refined Mental_illness Information, explanation, recent texts, monographs, and related patents.
Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on Mental_illness (including recent related patents.)


Mental illness

A mental illness is a psychiatric disorder that results in a disruption in a person's thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others. Psychiatrists generally attribute mental illness to organic/neurochemical causes that can be treated with psychiatric medication, psychotherapy, lifestyle adjustments and other supportive measures. Compare rational-emotive therapy. Mental illness is distinct from the legal concept of insanity. Mental health, mental hygiene and mental wellness are all terms used to describe the absence of mental illness. Advocacy organizations have been trying to change the common perception of psychiatric disorders as a sign of personal weakness and something to be ashamed of to an affliction akin to physical diseases (like the measles). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Prevalence of and diagnosis of mental illness 2 Controversy over the nature of mental illness 3 Categorization of mental illness 4 Symptoms of mental illness 5 See also 6 External links Prevalence of and diagnosis of mental illness According to the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, major mental illness, including major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, when compared with all other diseases (such as cancer and heart disease), is the most common cause of disability in the United States. According to NAMI (the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) an American advocacy organisation, twenty-three percent of North American adults will suffer from a clinically diagnosable mental illness in a given year, but less than half of them will suffer symptoms severe enough to disrupt their daily functioning. Approximately nine percent to 13 percent of children under the age of 18 experience a serious emotional disturbance with substantial functional impairment, and five percent to nine percent have a serious emotional disturbance with extreme functional impairment due to a mental illness. Many of these young people will recover from their illnesses before reaching adulthood, and go on to lead normal lives uncomplicated by illness. The treatment success rate for a first episode of schizophrenia is 60 percent, 65 percent to 70 percent for major depression, and 80 percent for bipolar disorder. At the start of the 20th century there were only a dozen recognized mental illnesses. By 1952 there were 192 and the DSM-IV today lists 374. Depending on your perspective this could be seen to be
  • due to some causative agent such as diet or the ever-increasing stress of everyday life, leading to a highly increased incidence of mental illness;
  • an over-medicalisation of human thought processes, and an increasing tendency on the part of mental health experts to label individual 'quirks and foibles' as illness; or
  • improved diagnostic and clinical ability on the part of the professionals.
Controversy over the nature of mental illness The subject is profoundly controversial, e.g. homosexuality has been considered such an "illness" from time to time, and obviously this perception varies with cultural bias and theory of conduct. It is important to note that the existence of mental illness and the legitimacy of the psychiatric profession are not universally accepted. Some professionals, notably Doctor Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Syracuse, are profoundly opposed to the practice of labelling "mental illness" as such. "There is no such thing as mental illness" is not an uncommon statement at gatherings of therapists emphasizing patient care and self-control, often decrying labels as suitable only for pill salesmen. This movement, known as anti-psychiatry argues against a biological origin for mental disorders, or else suggests that all human experience has a biological origin and so no pattern of behavior can be classified as an illness per se. Neurochemical studies have proven that there are systemic lacks of certain neurotransmitters in the brains of certain individuals. Also, some structural differences between brains of people with behavioral differences can be detected in brain scans. Some mental illnesses tend to run in families, and there have also been strongly suggestive, but not conclusive, links between certain genes and particular mental disorders. Routine tests for these conditions are, however, not generally required for prescription of drugs, and are not always employed in law either. It is not clear whether these differences in brain chemistry are the cause or the result of mental disorders. Anti-psychiatrists argue that traumatic life experiences that exceed an individual's coping ability can result in lasting changes in brain chemistry. Patterns of learned behavior can also alter brain chemistry, for better or for worse. Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on changing patterns of thinking through learning, which may ultimately restore so-termed "healthy" brain chemistry. Drug therapies for severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and clinical depression which are consistent with biochemical models have been remarkably effective, and there are reports of increasively effective treatments for schizophrenia. Anti-psychiatrists, however, argue that drugs merely mask the symptoms of mental suffering by physically crippling the brain's emotional response system. Studies have shown that many patient's symptoms return once drug treatment is ceased. See the articles on anti-psychiatry and causes of mental illness for a fuller treatment of these topics. Categorization of mental illness Many mental illnesses have been categorised into groups according to their common symptoms, in a diagnostic manual called the DSM-IV. There are thirteen different categories. Some categories contain a myriad of illnesses and some with only a few: Symptoms of mental illness In addition to the categorized illnesses, there are many well-defined symptoms of mental illness such as paranoia that are not regarded as illnesses in themselves, but only as indicators of one of the illnesses belonging to one of the classes listed above. See also External links
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR (Text Revision) by Task Force on DSM-IV

Stop Walking on Eggshells; Coping When Someone You Care about Has Borderline Personality Disorder by Paul T. Mason

The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder (Revised and Expanded Edition) by M.D. Demitri Papolos

Waking the Tiger : Healing Trauma : The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences by Peter A. Levine

Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman MD

Quick Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR by American Psychiatric Association

Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals by Tony Attwood

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiven by M.D. Daniel G. Amen

Heal Your Body: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them/102A by Louise L. Hay

I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT: OVERCOMING THE SECRET LEGACY OF MALE DEPRESSION by Terrence Real

TOUCHED WITH FIRE: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison

Lost in the Mirror: An Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder by Richard A. Moskovitz M.D.

