|
|
|
CONTENTS |
What is mental illness? The answer to this question can and is a hard one to explain, but I will do my best to try and explain it to you. As we are aware there are so many different types of mental illnesses and they can range from mild to serious forms. Some of these illnesses have similar symptoms to other illnesses but are treated differently, and often enough given a name of their own due to the different and unique nature of that particular illness. (See Illnesses page) It is believed that mental illnesses are caused by either a genetic disorder and passed on through families this way, other ways and probably one of the most common types of illness is caused by a depletion of a hormone that we all have called Seratonin. This hormone is responsible for sending clear and accurate messages throughout our brain. When the Seratonin levels deplete this causes us to begin to feel depressed etc, the more the levels deplete the more serious the illness can become. A normal and healthy person can naturally raise their Seratonin levels without help from medication where as a person with a mental illness hasn't the natural ability to raise the Seratonin levels by themselves, this is where medication is used to help top up this hormone level. As the Seratonin depletes, it also can affect the neuro transmitting nerves that deliver the messages to our brain. When this happens all sorts of things begin to happen, as the messages being sent through the brain are broken during the transmitting of them.
Here is a kind of explanation to help you understand it easier: As we all know a car or machinery doesn't operate and function well without petrol, oil, sparkplugs and so on. And as these deplete in the car's system the car begins to break down, due to one of the above reasons. Well our brain isn't much different, just that it needs the correct amount of Seratonin to run and function properly and get the correct messages sent to our brain through our neuro transmitting centre.
Depending on the illness and severity of it, depends on what type of symptoms and experiences the person will have, even though a person may be diagnosed with same illness as another person doesn't necessarily mean they will have the exact same symptoms as them. This is what can make Mental Health Illnesses so confusing and frightening to people at times, including the person with the illness. Some Mental Health Illnesses are passed on through the family via genetics. Basically what this means is that some of the illnesses as in Bi-Polar (manic) Depression and Schizophrenia can be passed down through the genes of the parents etc to their children. So it is also very important to know if there is a history of any type of Mental Illness in your family tree structure. A lot of people also live their lives without knowing that they have a form of Mental Illness, even though they have the symptoms and characteristics of having one. How can this be you ask? Easy, they are not diagnosed properly or at all, and therefore continue to live their lives in a very difficult, hard and possibly dangerous atmosphere. (I know this for a fact as I was mistreated and misdiagnosed for 15 years with my Borderline Personality Disorder. So I lived all those years wondering what was wrong, why I was like I was, and behaving the way I did.) I am not the only person to experience this, there are thousands out there living with a mental illness and suffering and not knowing what is happening to them.
|
|
This website designed and
maintained by Shae's Boutique.
|
