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Addiction: A condition in which an individual is unable to stop using a substance or stop engaging in a behaviour.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): This is a behavioural condition that makes focusing on everyday requests and routines challenging. People with ADHD usually have trouble getting organised, staying focused, making realistic plans,and thinking before acting.
Agoraphobia: This is a type of anxiety disorder in which you have extreme or irrational fear of being unable to escape and avoid difficult places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped or embarrassed.
Alzheimer’s Disease: It is a progressive mental deterioration that occurs in middle or old age due to generalised degradation of the brain. It destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is the commonest cause of premature senility.
Amnesia: Amnesia refers to the loss of memories, such as facts, information and experiences. Though forgetting your identity is a common plot device in movies and television, that’s not generally the case in real-life amnesia. Instead, people with amnesia also called amnestic syndrome usually know who they are.
Anorexia Nervosa: Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric disorder characterised by an unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. The individual is obsessed with becoming increasingly thinner and limits food intake to the point where health is compromised. The disorder may be fatal. The name comes from two Latin words that mean nervous inability to eat.
Antidepressants: Antidepressants are medications that can help relieve symptoms of depression, social anxiety disorder, anxiety disorders, seasonal affective disorder and dysthymia, or mild chronic depression, some chronic pain conditions, and to help manage some addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting.
Antipsychotic: This is a general term applied to several classes of drugs employed in the symptomatic management of various psychotic conditions, especially the schizophrenias and states of excitements.
Anxiety: Is the body’s natural response to stress. It is an uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or worry about something that is happening or might happen in the future.
Autism Spectrum Disorder: ASD previously known as autism, is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.
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Bereavement: Bereavement is a period of mourning or or state of intense grief, especially following the death of a loved one.Bereavement is often a process that includes going through several stages of grief. Bereavement can also be used more generally to mean the state of having lost something very dear
Bipolar Disorder: Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. There are three types of bipolar disorder. All three types involve clear changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. These moods range from periods of extremely “up,” elated, irritable, or energised behaviour (known as manic episodes) to very “down,” sad, indifferent, or hopeless periods (known as depressive episodes). Less severe manic periods are known as hypomanic episodes.
Burnout: Burnout is a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion often caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
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Child Behaviour Disorders: involve a pattern of disruptive behaviours in children that last for at least 6 months and cause problems in school, at home and in social situations. Nearly everyone shows some of these behaviours at times, but behaviour disorders are more serious. They may involve; inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity,etc.
Chronic illness: Chronic diseases are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.The stress and trauma of going through a chronic illness can make one more liable to develop a mental disorder.
Cognition: Cognition refers to the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.
Compulsion: Compulsions are repetitive behaviours or mental acts that a person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession. The behaviours typically prevent or reduce a person’s distress related to an obsession.
Compulsive Gambling: It is also called gambling disorder, is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling means that you’re willing to risk something you value in the hope of getting something of even greater value.
Coping mechanisms: Coping mechanisms refers to conscious and unconscious strategies people often use in the face of stress and/or trauma to help manage painful or difficult emotions. Coping mechanisms can help people adjust to stressful events while helping them maintain their emotional well-being.
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Delirium: Delirium is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment. The start of delirium is usually rapid — within hours or a few days. Causes of delirium can be alcohol, drugs, dementia, infections, etc.
Delusion: A belief or altered reality that is persistently held despite evidence or agreement to the contrary, generally in reference to a mental disorder.
Dementia: Dementia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with your daily life. It isn’t a specific disease, but several diseases can cause dementia. Though dementia generally involves memory loss, memory loss has different causes.
Depressants: A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug that lowers neurotransmission levels, which is to depress or reduce arousal or stimulation, in various areas of the brain. Depressants are also colloquially referred to as downers as they lower the level of arousal when taken.
Depression: Depression is classified as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. It is a common mental health problem that involves low mood and loss of interest in activities.
Developmental Disabilities: Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behaviour areas. These conditions begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
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Eating Disorders: An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviours that negatively affect a person’s physical or mental health.
Exhaustion: This generally refers to a feeling of fatigue or lack of motivation, that can be physical, mental, or both.
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Gaslighting: this is a strategy employed by an abuser to manipulate someone by psychological means into doubting their own sanity, perceptions and memory.
