Understanding different types of mental health issues

Although ‘mental health’ has existed since the dawn of human life, we only just starting to meaningfully talk about this concept over the last several decades. Before this time, mental health was a term popularly associated with ‘lunacy’, ‘craziness’ or ‘wicked possession’, with people labelled as such confined to either the asylum or the hospital. If you were receiving treatment for your mental health before 1980’s, it was most likely due to suffering so severely that you had to be detained under psychiatric care. Times have (thankfully) changed since then, with successive Mental Health Acts instituting community-centred care for people with mental health difficulties, including those with mild-to-moderate conditions.

Numerous campaigns also served to normalise discussions around mental health and wellbeing, as well as spread awareness about the prevalence and impact of mental illness. Consequently, we can now speak up when we are struggling with our mental health without experiencing the stigma we did in previous generations.

What is Mental Health?

In short, mental health is how we are feeling within ourselves. It encompasses our thoughts, emotions and behaviours, as well as our connections to others and the wider environment. As a concept, mental health is broader than what can be described as our day-to-day mood, as it incorporates different aspects of our psychological functioning (e.g. emotion, cognition, behaviour, relationships, environment, etc.) that go far beyond how we are feeling on a particular day.

Mental ill-health is the state of feeling negatively inside, which affects a person’s thoughts, emotions and behaviours in ways that impairs their functioning and quality of life. People are vulnerable or resilient to mental ill-health due to a variety of biological (e.g. genes, age, physical health, etc), psychological (e.g. self-esteem, confidence, exposure to adversity, etc.) and social (e.g. socioeconomic background, race, gender, etc.) factors.

Types of Mental Health Problems

There are a variety of mental health problems that have differential effects on a person’s thoughts, emotions, behaviours, relationships, and work performance. Clinically speaking, there are close to 300 mental illnesses that generally fall into certain categories of disorder, which will be explained below.

Mood Disorder

Also known as affective disorder, this category of disorder negatively affects a person’s mood, cause intense and persistent sadness, anger, or uncontrolled elation.

Depression

Depression (clinically defined as major depressive disorder) is the most common mood disorder and consists of persistent low mood (i.e. over 2 weeks) and experiencing an inability to find pleasure in anything (i.e. “anhedonia”), which affects not only a person’s thoughts (e.g. pessimistic, self-hating, suicidal ideation, etc.) but also their overall health (e.g. sleep less/too much, poor diet, lacking energy, etc.).

Postpartum Depression

This is a type of depression that is experienced by women either during or after their pregnancy, resulting in a negative alteration in mood caused by the emotional, social, hormonal, financial, and environmental changes brought on by having a baby.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

During late autumn and throughout winter, some people experience what is known as seasonal affective disorder, which is a type of depression that is related to a lack of exposure to sunnier/lighter environments, triggering a downcast in mood that usually eases during spring.

Persistent Depression

This is a less severe form of depression but lasts for a much longer time period. To be diagnosed with this disorder, someone will have experienced mild-to-moderate mood difficulties for over two years.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that entails extreme and uncontrolled mood changes. Mania (i.e. unstable euphoria, reckless behaviour, excessive energy, et.) and depression are the two main symptoms of bipolar disorder. Bipolar Type 1 is the most severe form of this disorder, entailing extreme alterations in mood, with each manic and depressive episode lasting weeks. Bipolar Type 2 is more common and less severe than Type 1, which entails depression, and a milder version of mania called hypomania, with each depressive and hypomanic episode last a few days rather than weeks.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

A minority of women experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which occurs 7-10 days before menstruation and results in significant disruptions in mood, as well as severe cramps and irritability.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorder entails excessive and persistent fear and/or worrying, which causes serious impairment to person’s functioning and daily life.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Generalised anxiety disorder consists of disproportionate and uncontrolled worrying about a variety of different things, which disrupts a person’s ability to relax and switch-off.

Social Anxiety People with social anxiety experience intense fear and nervousness in connection with exposure to social gatherings, particularly when it concerns meeting new people and interacting in groups.

Phobia

Specific phobias are fears that are aroused when exposed to a certain thing (e.g. spiders, dogs, needles, etc.) or situation (e.g. tall buildings, enclosed spaces, flying, etc.).

