symptom concerns
Depression
People who struggle with depression often feel extreme sadness or despair for an extended period of time. They lose interest in activities they once found pleasurable and often experience significant changes in sleep and appetitie patterns. Many people will isolate from family and friends. Thoughts of suicide are not uncommon. Depression is a debilitating disease and affects millions of Americans each year.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is a natural response to stressful events and can be used as an effective coping skill. When anxiety is experienced as an excessive and irrational fear and becomes generalized to many areas of an individual's life it can become disabling. It can severely limit the scope of an individual's experiences. To find relief, some people will turn to repetitive behaviors, preoccupations, or substance abuse. Anxiety also manifests itself in physical symptoms including headaches, disgestive issues, and high blood pressure.
Bi-polar Disorder
People living with this disorder often experience intense mood swings resulting in times of extreme highs and extreme lows often with periods of normal mood inbetween. This is very different from the normal ups and downs that many people face. This often results in damaged relationships, difficulties with job performance, and drug or alcohol addicition in an attempt to self-medicate. Often people struggling with this disorder will have thoughts of suicide.
Trauma/Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that may result after seeing or living through a terrifying, threatening event. Experiences where safety is threatened or has been violated can overwhelm and leave a lasting impression that impacts experiences and diminishes a person's ability to live the life they want. It may result in the experience of dissociation, flashbacks, extreme anxiety, fear at non-threatening situations, and take a toll on an individual's physical health. People who suffer from PTSD often experience difficulty in establishing and maintaining safe relationships. The devastation of PTSD is often underestimated.
Co-occurring Disorders
In an attempt to cope, possibly with everyday stressors, phyical pain, or with the symptoms of another underlying mental health issue, people will often turn to drug and/or alcohol use. What the person does not count on is that substance use will often quickly turn into abuse and dependence resulting in the devastation of the life they once knew or wanted. It can have devastating effects on an individual's physical health, relationships, ability to function at work or at school, and many times leads to legal issues.
