“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”- Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Everything only exists in the mind. Indeed, whatever we think have a great influence on how we behave and that is usually the system. It starts with cognition, then it’s put to action. But, what happens when the mind goes awry? Would this mean that the behavior also functions abnormally? Definitely. The mind is a very powerful part of us that somehow, whatever it thinks becomes seemingly genuine for the individual when actually it is not. When this happens, our entire personality is affected and could have an impact in our lives as well as affect the people around us.
Psychiatric disorders are mental health disorder. It is a clinically significant pattern that occurs in an individual that is associated with present distress such as a painful symptom, disability, or a significantly increased risk of death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this pattern must not be merely an expected and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event. For example, the loss of a loved one. Some examples of mental illnesses are schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. A person is diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder when one experiences the following symptoms: confusion; erratic behavior; hearing voices; hallucinations; headaches; depression; anxiety; fatigue; weight loss; anorexia. If a person has three or more of these symptoms, then he/she might have a psychiatric disorder.
Mental disorders do not have definite causes. However, a mixture of biological, psychological, and environmental factors would add to the acquirement of certain mental disorders. Some biological factors consist of genetics, prenatal damage, and substance abuse. Exploitation of substance could affect the chemical stability in the brain which can lead to it’s dysfunction. Psychiatric disorders can also be hereditary. Schizophrenia for example, had been found to be genetic. Psychological and environmental factors may include abuse. These experiences could have an impact on the person’s well being and thus if emotional wounds are not immediately mend, these could lead to mental disorders.
Psychiatric disorders are treated with therapy- behaviors or cognitive, and medications. Antidepressants are used for individuals who are clinicall depressed and anxious. Anxiolytics are used for anxiety disorders. This can be also used by people afflicted insomnia. Anxiolytics stabilizes moods for bipolar disorders and antipsychotic for psychotic disorders. Furthermore, electroconvulsive therapy is sometimes used in severe cases when other interventions for depression have failed. Creative therapies such as music, art, and drama therapy are sometimes used. Also, in line with the cognitive-behavioral therapy, lifestyle adjustments and supportive measures are used such as support groups.
Some disorders are transient and some may last a lifetime. Somehow, the given treatment will never take away the disorder but will only lessen the symptom to be able to make an individual live a normal life. A few disorders may be very inadequate in their functional effects, while some may engage substantial disability and support needs.
There is no choosing on who can be affected with psychiatric disorders. Based on varying personalities, an individual could possibly develop a disorder of the mind depending on how he/she react to stimulus around his or her environment such as stressful events in one’s life. For example, a loss of a loved one is a traumatic yet natural phase in a person’s life. Everyone in this lifetime will really experience loss. Grieving, getting angry, and feeling pain are natural reactions to loss. But everything has its limits. Thus, the negative feeling soon subsides and is replaced with hope and strength so as the person tries to recover from the loss. On the other hand, when one’s negative emotion such as sadness does not subside, the diagnosis is different. When an emotion goes ahead to the dysfunction of the life of an individual, the individual is sure to need professional help. We can say that this individual has acquired a mental disorder due to not recovering from the loss.
Our own minds will always serve us our prison cells.Anyone can always say that being happy is a state of mind yet we must also take into account that being sad is also a state of mind.