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) When a person experiences unwanted thoughts and fixed impulses, which trigger repetitive behaviours as a means of channelling anxiety, they are often diagnosed with OCD.

Panic Disorder Panic attacks are extremely intense episodes of uncontrolled dread combined with unpleasant physical sensations (e.g. racing heart rate, shortness of breath, sweaty hands, etc.), triggered by an anxious thought in the mind. Panic disorder is evidenced when a person has regular panic attacks, often triggered the fear of having a panic attack itself.

Psychotic Disorder

Psychotic disorders are a group of serious mental illnesses that each entail psychosis, which roughly means ‘break with reality’ and resembled by delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, bizarre behaviour, and blunted emotion.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious illness that entails a severe disruption in a person’s ability to function in work and interpersonal life, which is symptomatic of the presence of audio and visual hallucinations, as well as delusions and paranoia about being persecuted. Symptoms must be present for at least 6 months to receive a diagnosis.

Schizoaffective Disorder

This condition consists of schizophrenic symptoms in addition to the presence of a mood disorder, especially depression. It is also common for people with schizoaffective disorder to also experience symptoms similar to bipolar, including periods of mania

Brief Psychotic Disorder

This is a condition that entails a sudden episode of psychosis, involving hallucination and/or delusions, which lasts for only a month and goes away after taking medication. This disorder usually is caused by a stressful event, especially traumatic adversity.

Personality Disorder

Personality disorder (sometimes called Axis 2 Disorders) is when someone’s personality traits and characteristics cause them distress and dysfunction in their lives, especially their relationships. There are three clusters of personality disorder, with each comprising of distinct issues and everyday difficulties.

Cluster A Personality Disorders

People diagnosed with a Cluster A personality disorder usually have unusual and sometimes extreme personality traits that cause them (and others) distress. Paranoid Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, and Schizotypal Personality Disorder are all within this cluster.

Cluster B Personality Disorders

People diagnosed with a Cluster B personality disorder demonstrate emotional instability and impulsive, often reckless behaviours that cause serious interpersonal difficulties. Antisocial Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder are all within this cluster.

Cluster C Personality Disorder People diagnosed with a Cluster C personality disorder usually have severely anxious thoughts that troubles their behaviour, particularly in how they relate to significant others. Avoidant Personality Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, and Dependent Personality Disorder are all within this cluster.

Eating Disorder

Eating disorder is a serious mental illness that significantly affects a person’s relationship with food, primarily consisting of unhealthy and enduring obsessions with eating, exercise and body shape.

Anorexia Nervosa Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that leads people to severely restrict their consumption of food to lose weight, which is based a distorted body image and a fear of fatness.

Bulimia Nervosa

This eating disorder consists of frequent binges of eating, often junk food, which results in unhealthy behaviours that attempt to get rid of the food consumed through forcing themselves to vomit or taking laxatives. Diet pills are also heavily used by people affected by this disorder.

Binge Eating Disorder Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder, consisting of frequent, uncontrolled binges of large quantities of food, even when a person is not hungry, which causes intense shame, guilt, and self-loathing.

Post-Traumatic Disorder

Post-Traumatic Disorder is a debilitating mental health condition that affects a person’s emotions, thoughts, and relationships after experiencing, or witnessing, a traumatic event.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD is a mental illness that consists of severe anxiety (i.e. feeling on edge, being easily startled, sensing danger where there is none, etc.) and flashbacks of a traumatic experience, resulting alterations in mood and avoidant behaviours, which especially includes staying away from the site of the traumatic adversity, as well as taking extreme precaution to avoid environmental/situational triggers.

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Complex PTSD is an even more severe version of PTSD, which consists of the same symptoms in addition to difficulties with extreme emotions, troubled relationships, dissociation, and sometimes suicidal ideation because they have been repeatedly exposed to trauma over time.

Substance Misuse Disorder

Substances consist of alcohol and recreational drugs (e.g. heroin, cocaine, marijuana, etc.), which people develop addictions to usually as a means of coping with stress, trauma or pre-existing mental health conditions. This disorder usually results in severe dysfunction in their personal, professional and interpersonal life.

Bereavement

Bereavement is the experience of losing someone close to us, consisting of grief (i.e. sadness, numbness, anger, denial, isolation, etc.) and being unable to move on with life. This is a very common mental health experience after losing a loved one, but it can develop into a clinical disorder if the person continues to experience intensely difficult feelings for over a year, which is often referred to as Complicated Grief Disorder.

