• Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
• Delirium
• Trichotillomania
• Tardive Dyskinesia

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Regards,

Natalie Williams

Mental disorders have long been a taboo subject in our society. This is perhaps the reason for which the number of those affected is much larger than the number of those who get treatment. It is estimated that about every person in ten suffers from one form of mental problem and there are some that consider this figure a gross underestimate. The key here is information. Mental health is not a distant utopia to be reached, quite the opposite. Modern psychology has devised many techniques which can do more than help, but can actually cure. Many people fear of becoming a pariah after admitting that they have a mental problem. What they fail to understand is that most people usually recognize a mental illness, so this really is no excuse. Facing the mental condition is really the only way forward, as it will better your life and let you get rid of the dreaded effects that such conditions usually carry.

What Is Mental Wellness?

Perhaps the single most difficult task related to mental health is to define what mental wellness is. It is extremely easy to recognize a mental disorder, but it is much harder to recognize an individual which is healthy from a mental standpoint. This occurs due to the fact that all people will pass at some point of another through some unpleasant experiences which will certainly lead to some negative emotions: sadness, fear, frustration or rejection. Experiencing these feelings doesn’t mean that someone is not mentally healthy. It is quite normal and these are part of our life. When these feelings cross the barrier and start having more acute forms is the stage when mental wellness is being threatened. The prejudice that must be defeated here is that professional help must not be sought only when there is no other choice. A psychiatrist can be considered more of a balance bringer person rather than a healer. If you feel “down” for a long period of time, don’t be afraid to consult such a person, not necessarily to treat a mental illness, but to preserve your mental wellness.

Promoting Mental Health Through Information

If you are not sure of what a certain mental illness is or which are the general symptoms associated with a certain one of them, browse around and you will likely find much more than that. We have tried to offer support for those in need and at least some hints towards the next step. Also try to keep in mind that it is easier to prevent than to heal. While some conditions are next to impossible to prevent, there are some steps that can be made to stop the situation getting worse or avoid it altogether. Mental illnesses are as serious as just about any other disease and in some cases much more dangerous as they tend to strike indiscriminately no matter of gender or age as strike in the only part of our body that cannot physically recuperate: the brain. Mental health is not just a matter of fad or a recent invention of humankind as illnesses of this type are as old as humanity, only now though we have the courage to face this issue with responsibility and knowledge. And this my friends is a victory of our times.

Mental Health Archive’s Mission

This site was created as an information center. While I do not pretend to offer any medical advice, I have developed a collection which hopefully will lead those affected by a mental illness towards the right path. Keep in mind that although the articles here are quite comprehensive, you should not base your decisions entirely on them nor diagnose others or yourself based solely on them. A psychiatrist should be immediately contacted if you discover some of the signs usually associated with a mental disorder. I also hope that if you encounter other people affected by this illnesses you will learn how to deal with them and that you will understand them better.

Delirium, in medical terms, covers a great variety of symptoms and its meaning may be slightly different from one doctor to another. A few core symptoms though are recognized by all physicians. Delirium typically consists of a reduced awareness of the environment, an inability to maintain or shift focus, irritability, cognitive alterations such as memory impairment, drowsiness, sleepiness, sometimes hallucinations, which occurs for a relatively short period and which manifests in an acute fashion. Given that very often delirium is associated with dementia or depression, it is quite common to be misdiagnosed. Delirium is also most of the time present in elderly, frail people and quite often is a sign of a much more serious condition, which leads us to:

What Provokes Delirium

The causes of delirium can be extremely diverse. The biggest percentage of the cases occur due to medication, under hospital conditions. Drugs such alcohol, LSD, methadone can also produce delirium either by ingesting or by withdrawal. Psychic disorders such as dementia, depression or mania are also a risk in this direction. More common causes of delirium can be infections, fever, head trauma, traumatic experiences or accidents. This wide variety of causes can provoke quite an extensive array of delirium types. The most easily recognized form is the one in which the patient is hyperactive, as doctors have more behavior patterns to be recognized, but there are cases, especially in those affected by depression where delirium is hypoactive, when the patients are silent and withdrawn that makes delirium very hard to detect. This wide array of delirium forms, make standardization of the therapy method extremely difficult and most of the times the doctor will simply try to alleviate the source of problem rather than the delirium symptoms in themselves.

