Overview

Students will be introduced to select mental illnesses, and how they impact others.

Teaching Outcomes

• Name an understand some common mental illnesses
• Bust myths regarding some of these illnesses

Theory and Background Information

Just like other organs, the brain can experience a host of illnesses. Due to the complex nature of the brain, consisting not only of neurons which can experience interruptions in their functioning, but also our mind, including our abilities to think, feel and what controls our behaviour. A common analogy is that our physical brains are the hardware, while our mind is the software running on the hardware.

Illness in the brain can take two broad forms - neurological illnesses are most often the result of damage or malfunctions exclusively to the neurons within the brain or other neurons in the body. Conversely, mental illnesses can not only involve physical brain problems, but also include dimensions related to our minds.

One way psychologists and psychiatrists conceptualize this is with the biopsychosocial model, which forces us to consider aspects biologically, psychologically and sociologically that may contribute to illnesses. We will consider this model below.

Anxiety Disorders

Everyone feels anxious from time to time, asking out that person or writing that test can be  nerve-wracking, and can make us feel anxious. Defined clinically, anxiety includes both mental and physical feelings of tension, unease and apprehension. The feeling of anxiousness and having an anxiety disorder are related but notably different. Anxiety disorders can only be diagnosed, or confirmed by a psychologist or psychiatrist. (This is true of all mental disorders, not just anxiety disorders.)

Feelings like anxiety become disorders when they impair people's’ everyday lives, which again extends to all mental illnesses. Some people experience panic attacks, which is when they become paralyzed by fear and discomfort, and often have increases in how fast their hearts beat and how quickly they breathe. This is one feature of some types of anxiety disorders, but is not needed for someone to have an anxiety disorder.

People’s anxiety can be directed to a number of things, including some types of animals and insects, heights, and stress from work or school. There are medications called anxiolytics (anxiety-disintegrating) which can calm people down. The limbic system and amygdala are thought to be implicated in anxiety disorders, and it is also thought that the neurotransmitter responsible for prompting neurons not to activate may be involved in its development.

Some anxiety disorders are triggered when people are reminded of something or someone, a “trigger.” Respecting that their trigger can make them mentally unwell and respecting this is very important.

Depression

Depression is characterized by persistent declines in mood, a lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities, and fatigue or energy loss, among other symptoms. Similar to anxiety disorders, it is possible to feel depressed without having clinical depression. People sometimes claim they are depressed when in fact they feel depressed; accurately describing your feelings is important so as to respect those who have diagnosed depression.

People with depression may have different levels of neurotransmitters than persons without depression. Some current hypotheses include the involvement with our body’s biological stress system, which releases a compound known to contribute to a variety of health problems including high blood pressure, called cortisol.

Depression can be treated with antidepressants, but can also include cognitive behavioural therapy, which is a form of “talk therapy” with a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker can help teach the patient strategies, collaboratively, to help improve their daily functioning. This can include teaching one how to stop negative thought spirals, which is where one bad thought leads to one or multiple more.

People with depression need support and your patience; telling them to “feel better,” “suck it up,” or to “feel happy” will not help them as they simply can’t. Depression is often a life-long illness, and we don’t have a cure for it.  

Schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia will often see and hear things that don’t exist, have difficult to follow thoughts and speech, and may also have reduced emotional expression. This very often impacts their relationships with others in very negative ways.

People with schizophrenia are often characterized by the media as crazy, violent and malicious. None of these are true. People with schizophrenia may have trouble maintaining jobs and relationships, but are not often violent. Being respectful to them just as you would anyone else is important.

Activity

• Discuss some mental illnesses your students have heard of

• You may want to use a word web to organize this

• Highlight some myths that your students may have stated, or send them to this Canadian Mental Health Association website to investigate some common myths
• Have students create a presentation about a mental illness

• They are encouraged to consider:

• Biological factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Common myths
• Treatments

Resources: Content

Abnormal Psych 4