Mental Illness – Why it’s Often Difficult for People to Diagnose?

It’s no secret that mental illness awareness and its treatment is imperative in most of our lives. It has become a common discussion due to the campaigns designed to raise depression awareness, addiction, dementia, and bipolar disorder, as well as more public figures being open about their mental health struggles. Despite this progress, many people often find it hard to identify their mental illness.

The overall process of diagnosing mental illness can be daunting. Someone facing a mental illness crisis knows that something is not going well. They can't find the reason that impacts their mental health due to a lack of awareness. It might take months, and sometimes years, for people and physicians to recognize the mental disorder.

What is Mental Illness?

Mental illnesses affect the thinking ability, emotions, and behaviors of a person. Since we all are human beings, having mental disorders during our life is usual.

People who experience mental illnesses are incapable of thinking, feeling, or acting in ways they want to. For some people, it's about having unexpected and extreme mood swings – like feeling sadder than in a normal situation. For others, not being able to think openly, not being able to communicate, or having unusual thoughts to help explain weird feelings.

There are many classified types of mental illness, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, psychotic, and eating disorders. Their symptoms may include a change in mood, personality, and habits.

Mental disorders may be relevant to excessive stress due to a specific situation or event. These may be caused by a reaction to environmental stresses, genetic factors, biochemical imbalances, or a combination of all. However, with proper precaution and treatment, people can recover from these mental illnesses.

Some most common mental disorders in America and their symptoms are:

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders cause people to experience frequent fear, distressing, and apprehension. Many people may experience it during job interviews or public speaking events - those with anxiety disorders feel it in non-stressful situations. Anxiety attacks may last up to six months or more at a time. It includes different mental disorders, such as:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Pain and social anxiety

Psychotic Disorder

People with psychoses might not know what is real and what isn't. They think abnormally and lose touch with reality. The top psychotic disorders are:

• Schizophrenia
• Schizoaffective disorder
• Brief psychotic disorder
• Delusional disorder
• Dementia

Although dementia is a single disorder, it's a term covering a broad range of mental conditions. People may experience a failure in their cognitive ability. Sometimes it is severe enough to harm daily routine and independent functions.

This mental disorder includes a host of conditions. Alzheimer's causes approximately 60% to 80% of dementia cases. It gradually damages memory and thinking ability and, ultimately, strips the ability to do simple tasks. Some other types of dementia are:

• Parkinson’s disease
• Frontotemporal dementia
• Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
• Huntington’s disease
• Mood Disorders

Since it's normal to have mood swings, people with this disorder live with more persistent and severe symptoms that affect their lives. Depending on the mental disorder - they may experience a long-term sad or anxious mood, feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, guilt, and low energy. Therapy, self-care, and antidepressants can help prevent mood disorders. Some common mood disorders are:

• Depression
• Dysthymia
• Bipolar disorder
• Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are psychological situations that develop harmful eating habits. They start with food obsession, body weight, or body shape. In some extreme cases, these disorders can cause serious health issues and may even result in death if not treated timely.

People suffering from an eating disorder can have various symptoms. However, most include food restrictions, binges, or purgings, such as over-exercising or vomiting. This disorder can affect people of any gender at any stage of life and is found in young women and adolescents. Some types of eating disorders are:

• Anorexia nervosa
• Rumination disorder
• Bulimia disorder
• Pica eating disorder

Here’s a question that arises: with mental health issues being more noticeable than ever and care being more accessible, why do most people find mental illness difficult to recognize?

Stigma

Despite the advancement in mental disorders treatment, many people are afraid of being stigmatized if they admit they need help once they recognize any mental disorder. It can be challenging, and it causes us to overlook signs that someone needs help.

Many people have poor mental health and have not been officially diagnosed with any mental illness. They can experience periods of mental, physical, and social well-being. Furthermore, people with psychiatric conditions can change with time, or their problems can be triggered by circumstances and events, large and small.

A lack of understanding of mental disorders can discourage people from diagnosing the actual mental disorder and having suitable treatment. Also, blurring the lines between health and disorder can cause people to misjudge, dismiss, or even stigmatize those with a mental illness.

People don’t even think they need it.

Many of us are unaware of different ways to recognize mental illnesses. The implications of disclosing a mental illness and getting help are too best to comprehend. If we recognize the problem, we come up with various reasons. People can also be unaware they need help and don't know what they're experiencing. If you've had a specific disorder since you can remember, you might not get help. It can occur with several mental illnesses such as social anxiety disorder, persistent depressive disorder, avoidant personality disorder, ADHD, and others...

People are also unaware of their neurological deficit or psychiatric condition, called anosognosia. It occurs in around half of the people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. It makes it difficult for people with mental illness to have insight into their diagnosis.

It is challenging while treatment, as people suffering from anosognosia, often refuse inpatient care or medication. Family members can also be tired sometimes of their loved ones' responses. The person with mental illness is exhausted enough that they can't know they are sick and feel isolated.

Still, some critics worry that anosognosia is subjective and used to commit people against their will. There is frequent tension in the mental health field: the rights of people with mental illness to make decisions to get treatment and care, even when the person doesn't know they need it.

There are some practical issues

Several practical issues can make it tough to recognize mental illness treatment. One of them is availability, and it’s common in rural areas. As these areas have weak healthcare systems, older people have experienced many problems while commuting for healthcare services. Here comes telehealth that bridges the gap between patients and physicians through video conference calls.

Their mental condition makes it hard.

Sometimes the mental condition of an affected person makes the situation even more difficult. When a depressed person thinks change is possible, finding a therapist and making an appointment seem impossible tasks. However, this isn't a big deal in a normal situation, but difficult when you're depressed.

Social anxiety disorder can make the prospect of telling your physician about your issue or setting up an appointment daunting. As it's impossible to drive yourself to the hospital when you suffer from a high fever, a mental illness also makes it hard to get the treatment firsthand. Therefore, family and friends' support is imperative to cope with the mental disorder.

Imperative tips for talking to a loved one about their mental illness

• Educate yourself about the mental illness your loved ones are suffering.
• Focus on objectives both you and the affected person may want. For instance, their children's custody or a toxic job or relationship.
• Listen to them with empathy and care. Don't force a person to talk about mental illness or any medication they take. Instead, take some time to build a strong relationship with each other. Just give your opinion when needed, and don’t give it unnecessarily.
• Consider preparing a legal document that describes what type of future mental health treatment a person may have. Moreover, name the same trusted individuals to make those suggested treatment decisions.