We all know it: bad moods, feeling sluggish all day, and wanting to hide under a blanket. Everyone has off days now and then. It's completely normal.

However, if our mood doesn't improve despite our efforts, and it affects our daily life, work, and social interactions, it could be a sign of a serious mental disorder.

In this post, we aim to identify some mental disorders and provide an overview.

Burnout

People experiencing burnout are literally burned out. They lack the energy and motivation to complete work tasks and even struggle with everyday activities like cleaning, cooking, or maintaining social contacts.

Burnout is complex and not just psychological. Physical exhaustion is also a major factor.

Symptoms can include extreme fatigue, tiredness, concentration issues, mood swings, and reduced performance. Stress and pressure are often cited as causes. The drive for perfectionism and self-imposed performance pressure can also lead to burnout.

If untreated, burnout can lead to permanent inability to work and may result in depression. Learn more

Depression

We talk about depression when someone shows signs of sadness, lack of motivation, hopelessness, and fatigue. A noticeable decrease in joy is also a symptom. Untreated depression can lead to loss of quality of life, inability to work, early retirement, and in the worst case, suicide.

Depression is categorized into:

• unipolar depression
• seasonal depression (winter depression)
• chronic depressive mood (dysthymia)
• bipolar depression (bipolar disorder).

Anxiety Disorder

Feeling anxious is a natural defense mechanism. This feeling comes from the "fight or flight" response. Our ancestors needed this sense of danger to act quickly and survive in stressful situations.

In today's world, this is usually unnecessary. But the instinct remains.

When we feel anxious and panicked without reason, it's called an anxiety disorder. Here, the fear is intense and noticeable, even without a real threat. Symptoms can prevent normal social participation.

Symptoms of an anxiety disorder can include high nervousness, dizziness, sweating, and insomnia.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are also mental illnesses. They often arise from psychosocial stress, trauma, or bullying, leading to a distorted body image.

Some well-known eating disorders are:

• Bulimia (binge-purge disorder)
• Anorexia (anorexia nervosa)
• Binge Eating (overeating episodes)

People with eating disorders often obsess about food. Symptoms can include fear of gaining weight, secretive eating, compulsive weight control, forced vomiting, and excessive eating binges.

Addiction Disorders

When the craving for substances like alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or synthetic drugs is uncontrollable, and withdrawal symptoms occur without them, it's called addiction. But addiction isn't limited to legal or illegal substances. We can also become addicted to exercise, food, gambling, or betting.

Addiction stems from a misdirection of the brain's reward system. Various neurotransmitters are released, creating a high and a sense of well-being. The brain remembers which substances trigger these feelings and demands more, more frequently.

Borderline

People with borderline syndrome can't control their emotions. Their personality is unstable due to frequent and intense mood swings and impulsive reactions. This can lead to severe anxiety and fear of abandonment.

Many affected individuals self-harm as they see no other way to relieve their bodily tension. The risk-taking behavior of those with borderline syndrome increases. These self-destructive acts are usually not suicide attempts but desperate efforts to regulate and control their emotions temporarily.

Bipolar Disorders

Bipolar disorder is an affective disorder. It's characterized by extreme fluctuations. These can affect mood, activity levels, and motivation.

Affected individuals experience uncontrolled shifts between extreme highs (mania) and extreme lows (depression). Weeks or months can pass between these extremes without symptoms.

In mania, individuals are extremely active, exuberant, but also irritable, restless, and erratic.

In depression, they can be extremely sad, unmotivated, and sleepless.

There are various forms of bipolar disorder, so there is no single clinical picture.

Schizophrenia

In people with schizophrenia, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions differ greatly from those of healthy individuals. Their speech and self-perception are also altered.

Symptoms can include delusions. Other signs may include hallucinations (hearing voices), motor impairments (sometimes bizarre postures), extreme mood swings, and speech and thought disorders.

Forms of schizophrenia include:

• paranoid schizophrenia
• catatonic schizophrenia (unnaturally tense postures or behaviors)
• hebephrenic schizophrenia (disruptive mood and emotional behavior)

Schizophrenia can manifest in relatively subtle signs, but depending on the clinical picture and course, it can also have extreme consequences.

Conclusion

Mental disorders are complex and not easy to diagnose. Without professional and competent help, it's difficult for those affected to cope and begin healing.

As mentioned at the beginning, this is just a general overview of various mental disorders. We aim to explore some of the disorders mentioned above in more detail in future posts to better understand them.