This is a small list of common mental health problems that can be experienced by anyone.
Stress and feeling pressure (ਤਣਾਅ)
Most people feel stressed, and some people find stress helpful or even motivating. But if stress is affecting your life, there are things you can try that may help.
Stress is how we react when we feel under pressure or threatened. It usually happens when we are in a situation that we don’t feel we can manage or control. Stress can cause mental health problems. And it can make existing problems worse.
We all feel stressed at times, sometimes we can cope. Other times we can struggle.
Not all stress is bad for you. Useful stress:
- Makes you more alert to danger and focuses your senses
- Can help you solve daily challenges and motivates you to reach your goals
- Can boost your memory
- Can help to strengthen the immune system – for example, stress can
improve how your heart works and protect your body from infection.
Anxiety and feeling worried (ਚਿੰਤਾ)
Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future.
Most people feel anxious at times. It’s common to experience some anxiety while coping with stressful events or changes, especially if they could have a big impact on your life.
But some people find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and can often affect their daily lives.
Depression and feeling low (ਉਦਾਸੀ)
Depression is a low mood that lasts for a long time, and affects your everyday life.
In its mildest form, depression can mean just being in low spirits. It doesn’t stop you leading your normal life, but makes everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile. At its most severe, depression can be life-threatening.
If you are given a diagnosis of depression, you might be told that you have mild, moderate or severe depression. This describes what sort of impact your symptoms are having on you currently, and what sort of treatment you’re likely to be offered.
You might move between mild, moderate and severe depression during one episode of depression or across different episodes.
Panic attacks (ਘਬਰਾਹਟ)
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder where you regularly have sudden attacks of panic or fear.
Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety and panic at certain times. It’s a natural response to stressful or dangerous situations.
But someone with panic disorder has feelings of anxiety, stress and panic regularly and at any time, often for no apparent reason.
Negative & Dark thoughts (ਹਨੇਰੇ ਵਿਚਾਰ)
These feelings can range from being preoccupied by negative thoughts about your life, or feeling that people would be better off without you.
If you are feeling this way, you might be scared or confused by these feelings. But you are not alone. Many people think about negative and dark thoughts at some point in their lifetime.
When you get these feelings, it is important to challenge them immediately and get support.
Bipolar disorder (ਬਹੁਤ ਉੱਚਾ / ਨੀਵਾਂ ਮੂਡ)
Bipolar disorder (once called manic depression) mainly affects your mood. With this diagnosis you are likely to have times when you experience: manic or hypomanic episodes (feeling high); depressive episodes (feeling low); and potentially some psychotic symptoms.
Personality disorders (ਸੁਭਾਅ ਦੀ ਸਮੱਸਿਆ)
Our personality is the collection of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that makes each of us the individuals we are.
We don’t always think, feel and behave in exactly the same way – it depends on the situation we are in, the people with us and many other interconnecting factors.
However, if you experience significant difficulties in how you relate to yourself and others and have problems coping day to day, you may receive a diagnosis of personality disorder.
Currently psychiatrists tend to use a system of diagnosis which identifies ten types of personality disorder. These are grouped into three categories.
Suspicious:
- Paranoid personality disorder
- Schizoid personality disorder
- Schizotypal personality disorder
Emotional and impulsive:
- Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)
- Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- Histrionic personality disorder
- Narcissistic personality disorder
Anxious:
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Dependent personality disorder
- Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
Phobias (ਡਰ)
A phobia is an extreme form of fear or anxiety triggered by a particular situation (such as going outside) or object (such as spiders), even when it’s very unlikely to be dangerous.
A fear becomes a phobia if the fear is out of proportion to the danger, it lasts for more than six months, and has a significant impact on how you live your day-to-day life.
Eating problems (ਖਾਣ ਦੀ ਬਿਮਾਰੀ)
Eating problems are not just about food. They can be about difficult things and painful feelings which you may be finding hard to face or resolve. Lots of people think that if you have an eating problem you will be over- or underweight, and that being a certain weight is always associated with a specific eating problem, but this is a myth. Anyone, regardless of age, gender or weight, can be affected by eating problems.
The most common eating disorder diagnoses are anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (ਜਨੂੰਨੀ ਜਬਰਦਸਤੀ)
OCD has two main parts: obsessions (unwelcome thoughts, images, urges, worries or doubts that repeatedly appear in your mind; and compulsions (repetitive activities that you feel you have to do to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession).
Schizophrenia (ਭਰਮ ਭੁਲੇਖੇ)
Views on schizophrenia have changed over the years. You may still be given this diagnosis if you experience symptoms such as:
- psychosis (such as hallucinations or delusions)
- disorganised thinking and speech
- feeling disconnected from your feelings
- difficulty concentrating
- wanting to avoid people
- a lack of interest in things
- not wanting to look after yourself.