others, and abandon responsibilities in order to continue their impulses.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorders, and phobias are all anxiety disorders. People with anxiety disorders react in an uncharacteristically extreme way in certain situations, and may experience feelings of dread, fear, and physical signs of anxiety including sweating and an elevated heart rate. The feelings of anxiety affect the person's ability to function normally in everyday life.
Mania, depression, and bipolar disorder are all psychiatric diseases that affect the mood. Individuals with these disorders experience either persistent feelings of happiness or sadness, or fluctuations between the two extremes. The inability to control these emotions causes problems with relationships, work situations, and the ability to maintain a stable lifestyle.
Binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa, are eating disorders. Eating disorders are complicated psychiatric diseases that have far-reaching health consequences, as well as psychological ones. Individuals who are affected by these conditions develop extremely disordered attitudes, emotions, and behaviors that affect their relationship with food and weight.