Treatments and Support for Mental Ill-Health

All mental health conditions can be alleviated by specific treatments and support, which address the underlying causes of distress, as well as help with the daily management of symptoms. Medication such as anti-depressants and anxiolytics are often proscribed when someone is in need of relief from the intensity of distress, but these often come with side-effects and are difficult to withdraw from after long-term use. As such, medication is used only under the supervision of a medical professional and usually after all other psychosocial support has been exhausted, such as counselling.

According to research, all mainstream counselling approaches have similar rates of effectiveness in treating mental illness. That being the case, instead of considering 'what works', you would be well-advised to consider what you personally want to focus on in sessions and then decide which type of counselling best addresses that need.

If you want to focus on specific solutions for specific problems affecting your day-to-day life, it would be best to explore solutions-focused brief therapy (SFBT). This type of therapy is a goal-oriented, present-focused approach which addresses emotional difficulties, such as depression and anxiety, usually conducted over a few sessions. It proposes to keep the therapeutic conversation in the 'here and now' (i.e. unlike trauma-informed and person-centred approaches) to focus on practical steps someone can realistically take in their lives to help them move in the right direction.

If you want to focus on negative and distressing thoughts (e.g. excessive worrying, rumination, phobias, etc.), it would be best to explore cognitive behavioural therapy, which aims to uncover and replace the 'core belief' that is the basis of these thoughts with healthier and more rational ways of thinking, in addition to developing behaviours that are more in line with your goals. This includes addressing not only anxious and depressive thoughts, but also phobias, too.

If you want to focus on self-development and processing complicated emotions, it would be best to explore person-centred or integrative counselling, which provides a therapeutic space for a deep exploration of the self, facilitated by a counsellor who is empathetic, genuine, and non-judgemental. This type of counselling is preferred by people who want to "find themselves", as well those who want to talk through their emotional difficulties without an agenda.

Support with bereavement is offered by all the above counselling approaches, so it is best to think about what causes you the most distress with regards to this loss (e.g. thoughts, emotions, moving forward, etc.) and decide what therapy would address that need. There are also organisations that offer what is called 'Bereavement Counselling', which is conducted by a therapeutic professional that has training and experience in helping people process and overcome loss.

If you want to focus on relationship issues with your current partner, it would be best to explore couples counselling, which aims to uncover the root causes of communication difficulties between couples, as well as provide a space to allow couples to collectively formulate solutions to their own relationship problems.

If you want to focus on overcoming trauma from past adversities (e.g. abuse, accidents, violence, etc.), you should probably engage with your GP about treatment options, which includes medication to reduce distressing symptoms, as well as referrals to local trauma-informed services that offer specific therapeutic intervention for specific traumas. According to the National Institute for Clinical Excellent, therapies that have the best evidence-base for treating trauma are Trauma-Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (i.e. a talking therapy that addresses PTSD symptoms, especially distressing thoughts) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (i.e. a treatment technique that helps people process their traumatic memories and alleviate the distress associated with them).

In addition to these more mainstream counselling approaches, there are a range of other interventions that use specific techniques to support people with their mental health, such art and music therapy, as well as yoga, hypnotherapy, and behavioural therapies. There are also clinical services for those with substance use disorders, which use a combination of medication, talk therapy, and social support to help people overcome their addictions.

How can EAP can help with mental health issues

HA | Wisdom Wellbeing can support with a variety of mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression. Our team of expert counsellors can help get you the right support by assessing each individual on a case-by-case basis. So, whether you need crisis intervention support or a listening ear. We also understand that our symptoms can heighten during times of stress or after hours. That’s why our service is offered 24/7, 365 days a year. No matter where you are or what time of day it is, you can reach out to our EAP helpline for support.

Conclusion

Struggling with thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that affect mental health is something everyone experiences. However, some people suffer from these difficulties to such an extent that they receive a clinical diagnosis of a mental illness, requiring treatment and support to help them manage, and ultimately overcome, their distress. If you need support with issues related to mental health and want to explore your therapeutic options, please reach out to a counsellor at HA | Wisdom Wellbeing via live chat, online video, or the helpline, who will provide expert, instantaneous advice, guidance and signposting.