Throughout history, mental disorders have been regarded with fear, bias, and ignorance. Though medicine has drastically improved for the mentally ill in the last century, mainstream society still has a relatively uninformed and biased view against individuals with mental disorders. This is particularly harmful because every year up to ¼ of Americans fit the criteria for being mentally ill.Note: There are many other disorders, some similar to the disorders mentioned. All information is received from the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision”.
10. Type One Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder has been talked about a lot. It has received vast media coverage and most individuals have at least a general idea of what it is. Bipolar disorder makes an individual switch between two main moods: mania (emotions like happiness and anger) and depression (emotions like sadness and guilt). Unlike the media interpretation, Bipolar disorder’s mood swings actually take a long time. Each swing lasts about a week on average, with a few days’ transition in between. Read more