Mental Health Conditions

Below is a list of the most commonly known and recognised Mental Health Conditions, however, there are many more and each person and case is unique, sometimes with conditions crossing over each other.

My Family Psychologist are equipped with professional and experienced psychologists and therapists that can recognise, diagnose and deal with most mental health conditions.  As a client you just need to contact us, let us know what is happening and we will be with you every step of the way. Do not worry if you do not see what you believe is effecting you in the information below or that you cross into multiple areas. Just get in touch and we will be here to help.

Low Mood

Everyone feels low or down from time to time and it does not always mean something is wrong. It is common to feel low after a distressing event however it is not uncommon for periods of low mood to happen for no obvious reason. If you are experiencing low mood, you may feel tired, angry, worried, anxious, lacking confidence or frustrated.

Depression

Depression can stem from longer periods of low mood. If you feel like you are feeling down and no longer get pleasure from doing things that you would usually enjoy dong most days, then you may be experiencing depression. There are also some specific types of depression which you may need to be aware of.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Depression that occurs at a particular time of year, or during a particular season. This tends to occur during the Summer to Autumn period, where the weather changes and it gets darker more quickly.

Dysthymia

This is a continuous mild depressive period that lasts for two years or more. Also called Persistent Depressive Disorder or Chronic Depression.

Prenatal Depression

This is a form of depression that occurs during pregnancy. This is sometimes also called Antenatal Depression.

Postnatal Depression (PND)

Depression that occurs in the first year after giving birth.

Anxiety

Anxiety can be experienced in lots of different ways and if your experiences meet certain criteria, your doctor might diagnose you with a specific type of Anxiety Disorder. We have a list of some commonly diagnosed Anxiety Disorders.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

GAD refers to having regular or uncontrollable periods of worries about many different things which occur in your everyday life. There are lots of possible symptoms of anxiety so this can be quite a broad diagnosis so this means that the problems you experience with GAD might be quite different from another person’s experiences.

Social Anxiety Disorder

A diagnosis of Social Anxiety means you experience extreme fear or anxiety triggered by social situations including such as attending parties, workplaces, or any situation in which you have to talk to other people. It is also known to some people as Social Phobia.

Panic Disorder

This means having regular or frequent panic attacks without a clear cause or specific trigger. Experiencing Panic Disorder can mean that you feel constantly afraid of having another panic attack, to the point that this fear itself can trigger your panic attacks.

Phobias

Having a phobia is experiencing extreme fear or anxiety triggered by a particular situation (such as social situations, heights) or a particular object (such as snakes, spiders, blood).

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD)

You may experience particular anxiety problems which involve having repetitive thoughts, behaviours or urges. Common OCD behaviour may be fixating on activities such as

Health Anxiety

This means you experience obsessions and compulsions relating to illness, including researching symptoms or checking to see if you have them. Sometimes, you may even convince yourself that you have these symptoms. It is related to OCD and can also be known as Hypochondria.

Perinatal Anxiety or Perinatal OCD

Some women develop anxiety problems during pregnancy or in the first year after giving birth.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

This means you experience obsessions and compulsions relating to your physical appearance. This may mean that you may something different to what other people may see.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia is an eating disorder where you feel a need to keep your weight as a low as possible. Symptoms may include eating very little or missing meals, weighting yourself more frequently, holding the belief that you are ‘fat’ or ‘overweight’ when you are at a healthy weight or underweight. You may exercise a lot and control the amount you are eating. Anorexia is usually treated with Talking Therapies such as CBT.

Bulimia

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder and mental health condition. People who have bulimia try to control their weight by severely restricting the amount of food they eat, then binge eating and purging the food from their body by making themselves vomit or using laxatives.

Trauma, PTSD & complex PTSD

Going through very stressful, frightening or distressing events is sometimes referred to as trauma. When we talk about emotional or psychological trauma, we might mean:

• Situations or events we find traumatic
• How we’re affected by our experiences.

Traumatic events can happen at any age and can cause long-lasting harm if they are not dealt with effectively. Everyone has a different reaction to trauma, so you may notice any effects quickly, or  even a long time afterwards. There are different ways in which trauma can occur. These include:

• One-off or ongoing events
• being directly harmed
• witnessing harm to someone else
• living in a traumatic atmosphere
• being affected by trauma in a family or community.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

This is a diagnosis you may be given if you develop anxiety problems after going through something you found traumatic. (As Mental Health Conditions, PTSD is normally associated with Military Veterans, however, it can effect anyone). PTSD can cause flashbacks or nightmares which can feel like you’re re-living all the fear and anxiety you experienced during the actual event. The condition was first identified in war veterans and has often been referred to as ‘shell shock’. It does not mean that you have to have been a soldier to experience PTSD. You may have experienced ongoing domestic violence or abuse, repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse, torture, kidnapping or slavery, being a prisoner of war or being forced to become a sex worker.   There are different types of PTSD:

Delayed-onset PTSD

If your symptoms emerge more than six months after experiencing trauma, this might be described as ‘delayed PTSD’ or ‘delayed-onset PTSD’.

