Mental Health

• Around 20% of adults are affected by some form of mental disorder every year.

• Anxiety disorders affect around 14% of the adult population every year. Depression affects around 6% of the adult population every year. The remainder are affected by substance abuse disorders, psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, personality disorders, and other conditions. Many people have more than one diagnosis.

Types of mental illness

• Depression• OCD- obsessive compulsive disorder• Psychosis• Bipolar disorder• Schizophrenia• Post traumatic stress• Borderline personality disorder• Anxiety

Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety disorders include generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias. Common to all of these is an anxiety, so overwhelming it can interfere with a person’s ability to function day-to-day.

• A person may experience more than one anxiety disorder. Some may also experience depression with the anxiety, or have problems with alcohol or drug abuse.

What are the symptoms?Anxiety can present in many different ways. Some of the things that people with anxiety may experience are:•Excessive fear and worry• Feeling tense and restless• Trouble concentrating •Feeling like your mind has gone blank

Anxiety may also involve a wide range of physical sensations including:•Pounding heart• Shortness of breath •Dizziness• Sweating• Muscle tension •Headaches Fatigue• Difficulty sleeping.

What causes Anxiety Disorders?

• The causes are not fully understood. It is likely that a particular anxiety disorder is a result of several interacting factors and is affected by stressful life events and personality traits.

• How many people develop Anxiety Disorders?Every year, around 14% of all adult Australians are affected by an anxiety disorder. Women are affected more than men.

What can you do to manage anxiety?

• Education - involves learning about anxiety, understanding signs

and symptoms of anxiety and available treatment options. • Reaching out for support - talk to your family or a trusted friend

about your problem

• Monitoring - learning to monitor anxiety including what triggers it

• Challenging irrational, worrisome thoughts by replacing them with a more balanced way of thinking - often a person will need help with this and he/she may need to see a trained professional like a counsellor or psychologist

• Making positive lifestyle changes - for example, regular exercise, improving diet Learning and practice relaxation techniques - for example, controlled breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, yoga Reducing alcohol and other drugs

Getting help• If your anxiety is getting in the way of your life

it may help to seek professional support. There are many services and individuals who can help you to develop ways of coping with anxiety, for example:

• Kids Helpline • School counsellors • Doctor or psychiatrist • Psychologist

What is Bipolar Disorder?• Bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic-

depression) is an illness, a medical condition. It affects the normal functioning of the brain, so that the person experiences extreme moods — very high and over-excited or very low and depressed. The person may be affected so much that he or she experiences the symptoms of psychosis, and is unable to distinguish what is real. The symptoms generally react well to treatment, and most people with bipolar disorder recover well from episodes of the illness.

What are the symptoms?• People with bipolar disorder can become high,

over-excited and reckless, or imagine that they are more important or influential than they are in real life. They can also become extremely low, feeling helpless and depressed, with difficulty making decisions or concentrating. Some people mainly experience highs. Some experience mainly lows, and some experience both extremes — becoming profoundly depressed or over-excited. The person may then behave in an uncharacteristically irrational or risky manner.

What causes Bipolar Disorder?

• The causes of bipolar disorder are not fully understood. As with any other illnesses, they are likely to be a combination of hereditary and other causes, but a genetic predisposition to develop the illness has been clearly established by scientists.

• How many people develop Bipolar disorder?Up to two in a hundred people will develop bipolar disorder at some time in their lives.

How is Bipolar Disorder treated?• Treatment can do much to reduce and even eliminate

the symptoms. Treatment should generally include a combination of medication and community support. Both are usually essential for the best outcome.

• MedicationCertain medications assist the brain to restore its usual chemical balance and help control the mood swings and depression. The symptoms of bipolar disorder generally react well to medication.

• Community support programsThis support should include information; accommodation; help with finding suitable work, training and education; psychosocial rehabilitation and mutual support groups. Understanding and acceptance by the community is also very important.

What is Depression?

• Clinical depression is an illness, a medical condition. It significantly affects the way someone feels, causing a persistent lowering of mood. Depression is often accompanied by a range of other physical and psychological symptoms that can interfere with the way a person is able to function in their everyday life. The symptoms of depression generally react positively to treatment.

What are the symptoms?

• Depression has a variety of symptoms and will affect everyone in different ways. Symptoms include: feeling extremely sad or tearful; disturbances to normal sleep patterns; loss of interest and motivation; feeling worthless or guilty; loss of pleasure in activities; anxiety; changes in appetite or weight; loss of sexual interest; physical aches and pains; impaired thinking or concentration.

• Every year, around 6% of all Adult Australians are affected by a depressive illness.

What causes Depression?• There are a number of possible causes of depression. • Depression can be a reaction to a distressing situation like

loss or stress (reactive depression). Some women experience depression following the birth of a child (post-natal depression).

