Understanding Mental Health: Causes, Types, and Treatment

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH
MENTAL HEALTH
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1MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health comprises social, mental and emotional health of an individual, which
effects the way to think, act and feel. Conferring to WHO, psychological health is demarcated
as a health condition in which an individual understands their own capabilities, and try to
cope up with the usual stress or worries of life, and can work efficiently and productively in
order to make an influence or contribution to their community (Who.int 2019). Conferring to
Spitzer, Endicott and Franchi (2018), psychological health is defined as the absence of
behavioural or mental disorder to maintain a suitable balance between work, love and rest. It
is also characterized as behavioural, social and emotional maturity to work efficiently with no
psychological barriers. Psychological health is a condition of psychological and emotional
well-being, where a person is capable to use or practice their emotional and cognitive
capabilities, and enhances their function in the society to meet upto the usual demands of
routine life with absence of any psychological illness (Mentalhealth.gov 2019).
Mental health is considered as the resilient determinant of healthy life that affect the
quality of life in the later future. There are various factors that distresses the mental comfort
of a person, which in turn helps the person to be psychologically fit and effectively involve in
the community by maintaining a healthy balance in their individual life (Aina 2018). Any
kind of psychological trauma or illness, affects the health of an individual by directly
affecting their brain chemistry that in turn contribute towards mental disorders. The factors
contributing to the psychological well-being are included as follows (Betterhealth.vic.gov.au
2019):
 Sense of stability, safety and belonging
 Happy and healthy relationship and social network
 Regular exercise
 Positive outlook
 Capability to adapt any change

2MENTAL HEALTH
 Healthy self-respect
 Excellent problem-solving capability
 Economic stability
 Fulfilling an enjoyable career
 Positive religious or spiritual beliefs
 Sense of love and trust
 High self-confidence
Mental illness denotes to an extensive range of psychological health disorders that affect
or distress the mood, behaviour and thinking of an individual. Mental illness makes an
individual miserable and affect the daily activity of life that include example like depression,
eating disorder, anxiety disorders, addictive behaviour and schizophrenia (Grob 2019). Many
people suffer from psychological health concern but the concern turns into an illness when
the symptom of frequent stress and distress increases that affect the decision-making ability
of an individual. Hence, mental illness can be defined as a disorder that leads to severe
disturbance in the behaviour or thought process of a person, making them incapable to cope
up with the demands of life. Approximately 200 different types of psychological illness is
present that include few common disorder like anxiety, bipolar disease, schizophrenia and
dementia. Mental illness is caused due to various factors like genetic factor, biochemical
imbalance and environmental stress (Ellis, Palmer and Einstein 2017). There are various
signs of psychological illness liable on the circumstances, illness and other factors that differ
from one individual to another depending on their severity of mental illness. Therefore, the
symptoms of mental illness influences the thoughts, behaviours and emotions of an
individual.
There are different categories that is denoted as mental illness, the most common types
include are anxiety disorder, psychotic disorder, mood disorder, personality illness, eating

3MENTAL HEALTH
disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and impulse control
and addiction disorder (Mentalhealth-uk.org 2019).
 Anxiety disorder- The person suffering from anxiety disorder react to certain
conditions with dread and fear accompanied with physical symptoms of stress and
anxiety like sweating and prompt heartbeat. Anxiety disorders comprises panic
disorder, specific phobias, communal anxiety disorder and comprehensive anxiety
disorder.
 Mood disorder- This is also termed as affective disorder that involve determined sense
of sadness or variations from extreme pleasure to sadness. Mood disorder comprises
depression, cyclothymic disorder and bipolar disorder (Fried et al. 2017).
 Psychotic disorder- This disorder includes distorted thinking and awareness that often
lead to hallucination and delusions. Schizophrenia is considered as an example of
psychotic disorder.
 Eating disorder- This disorder includes extreme attitudes, behaviours and emotions
involving food and weight. Eating disorder comprises bulimia nervosa, binge eating
illness and anorexia disorder (Ehsan and Silva 2015).
 Instinct control and obsession disorder- In this disorder, an individual is unable to
control their impulses or urges to execute acts, which can be dangerous for them and
for the society. This disorder comprises compulsive gambling, kleptomania and
pyromania.
 Personality disorder- The people suffering from this disorder witness inflexible and
extreme personality character, which is stressful for the patient and can also affect
daily activities of life and cause issue in school, social relationship and work.
Personality disorder comprises paranoid, obsessive-compulsive and antisocial
personality disorder (Mind.org.uk 2019).