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1. Mental illness is common. Statistics show that one in every five Canadians will have a mental health problem at some point in their lives.
2. 4 myths about mental illness are:
a) People with mental illness are violent and dangerous - Actually, people with a mental illness are no more violent than a "normal" person. Most times, they are the victims of violence.
b) People with mental illness are poor and/or less intelligent - Actually, they have the same intelligence as people without a mental illness, or sometimes an even greater amount of intelligence.Many studies show that most mentally ill people have average or above-average intelligence. Mental illness affects everyone, regardless of intelligence or how rich or poor they are. They are just like normal people.
c) Mental illness is caused by a personal weakness - Mentally ill people are just that... ill, which has nothing to do with weakness.
d) Mental illness is a single, rare disorder - Mental illness is not a single disease because there are so many types of disorders such as depression, eating disorders, etc., which cause a lot of tears for thousands of Canadians each year.
3. Schizophrenia is known as a biological disorder of the brain. The reasons for this being caused are unknown, but there are many theories. Schizophrenia usually "hits" a person between the ages of 16 to 30, and affects 1 out of every 100 people. Some symptoms of this illness are delusions and/or hallucinations, social withdrawal, lack of motivation, and thought disorders, to name a few.
4. In order to help treat schizophrenia, a number of medications can be taken to help bring biochemical imbalances in schizophrenic people closer to normal. The medications can lessen hallucinations, etc., and help control thoughts. Sometimes though, they can have serious side effects. Also, therapy for everyone affected by this disease is available. It can offer much understanding and suggestions for helping with the emotional parts of the disorder, and living less stressfully. Families can help too. If they work closely with doctors and professionals, they can learn more about the illness, and how to support people with schizophrenia by opening the doors of communication.
5. Bi-polar disorder (manic depression), is a mental illness in which there are periods of serious depression, followed by extreme mood swings which may or may not be related to events in the person's life. This disorder affects 1% of the population, and starts it's havoc during late adolescence/early adulthood.
6. Some symptoms of bi-polar disorder are feelings of euphoria, extreme optimism, exaggerated self-esteem, rapid speech, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, extreme irritability, impulsive and potentially reckless behaviour. Sadly, these are only some of the symptoms of this illness.
7. Self injury is a mental illness which refers to horrific acts that cause harm to oneself by means of cutting themselves, burning themselves, hitting themselves, scratching or picking at their wounds, pulling their hair, and inserting objects into their body. Cutting is most common in today's youth. It all depends on the way you look at it... sometimes smoking, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, bingeing on food, or staying in a relationship that is abusive can be looked upon as self-harm.
8. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association website, one survey concluded that approximately 13% of adolescents who responded had engaged in self injury.
9. Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that causes a person to have low self-esteem and a very strong desire to be in control of things that happen around them, as well as their emotions. This mental illness is a unique reaction to things such as stress, anxiety, unhappiness and feeling like life is out of control. Anorexia is an anything-but-postive way to cope with these emotions. Research indicates that for sufferers of anorexia, the environment around them plays a huge role. The sufferer of this illness may be very obsessed with the way they look, especially their weight. They are very scared of being perceived as fat, or have an even bigger fear of becoming fat, although not all people suffering from anorexia have this fear. They may just want some control in their lives, and they do this by starving themselves. With a low self-esteem and a need for acceptance, anorexic people will start dieting or starve themselves as a way to control not only their weight, but their feelings and actions... and the emotions that are attached to them. Some also feel that they do not deserve the pleasure that eating brings. Some signs of anorexia can be obsessive exercise, calorie and fat gram counting, starvation and restriction of food, self-induced vomiting, the use of diet pills, laxatives or diuretics to attempt controlling weight, and obsessing about their body image.
10. Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder that causes a person to binge on food, and then throw it up. They'll eat a large amount of food in a little amount of time, and then take laxatives or purge because they feel that they can't cope with their emotions and to do this is the only way out. Another reason they do this is to punish themselves for something they should blame themselves for. Those suffering from Bulimia may binge and purge in order to avoid or let out feelings of anger, depression, stress or anxiety. Research shows that like Anorexia, the environment around people with Bulimia plays a big role in their lives. Sufferers of this eating disorder are usually aware that they have this illness. Food fascinates them, so they sometimes buy magazines and cook-books. They also enjoy discussing dieting issues. Some signs of Bulimia are recurring episodes of rapid food consumption followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting), a feeling of lacking control over his or her eating behaviors, regularly engaging in stringent diet plans and exercise, the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, and/or diet pills and a persistent concern with body image. It is important to note that purging may mean using laxatives, or it may mean self-induced vomiting, but there are Bulimics who use other ways of doing this type of thing. Some will engage in compulsive exercise to attempt to burn off the calories of a binge, or they will fast the day following a binge. It is not uncommon for a sufferer of Bulimia to take diet pills or to use diuretics to try to lose weight. A sufferer will often hide food for later binges and will often eat in secret.
