Patients with mental illness are always a group of people who are seen with fear in their eyes by others. On May 25, the National Health Commission announced the latest data, as of the end of 2017, the total number of people with mental disorders nationwide reached 243.264 million, with a high overall morbidity rate of 17.5%. Over 16 million people suffer from severe mental disorders, surpassing 1% in prevalence, and this number continues to grow year by year.
Today, let’s understand what common psychological disorders exist?
01. Depression
Depression is the most common psychological disorder nowadays, characterized by continuous and prolonged low mood as the primary clinical feature, and is the most important type of mental illness in modern society. Patients may experience prolonged feelings of sadness, unhappiness, low mood, ranging from feeling down to extreme sadness, feelings of worthlessness, pain, pessimism, despair, negativity, avoidance, and even suicidal tendencies and behaviors. Patients may also experience somatic symptoms like chest tightness and shortness of breath.
02. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD belongs to a type of anxiety disorder, characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior as the main clinical manifestations of a neuropsychiatric disorder. It is characterized by the coexistence of conscious compulsions and counter-compulsions. Some meaningless, even against one’s own will thoughts or impulses repeatedly invade the patient’s daily life. While patients are aware that these thoughts or impulses originate from themselves and resist them, they still cannot control them. The intense conflict between the two leads to significant anxiety and distress, affecting learning, work, social interactions, and even daily life.
03. Phobia
Phobia, originally known as neurotic fear, refers to an unusually intense fear and tension when encountering certain external situations, objects, or interactions with people. It can lead to symptoms such as blushing, shortness of breath, sweating, palpitations, blood pressure changes, nausea, weakness, and even fainting, causing avoidance reactions. Patients are aware that these fearful reactions are excessive or irrational, but they still recur repeatedly, making it difficult to control. They strongly avoid the objective things or situations that cause fear, or face them with fear, affecting their normal activities.
04. Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety disorder, also known as anxiety neurosis, is the most common type of neurosis among a large class of mental illnesses, characterized by significant anxiety emotions. It can be divided into chronic anxiety, generalized anxiety, and acute anxiety, panic attack, two forms. The main manifestations include: tension and worries without a clear objective object, restlessness, and autonomic dysfunction symptoms such as palpitations, tremors, sweating, frequent urination, and motor restlessness. Attention should be paid to differentiate normal anxiety emotions. If the severity of anxiety is significantly disproportionate to objective facts or situations or persists for a prolonged period, it may be pathological anxiety.
05. Insomnia
Insomnia refers to long-term dissatisfaction with the quality and quantity of sleep. Symptoms include difficulty falling asleep, shallow sleep, waking up easily, frequent dreams, early awakening, difficulty falling back asleep, post-waking discomfort, fatigue, or daytime drowsiness. Insomnia can lead to patient anxiety, depression, or fear, resulting in decreased mental efficiency and hindering social functioning.
06. Dementia
Dementia reflects the profound impact of the aging process on mental disorders in our country, divided into vascular dementia and senile dementia. The former is the result of long-term cerebrovascular disease, while the latter is further divided into early-onset dementia and senile dementia. Their common feature is the increasing unalterable decline in intelligence and memory, with severe cases failing to recognize their family or loved ones, causing frequent incidents of wandering, and even leading to an inability to self-care, loss of mobility and inability to control excretion.
07. Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic disease with unknown causes, often starting subacutely or slowly in young adulthood, manifesting clinically as varied syndromes involving disturbances in perception, thought, emotion, behavior, and lack of coordination in mental activities. Patients generally have clear consciousness and basic normal intelligence, but some patients may experience impaired cognitive function during the course of the illness. The disease course is usually prolonged, with recurring, worsening, or worsening episodes. Some patients eventually experience regression and mental disability, but others can maintain a state of recovery or basic recovery after treatment with medications and psychotherapy.
08. Autism
Autism, also known as autism or autistic disorder, is a representative disease of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). The DSM-IV-TR classifies PDD into 5 types: autism, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger syndrome, and unspecified PDD. Autism and Asperger’s syndrome are the most common. The prevalence of autism varies, generally considered to be about 2 to 5 per 10,000 children, with a male-to-female ratio of about 3 to 4:1, with boys being 3-4 times more affected than girls.
09. Personality Disorders
Personality disorder refers to noticeable deviations from normal personality traits, resulting in a consistent abnormal behavioral pattern that reflects one’s individual lifestyle and interpersonal relationships. This pattern significantly deviates from specific cultural backgrounds and general cognitive methods (especially in interpersonal aspects), affects social and vocational functions, causes poor adaptation to the social environment, resulting in a great deal of pain for the individual, often perceived as a “weirdo” by others.
10. Anorexia Nervosa
1. Anorexia nervosa is an eating abnormality commonly found in adolescent girls, characterized by deliberately restricting diet to significantly lower body weight than normal standards, resorting to excessive exercise, inducing vomiting, or using laxatives to reduce weight.
