SMI includes major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (VA).
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental condition that some people develop after a shocking, terrifying, or dangerous event. These events are called traumas. After a trauma, it's common to struggle with fear, anxiety, and sadness. You may have upsetting memories or find it hard to sleep.
Relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, massage, or yoga can activate the body's relaxation response and ease symptoms of PTSD. Avoid alcohol and drugs. When you're struggling with difficult emotions and traumatic memories, you may be tempted to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs.
Get enough rest, eat a healthy diet, exercise and take time to relax. Try to reduce or avoid caffeine and nicotine, which can worsen anxiety. Don't self-medicate. Turning to alcohol or drugs to numb your feelings isn't healthy, even though it may be a tempting way to cope.
By all accounts, serious mental illnesses include “schizophrenia-spectrum disorders,” “severe bipolar disorder,” and “severe major depression” as specifically and narrowly defined in DSM. People with those disorders comprise the bulk of those with serious mental illness.
Although PTSD is considered a mental disorder, the stress that comes with it can lead to physical damage in a patient; and TBI, which is a neurological disorder, can impact thinking, learning, social skills, and communication. It is easy to see how the two conditions can entangle with detrimental effects.
Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
Anxiety disorders are severe conditions stemming from excessive worrying and rumination. People with anxiety as a mental illness have feelings of anxiety that do not go away and can interfere with daily activities such as job performance and relationships, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
PTSD can typically be a lifelong problem for most people, resulting in severe brain damage.
PTSD is included in a new category in DSM-5, Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. All of the conditions included in this classification require exposure to a traumatic or stressful event as a diagnostic criterion.
PTSD is now classified in a new category, Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders, in which the onset of every disorder has been preceded by exposure to a traumatic or otherwise adverse environmental event.
Depression. Impacting an estimated 300 million people, depression is the most-common mental disorder and generally affects women more often than men.
Five major mental illnesses — autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia — appear to share some common genetic risk factors, according to an examination of genetic data from more than 60,000 people worldwide (The Lancet, online Feb. 28).
You may be eligible for disability benefits if you have symptoms related to a traumatic event (the “stressor”) or your experience with the stressor is related to the PTSD symptoms, and you meet all of these requirements.
Triggers can include sights, sounds, smells, or thoughts that remind you of the traumatic event in some way. Some PTSD triggers are obvious, such as seeing a news report of an assault. Others are less clear. For example, if you were attacked on a sunny day, seeing a bright blue sky might make you upset.
PTSD is treatable and with professional help your brain can return to normal functioning. The leading evidence-based treatment for PTSD is Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR).
Without treatment, the psychological symptoms of PTSD are likely to worsen over time. Along with severe depression and anxiety, other serious outcomes may include: Increased suicidal ideation. Problems managing anger and aggression.
A cardinal feature of patients with PTSD is sustained hyperactivity of the autonomic sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, as evidenced by elevations in heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and other psychophysiological measures.
Panic disorder
Panic attacks are intense, overwhelming and often uncontrollable feelings of anxiety. Physical symptoms can include trouble breathing, chest pain, dizziness and sweating.