11. Binge Eating Disorder is a mental illness that involves a person periodically going on large binges, consuming an unusually large quantity of food in a short period of time (less than 2 hours) uncontrollably, and/or eating until they are uncomfortably full. People with this illness are usually above average weight, or overweight, and the sufferers have a really difficult time losing and/or controlling their weight. Unlike Bulimia, sufferers do not purge following a binge episode. The reason for their binge eating is a way to hide from their emotions, to fill an empty space they feel inside, and to cope with their problems. Binging can be used as a way to ward off people, to maintain an overweight appearance to cator to society's sad stigma "if I'm fat, no one will like me," as each person suffering may feel undeserving of love. Like Bulimia, binging can also be used as self-punishment for feeling they did something wrong. Sufferers of this disorder are at risk of heart attack, high blood-pressure and cholesterol, kidney disease and/or failure, arthritis and bone deterioration, and stroke. Binge eating episodes are associated with the following: eating much more rapidly than normal, eating until feeling uncomfortably full, eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry, eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating, feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or feeling very guilty after overeating. Binge eating usually occurs 2 days a week for 6 months. Binge eating is not associated with regular use of inappropriate behaviors (purging, fasting, excessive exercise) and does not occur exclusively during the course of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
a) Eating, in a discrete period of time (eg, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
b) A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
12. Pica, a much less common eating disorder, is an eating disorder that involves cravings for eating, chewing, or licking non-food items or food containing no nutrition value. This can include plaster, paint chips, glue, rust, cigarette ashes, etc. and the disorder might be linked to certain mineral deficiencies, such as zinc or iron. Pica can be associated with developmental delays, mental problems, or a family history of the eating disorder. There may be psychological disturbances that lead to this disorder as well, such as the condition in which a child’s family is poor, or a child who doesn’t get enough love and support.
Prader-Willi Syndrome is a condition that is present at birth and is thought to be caused by an abnormality in the genes. Children born with this illness may have early feeding problems that lead to tube feeding, and often have behavioral and/or mental problems.
The person with Prader-Willi Syndrome has an insatiable appetite. This can lead to obesity, stealing, and eating pet foods or foods that have gone bad. This sort of appetite is caused by a defect in the hypothalamus -- a part in the human brain that regulates hunger -- that causes the sufferer to never feel full. There may be disorders when sleeping and abnormalities, fits of rage, a higher tolerance for pain, behaviors such as picking or scratching at the skin, and even psychoses.
The physical problems associated with this illness can be delayed. Motor development, abnormal growth, speech impairments, stunted sexual development, poor muscle tone, dental problems, obesity and diabetes type II may be all delayed. A person with this syndrome may live the normal life expectancy if he/she controls their weight.
Prader-Willi Syndrome is one of those rare conditions that puts a great amount of stress on the families involved. It is very important to get diagnosis early and to find medical and emotional support.
13. Depression can be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods. But true clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for an extended time. Depression can be mild, moderate, or severe. The degree of depression, which your doctor can determine, influences how you are treated.
14. Depression that occurs during pregnancy or within a year after delivery is called perinatal depression. The exact number of women with depression during this time is unknown. But researchers believe that depression is one of the most common complications during and after pregnancy. Often, the depression is not recognized or treated, because some normal pregnancy changes cause similar symptoms and are happening at the same time. Tiredness, problems sleeping, stronger emotional reactions, and changes in body weight may occur during pregnancy and after pregnancy. But these symptoms may also be signs of depression.
15. Postpartum psychosis is rare. It is often referred to as "when a woman loses touch with reality."Women who have bipolar disorder or another psychiatric problem called schizoaffective disorder have a higher risk for developing postpartum psychosis.
16. Symptoms may include delusions, hallucinations, sleep disturbances, and obsessive thoughts about the baby. A woman may have rapid mood swings, from depression to irritability to euphoria
17. It occurs in 1 or 2 out of every 1000 births and usually begins in the first 6 weeks postpartum.
18. Andrea Yates, the woman who drowned her five children in a bathtub, citing the false testimony of a prosecution witness. Jurors in 2002 sentenced Yates to life in prison in the 2001 deaths of three of her children: Noah, 7, John, 5, and Mary, 6 months. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two, Luke, 3, and Paul, 2.
19. Yates -- who had suffered from severe postpartum depression
20. She drowned her 5 children and it was a really big court case, considering that they aren't able to find the answer to the question if Andrea really knew what she was doing, if she knew right from wrong, or if she was really insane when she murdered her 5 children. It is also a good idea to have it in the news because it will show people what will happen if mental diseases such as Yates' Postpartum depression, aren't treated right away, or diagnosed wrong.