Mental health disorders

People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) worry excessively and uncontrollably about everyday events and activities. They often experience unpleasant physical symptoms, including fatigue and muscle pain, and may also have difficulty sleeping and concentrating. To read a testimonial about this reality, read Laurie‘s story.

People living with a panic disorder experience unexpected and repeated panic attacks. A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear or discomfort, which peaks and subsides within a few minutes. A panic attack includes at least four of the following physical or psychological symptoms:

• Rapid breathing or racing heart
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Sweating
• Shaking or trembling
• Shortness of breath or feeling of suffocation
• Chills or hot flashes
• Nausea or stomachache
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Feeling of unreality or detachment from self (derealization)
• Sensations of numbness or tingling
• Fear of losing control
• Fear of dying

Panic attacks are quite common and having one doesn’t mean you have a panic disorder. They only become a disorder if you regularly worry about having another one, or if you’re afraid that something serious will happen as a result of a panic attack (such as going mad, losing control, or dying), or that it will induce major changes in behaviour to avoid another attack, such as avoiding exercise or certain places.  To read a testimonial about this reality, here are Kathleen’s and Simon‘s stories.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is the fear of being outside the home, in a public place. It sometimes accompanies panic disorder in that the person with agoraphobia fears public places, often because they are afraid of not being able to get out easily or of having a panic attack there.  Read Marc-André’s story.

Phobias are intense, persistent fears about specific places, situations, or things. Phobias can prevent you from going places you’d like to go or doing things you like to do. There are a number of different phobias that can be categorized:

• Situational: concerns a specific situation, such as a phobia of airplanes, bridges, elevators, driving a car, etc.
• Blood-injection-accident: includes any invasive medical procedure. This type of phobia is frequently associated with discomfort, which in some cases can be followed by fainting.
• Linked to natural environment: phobia of thunderstorms, heights, storms, darkness, water, etc.
• Animal-related: phobia of insects, dogs, snakes, rodents, spiders, etc.

People with a specific phobia have a persistent fear or anxiety of more than 6 months linked to the situation or object in question. They also have the following characteristics:

• The situation or proximity of the object always triggers immediate fear or anxiety.
• They actively avoid the situation or object.
• Fear or anxiety out of proportion to actual danger (considering socio-cultural norms).
• Fear, anxiety and/or avoidance cause significant distress that interferes with social or professional functioning.

Social anxiety is a fear associated with certain social activities or performance situations where the person may feel observed, embarrassed, humiliated, rejected, or concerned about the judgment of others. This fear becomes a disorder when it intensifies to the point of preventing the person from leading a normal life. The person may then no longer want to attend classes, avoid public places (e.g., shopping malls, gyms), stop talking in class, and so on. To read a testimonial on this reality, here’s Élise’s story.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves unwanted and disturbing thoughts, images or urges (obsessions) that take hold in the person’s mind and cause great anxiety or discomfort, to the point of wanting to reduce this feeling by adopting repetitive behaviours or mental acts (compulsions). To read a testimonial on this reality, here’s Émilie’s story.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a reactive disorder that can occur following a traumatic event. An event is said to be “traumatic” when a person is confronted with death, the fear of dying, or when their physical integrity or that of another may have been threatened. The event must also provoke intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

A person who develops post-traumatic stress disorder:

• Continually relives the traumatic scene in thought or nightmare (reliving symptoms).
• Seeks to avoid, voluntarily or involuntarily, anything that might remotely remind them of the trauma (symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing).
• Is frequently alert (symptoms of hypervigilance) despite the absence of imminent danger.

From time to time, everyone feels sad or gloomy. Problems, disappointments, and failures, can affect anyone’s mood. Most of the time, these feelings are temporary. But, when the gloomy mood is maintained for more than a few weeks and other symptoms appear, for example, lack of energy and isolation, this can be a sign of ‍depression. To read a testimonial on this reality, here’s Alexandre’s story.

