Intermittent mental illness is a common type of mental disorder, where patients may experience personality changes, emotional instability, and abnormal behavior when under excessive mental stress or stimulated by their surroundings. Severe intermittent mental illness can also lead to violent behavior, so active treatment is necessary to prevent the condition from worsening. So, specifically, what is intermittent mental illness?
What is intermittent mental illness?
Currently, intermittent mental illness is just a legal concept and is not related to psychiatry. Medical classifications of mental illnesses have varying degrees of remission periods, where only when fully remitted, the symptoms of mental illness disappear, the mind returns to normal, and the patients appear normal. Individuals with criminal offenses are held criminally responsible. If intermittent mental illness is in a remission phase and still exhibits personality changes, abnormal behavior, and causes harm, it generally results in deemed limited liability.
How is intermittent mental illness treated?
1. Medication Treatment
Intermittent mental illness is usually treated with medication, whether traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine, both can have certain therapeutic effects. By taking sedatives and nerve-nourishing medications to improve the condition, the occurrence of intermittent mental illness can be reduced. Western medicine generally has more obvious effects and acts faster, while traditional Chinese medicine mainly aims to improve the condition through regulation.
2. Behavioral Therapy
Patients with intermittent mental illness can alleviate the condition through behavioral therapy by keeping them in a good and comfortable environment, engaging in outdoor activities, interacting with others, eliminating feelings of inferiority and tension, which greatly aid in the recovery from mental illness. Additionally, it is important to avoid exposing patients to adverse environments or sudden stimuli.
3. Psychological Therapy
Psychological therapy greatly helps in improving intermittent mental illness. With the assistance of a psychologist, patients can effectively stabilize their emotions, overcome negative emotions, thus reducing the frequency of mental illness episodes significantly.
From the above discussion, it can be understood that although intermittent mental illness presents similar symptoms to mental disorders, it is not classified as a mental illness. It exists solely as a legal concept and serves as a reference standard in criminal cases. Furthermore, the triggering mechanisms of intermittent mental illness are not clear, often without identifiable inducing factors, and even if there are psychological factors, they are insignificant. Additionally, due to diseases with similar presentations like reactive psychosis, cyclical mental illness, schizoaffective disorder, depression with psychotic features, etc., it is essential to rule out these similar conditions before making a definitive diagnosis.
