Our Mental Health - Our Mental Health, Mood Disorders: Life Out Of Control, Eating Disorders: Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

Four of the top ten disabilities in the United States are mental health issues: major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder a time — depression, for example, tends to accompany any illness that diminishes one's quality of life. More than 44 million men and women (1 in 5 adults) are thought to have a diagnosable mental disorder.

Some readers may raise their eyebrows at such statistics.(Is everyone crazy, after all? — It certainly confirms a long-standing suspicion!) The first panels in this chapter will discuss some of the leading mental disorders: depression, social phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and eating disorders. Many of these disorders have been discussed in the media. But how many people really have them? Such numbers are difficult to pin down precisely. Those who suffer from disorders may not always seek treatment. How are they diagnosed? Another question to ask: Are we too quick to label some behavior a disorder? When is a diet an eating disorder? Is shyness a social phobia?

The themes of stress, depression, and social isolation are present in this chapter as they are in others in this book. What roles do they play in our mental health? This chapter also contains panels on psychotherapy and mental health hospitals.

The chapter includes a look at bipolar disorder — which has begun to surface in our children and young people as well. Autism appears to be on the rise. Some may argue that we are simply just more aware of the disorder. The chapter also examines suicide. Rates are down, but some groups still are at high risk.