New Hope for People with Bipolar Disorder : Your Friendly, Authoritative Guide to the Latest in Traditional and Complementary Solutions, Including: Prope by Jan Fawcett

The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook: Practical Strategies for Living With Someone Who Has Borderline Personality Disorder by Randi Kreger

Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria From DSM-IV-TR by American Psychiatric Association


Recent Mental_illness related patents

From USPTO:
6713479: Piperidine-piperazine ligands for neurotransmitter receptors
6703383: Antipsychotic sulfonamide-heterocycles, and methods of use thereof
6699879: Phenyl urea and phenyl thiourea derivatives as orexin receptor antagonists
6696457: Morphinoid compounds
6673596: In vivo biosensor apparatus and method of use
6664229: Methods for treatment using novel ligands of the neuropeptide receptor HFGAN72
6656953: 4,4-Disubstituted piperidines, and methods of use thereof
6653464: Methods and compositions for screening for human Borna disease virus
6649345: Phenylalanine hydroxylase gene variants, and amino acid and pterin homeostasis, in the definition, detection, treatment and prevention of psychotic, mood and personality disorders
6627625: Treatment of behavioral disorders with .beta.-lactam compounds
6622036: Method for classifying and treating physiologic brain imbalances using quantitative EEG
6579899: Composition for treatment of stress
6576260: Sustained-release form of administration containing tramadol saccharinate
6569403: Determining effects of external stimuli on the brain using PET
6563015: Transgenic mice over-expressing receptor for advanced glycation endproduct (RAGE) and mutant APP in brain and uses thereof
6552087: Therapeutic agent comprising (+)-sibutramine
6548271: Nucleic acids encoding human transporter proteins
6544559: Microencapsulated 3-piperidinyl-substituted 1,2-benzisoxazoles and 1,2-benzisothiazoles
6540674: System and method for supervising people with mental disorders
6534514: Kappa opioid receptor antagonists
6527712: Auditing public health
6518314: Pharmaceutical agents that impede the initiation and progression of primary and secondary DMS disruptions
6509190: DNA regulatory element for the expression of transgenes in neurons of the mouse forebrain
6500824: Kappa (OP2) opioid receptor antagonists
6489319: Neurotherapeutic use of carboxypeptidase inhibitors
6488953: Oral transmucosal delivery
6484144: Method and system for healthcare treatment planning and assessment
6479725: Method of treatment of a wound or incision
6470298: Apparatus and method for probabilistic population size and overlap determination
6469064: Materials and methods for the treatment of depression
6468973: Method in the treatment of schizophrenia
6458080: Managing parameters effecting the comprehensive health of a user
6455521: Condensed thiophene compounds and pharmaceutical use thereof
6436959: 4-[aryl(piperidin-4-yl)]aminobenzamides
6413940: Pharmaceutically active agents that impede the formation of amyloid by impeding the genesis of DMS
6410529: Phenyl urea and phenyl thiourea derivatives as HFGAN72 antagonists
6406439: Phase lock evoked response audiometer
6368632: Microencapsulated 3-piperidinyl-substituted 1,2-benzisoxazoles and 1,2-benzisothiazoles
6365594: Heterocycle-condensed morphinoid derivatives (II)
6362173: Methods for treating psychosis associated with cocaine addiction with glucocorticoid receptor antagonists
6344342: Human G protein coupled lysophosphatidic acid receptor
6337207: Alleles of the human mu opioid receptor, diagnostic methods using said alleles, and methods of treatment based thereon
6335168: Alleles of the human mu opioid receptor and diagnostic methods based thereon
6322503: Method of diagnosing, tracking, and treating depression
6321105: Method for diagnosing neurological, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases by magnetic resonance imaging using contrast agents with high magnetic susceptibility and extended plasma half life
6294583: Methods of treating tardive dyskinesia and other movement disorders
6284799: Cancer treatment
6271239: Delta opioid receptor-selective benzylidene-substituted morphinans
6271225: Fused thiophene compounds and medicinal use thereof

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