Grief: is the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you love is taken away. Sometimes, the pain of loss may feel overwhelming as one could be dealing with difficult and unexpected emotions, from disbelief, to guilt, and profound sadness. The pain from dealing with guilt can also disrupt your physical health. If grief feels too heavy to bear, you should reach out for help.
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Learning Disabilities: A childhood disorder characterised by difficulty with certain skills such as reading or writing in individuals with normal intelligence. Learning disabilities affect the ability to interpret what one sees and hears or the ability to link information from different parts of the brain.
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Mood Disorders: A mood disorder is a mental health problem that primarily affects a person’s emotional state. It is a disorder in which a person experiences long periods of extreme happiness, extreme sadness, or both.
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterised by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive and compulsive behaviours.
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Personality Disorders: text
Postpartum Depression: PPD is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and behavioural changes that happen in some women after giving birth.Those who develop postpartum depression are at greater risk of developing major depression later on in life.
Panic disorder: is a mental and behavioural disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks, and having a constant fear of panic attacks.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Prader-Willi Syndrome: A genetic disorder that causes obesity, intellectual disability and shortness in height. Prader-Willi syndrome is a genetic disorder usually caused by deletion of a part of chromosome 15 passed down by the father. The most common symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome are behavioural problems, intellectual disability and short stature. Hormonal symptoms include delayed puberty and constant hunger leading to obesity.
Psychiatrist: A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (an M.D. or D.O.) who specialises in mental health, including substance use disorders. Psychiatrists are qualified to assess both the mental and physical aspects of psychological problems.
Psychological Stress: Psychological stress is defined as “a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being”. It can either be good stress (eustress), or bad stress(distress).
Psychologist: A person who specialises in the study of mind and behaviour or in the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioural disorders.
Psychotherapy: is a treatment that doesn’t involve the use of drugs. In mental health, Psychotherapy can involve cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance commitment therapy, which is a talk therapy. Many times, therapy is used in combination with prescription medicine to treat mental health disorders and usually improve the results you get from the medicine. Psychotherapy is also a general term for treating mental health problems by talking with a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health provider. During psychotherapy, you learn about your condition and your moods, feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
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Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD): Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a condition where a child doesn’t form healthy emotional bonds with their caretakers (parental figures), often because of emotional neglect or abuse at an early age. Children with RAD have trouble managing their emotions.
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Sadness: Sadness is a normal human emotion that everyone feels from time to time. When a person feels sad, the feeling is dominant but can be relieved by venting, crying, exercising or other methods of releasing emotion. Although sadness varies in intensity, one constant fact is that it is a temporary feeling.
Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behaviour that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.
Self-Harm: Self-harm is intentional behaviour that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one’s own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Self-harm is when you hurt yourself as a way of dealing with very difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences.
Seasonal Affective Disorder: A mood disorder characterised by depression that occurs at the same time every year. Seasonal affective disorder occurs in climates where there is less sunlight at certain times of the year. Symptoms include fatigue, depression, hopelessness and social withdrawal.
Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety disorder, sometimes referred to as social phobia, is a type of anxiety disorder that causes extreme fear in social settings. People with this disorder have trouble talking to people, meeting new people, and attending social gatherings. They fear being judged or scrutinised by others.
Stimulant: are a class of drugs that speed up messages travelling between the brain and body. They can make a person feel more awake, alert, confident or energetic. Stimulants include caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine.
Stress: Stress is a feeling of physical or emotional tension. It can come from a physical event or thought that makes you feel tense. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. Sometimes, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you to meet a deadline. Prolonged stress however, has a negative effect on mental health.
Substance use/abuse: It refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol, pain medications and illicit drugs. It can lead to physical, social or emotional harm.
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Trauma: is a deeply distressing, stressful or disturbing experience. Psychological trauma is a response to such an event. Not everyone who experiences a stressful event will develop trauma, however for those who do, it could be short lived or have lasting effects.
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Wellbeing: also known as wellness or quality of life, refers to what is ultimately good for a person, what is in the self-interest of this person. Being in a state of mental wellbeing means one is coping well with social interactions, life circumstances and is well adjusted.
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