Mental disorders

[SpirallingSnowy]

There was also ADHD Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 a few years ago, but yeah the predominantly etc type stuff is the current diagnosis labels.

ADHD, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety ( which wasnt listed) Depression ( not a major episode, more dysthymic or however its written lol....) And i had traits of Borderline PD but they invoked by stress and anxiety.... lol

[Vandybot]

Depression, anxiety, and CFS. I wouldn't neccessarily classify CFS as a mental disorder, though I've recently begun to experience the affects it has on thinking and mental clarity. It is frequently linked to depression. However, you can have CFS and have no "mental issues"....so is it a mental disorder? I dunno...

[Sally]

A really interesting new theory proposed about the spectrum of mental disorders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/r...amp;oref=slogin

[square peg]

Depression, anxiety, and CFS. I wouldn't neccessarily classify CFS as a mental disorder, though I've recently begun to experience the affects it has on thinking and mental clarity. It is frequently linked to depression. However, you can have CFS and have no "mental issues"....so is it a mental disorder? I dunno...

Yeah I know the effects of CFS on the mind (mood, brain fog etc.) are possibly indirect and not universal, but I decided to put it in anyway. It's an interesting one to survey here I thought, because it's one of the conditions that would seem most likely to have an effect on sex drive/sexual attraction, so should be worth investigating. Exactly how to determine which disorders to call 'mental' and which to call 'physical/medical' is a quite murky topic these days anyway. It's not in the DSM though so I recommended people go by the CDC criteria instead.

By the way, there are several connections being explored between ADHD and CFS at the moment. It's quite interesting. Some experts are pushing for ADHD medications to become standard treatment options for CFS. My neighbour has CFS and his wife has commented that we seem like similar people. The perceptions of needing either low or high physical activity levels can be seen as different approaches the brain takes to help itself function better (ie making you rest in order to feel more alert later vs. working the muscles in order to increase dopamine levels right now). If that's right, medication that makes this kind of brain function better should reduce both these perceptions by reducing the brain's need to self-medicate with rest or exercise, and it seems to do so.

[Guest epiccentury]

At least one Diagnoses on list, and one not.

I suffer from Tourettes syndrome. A tic disorder is often thought of as physical, but a good amount of it is mental. Often times you have to tic until it feels right, which can become frustrating. It caused me (once I started getting older) to become depressed and angry. I have a bad temper as it is, but the tics aren't helping anything. I went to my doctor, he told me was depressed, put me on a bunch of meds. The meds made me sick. The meds he gave my for my tics made my appetite horrible. I gained weight because I took in more calories then I burned (even as a professional cyclist).

When I was diagnosed with Tourettes, I was also diagnosed with ADHD. Originally that's what I had gone to the doctors office for, and then he suggested a series of tests.

Once we found out that I have tourettes I went to home schooling, started only going out to places I felt comfortable with.

As far as the OCD goes, I have to have everything aligned as what I view is perfect. If I'm sitting at a table, I generally move stuff around on the table until everything feels balanced. Was diagnosed for this as well.

[Vandybot]

By the way, there are several connections being explored between ADHD and CFS at the moment. It's quite interesting. Some experts are pushing for ADHD medications to become standard treatment options for CFS. My neighbour has CFS and his wife has commented that we seem like similar people. The perceptions of needing either low or high physical activity levels can be seen as different approaches the brain takes to help itself function better (ie making you rest in order to feel more alert later vs. working the muscles in order to increase dopamine levels right now). If that's right, medication that makes this kind of brain function better should reduce both these perceptions by reducing the brain's need to self-medicate with rest or exercise, and it seems to do so.

It's funny, while there is some evidence that ADHD meds could help CFS, most doctors are reluctant to prescribe them to CFS patients (at least in my experience). This could be due to many factors: many docs still don't believe in CFS as a real illness, many belive CFS is mental (ie really depression or some form of the mind making you sick), many still hold TIGHT control over these ADHD meds since they can be misused/abused. I know I tried for YEARS to get a doc to allow me to try it. Sadly, due to recent changes in how my body handles meds, they didn't work (I had some very BAD side effects from it). Kinda frustrating, I often wonder how they would have worked when I first started asking for them. Most frustrating is that the meds that did seem to work a while back were not covered by insurance and now do not work b/c of these "changes" I've undergone. I simply don't handle meds well anymore and makes me quite angry!!

[jewel_box554]

Another one for depression. When I started seeing a therapist in high school, I was diagnosed as dysthymic, but I just started seeing another doctor after 2 years of trying to heal on my own. This new therapist diagnosed me as having full-on depression. I don't know if dythymic disorder could lead to major depression or not. She also unofficially diagnosed me as having a social anxiety, but I am currently not on any medication for that.