• Depression can be part of an illness like bipolar disorder in which the person experiences extreme moods without any reason –very high and very-excited or very low and depressed.

• Depression can be unrelated to any outside cause, but associated with a chemical imbalance in the brain (endogenous depression). Sometimes the person may be affected so much that he or she experiences the symptoms of psychosis and is unable to distinguish what is real.

• Children and teenagers can also become depressed. This can show itself in different ways to depression in adults, and they are best helped by a doctor who is a specialist in this area.

How is depression treated?• Treatment can do much to reduce and even eliminate the symptoms

of depression. Treatment may include a combination of medication, individual therapy and community support. Sometimes electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can be helpful too.

• MedicationCertain medications assist the brain to restore its usual chemical balance and help control the symptoms of depression.

• Individual therapyA doctor, psychologist or other health professional talks with the person about their symptoms, and discusses alternative ways of thinking about and coping with them.

• Community support programsThis support should include information; accommodation; help with finding suitable work; training and education; psychosocial rehabilitation and mutual support groups. Under-standing and acceptance by the community is also very important.

What is Schizophrenia?• Schizophrenia is an illness, a medical condition. It

affects the normal functioning of the brain, interfering with a person’s ability to think, feel and act. Some do recover completely, and, with time, most find that their symptoms improve. However, for many, it is a prolonged illness which can involve years of distressing symptoms and disability.

• People affected by schizophrenia have one ‘personality,’ just like everyone else. It is a myth and totally untrue that those affected have a so-called ‘split personality’.

What are the symptoms?• If not receiving treatment, people with

schizophrenia experience persistent symptoms of what is called psychosis. These include:

• Confused thinkingWhen acutely ill, people with psychotic symptoms experience disordered thinking. The everyday thoughts that let us live our daily lives become confused and don’t join up properly.

Continued symptoms

• DelusionsA delusion is a false belief held by a person which is not held by others of the same cultural background.

• HallucinationsThe person sees, hears, feels, smells or tastes something that is not actually there. The hallucination is often of disembodied voices which no one else can hear.

What causes Schizophrenia?

• The causes of schizophrenia are not fully understood. They are likely to be a combination of hereditary and other factors. It is probable that some people are born with a predisposition to develop this kind of illness, and that certain things — for example, stress or use of drugs such as marijuana, LSD or speed — can trigger their first episode.

How many people develop Schizophrenia?

• About one in a hundred people will develop schizophrenia at some time in their lives. Most of these will be first affected in their late teens and early twenties.

How is Schizophrenia treated?• Treatment can do much to reduce and even eliminate the

symptoms. Treatment should generally include a combination of medication and community support. Both are usually essential for the best outcome.

• Medication: Certain medications assist the brain to restore its usual chemical balance. This then helps reduce or get rid of some of the symptoms.

• Community support programsThis support should include information; accommodation; help with finding suitable work; training and education; psychosocial rehabilitation and mutual support groups. Understanding and acceptance by the community is also very important.

What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental disorder. People affected by BPD frequently experience distressing emotional states, difficulty in relating to other people, and self-harming behaviour.

• Between two and five per cent of the population are affected by BPD at some stage in their lives. The symptoms of the disorder usually first appear in mid to late teens or in early adulthood. Women are three times more likely to be diagnosed with BPD than men.

• The causes of BPD are not fully understood. They are likely to be a combination of biological and life factors. It is thought that many people with BPD have experienced abuse, trauma or neglect during childhood, and that this may have contributed to development of the disorder.

What are the symptoms?• People with BPD have persistent difficulty relating to

other people and to the world around them. This can be very distressing for the person and for those who care for them.

• Symptoms include: • Deep feelings of insecurity

Difficulty coping with fear of abandonment and loss; continually seeking reassurance, even for small things; expressing inappropriate anger towards others whom they consider responsible for how they feel; a fragile sense of self and one’s place in the world.

• Persistent impulsivenessAbusing alcohol and other drugs; spending excessively; gambling; stealing; driving recklessly, or having unsafe sex.

• Confused, contradictory feelingsFrequent questioning and changing of emotions or attitudes towards others, and towards aspects of life such as goals, career, living arrangements or sexual orientation.

• Self-harmCausing deliberate pain by cutting, burning or hitting oneself; overdosing on prescription or illegal drugs; binge eating or starving; abusing alcohol and other drugs; repeatedly putting oneself in dangerous situations or attempting suicide.

What is the treatment?• The most effective treatment usually involves a

combination of, psychological therapy, medication and support.

• Medication alone does not ‘fix’ BPD. It can be helpful, however, in the management of some symptoms, such as depression, anxiety and mood swings.

• Longer term psychiatric treatment may be provided by a GP or community mental health services – a clinic with specialist health workers treating people in their local area.