Why Detecting Delirium Is Important

Delirium is very often a symptom which indicates a very serious health condition, which must be treated. When you go to the doctor accompanying a patient affected by delirium, it is for the best that you try to describe completely the medical history, so the physician can quickly identify the cause. Delirium also holds a relation to high morbidity and decease rate across the elder segment of the population. This is why it is absolutely imperative that even at the smallest sign, a person experiencing delirium should contact a doctor. Reaction time can often make the difference between a healthy recovery and death. Delirium in itself doesn’t mean anything, but the association it bears with a great number of very dangerous health conditions make it a clear sign that a check is in order.

Treating Delirium And Recognizing The Signs

When delirium occurs in hospital conditions the trained medical staff can usually handle the situation. In more common conditions though, delirium is much harder to recognize especially in patients with a psychological history. The best indicator of delirium is the abrupt behavioral change experienced. It is important to learn to recognize other types of delirium like delirium tremens and “excited delirium” as delirium occurs all of a sudden. Treating delirium should ideally be performed by trained staff as again the underlying cause must be treated. However there are several things that can help alleviate this condition such as the enforcement of a proper diet, perception recovery (usage of glasses or hearing aid), means to establish the current time and place (clocks, calendar, uncovered windows) and a constant aid presence (if possible).

Is There A Cure For Tardive Dyskinesia?

In some cases tardive dyskinesia is incurable. The most important step that can be done after discovering this condition is the stopping or if that’s not possible the reduction of the intake of neuroleptic drugs. There are some hopes though at the horizon as several drugs have been found to at least decrease the intensity of the symptoms. The therapy strategy is usually done at individual level in order to achieve maximum benefits. Given that prolonged exposure to the neuroleptic group of drugs might further damage the situation, it is very important that tardive dyskinesia is diagnosed and acted upon as soon as possible. Keep in mind that if someone takes these harmful drugs for a long enough period, they will almost certainly develop this condition. The figures stand as it follows: after the first year of neuroleptic drugs usage one twentieth of the patients develop this condition, after the second year another twentieth follows, after the third year a tenth joins the group and after the fourth 15% more of the patients follow. This means that after 4 years of use, a person has about one chance in three to develop this condition, and the counting keeps going up as there is no apparent stalling barrier.

The Challenges Surrounding Tardive Dyskinesia

To make things worse, there are cases of tardive dyskinesia that appear long after the treatment has been discontinued. This obviously makes the condition much harder to diagnose. The good news is that the newer drugs from the neuroleptic group available on the market, seem to have a lower risk of tardive dyskinesia attached to them. The best solution obviously would be to find alternative drugs to replace these altogether. Given the extensive experience gained in treating other people with chronic intoxications and through programs that aim specifically tardive dyskinesia, there are several candidates to improve the condition if not heal altogether of those affected by this illness. To this date though, there is no general cure with a decent success rate.

Getting Rid Of Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is very hard to defeat alone. A combination of therapy and medication is used to fight it. The medication is primarily used in the early stages of the treatment to alleviate stress and lower the intensity of the urge. Therapy is based on several behavioral techniques, which attempt to make the patient aware of the times when hair pulling is most likely to occur and how to redirect their impulses towards non-harmful actions. This method is called habit reversal training and starts with the assumption that hair pulling is a learned action, which most of the times obviously is. Alternative techniques focus more on identifying the causes of hair pulling, analyzing and then removing them. To be able to get rid of trichotillomania, the most important step is acknowledging that the condition is present. The shame and the fear of the parents’ or friends’ reaction often makes the one who suffers unwilling to step through this basic step. This is why an understanding of this psychological condition is crucial and the most important thing to understand is that it is an illness, which must be treated, not just a bad habit.

Living With Trichotillomania

Therapy indeed has its place in alleviating trichotillomania, but this compulsive disorder is a chronic one, so although the urge to pull hair might recede or change focus, it will still be there. It is necessary to avoid the conditions that normally lead to such an act and work toward getting out of the circle constantly. The purpose is not to reduce the amount of hair pulled, but stop it altogether. As a parent, if you have experienced trichotillomania it is safe to presume that your child will be at risk of developing such a condition too, so a constant, discrete watch would be helpful. It is important to stop this condition as soon as possible, because as previously stated hair pulling is a learned action, which can be unlearned and transformed into a harmless habit. It is also important to remember that girls are more prone to this psychological condition than boys.

