Other conditions
Other conditions
ADHD is a pattern of problems which is usually picked up in childhood. Parents and teachers notice that a child:
- is unusually over-active
- gets distracted all the time, cannot stick to doing something for any length of time
- is impulsive, and does things on the spur of the moment without thinking
- and has great difficult in concentrating
Many of us have at least some of these problems, but do not have the diagnosis. To have the diagnosis of ADHD, these problems must be bad enough to interfere with how you get on with other people or with how you perform at work or school.
Anxiety disorders are quite common, affecting about 5% of the population at any one time but many people do not seek help. Anxiety and fear are normal human emotions and are often found as reactions to stress. However, normal anxiety becomes abnormal when the symptoms are so intense that people are stopped from coping well with day-to-day activities because they are so painful and distressing.
General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a long-term condition which causes you to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event. People with GAD feel anxious most days and often struggle to remember the last time they felt relaxed. GAD can cause both psychological (mental) and physical symptoms. These vary from person to person, but can include feeling irritable or worried and having trouble concentrating or sleeping.
Abnormal fears, sometimes called phobias, are intense fears of things which would not make the average person frightened (e.g. such as fear of flying).
People who suffer from abnormal anxiety find it difficult to concentrate, tend to sleep badly and get tired easily. The body shows the effects of anxiety by increased heart rate, tension and pain in muscles, inability to relax, sweating, over breathing, dizziness, faintness and bowel disturbances. Sudden unexpected surges of anxiety are called panic attacks. Someone who has a phobia has symptoms of intense anxiety or panic but only in particular situations. Phobias lead to avoidance of the things which are feared.
Treatment
Talking about the problem to trusted friends and relatives often helps and may give a sense of perspective. Most of us tend to avoid stressful situations, but in the case of anxiety disorders that tends to make the situation worse, due to the fear avoidance induces. However, more intensive talking treatments may be required such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). This helps people to recognise, understand and manage anxiety. Learning to relax with advice from professionals or by using CD’s or books can help to bring tensions and anxieties under control. Medication such as tranquilizers or anti-depressants may be used to help ease anxiety during the day or help sleep at night.
Most phobias are curable, but no single treatment is guaranteed to work for all phobias. In some cases, a combination of different treatments may be recommended.
People with anorexia nervosa can have extreme weight loss as a result of very strict dieting. Some people may also make themselves sick, abuse laxatives or do excessive exercise to try and control their weight. In spite of their low weight, people with anorexia nervosa believe that they are fat. It starts most commonly in the mid-teens. About 1 in 100 16-18 year olds have the illness and it is commonly found in girls. People with bulimia nervosa crave food and eat in binges, afterwards making themselves sick or misusing laxatives to get the food out of their bodies. Unlike anorexia nervosa, the distress experienced by those suffering from bulimia may go unnoticed. The person may be any weight or size and not look ill. They may appear to be in control of their external lives, coping fairly successfully on a day-to-day basis, but they are likely to be tormented by an unpredictable cycle of chaotic eating, ranging from periods of starvation to eating thousands of calories.
Bulimia nervosa is usually more common in girls and is more common than anorexia nervosa although people who have this condition do not always ask for treatment.
Also featured in eating disorder is binge eating, when someone feels compelled to overeat.
Eating disorders are often blamed on the social pressure to be thin, as young people in particular feel they should look a certain way. However, the causes are usually more complex. There may be some biological or influencing factors, combined with an experience that may provoke the disorder, plus other factors that encourage the condition to continue.
Treatment
In both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, self-help strategies can be very helpful. Eating problems can be very isolating. Support and self-help groups provide an opportunity to meet regularly with others who have had similar experiences.
If self-help is not enough, health professionals may suggest a course of psychotherapy to help the individual and the family to understand why the disorder developed and how to overcome it. The aim will be to help that person change their attitude, behaviour and ways of thinking to enable them to cope with the strains of life without the eating disorder as a protection. Medication can also be used as part of the treatments (e.g. anti-depressants may be used as part of the treatment in anorexia nervosa).
However, if someone has lost a dangerous amount of weight, the first step will be to help the person start to regain that weight in order to survive and this may involve being admitted to hospital in order to support the individual.
For further information contact:
FightED https://www.fighted.org/
Eating Disorders Association NI http://www.eatingdisordersni.co.uk/
OCD usually appears in childhood or adolescence but continues into adulthood. It is an exaggeration of normal thoughts and actions. Most people find that from time to time, they have worrying thoughts which they cannot get out of their head or they carry out repetitive actions which are not really necessary. Obsessions are recurrent, persistent thoughts or ideas that the person may feel are senseless but is unable to ignore. Compulsions are repetitive, ritualistic behaviour which the person feels driven to perform. Obsessions and compulsions in OCD can cause a lot of distress to the individual and their family. They can be very time consuming, interfering with people’s daily lives.
Treatment Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be very helpful in treating OCD. It involves learning to manage the situations which would normally provoke compulsive actions. Sufferers may learn to resist the compulsions and to tolerate the discomfort they experience as a result which gradually lessens with time. It also aims to change the way sufferers think about the situations associated with their OCD. Many people with mild OCD can improve without treatment. Some people may also be prescribed medication alongside therapy.
The symptoms of post-natal depression are similar to those in depression at other times. These include low mood and other symptoms lasting at least two weeks. Depending on the severity, the mother may struggle to look after herself and her baby. She may find simple tasks difficult to manage.
In our everyday lives, any of us can have an experience that is overwhelming, frightening, and beyond our control. We could find ourselves in a car crash, be the victim of an assault, or see an accident. Police, fire brigade or ambulance workers are more likely to have such experiences – they often have to deal with horrifying scenes. Soldiers may be shot or blown up, and see friends killed or injured.
Most people, in time, get over experiences like this without needing help. In some people, though, traumatic experiences set off a reaction that can last for many months or years. This is called Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short.
We have put links below to other leaflets produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists which you may also find useful.
