EMOTIONAL
Anxiety is the body’s natural response to stress, a feeling of apprehension about what is to come or of impending danger. Anxiety is often a normal occurrence in everyday life, however, if it is extreme, pervasive, recurrent, and interfering with one’s quality of life and functioning, it may be an anxiety disorder. This manifesting anxiety may cause one to stop doing things they once enjoyed. In extreme cases, it may prevent them from entering an elevator, crossing the street, or even leaving their home. If left untreated, this anxiety can keep getting worse. Anxiety disorders are the most common form of emotional disorder which can affect anyone at any age. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (severe, ongoing anxiety interfering with daily activities); Panic Disorder (experiencing recurring panic attacks at unexpected intervals); Phobia (excessive fear of a specific object, situation, or activity); Social Anxiety Disorder (extreme fear of being judged by others in social situations); Agoraphobia (fear of places and situations that might cause panic or helplessness) and Separation Anxiety Disorder (fear of being away from home or loved ones) are some of the most common anxiety disorders.
In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), people experience recurring, unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts, ideas or images (obsessions) that make them feel driven to act out a behaviour repetitively (compulsions). The repetitive behaviours, such as hand washing, checking on things or cleaning, can significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions. Some common obsessions include fears of contamination/germs, causing harm (hitting someone with a car), making mistakes (leaving the door unlocked), disasters (causing a fire by keeping the gas on), certain numbers, unwanted violent thoughts (harming a loved one), blasphemous thoughts, sexual thought (visualizing sexual images), etc. Common compulsions include washing and cleaning, checking, repeating, counting and so on.
Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition that causes changes in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. The mood episodes are categorized as manic/hypomanic (abnormally happy or irritable mood) or depressive (sad mood). These mood changes typically last for days and are experienced as being highly debilitating. They lead to difficulty with going about one’s daily routine and with social interactions. People with bipolar disorder generally also have intermittent periods of neutral mood. When treated with medication and therapy, people with bipolar disorder can lead full and productive lives. Bipolar disorder is a category that includes three different diagnoses: bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder.
Depression is a common but serious mental illness that negatively affects how one feels, the way they think and how they act. Depression causes feelings of intense sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyed. It can lead to a range of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are two forms of depression. PDD is a chronic form of depression that’s less severe than MDD, but lasts for years.
PTSD is psychological condition that occurs after exposure to a traumatic or life-threatening event, including one during which a person witnesses the trauma occurring to someone else. The afflicted person may experience a recurring array of symptoms including night terrors, flashbacks, evasion of triggers identified with the traumatic event, extreme tension, restlessness, hyperarousal, hypervigilance and numbness or even furious upheavals or outbursts. PTSD can be a result of the death of a loved one, engagement in military combat, serious accidents and injury, natural disasters, immigration, acts of terrorism, sexual or physical assault during any phase of life or any circumstance that is experienced as life-threatening.
