Mental Health Challenges

Labels can be dehumanizing, especially with all the misconceptions and stigma that surround them. Ultimately these diagnoses are for the one’s experiencing their own lives, and they should be used as tools to help us relate to our own experiences. They can be used to help us communicate to others about the world we live in to paint a better picture of what has been harmful and what has helped us and others within our community.

It is important to not hurt each other by placing value judgments on what others might be experiencing. Iatrogenic illnesses are caused by medical examination or treatment, and often occur when there is a lack of empathy or genuine humanity in the therapeutic relationship.

Some Common Diagnoses:

Depression

  • Depressed mood most of the time

  • Little interest or pleasure most of the time

  • Significant weight loss

  • Insomnia/ Hypersomnia most days

  • Physical agitation, or slow movements

  • Fatigue/ Low Energy

  • Guilt/ Feeling worthless

  • Inability to concentrate or make decisions

  • Suicidal Ideation

Anxiety

  • Excessive worry

  • Difficulty controlling worry

  • Restlessness

  • Fatigue 

  • Poor concentration

  • Irritability

  • Muscle tension

  • Sleep problems

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  • Inattention, distractibility, difficulty with task completion  

  • Hyperactivity and impulsivity- on the go, fidgety

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Exposure to real or perceived threat

  • Recurrent memories of the trauma

  • Recurrent dreams of the trauma 

  • flashbacks

  • Intense psychological distress

  • Efforts to avoid trauma triggers

Schizophrenia

  • Delusions- bizarre out of this world thoughts that most people do not share

  • Hallucinations- sensory perceptions that most people do not share

  • Disorganized (thinking/speech)- tangential or hard to decipher/follow

  • Disorganized movements- movements that seem out of line with how people usually move, or catatonic (unresponsive to environment)

  • Decrease in motivation/ emotional self expression 


Borderline Personality Disorder

  • Efforts to avoid abandonment 

  • Pattern of unstable and intense relationships 

  • Identity disturbance

  • Impulsivity (e.g. sex, spending)

  • Suicidal ideation

  • Short burst mood changes (lasting hours)

  • Feeling of emptiness

  • Difficulty with anger

  • Dissociative/ “Out of Body” experiences

Autism

  • Difficulty with socialization, communication, and relationships

  • Repetitive patterns of behavior/activities

  • Highly invested in focused interests

Bipolar 

  • Manic/ Hypomanic Episode- elevated mood and energy 

    • Grandiosity 

    • Decreased need for sleep

    • More talkative

    • Racing thoughts

    • Distractibility 

    • Increase in activity level (goal driven or not)

  • Depressive Episode- depressed mood or loss of interest in pleasure

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

  • Obsession- intrusive and unwanted thoughts, urges, images that are masked by other thoughts or by performing a compulsion 

  • Compulsion- repetitive behavior or mental act designed to minimize obsession