Mental Illnesses and Psychiatric Medications
Types of Mental Disorders
There are different types of mental illness, according to the psychiatrists, caused by the imbalance in the metabolic system of the brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters carry the messages within the nerve cells through out the human body. The imbalance results in mental, emotional, physical and intellectual problems from which the mentally imbalanced people suffer.
The new discoveries in the realm of human brain and its mechanism have helped the psychological researchers to develop medications. These medications work by altering the brain procedure by which the human brain produces releases and stores the brain chemicals, thereby reducing the symptoms of the mental illness.
Now, depending on the mental illness there are broadly five classes of medications:
- Anti-depressant medications
- Bipolar medications
- Anti-anxiety medications
- Medications for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Anti-Panic Medications
- Antipsychotic Drugs
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Let us first understand the different types of mental illness and their symptoms:
| Depression |
| This is the most common mental disease which affects near about 9.4 million Americans in any six-month period. This is not like normal mood shifts, more frequent symptoms of this mental illness are, feeling of sadness, guilt, hopelessness, helplessness, fatigue. The patient develops sleeping and eating disorder and finds no joy in his favorite activities. If this condition remains untreated, the victim may be at high risk of committing suicide. |
| Bipolar Disorder |
| In this state of mind, the person experiences episodes of severe depression and episodes of feeling normal. In the period of severe depression, the person becomes highly excited and has high energy and develop pompous attitude and live on unrealistic ideas and involve into abnormal and unrealistic projects. They keep on speaking rapidly and may become angry even if nobody is interrupting. |
| Anxiety Disorder |
| This mental illness combines general anxiety, panic disorder, phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The unrealistic phobias, fear, panic and stress have been experienced by at least eight percent of all Americans and are responsible for job losses and serious social and relationship problems. Most of the time the physical symptoms are shortness of breath and pounding heart. |
| Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |
| It is a painful and devastating disorder in which the patient suffers from repeated and unwanted episodes of extremely disturbing thoughts, which results in changing the patient's behavior. A common symptom may be the fear of germs that compels him to wash his hands and feet continually and as a result his skin starts to bleed. |
| Panic Disorder |
| The panic attacks are so irregular and vicious that most of the victims avoid places and situations in which the attacks occurred. This mental disorder has quiet a few physical as well as psychological symptoms. In the panic disorder a person may think that he is having a heart attack, their chest is tight, unable to breath, pounding heart, chocking or smothering, numbness or tingling around the lips etc. In severe cases the patient even refuses to leave home as he fears that he may suffer the attack if he goes to any place outside his home. |
| Psychosis |
| Psychosis is not a mental disorder in itself; rather it is a symptom of one or more mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. It affects a person's ability to understand what is real. As a result, his thought process becomes chaotic or illogical. The patient suffers from hallucination or sees things which do not even exist in reality. These patients will keep on believing in things for which they think they have proof even if their beliefs and ideas are wrong and do not exist. |
Mental Disorder Medicines
Below we have given the list of Medicines used in each type of above mentioned mental illness:
| Anti-depressant medications |
• heterocyclic antidepressants (formerly called tricyclics) : amitriptyline, amoxapine, desipramine, doxepin, imipramine, maprotiline, nortriptyline, protriptyline, and trimipramine
• monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs): isocarboxazid, phenelzine, and tranylcypromine
• serotonin-specific agents: fluoxetine and sertraline |
Bipolar medications |
• Lithium |
Anti-anxiety medications |
• Benzodiazepines: chlordiazepoxide, diazepam and Alprazolam, buspirone |
| Medications for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |
• heterocyclic anti-depressant: clomipramine |
| Anti-Panic Medications |
• Alprazolam (Benzodiazepine)
• heterocyclic antidepressants
• MAOIs |
Antipsychotic Drugs
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Anti-psychotic medications:
• acetophenazine
• chlorpromazine
• chlorprothixene
• clozapine
• fluphenazine
• haloperidol
• loxapine
• mesoridazine
• molindone
• perphenazin
• pimozide
• piperacetazine
• trifluoperazine
• triflupromazine
• thioridazine
• thiothixene |
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