2. Often overly concerned about gaining weight, even if significantly underweight, still feeling too fat, and explanations from medical professionals are ineffective.
3. Some patients may use reasons such as stomach discomfort and decreased appetite to explain their restrictive eating habits. Often associated with malnutrition, metabolic and endocrine disruptions, women may experience amenorrhea, men may experience reduced sexual function, and pre-pubertal patients may exhibit underdeveloped sexual organs. Some patients may have intermittent binge eating episodes.
Therefore, it is essential to increase our awareness of mental health, intervene as early as possible, and below are ten common triggers of psychological abnormalities. Hopefully, we can all face the challenges in our lives objectively.
01. Changes in Relationships and Family
In modern society, the psychological problems caused by emotional setbacks and marital changes are increasing.
Heartbreak is undoubtedly a painful emotional experience. The partner who has experienced heartbreak will suffer greatly due to the difficulty of letting go of the relationship. The feelings of loss can intensify the degree of psychological imbalance, and some people may develop psychological issues or engage in irrational and extreme behaviors, causing irreparable harm to themselves and others.
With the shifting societal perspective and increasing emphasis on marital quality and expectations, the divorce rates in our country are also on the rise.
Individuals affected by divorce, especially women, often cannot withstand the impact of such changes, resulting in psychological harm. According to a survey, about 70% of divorced individuals in our country feel excessively stressed, highlighting the great need for psychological support and assistance among this group.
02. High Work Stress
As the overall pace of society accelerates, urban white-collar professionals are especially burdened by high-intensity work pressures.
Many of them are in a state of high tension for extended periods, often without timely adaptation, leading to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and in severe cases, causing psychological disorders or mental illnesses.
From a physiological perspective, if a person’s mind is always highly tense, it can disrupt hormonal balance and weaken immunity, leading to various physical and mental illnesses, even contributing to “death from overwork.”
03. Psychological Dependence on the Internet
While the Internet has significantly simplified modern life and work, its negative effects cannot be ignored.
Especially for young people, the vast majority have a keen interest in the internet, making it a significant part of their lives.
While some internet use is beneficial, due to the widespread use of smartphones, the boundaries between real life and the internet have become blurred. However, excessive internet use to escape reality, avoid facing personal failures in reality, or evading genuine feelings of powerlessness can undoubtedly lead to problems, damage social function, and potentially result in mental illnesses.
04. Exacerbation of Psychological Pressure due to Poverty
This group mainly comprises the unemployed and financially disadvantaged college students.
Some individuals, after being laid off from work and struggling to find new employment or hesitant to start over, can easily find themselves in awkward situations, especially adults with families. Carrying a burden of guilt toward the family, combined with the dual effects of psychological and economic pressures, can create beliefs of psychological distress and even lead to family breakdown.
Concerns about “poor students” have always been a sensitive topic in higher education. For some financially disadvantaged students entering higher education, economic hardships coupled with vanity can exacerbate conflicting emotions, increasing the likelihood of developing psychological issues.
05. Impatience and Pursuit of Quick Gains
Some individuals have a tendency for quick gains and are unable to handle failure well.
Due to high expectations of success and reluctance to exert too much effort, they seek instant success, hoping to achieve disproportionately high results with minimal effort. However, reality often does not change according to one’s desires, leading to disappointment and despair.
Some individuals work hard to achieve their goals but constantly add pressure to themselves, demanding too much, resulting in an overpowering feeling of disappointment. This can trigger neurotic disorders such as depression or anxiety disorders.
06. Overwhelming Academic Burden
It is widely acknowledged that students, especially middle and high school students, are among the most stressed individuals.
They face piles of unread books and review materials daily, and the earnest expectations of parents and teachers make them feel overwhelmed. Currently, various degrees of psychological illnesses, from primary school to university students, are common.
Exam stress can lead to symptoms such as delayed overreactions, restlessness, learning fears, depression, and reluctance to study.
Academic pressure is often just the trigger, with the root cause lying in family dynamics and parent relationships. Some children, in an attempt to save their struggling families, exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms, relying on psychiatric drugs to treat what should be their parents’ emotional issues.
If a child shows significant emotional problems, parents must self-reflect on whether they are burdening the child with unnecessary responsibilities, transferring their anxiety about the future onto their children, or drawing emotional demands from partners to fulfill instead.
07. Excessive Spoiling of Only Child
Many only children display difficult traits such as self-centeredness, selfishness, poor social skills, and lack of adaptability; issues that parents and schools struggle to address but the roots of which lie in the parents’ treatment of the child.
Excessive pampering by parents can create psychological imbalances in children, akin to a ticking time bomb, causing significant damage once detonated.
Parents’ indulgence can lead to mental health issues in children, resembling a time bomb, with devastating effects once it detonates.