The very definition of excited delirium is subjected to controversy. In a very strict sense excited delirium is a symptom characterized by a drastic disturbance in the patient’s behavior caused by the persistent abuse of drugs, usually cocaine. Recently though, excited delirium has been used to define a syndrome, usually appearing in exceptional stressful situations like arrests by the police. No matter of the definition though, the patient will try to unrestrain himself, will become aggressive and confrontational. Obviously with no accepted definition in place, the media attention that this issue has attracted lately didn’t make things any easier. In order for such a condition to be dealt with, it must first be recognized. The number of deaths associated with excited delirium also adds to the media frenzy and fuels the confusion.

Why Is Excited Delirium Difficult To Recognize?

As strange as it might seem, excited delirium is actually very hard to diagnose in the place where it occurs most often: the police station. The reason is fairly simple: the complex of symptoms associated with this condition do occur on a regular in such places. Erratic behavior, aggressiveness even delirious states are not uncommon. Also given the fact that excited delirium also usually translates in violent arrests also means the policemen are less likely to identify this issue and confuse it with the patient’s normal behavior. On top of this the excited delirium syndrome is not actually a disease, but merely a symptom, which further adds to the chaos. The increase incidence of such cases is most likely linked with the increase of cocaine consumption in some areas. Despite popular belief, this sort of medical condition does not necessarily appear due to an overdose, but also in the case of chronic users who consume relatively small amounts, which extends the population segment at risk greatly.

What Will Happen Next?

As unfortunate as it might seem, excited delirium and its associated drug consumption cause will stay with us for a very long time. The only real answer to make this deaths stop is the complete destruction of the cocaine underground market, either by educating people of its potential lethal effects, or by stopping those who trade. The amount of controversy surrounding this issue, caused by the deaths of some people, while in police custody, will probably trigger an awareness response from the police force, which should be able to recognize in the future such a condition, or modify their mode of operating such as to avoid these tragic accidents.

Can Excited Delirium Be Cured?

Excited Delirium is not a disease, but a symptom, so in order to get rid of it you must remove the primary cause, in this cause the consumption of cocaine. Although the most obvious signs of excited delirium occur in the behavior patterns, what is truly dangerous is the condition of the circulatory system. Most of the deaths occur due to vasoconstriction (the tightening of the blood vessels) and heart failure. If you consume cocaine and you observe signs like increased pulse or fever try relaxing and avoiding stress. The risk of excited delirium is much more increased in the case of chronic cocaine consumers, so it is highly recommendable that you seek medical advice if you encounter these early symptoms. It is a matter of life and death in the most literal way possible.

Delirium tremens is a state of delirium caused by alcohol withdrawal or abstinence. It only occurs in chronic drinkers and is manifested through a high degree of agitation (the patient can even become violent), confusion, hallucinations, usually visual (disturbing images of insects, bats, rats, snakes and other similar pictures) that can sometimes be associated with tactile hallucinations (a distinct feeling that something is crawling on the patient’s skin), very strong and uncontrollable shaking and a severe psychiatric condition (anxiety attacks, paranoia, delusion). Of course not all of these signs are present, but only a part of them. Typically, delirium tremens occurs within the first day after the patient has stopped drinking, but there are cases when this sort of disorder occurs even three days afterwards.

Some Facts About Delirium Tremens

As men tend to be the most heavy drinkers, they are the ones most affected by delirium tremens. This trend has been altering during the last decade as more women began to drink. There is an estimated ratio of five to one between the males and females who have suffered a delirium tremens episode. What is not very commonly acknowledged id the fact that delirium tremens can kill. There is an estimated one chance in three for someone to die, if the patient suffers a delirium tremens attack and does not receive proper medication, that chance drops to one in twenty if medication is received. Typically this disorder is manifested in more elderly adults, with the peak age group being between 35 and 40 for men and slightly higher for women (as they usually begin consuming larger quantities of alcohol later in their life). About a tenth of all heavy drinkers suffer this condition. These statistics, no matter how grim they are, apply though only to delirium tremens caused by alcohol withdrawal. There is also alcoholic hallucinosis, which is a different state altogether and is caused by a large concentration of alcohol in organism and which is less fatal

