How Mental Health Affects the Brain

Hello! This blog will discuss multiple aspects of mental illness and how it affects the brain.

What is Mental Illness?

Mental illness is a type of health condition that changes the way that a person thinks, feels, and behaves. There is a vast range of the different psychological disorders that can happen to a person, such as Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Schizophrenia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and many more. A study in 2021 states that approximately fifty seven million people struggle with mental health issues in the United States of America. Mental illness is becoming a serious and common problem among many people.

Symptoms of Mental Illness:

It is important to keep in mind that there are many types of mental illnesses, which have their own symptoms; however, this blog will give a general overview of the symptoms that tend to happen with people who struggle with mental health issues.

• Drastic changes in mood

• Difficulty with concentrating on a task

• Changes in social life

• Avoidance of participating in activities

• Destructive behavior

• Thoughts of death

• Acts of self-harm

• Delusions

• Risk-taking behaviors

What causes Mental Illness?

Mental illness can be caused my a variety of factors, such as, genetics, environmental factors, trauma, stressful events, imbalance of chemicals in the brain, unhealthy habits. Specific aspects can trigger specific mental health disorders, but the factors that are listed above were to give a general overview of the causes of mental illness.

Treatment Options:

Treatment options will vary depending on the type of mental illness and the severity of it. Before treatment is done, it is important that lab tests, physical exams, and psychological evaluations are done to check for complications of the diagnosis. Some common treatment options for mental illnesses are taking medication, psychotherapy, and brain stimulation therapy. Psychotherapy is a type of treatment that helps a person struggling with mental illness with changing the troubling emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. Brain stimulation therapy is a treatment option that is typically used in severe cases of mental illness and uses electricity to stimulate sites into the brain.

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Resources:

"Early Signs and Intervention with Mental Illness." Better Health Channel - Better Health Channel, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/early-signs-and-intervention-with-mental-illness.

"Information About Mental Illness and the Brain - NIH Curriculum Supplement Series - NCBI Bookshelf." National Center for Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20369/.

"Mental Health Disorders: Types, Diagnosis & Treatment Options." Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22295-mental-health-disorders.

"Mental Illness - Diagnosis and Treatment - Mayo Clinic." Top-ranked Hospital in the Nation – Mayo Clinic, 13 Dec. 2022, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20374974.

"Mental Illness." National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.

"Warning Signs of Mental Illness." NAMI California, 27 Apr. 2021, namica.org/warning-signs-of-mental-illness/.