Any person in his life experiences certain psychological problems – depression, anxiety, fears, obsessions. In a mentally healthy person, such conditions quickly end. If the problem dragged on for more than two weeks, if due to psychological problems the quality of a person’s life (his ability to work, sociability, and other aspects) decreases, this is a serious reason to turn to a specialist, because this can be a symptom of mental illness .
The difficulty of diagnosing mental disorders in the initial stages
For example, one of the most serious diseases, schizophrenia, begins with small changes in a person’s character, his interests and mood. The main sign of a mental disorder is that a person’s perception of the outside world and himself in this world is disturbed, behavior changes. The complexity of the diagnosis lies in the fact that sometimes the symptoms of a mental illness are easily confused with character problems (in childhood or adolescence), depression and overwork. In addition, even suspecting the disease in the end, relatives often do not seek to seek the help of a psychiatrist sooner, because the illness of the mind is not considered something as important or dangerous as the illness of the body. This can lead to serious and irreversible changes in the psyche of the patient before he begins to receive proper treatment.
How to identify a human mental disorder
Symptoms of a mental illness may include:
– excessive anxiety;
– strange ideas;
– a change in a person’s personality;
– A long period of apathy or bad mood;
– suicidal mood;
– loss of ability to cope with everyday problems;
– sharp jumps in mood;
– abuse of cigarettes, alcohol, drugs;
– change in sleep and nutrition;
– excessive aggressiveness and hostility.
All these violations occur regardless of the will of the patient, such as, for example, temperatures during the flu, therefore they cannot be corrected by conventional punitive methods. Only special treatment will help here.
The appearance of delirium and hallucinations
Other serious symptoms of mental illness are hallucinations and delusions. If a person starts hallucinating, he can talk to himself (as if responding to someone’s remarks), for no apparent reason laugh, constantly listen or keep an eye on something that other people don’t perceive, cannot concentrate on some business or conversation. Delirium is manifested by a change in attitude towards close people, a manifestation of isolation and hostility, implausible utterances (about what a person is being watched for, his greatness and the like), obvious manifestations of fear, separate obscure meaningful utterances, refusal to eat, constant complaints (such as appeals to the police) and disputes with various state organizations. You need to calmly respond to the manifestations of delirium: do not go into the details of delusional ideas and thoughts, do not ask questions, do not argue, and do not try to prove that the patient is wrong (first, such things will not affect his conviction that he is right, and secondly, they can aggravate disorder). The patient needs to be listened to, reassured, set up for communication and try to persuade to see a doctor.
Suicidal mood
Mental disorders that cause a depressed mood in a patient, in most cases lead him to thoughts of suicide. The most dangerous in this regard are disorders accompanied by hallucinations and delirium. Close ones should start to worry if the patient shows an unwillingness to make plans for the future, hears voices urging him to commit suicide, suddenly calms down after a long period of depression and begins to put things in order (writes a will, meets old friends). Therefore, all talk of suicide must be taken seriously. If you get the impression that the patient is ready for decisive action, you need to hide all dangerous objects, close windows and balconies and seek the help of professionals.