Complex PTSD

If you experienced trauma at an early age or it lasted for a long time, you might be given a diagnosis of ‘complex PTSD’. Symptoms may include childhood abuse, neglect or abandonment, difficulty controlling emotions, often experiencing dissociative symptoms such as depersonalisation or derealisation, constant feelings of emptiness or hopelessness, regular suicidal feelings, feeling very hostile or distrustful towards the world, avoiding friendships and relationships, or finding them very difficult, feeling like nobody can understand what happened to you, feeling as if you are permanently damaged or worthless and/or feeling as if you are completely different to other people.

Birth Trauma PTSD

This can develop after a traumatic experience of childbirth is also known as ‘birth trauma’.

If you experience some PTSD symptoms while supporting someone close to you who’s experienced trauma, this is sometimes known as ‘secondary trauma’.

Bi Polar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mental health problem that mainly affects your mood. If you have a type of Bi Polar, you are likely to have times where you experience:

• manic or hypomanic episodes (feeling high)
•  depressive episodes (feeling low)
• potentially some psychotic symptoms during manic or depressed episode
• mixed episodes (feeling high and low at the same time).

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe long-term mental health condition which can cause a range of different psychological symptoms. Doctors often describe schizophrenia as a type of psychosis which means you may not always be able to distinguish your own thoughts and ideas from reality. You could be diagnosed with Schizophrenia if you experience some of the following symptoms:

• A lack of interest in things
• Difficulty concentrating and disorganized speech and thought process
• Wanting to avoid contact with other people
• Feeling disconnected from your feelings
• Not wanting to look after yourself
• Experiencing hallucinations such as ‘hearing voices’ or seeing things which other people may not.
• Experiencing delusions (including paranoid delusions) and strong beliefs which other people may not share.

Psychosis

Psychosis (also referred to as psychotic experience or psychotic episode), is when you perceive or interpret reality in a very different way from people around you. Psychosis can affect people in different ways and if you experience it once, you have short episodes throughout your life or live with it a lot of the time.

Personality Disorders

Having a Personality Disorder affects how you think, feel, behave or relate to other people. There are different types of Personality Disorder with different symptoms. Personality Disorders are grouped into three categories.

Suspicious Personality Disorder Types

Paranoid Personality Disorder

The thoughts, feelings and experiences associated with paranoia.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Many people with schizoid personality disorder are able to function fairly well however may find difficulties forming close relationships with other people and have difficulty relating to or are emotionally cold towards others.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Patterns of thinking and behaving make relating to others very difficult.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Putting our own needs, pleasure or personal gain before those of others around us frequently. You struggle to keep stability in your life, or you regularly act impulsively out of anger or lack of consideration for others.

Emotional and Impulsive Disorder Types

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD). If you have BDP, you may experience more intense difficulties with relationships, self-image and emotions.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

If you depend very heavily on being noticed, or are seeking approval so much that this affects your day-to-day living, you might get a diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder.

Narcissistic Personality Order

You may be seen as selfish and dismissive or unaware of other people’s needs and feel upset if others ignore you and don’t give you what you feel you deserve.

Anxious Personality Disorders

Anxious Personality Disorder

When things cause so much anxiety that you struggle to maintain relationships in your life or feel that you may be rejected, you may get a diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder.

Dependent Personality Disorder

If your feelings and thoughts about needing others become so overwhelming that they impact your daily life and relationships, you may get a diagnosis of dependent personality disorder.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is separate from OCD which is type of behaviour rather than a personality. OCPD involves problems with perfectionism, the need for control, and significant difficulty being flexible in how you think about things.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is how we value and perceive ourselves. It’s based on our opinions and beliefs about ourselves, which can sometimes feel really difficult to change. If we have negative self-esteem it can affect how we value ourselves.

Anger Issues

Anger is a normal, healthy emotion, which we might experience if we feel like we are being attacked, frustrated or treated unfairly. It is not necessarily a ‘bad emotion’ but can be a problem when it gets out of control and harms you or people around you.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

If you experience ADHD, you might find that you: have difficulty concentrating, sometimes make impulsive decisions, tend to move around and can be forgetful.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

If you have ASD, you may be restricted, rigid, and even obsessive in your behaviours, activities, and interests. Some symptoms of ASD may be repetitive body movements (hand flapping, rocking, spinning); moving constantly,  under or over-reaction to one or more senses, issues with social interaction, the need for sameness and obsessive attachment to unusual objects (rubber bands, keys, light switches).

Asperger’s Syndrome

People with Asperger syndrome see, hear and feel the world differently to other people and often feel that Asperger syndrome is a fundamental aspect of their identity. Some people with Asperger syndrome say the world feels overwhelming and this can cause them considerable anxiety. Some of the characteristics of Asperger Syndrome include difficulties with social communication and social interaction and restricted patterns of behaviour and interests.