The most common mental disorders that people struggle with are Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Anxiety Disorder. Here is some information on each of these three to help you better understand the disorder and identify the symptoms.

Depression

  Depression is the most common mental illness that presents with depressed mood, low energy, reduced patience and loss of interest or pleasure. Feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, irritability, poor concentration, and memory can be present. Suicidal thoughts can be a symptom or an attempt to commit suicide. People think more negative, remember more negative and perceive the moment more negative. These symptoms last longer than two weeks.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental illness that causes people to have episodes of severe high and low moods. People who have this illness switch from feeling overly happy and energized to feeling very sad and vice versa.  Some people are very irritable and aggressive when manic. Because of the highs and the lows — or two poles of mood — the condition is referred to as “bipolar” disorder. In between episodes of mood swings, a person may experience normal moods.

Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety disorders are abnormal exaggerations of our normal and adaptive reaction to fearful or stressful events. A condition characterized by an excessive and persistent sense of apprehension or fearing something unknown. The feeling can come and go without external stressors or relieving factors. Physical symptoms such as sweating or hot and coldness, palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, being off balance, ringing in the ears, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, blurry vision, diarrhoea and urinating frequently occurs with the anxiety feeling.