[Southpaw]

A really interesting new theory proposed about the spectrum of mental disorders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/r...amp;oref=slogin

Thank you for posting that article! Fascinating read. And while I'm not sure if I agree 100% with this theory, I could definitely see it being possible. They really have "infused the field with a shot of needed imagination and demonstrated the power of thinking outside the gene."

[Slaeyn]

About 5 phobias, Social Anxiety Disorder, and HOCD. I have a whacked out mind.

[Lekzýs]

The psychologist I see doesn't give diagnoses (I think she realises everyone's slightly different and should be treated as such), but she's pretty much confirmed I've got Social Anxiety Disorder, and she did think I was seriously depressed. I've also certainly got arachnophobia, but it's starting to disappear just a bit now.

There's also an eating disorder that seems to flare up if my self-esteem drops, and I'm thinking that Schizoid Personality Disorder is very probable, though it'll most likely never be confirmed, but I didn't vote anything for these two, despite the fact the eating disorder probably would be diagnosed if I say someone who gave them.

[Blueflare]

It does amuse me sometimes how everybody suddenly seems to be diagnosed/self diagnosed with something or other.

If "attention seeking" classifies as a "disorder" now that would explain it......

That, or we really *are* all raving lunatics.

I'm not trying to have a go at anybody specifically, I'm just observing.

Please don't kill me.

P.S. I'll have helpings of; depressive disorder NOS, OCD, insomnia, anxiety disorder.

Not professionally diagnosed.

[square peg]

It does amuse me sometimes how everybody suddenly seems to be diagnosed/self diagnosed with something or other.

If "attention seeking" classifies as a "disorder" now that would explain it......

That, or we really *are* all raving lunatics.

Disorders that don't directly affect the mind show the same high frequency in Western society. One in five children now has asthma. Over 10% of children now develop eczema at some stage. Allergies have sky-rocketed. One in three people will now develop cancer. Poor vision affects the overwhelming majority of Westerners by the time we're middle aged. In the USA there's even been an epidemic of childhood kidney stones that had been building and has spiked sharply in recent months (possibly connected to the melamine-contaminated imports, the USA being the only affected country not to withdraw and ban them yet after Chinese children died of kidney problems).

We are an extremely sick society. The brain is by far the most complex and sensitive organ in the body, so if things are going wrong even with the relatively simple skin for example, it would be very surprising for even more things not to be going wrong with the brain.

Far more people, especially children, are using medicines for non-mental diseases than for mental ones, and I very much doubt that's because mental diseases are affecting them less commonly - so much more CAN go wrong with the brain and many common problems that affect the other organs will affect it at the same time (e.g. deficiencies, poisoning, streptococcal infections, metabolic and auto-immune conditions, higher frequency radio waves, any prenatal damage). It's just a less socially accepted practice.

[ProdeFemme]

I have ocd, but apparently it's slightly different when you have Tourettes so I have the "slightly different" kind I guess :lol:

...and for the record, I don't have coprolalia, it's actually not even common (just an fyi)

[square peg]

Looks like it's becoming fair to say that the various anxiety disorders are over-represented in this poll relative to the general population. Not having any kind of disorder looks under-represented but that could likely be explained by a tendency for people without one to be less interested in the thread.

[Aase]

Diagnosed with Bipolar 1 in '97, (used to take Paxil but haven't taken any medications since 2003- i moved out of the state system and no longer get free meds- argh)

As I get older I feel like I may have some issues with OCD but it might just be some mania creeping up on me.

[Dexlar]

bulimia throughout middle and high school, I'm better though I guess no one can really ever be 100% better, I'd say I'm around 90%. I too was suggested that I had BPD, (it was looking it up that I found AVEN) but now I just think that was due to being bulimic and a moody teenager.

[Sally]

Wow, I just noticed other people have phobias also.

Phobia, OCD, dysthymic, depressive. Makes me sigh just typing those. Paxil, but I think it increases my bad temper so I should investigate something else. The phobia's pretty resistant; nothing so far has helped.

[skenasis]

I've not been officially diagnosed, but I have never in my life been able to sleep properly. There's barely a handful of times I've managed the 'normal' 8 hours of sleep a night, and only when I've been unable to get to sleep at all for a few nights in a row beforehand. There are only two instances where I've gotten more than that, but both times I was very sick. It's actually fairly rare for me to get more than four hours of sleep in a night - assuming I actually get there. When I do get to sleep, I've found that it's almost always for about two hours.

So if anything, I'd have insomnia. My GP has told me more than once that he believes I have it, but there's never been an official diagnosis.

EDIT: Insomnia runs in my father's side of the family, so it's not really surprising.

[Tayune]

I have a Phobia.

The Fear of Being Buried Alive.

Taphophobia

I believe it is.