There is no single cause of depression. It often develops due to a combination of factors, such as life events, biological factors (hormones, family history, genetics), lifestyle habits, illness, or ways of thinking that make a person more vulnerable. Here are the main physical and psychological symptoms of depression.

• Fatigue
• Lack of energy or restlessness
• Sleep problems: sleeping too much or too little
• Change in appetite: increase or decrease
• Sexual changes: decrease or loss of interest
• Discomfort: headaches, back or stomach pain
• Great sadness (crying often)
• Loss of interest in professional, social, and family settings
• Feelings of guilt or failure
• Decreased self-esteem
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Suicidal thoughts

A person with bipolar disorder goes through periods when their mood is very different. These periods are called “episodes” of mania or depression and may be interspersed with times when their mood is “normal”. The frequency, duration and intensity of episodes can vary from person to person, but during them, it’s difficult to fulfill professional, family, and social obligations. To read a testimonial on this reality, here are the stories of Charles-Albert and Nawal.

An episode of mania can be recognized by the continuous presence, for at least one week, of several of the following signs and symptoms:

• Feelings of intense happiness and pleasure or, on the contrary, excessive irritability.
• Hyperactivity, restlessness, and boundless energy.
• Inordinate self-esteem or ideas of grandeur.
• Greater communications (the desire to talk).
• Significant increase in the number of professional, school, social and family activities.
• Decreased need to sleep.
• Faster thinking.
• Great distraction and difficulty concentrating.
• Risky behaviour.

An episode of depression is characterized by the continuous presence, for at least two weeks, of several of the following signs and symptoms:

• Great sadness and frequent crying.
• Significant loss of interest in professional, social, and family activities.
• Fatigue, lack of energy or restlessness.
• Sleep problems (too much or too little sleep).
• Decreased or increased appetite, which can lead to weight loss or gain.
• Feelings of guilt or failure.
• Decreased self-esteem.
• Difficulty concentrating on a task.
• Difficulty making decisions.
• Suicidal thoughts.

People living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have an extreme or exaggerated fear of losing their ties with the people around them. They easily feel rejected or abandoned by others, which creates conflict in their social relationships. They therefore need their loved ones to reassure them that they are present and that their relationship is important. To read a testimonial on this reality, here’s Marie’s story.

To complete this clinical portrait, it seems relevant to bring some nuances with that of people living with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). While people living with BPD experience the fear of abandonment, those living with NPD are more afraid of being humiliated and having their ego bruised. Generally speaking, no one likes to be crushed or rejected. What’s important to remember, however, is that those who suffer from BPD or NPD experience it more acutely, and their behaviour is guided by patterns of thinking such as: “I’m either merged with the other or I’m rejected (BPD)” or “I’m either superior to others or I’m less than nothing (NPD)”.

Anorexia nervosa is a mental health disorder characterized by abrupt weight loss resulting from drastic dieting, fasting, induced vomiting, use of laxatives or excessive exercise. Anorexia nervosa is also associated with an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted body image. To read a testimonial on this reality, read the stories of Marianne and Catherine.

Bulimia is a mental health disorder characterized by the presence of compulsive eating, followed by compensatory methods such as drastic dieting, fasting, induced vomiting, excessive exercise, and many others. Feelings of shame, guilt and disgust often follow these episodes. To read a testimonial on this reality, here’s Sophie’s story.

Binge eating disorder (or bulimic hyperphagia) is a mental health disorder characterized by the presence of compulsive eating, but without compensatory methods. Episodes of compulsive eating occur when, in a limited period of time, a much greater quantity of food is consumed than most people would consume in a similar period of time and under the same circumstances. They are often accompanied by a feeling of loss of control. Following this episode, the sufferer experiences guilt, shame, and disgust.

Unspecified eating disorders include problems that do not precisely meet the criteria for specific eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating. Examples include orthorexia and bigorexia. Despite this fact, people suffering from an unspecified eating disorder can also live with low self-esteem and an obsession with body image. They may count calories, institute crash diets, adopt overtraining habits and so on.