Problem

Mental illness


Experimental visualization of narrower problems
Other Names:
Mental disorders
Loss of mental function
Psychotic and non-psychotic mental disorders
Impairments of mental function
Mental deficit
Neuropsychiatric disorders
Psychiatric conditions
Nature:

Mental illnesses are characterized by disorders of the psyche, or mind. The view of objective reality is impaired, as are also the patient's self-correctness, his attitudes towards others and his behaviour. Some mental diseases are the result of primary affection of the brain, followed by a disturbance of the body as a whole. Others are caused by diseases of particular organs, with secondary disturbance of mental functions. They may be manifested in a variety of disorders: false sensory impressions, disturbances in thinking or mood, disturbances of consciousness and memory, and intellectual decline. Three types of mental illness are delineated; the psychoses (including schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis) constituting the most important group. The second group are nervous and mental disorders, including neuroses, psychopathies, and other nonpsychotic diseases. The third category is mental retardation.

The course of mental disease varies from single or rare attacks with complete remission, to severe, chronic psychoses with gross disorganization of mental activity and deterioration into feeblemindedness.

Significant mental disorder is clinically defined as a significant behavioural or psychological dysfunction that is associated with (a) present distress (a painful symptom) or (b) disability or impairment of functioning or (c) with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability or an important loss of freedom. Another definition of mental illness is a non-organic, social-psychological disorder in which the individual is unable to protect his ego or social self sufficiently to participate in ordinary social life and obtain at least a minimal degree of social and psychological rewards.

Incidence:

In 1984, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that at least 40 million people worldwide suffer from severe mental disorders, 20 million suffer from epilepsy, 200 million are incapacitated by less grave mental and neurological conditions, and countless millions are affected by alcohol and drug related problems. A study released that same year in the USA showed that 18.7% (or nearly one in five) of the adult population suffers from at least one mental disorder and a well-known British psychologist has said that a child born in the UK today stands a ten times greater chance of going to a mental hospital than to a university.

In 2001, the World Health Organization reported that mental and neurological disorders – ranging from depression to Alzheimer's and epilepsy – affect 400 million people globally and are set to surge in the next two decades. By 2020, it was predicted that depression would jump to be the second greatest cause of death and disability worldwide, following ischaemic heart disease.

References:
Guttentag: The Mental Health of Women
Nerozzi, Dina, et al: Hypothalmic Dysfunction in Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Johnstone, Jay and Talley, Rick: Temporary Insanity
Foucault, Michel: Madness and Civilization: a history of insanity in the age of reason
Porter, Roy, et al: The Anatomy of Madness
Menninger, W Walter and Hannah, Gerald: The Chronic Mental Patient-II
Szasz, Thomas S: The Manufacture of Madness
Brenner, M Harvey: Mental Illness and the Economy
Egenter, Richard and Matussek, Paul: Moral Problems and Mental Health
Warr, Peter: Work, Unemployment and Mental Health
Miles, Agnes: Women and Mental Illness: the social context of female neurosis
Grunebaum, Henry, et al: Mentally Ill Mothers and Their Children
Tsuang, Ming T and VanderMey, Randall: Genes and the Mind: inheritance of mental illness
Claridge, Gordon: Origins of Mental Illness: temperament, deviance and disorder
Black, Bertram J: Work and Mental Illness: transitions to employment
MacSweeney, D: The Crazy Ape: sanity, madness, your brain, and you
Nunnally, Elam W, et al: Mental Illness, Delinquency, Addictions, and Neglect
Brockington, I F and Kumar, R: Motherhood and Mental Illness
American Health Research Institute and Bartone, John C: Neurotic Disorders: medical subject analysis and research guide
Anchell, Melvin: Sex and Insanity
Hatfield, Agnes B and Lefley, Harriet P: Families of the Mentally Ill: coping and adaptation
Carone, Pasquale, et al: Mental Health Problems of Workers and Their Families
Watson, Douglas, et al: Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Deafness
Smith, Robert J: The Psychopath in Society
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
Problem Type:
D: Detailed problems
Date of last update
14.09.2021 – 18:20 CEST