I also am a little bit Agoraphobic, meaning I'm kinda afraid to leave my house.

But mostly, I hate being in large, open spaces or places that are crowded with too many people.

Or, I just love the indoors, let's go with that.

And I have a Sleep Disorder not listed.

Narcolepsy [[link]]

Which basically means, I'm tired a lot. And I have night-time seizures.

Four other "classic" symptoms of narcolepsy, which may not occur in all patients, are cataplexy, sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, and automatic behavior.

Got the first, second, the third happens but not a whole lot, the forth has happened before I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy - so it doesn't happen much anymore.

Cataplexy, a sudden muscular weakness brought on by strong emotions, is a medical condition which may also affect narcoleptics. Often manifesting as muscular weaknesses ranging from a barely perceptible slackening of the facial muscles to the dropping of the jaw or head, weakness at the knees, or a total collapse. Usually only speech is slurred, vision is impaired (double vision, inability to focus), but hearing and awareness remain normal.

I also have POTS Syndrome

You know... It's a real bitch to know you can move but then when try to move - you can't.

And that you actually have to think consciously about moving.

Also, I think my Moms mom has Narcolepsy as well, not bad enough to where she can't function - actually she's a busy body - but if she sits down, then she'll be asleep in the next 5 minutes. Oddly, my dad has Epilepsy and the two are totally unrelated.

Narcolepsy is often mistaken for depression, epilepsy, or the side effects of medications. It can also be mistaken for poor sleeping habits, recreational drug use, or laziness. Narcolepsy can occur in both men and women at any age, although its symptoms are usually first noticed in teenagers or young adults. There is strong evidence that narcolepsy may run in families; 8 to 12 percent of people with narcolepsy have a close relative with this neurologic disorder.

[jakubcookies]

Schizoaffective and OCD.

[Movingshadow]

I have insomnia, Schizophrenia and an Inferiority complex.

[gSOLO]

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Saw a psychologist for about a year for Social Anxiety Disorder about 9 years ago (looking back, I wasn't too happy with the changes Paxil brought to my personality); other than that, I'm pretty content with being schizoid.

[LimeTreeArbour]

depression, social anxiety, also a phobia of slugs :evil:

[baa*baa*grey*sheep]

I've never been diagnosed with any of the conditions but I have had them in the past, and do think they will return. For instance, I have suffered with major depression and probably will do again, but I have never told anyone about it so have never got a diagnosis. I believe I have OCD (I certainly have tendencies) and have had Bipolar symptoms. I did go to the doctor about this, but she said it was just everything I had been through in the past year (Bereavement). I believe I have had symptoms of other mental illnesses, and I do suffer from insomnia occasionally. I have had panic attacks in the past also.

[mort paradis]

I've been diagnosed with depression, social anxiety, and ADHD.

I was diagnosed for depression about 4 or so years ago now, and it has since been reaffirmed by two other professionals. Last December I went to a psych because several people suggested that I might have ADHD (inattentive type), which my psych did diagnose me with, as well as diagnose me with the social anxiety which definitely caught me off guard lol somehow before then I just thought that everyone had these social problems and just got over them or ignored them or something

In addition to those, I have a fear/hate of needles and I hate phones. My fear of needles is from everytime I get stuck with one it hurts - ALOT - even when they say it won't. I'm pretty sure hating phones is related to my social anxiety, and also to an extent my ADHD (for the life of me I can pay attention to a phone conversation so the other person either gets frustrated at me or yells at me or both <_< )

[heatdissipation]

It's really difficult reading the extent of problems with which everyone's afflicted...:(

[downpour]

heatdissipation, good luck.

I've been dxed with: situational depression, major depression, mood disorder NOS, bipolar NOS, panic disorder, social anxiety, schizoaffective-bipolar type, schizoaffective-depressed type, specific phobia (birds), insomnia

now my therapist is considering ADHD and GAD or something. I don't know.

[zporcelana]

I have a few anxiety disorders and a mood disorder. I've had it all my life when I think about it..the anxiety for sure but the mood too except it was not as severe as now. The mood began to swing drastically around grade 8 and I became withdrawn from people and didn't have any friends. Hasn't change much now that I think about..a nurse told me on a few occasions that I express myself in a way that tells people "back off and don't touch me!" but I have no idea what it is that sends these messages. I have to be put on anti-psychotics every once in a while because I end up going superman and paranoid. Although there seem to be a correlation with the mood and anxiety, I think that is why my psychiatrist won't diagnose me because he is not sure? I am not sure that is for sure. It sucks having to take these pill things to keep me from going crazy.

[Piruvato]

I suspect I have Schizoid Personality or a social phobia.

[Guest (?)]

I didn't see personality disorder on the list..unless it's under a different name