Defining Mental Illness
- Mental illness can be defined as a health condition that changes a person’s thinking, feelings, or behavior (or all three) and that causes the person distress and difficulty in functioning.
- Mental illnesses are recognized conditions that affect the brain and behavior.
- Common types of mental illnesses include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and personality disorders.
Types of Mental Illness
- Anxiety disorders - a group of illnesses that fill people’s lives with overwhelming anxieties and fears that are chronic and unremitting.
- Mood disorders - a depressive disorder in which a person alternates between episodes of major depression and mania (periods of abnormally and persistently elevated mood).
- Personality disorders - a mental illness that typically affects a person’s ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment.
- Psychotic disorders - a serious mental disorder in which a person loses contact with reality and experiences hallucinations or delusions.
- Eating disorders - a mental illness characterized by an abnormal sense of fear, nervousness, and apprehension about something that might happen in the future.
The Biology of Mental Illness
- Mental illnesses are brain disorders in the sense of weak biologism.
- The brain’s cognitive filtering system (salience network) helps us focus on important internal thoughts and external events.
- The ventral striatum and associated brain pathways driven by dopamine predict what will be rewarding or important.
- The study of brain activity in mental health conditions can provide valuable insights into the underlying causes of these disorders.
Risk Factors and Causes
- Genetic, environmental, and social factors interact to influence whether someone becomes mentally ill.
- The heterogeneity of mental disorders makes it unlikely to find reliable diagnostic biomarkers.
- The reification of mental disorders can lead to a lack of understanding of their causes and consequences.
Treatment Options
- Most mental illnesses cannot be cured, but they can usually be treated effectively to minimize the symptoms and allow the individual to function in work, school, or social environments.
- Treatment can involve both medications and psychotherapy, depending on the disease and its severity.
- The findings have implications for understanding and possibly preventing psychosis.
- The researchers plan to use existing treatments, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation or focused ultrasound, targeted at brain centers in young people at risk of psychosis.
Brain Activity and Mental Illness
- Brain scans, also known as neuroimaging, are used to detect and predict mental disorders, as well as respond to treatments.
- Brain scans can aid physicians in diagnosing medical conditions such as tumors, brain tissue damage, blood vessels, and stroke causes.
- Brain scans cannot diagnose mental illnesses on their own, but can provide clues to symptoms and physically altered brain structure.
- Neuroimaging can be used in conjunction with other medical screens to diagnose mood or behavioral disorders.
The Importance of Accurate Diagnosis
- Identifying specific brain activities related to social responses can help develop effective treatment strategies.
- Focusing on alterations in the brain networking system can provide new insights into the underlying causes of mental illnesses.
- The study of brain activity in mental health conditions can provide valuable insights into the underlying causes of these disorders.
- This knowledge can be used to develop personalized treatment plans and improve patient outcomes.
Co-Occurring Conditions
- People living with a serious mental illness are at higher risk of experiencing a wide range of chronic physical conditions.
- Conversely, people living with chronic physical health conditions experience depression and anxiety at twice the rate of the general population.
- Co-existing mental and physical conditions can diminish quality of life and lead to longer illness duration and worse health outcomes.
Addressing Stigma and Access to Health Care
- People with serious mental illnesses face many barriers to accessing primary health care.
- These barriers are complex and range from the impact of poverty on the ability to afford transportation for medical appointments to systemic barriers related to the way that primary health care is currently provided in Ontario.
- CMHA Ontario is active in supporting people to promote their mental and physical health.
Conclusion
- Mental illnesses are complex and multifaceted, and their causes are not yet fully understood.
- The biopsychosocial model suggests that mental disorders are caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.
- A new paradigm that takes into account the complexity and heterogeneity of mental disorders is needed.
- This new paradigm should be based on a biopsychosocial model that recognizes the interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors.