External pain, injury, and trauma are all visible; people are very aware, careful, compassionate, and careful about healing them. However, psychological pain, mental trauma, and mental illnesses often remain hidden from the viewer. Only the victims die in agony, and many times even the people around them do not realize it. And how can you even notice it? Many times the initial symptoms are very subtle, and if the patient is asked, he may say that he is busy or restless with an interview, or business, job, relationship, boss’s quarrel, a disagreement with a loved one, lack of money, his/her/his family’s health, etc. Sometimes it looks more like general anxiety, depression, or restlessness. Again, they continue to roam around in social and family settings as before, although their behavior or judgment are not at the same level as before.
And so, they often do not receive timely and proper diagnosis or treatment. Gradually, these hidden pains or wounds gradually kill the main person, like insects, and also kill their family, relatives, friends, and everyone. Many lives are destroyed, before they even realize it. And the most important thing is that in most cases, it is seen that the person suffering from mental illness himself does not realize that he is sick. As a result, he has no desire or cooperation in terms of treatment. At some point, while struggling for power, his close people give up. They are obviously healthy and normal and walk around like ten people, many even do some work. But, if you look closely, you will understand that they have a serious decline in any of their physical, mental, or social areas, and it is very difficult for them to adapt. Many times, they become addicted to drugs during this period. That is the best time to start treatment.
Almost every disorder I write about in this book is included in the DSM 5, or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses. The DSM 5 is the most recent professional reference book from the American Psychiatric Association. It provides guidance on mental disorders and brain disorders. Mental health professionals across the United States and around the world use it as a dictionary, and its latest version, DSM-5-TR (Revised), was published in March 2022. The American Psychiatric Association is the sole author, editor, reviewer, critic, or publisher of this book.
The main categories of diseases listed in DSM-5 are: 1. Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD for short, learning disorders. Each of these has various subcategories. 2. Other psychotic disorders including schizophrenia spectrum and their various subcategories, 3. OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, 4. Trauma and stressor related disorders, 5. Dissociative disorders, 6. Somatic symptom disorders, 7. Feeding and eating disorders, 8. Elimination disorders, sexual dysfunctions, 9. Gender dysphoria-like disorders, 10. Disruptive, impulse-control, and behavioral disorders, 11. Substance-related and addictive disorders, 12. Neurocognitive disorders, and 13. Personality disorders. However, each of these categories has multiple subcategories, which I do not want to complicate the matter by revealing in this one book. Even though some ordinary people collect DSM-5 out of interest or try to learn about mental health by moving it, it is not possible and inappropriate for ordinary people to read and understand it without a properly trained professional. It should not be since it is prepared for health professionals, as their reference guide. I have made references to DSM-5 in various places in this book because we use it mandatory when providing treatment or for creating care plans or programming. If you are reading this book yourself, you may want to talk to your doctor, but do not make any decisions yourself unless you are a health professional.
Although there are thousands of different types of mental illness, I have made a limited attempt in this book to discuss some of the most common mental illnesses in detail. The diseases I have written about are personality disorders, OCD, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, dementia, bipolar disorder, Prader-Willi syndrome, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, walking corpse syndrome or Cotard syndrome, paraphrenia, PTSD, narcissism, anxiety disorders, depression or depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, eating disorders and various branches of these diseases.
It is very sad that we talk about wounds or sores on the external parts of the body, go to the doctor and get them treated. And besides, this makes the sick person feel very enthusiastic or eager about the treatment, and cooperate in curing it. On the other hand, the situation is completely different in the case of a person suffering from mental illness. He himself is not interested, he is also quite skeptical about the need for his own treatment. Many times, it is seen that before proposing treatment to him, his relatives usually think, ‘Who will bell a cat?’ Even if a proposal is made with great courage, in almost ninety percent of cases, the patient says to the proposer, ‘Do you/you want to declare me crazy?’ And as a result, there are thousands of examples of lifelong loss of relationship all around us.
People suffering from mental illnesses usually go through several stages or phases. In the first stage, they do not want to understand their illness, and even if someone points a finger at them, they deny it. In the next stage, the patient is said to be in a state of vacillation on a fence. In any situation, he will either fall on one side of the fence or the other. That is, he sometimes understands that he is sick, and sometimes he does not understand. Again, even if he understands, that understanding does not last long. In the next stage, the patient understands a little, at this stage, people around him have to extend a helping hand very calmly, and it is necessary to ensure that the process of getting treatment can be started quickly. If you delay this stage, the patient can actually get depressed, and can go from being dissatisfied to being sick again.
Again, it is often seen that due to lack of funding or complications in getting serials or other challenges, people move forward on the path of treatment and then move away. During this time, the help, support, comfort, and encouragement of loved ones can play a very effective role. In the next stage, treatment continues, but if the patient can be kept away from the triggers, the patient can recover quickly. And in the last stage, there is the risk of recovery and relapse. Many patients may be quite well once they recover, but in many cases, if there is no regular check-up after the treatment is completed, the patient becomes as sick as before. Also, for example, take an addiction patient who is a regular marijuana user. As a result of treatment and rehab, his addiction has been cured. But the problem arises when the following happens:
Mobin got rid of marijuana use for several months in a reputable rehab. After being released, he entered the subway station and the smell of marijuana wafted into his nose. A few young men were using it together. He was feeling quite uncomfortable asking for one from them, but that familiar smell was pulling him like a magnet. Finally, he sat down on a bench, fighting with his mind for a while before getting on the train. For quite some time, he thought to himself, ‘I’ve been eating for so many years, and I’ll eat one or two! What difference will it make? And besides, after returning home today, I’ll be a completely different person, and I won’t touch these garbage, I won’t even ask for one.’ On the other hand, the boys understood Mobin’s point perfectly, and they also said mischievously, ‘What do you want, or one? Here, you have to pay a little double the price, though…’ Mobin couldn’t take it anymore, he gave everything he had in his pocket for that pleasure. And he joined the group of those boys again. So, preventing relapse after returning from rehab is also quite important.
Scarborough, Canada
