FACTS ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS
Bipolar: Mood disorders are conditions that cause people to feel intense, prolonged emotions that negatively affect their mental well-being, physical health, relationships and behaviour. In addition to feelings of depression, someone with bipolar disorder also has episodes of mania. Symptoms of mania may include extreme optimism, euphoria and feelings of grandeur; rapid, racing thoughts and hyperactivity; a decreased need for sleep; increased irritability; impulsiveness and possibly reckless behaviour.
Depression: A major depressive disorder — usually just called “depression” — is different than the “blues.” Someone experiencing depression is grappling with feelings of severe despair over an extended period of time. Almost every aspect of their life can be affected, including their emotions, physical health, relationships and work. For people with depression, it does not feel like there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” — there is just a long, dark tunnel.
Schizoaffective disorder: A serious mental illness that affects about one in 100 people. Schizoaffective disorder as a diagnostic entity has features that resemble both schizophrenia and also serious mood (affective) symptoms. Many of the strategies used to treat both schizophrenia and affective conditions can be used for this condition, and they include antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing drugs, family involvement, self care peer support and psychotherapy. (Source: National Alliance on Mental Illness.)
Schizophrenia: It is a mystery, a puzzle with missing pieces. This complex biochemical brain disorder affects a person’s ability to determine what is reality and what is not. It is as though the brain sends perceptions along the wrong path, leading to the wrong conclusion. People with schizophrenia are affected by delusions (fixed false beliefs that can be terrifying to the person experiencing them), hallucinations (sensory experiences, such as hearing voices talking about them when there is no one there), social withdrawal and disturbed thinking.
Twenty per cent of Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime.
About eight per cent of adults will experience major depression at some time in their lives.
About one per cent of Canadians will experience bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia also affects one per cent of the Canadian population.
A complex interplay of genetic, biological, personality and environmental factors causes mental illnesses.
Almost half (49 per cent) of those who feel they have suffered from depression or anxiety have never seen a doctor about this problem.
Stigma or discrimination attached to mental illnesses presents a serious barrier, not only to diagnosis and treatment, but also to acceptance in the community.