MILD PSYCHIATRIC PERSIONS
A psychiatric disorder is a mental illness diagnosed by a mental health professional that greatly disturbs your thinking, moods, and/or behavior and seriously increases your risk of disability, pain, death, or loss of freedom.
In addition, your symptoms must be more severe than expected response to an upsetting event, such as normal grief after the loss of a loved one.
Examples of Psychiatric Disorders
Depression
Personality disorders
Anxiety disorders
Schizophrenia
Eating disorders
Addictive behaviors
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five adults in the U.S. has some type of mental illness. This includes conditions that can range from mild to severe.
NIMH distinguishes between any mental illness (AMI), which represents all recognized mental health conditions, and serious mental illness (SMI), which involves a small and more severe subset of illnesses.
NIMH reports that in 2021, 5.5% (14.1 million) of U.S. adults over the age of 18 had a serious mental illness.
Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders
Examples of ongoing signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders include:
Confused thinking
Reduced ability to concentrate
Deep, ongoing sadness, or feeling “down”
Inability to manage day-to-day stress and problems
Trouble understanding situations and other people
Withdrawal from others and from activities you used to enjoy
Extreme tiredness, low energy, or sleeping problems
Strong feelings of fear, worry, or guilt
Extreme mood changes, from highs to lows, often shifting very quickly
Detachment from reality (delusions), paranoia (the belief that others are “out to get you,”) or hallucinations (seeing things that aren’t there)
Marked changes in eating habits
A change in sex drive
Drug or alcohol abuse
Excessive anger, hostility, and/or violence
Suicidal thinking….
