There are many types of mental illness that you may experience. Depression and anxiety are the most common and well-known.
Depression is a type of mental illness marked by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, difficulty sleeping or sleeping soundly, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies.
Types of depression include major depression, Dysthymia, Cyclothymia, Postpartum, Seasonal Affective and Bipolar disorder.
- Major depression is a mood disorder having one or more episodes of serious psychological depression that last two or more weeks each.
- Dysthymia is characterized by chronic, mild depression.
- Cyclothymia is a mood disorder characterized by alternating episodes of depression and elation in a form less severe than that of bipolar disorder.
- Postpartum is a type of depression experienced after childbirth.
- Seasonal Affective disorder is a type of depression that tends to occur as days grow shorter in the fall or winter.
- Bipolar depression is a mood disorder characterized by alternating episodes of depression and mania.
Anxiety is a type of mental illness that is an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physiological signs (as sweating, tension, and increased pulse), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt regarding your ability to cope with it. Anxiety comes in a general form sort of like year-round allergies. Anxiety can also manifest as panic attacks that are episodes of intense fear or apprehension that is of sudden onset and may occur for no apparent reasons or as a reaction to an identifiable triggering stimulus (as a stressful event). Anxiety is often accompanied by heart palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, or feelings of unreality.
Anxiety and depression are types of mental illness that tend to go hand-in-hand; one is seldom found without the other.
What makes mental illness so common is that it can be found in other illnesses such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s. In fact, as many as sixty million Americans may have a form of mental illness at some point during the year.
Other types of mental illness that you may experience include Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by our Veterans and other people too. Developmental Trauma, a form of PTSD, is a mental illness whose seeds are sown in your childhood.
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