Mental Illnesses

A panic disorder that involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where it is perceived that escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms. The fear can especially be directed towards situations in which feelings of panic have occurred before. These situations may include driving, shopping, crowded places, traveling, standing in line, meetings, social gatherings and even being alone.

A progressive disorder that gradually destroys a person’s memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities. Individuals with more advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease may also experience changes in personality and behavior such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation, as well as delusions or hallucinations. The disease usually starts in middle or old age, beginning with memory loss concerning recent events and spreading to memory loss concerning events that are more distant.

Chronic feelings of overwhelming anxiety and fear, unattached to any obvious source, that can grow progressively worse if not treated. The anxiety is often accompanied by physical symptoms such as sweating, cardiac disturbances, diarrhea or dizziness. Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive/compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder are considered anxiety disorders

A Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) characterized by normal language and intelligence development, but impaired social and communication skills as well as difficulty with transitions or changes. Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with one particular field of interest. Although they may be low functioning in many areas, they often have above-average performance in a narrow field.

A biologically-based disorder that includes distractibility and impulsiveness. Recent research suggests that ADD can be inherited and may be due to an imbalance of neurotransmitters (chemicals used by the brain to control behavior) or abnormal glucose metabolism in the central nervous system.

A form of ADD that includes hyperactivity. Children with ADHD are unable to sit still. They may walk, run or climb around when others are seated, and often talk when others are talking.

A Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) that affects a person’s ability to communicate, form normal social relationships and respond appropriately to the external world. Autism typically appears in the first three years of life, although there may be signs in infancy such as avoiding eye contact and abruptly stopping language development. Children with autism may stare into space for hours, throw uncontrollable tantrums and show no interest in people including their parents. They may pursue strange, repetitive activities with no apparent purpose. Some people with autism can function at a relatively high level, with speech and intelligence intact. Others, however, have serious learning problems and language delays, and some never speak.

Also known as manic-depressive illness. A serious illness that causes shifts in a person’s mood, energy and ability to function. Dramatic mood swings can move from “high” feelings of extreme euphoria or irritability to depression, sometimes with periods of normal moods in between. Manic episodes may include such behaviors as prolonged periods without sleep or uncontrolled shopping. Each episode of mania or depression can last for hours, weeks or several months.

A mental illness marked by a pattern of unstable personal relationships and self image, as well as marked impulsivity. Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder often have a strong fear of abandonment and may exhibit recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures or threats or self-mutilating behavior. They also may have inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger.

Any abnormality in the brain that results in impaired functioning or thinking.

A process in which individuals are partners in the management of their mental illnesses and in their recovery. Case management focuses on accelerating the use of available services to restore or maintain independent functioning to the fullest extent possible. In pursuing this goal, case management helps people connect to needed services and supports within the community.

A marked psychomotor disturbance that may involve stupor or mutism, negativism, rigidity, purposeless excitement and inappropriate or bizarre posturing. Catatonic schizophrenia is a form of the illness characterized by a tendency to remain in a fixed stuporous state for long periods. This catatonia may give way to short periods of extreme excitement.

In mental health, an individual who is using one or more mental health services.

A complete range of programs for children and adolescents with mental illness. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a seamless continuum of care includes, from least to most intensive: • Office or outpatient clinic, with visits usually under one hour. • Intensive case management, with specially trained individuals coordinating or providing psychiatric, financial, legal and medical services to help the child or adolescent live successfully at home and in the community. • Home-based treatment services, with a team of specially trained staff members who go into a home and develop a treatment program to help the child and family. • Family support services, which help families care for their children, possibly including parent training and support groups. • Day treatment program, an intensive combination of psychiatric treatment with special education, which the child or adolescent usually attends five days a week. • Partial hospitalization (day hospital), which provides all the treatment services of a psychiatric hospital; however, the patients go home each evening. • Emergency/crisis services, providing 24-hour support for emergencies. May include hospital emergency departments and mobile crisis teams. • Respite care services, which provide a brief period in which the patient stays away from home with specially trained individuals. • Therapeutic group home or community residence, which usually includes six to children or adolescents in each home. This may be linked with a day treatment program or specialized educational program. • Crisis residence, which provides short-term (usually fewer than 15 days) crisis intervention and treatment. Patients receive 24-hour supervision. • Residential treatment facility, where seriously disturbed patients receive intensive and comprehensive psychiatric treatment in a campus-like setting on a longer-term basis. • Hospital treatment, where patients receive comprehensive psychiatric treatment in a hospital. The length of treatment depends on each situation.

In general, the existence of two or more illnesses – whether physical or mental – at the same time in a single individual. With SAMHSA, the term usually means the coexistence of mental illness and substance abuse.