What Causes Delirium Tremens And How Can It Be Fought

Delirium tremens occurs due to the perceived unbalance in the body. Alcohol consumption increases the quantity of a certain group of neurotransmitters, while the receptors become less sensitive to them. This occurs in order to maintain a balance in the body. When the alcohol intoxication stops, the quantity of these neurotransmitters suddenly drops, but the receptors remain highly insensitive. So what can be done to fight delirium tremens? The first thing a patient must do is put himself under medical control. If the abstinence is begun under medical supervision, the chance of developing delirium tremens drops radically as there is medication that can help. Also, a healthier way of life (regular sleep, proper diet, proper vitamin intake) can also diminish the chance further still. Even if delirium tremens occurs, if the patient is under medical supervision, the symptoms will be less drastic and the mortality rate drops to an insignificant amount. The medication used consists of sedatives from the category of benzodiazepines (Valium being the most common of them) and in rare cases anti-psychotic drugs. There are however several approaches which can decrease the intensity of the crises, especially the intensity of the hallucinogenic episodes. A bright room, without much decoration can help. The most effective way of combating delirium tremens though is prevention and prevention can only be done with the help of doctors. Programmed alcohol withdrawal in a specialized clinic can be treated in such a fashion that the occurrence of delirium tremens is greatly decreased and when it happens the symptoms are also much less aggravated. The bottom line is that if you decide to stop drinking, do it in a controlled environment. The transition will be easier, there will be other people which have passed through what you are passing willing to help and you will face lower risks.

Body dysmorphic disorder is a condition in which a person has a distorted or greatly exaggerated vision of his own physical defects. What causes body dysmorphic disorder is still subject to debate, but as psychiatrists usually diagnose this disorder based on the behavior of the patient, it can be inferred that there are actually several conditions grouped under one name. Most of the time the patients suffer either from depression, compulsive behavior or anxiety attacks. As science progresses there will be no doubt a deeper understanding on this subject and more effective healing methods will be developed. However at this point the options are rather limited and confusion often occurs due to the many contradicting symptoms associated with body dysmorphic disorder. Why is this condition dangerous? Well, mostly because it won’t allow an individual to properly function in a society and thus he or she will have a less joyful life and in some cases even attempt suicide.

What Are The Symptoms Of Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

As previously said body dysmorphic disorder is usually associated with several behavior patterns. These consists mostly from the person attempting to cover their perceived defect, problems at work or in the social life due to the same reasons, repeated attempts to repair their defect through cosmetic surgery, compulsive behavior towards the respective area (attempting to touch it or hide it all the time) and so on. It isn’t hard to realize that just about anyone has undergone such traumas, at least once in their life. Up to a point this is relatively normal, but when this condition becomes an obsession, steps must be taken. Contrary to popular belief the numbers of people affected are equally divided among the male and female population.

What Can I Do To Get Rid Of Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Genuine body dysmorphic disorder does not simply go away. As a matter of fact, most of the time, the condition worsens over an extended period. This means that you must act. Try to understand that medication is an alternative that can truly make a difference, while there are no over the counter drugs available for this condition it is crucial that you contact a psychologist to see which medication is best suited for you. However the most important tool that you have at your disposal is your mind. When treating body dysmorphic disorder, the most common method used is cognitive behavior therapy. What this method implies is that the actions of a person are far more important than its look. This simple sentence can change your life. What a victim of body dysmorphic disorder must do is realize that the defect is far from outreaching. There is no need to compare with other persons, or feel guilty about their look. There is nothing to be ashamed of. The most important thing is the way you deal, the way you relate and the way you socialize. Make a conscious attempt to not hide your defect and act like it is simply not there. Quite often this is enough to break the cycle, as you will see that other people are not disturbed at all by the way you look. Prevention though works best in defeating the body dysmorphic disorder. In order to confront this condition prior to appearing you must be aware of its signs. It is quite difficult to recognize this condition on your own. Usually obsessive rituals like constant mirror checking, a perceived withdrawal from the social life are the most recognizable early symptoms, but the reaction of those close to you is perhaps the best indication as they can more objectively assess your condition. Seek the help of your family and try to break this condition in its context. It is estimated that the number of people affected by this condition is much higher than the official statistics show. Many of these affected are not even aware of their disorder. This is why recognizing the disease in its early stages is crucially important.

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