Serious Mental Disorders

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Mental illness affects 1 in 4 Americans. There is a wide range of mental health disorders. Find out about the importance of taking care of your mental health.

Table of Contents

Anxiety Disorders

Feeling worried or nervous is a normal part of everyday life. Everyone frets or feels anxious from time to time. If anxiety is severe, you may have feelings of helplessness, confusion, and extreme worry that are out of proportion with the actual seriousness of what you fear. Overwhelming anxiety that interferes with daily life is not normal.

Learn about anxiety disorders, including panic attacks, phobias, and PTSD.

Depression

Everyone feels sad, hopeless or worthless sometimes, but when those feelings are intense and don't go away, it may be depression. Mood disorders such as depression are caused by imbalances in the brain’s chemical activity and can be effectively treated.

Find out about the signs and symptoms of depression as well as treatment in Ventura County.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder (also called manic-depression) is a serious mood disorder characterized by cycling mood changes of highs (mania) and lows (depression), often with periods of normal mood in between.

Read about bipolar disorder symptoms, treatment, and statistics at the National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder/.

Psychotic Disorders

These disorders occur when thinking becomes abnormal and your contact with reality is impaired. Psychotic disorders can involve hallucinations and delusions, such as hearing voices, thinking someone is trying to control you, or seeing something that is not really there. There are many different causes of psychosis. In severe cases a person with bipolar disorder can present with psychotic symptoms. Drug and substance abuse can also cause symptoms of psychosis, as can underlying medical conditions or even prescription medications. See more about symptoms and getting help early on the right.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious psychotic disorder and individuals with this illness sometimes need to be hospitalized in order to be stabilized. It is one of the more common forms of serious mental illness that can cause psychosis. About 1 percent of people have schizophrenia.

Learn more about schizophrenia symptoms, treatment and statistics at the National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/.

Eating disorders

When eating behavior becomes extreme, either in extreme under-eating or extreme over-eating, it's an eating disorder. People with an eating disorder often have intense emotions and concerns about their body shape or type.

Three major types of eating disorders are:

  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Bulimia Nervosa
  • Binge-eating Disorder or Compulsive Overeating

Learn more about eating disorders types and treatment from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Impulse Control Disorders

These are a group of conditions that are characterized by harmful impulses that the person cannot control. They include kleptomania, characterized by irresistible urges to steal, and pyromania, characterized by irresistible urges to set fires.

Addiction Disorders

These occur when a person loses control of a behavior, such as use of alcohol or drugs, but can also include Internet use, gambling or other behaviors that the person craves beyond reason. Addiction disorders are a combination of physical and psychological dependence and may be hereditary. For alcohol and drug treatment services, contact Ventura County Alcohol & Drug Programs at (805) 981-9200.

Personality Disorders

This is when an individual has trouble perceiving and relating to everyday situations and people, including themselves. A person with a personality disorder has an unbending way of thinking, regardless of the reality around them.
 

Learn about mental health disorders in children and teens.

 

Watch a video about the stigma of mental illness or subscribe to the BringChange2Mind YouTube Channel.

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Getting Help Early Makes a Big Difference

Identifying mental illness early has been shown to make a big difference in reducing how seriously it may develop. This is especially true about illness that involves psychosis — getting help early can slow or stop psychosis entirely, while without treatment, it is likely to get worse and be harder to treat later.

Some early signs of psychosis are similar to reactions to stress, but if more than one symptom appears, or they don't go away or get worse, it may be a sign of mental illness. Symptoms may include:

  • Difficulty in maintaining focus, concentration or memory
  • Hearing sounds or voices, seeing visions, or experiencing strange sensations that other people don’t perceive
  • Difficulty with conversations or being understood
  • Feeling overly fearful or suspicious
  • Changes in sensitivity to light, sound, touch or smell
  • Dramatic changes in behaviors, ideas, sleep or appetite
  • Withdrawing from friends and family
  • Becoming less able to deal with school or work

There is a new program in Ventura County to help identify and get help for psychosis early. If you or someone you care about shows the signs noted above, is between 16-25 years old, and lives in West Ventura County, call VIPS (Ventura Early Intervention Prevention Services) at (805) 642-7033 for confidential information, assessment, and help.

VIPS is offered by Ventura County Behavioral Health in partnership with Telecare Corporation.

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