GENERAL SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL DISORDERS

A study of various mental disorders has enabled psychiatrists and psychologists to discover some general symptoms of mental disorders. These symptoms pertain to various distinguishable aspects of the mind. They should not be thought of as disturbance of different mental faculties, because the mind is one homogeneous process. It is an integral function of the organism which cannot be split into components.

These symptoms indicate the individual’s problems and the area in which they occur as well as the way he is struggling to meet them. Moreover, even normal individuals manifest these symptoms in their behaviors but not so frequently and in such intense or exaggerated form as is the case with the mentally ill. The following are some of the general symptoms associated with mental disorders or illnesses.

Physical symptoms – It Includes persistent deviations in temperature, pulse, and respiration, nausea, vomiting and headache, dizziness, loss of normal or presence of abnormal appetite, loss of weight, coughing, pain, fatigue, abnormal pupillary activity, and all types of motor insubordinations.

A mental disorder may manifest itself in such sensorial symptoms as anesthesia (loss of all sensation), hyperesthesia, and paraesthesias or perversion of sensation, in abnormal functions of visual, taste, smell, and visceral sensations.

Mental disorders may be characterized by confusion or general clouding of consciousness. This may affect memory. Some patients may lose their memory completely(amnesia).

Disorders of perception are another category of symptoms – most of these are in the form of illusion and hallucinations. Then there are symptoms in the area of ideation. Patients may suffer from a reduction of ideation. The range of association may become very poor, or ideas and words may be repeated again and again.

Other symptoms or complaints may be the loss of a higher level of control. For example, some patients may show increased psychomotor activity. Connected with symptoms in the area of ideation is speech disturbance. Speech may be characterized by irrelevance, blocking, flight of ideas, going into a lot of needless details, word salad, etc.

The symptoms connected with the disorders of effect are quite important. They may show feelings of love and hatred for one or their emotional expression may be inappropriate. They may show progressive inability to show any adequate response, ending in complete emotional freezing or blunting.

There are symptoms associated with disturbance in feelings of general well-being and sleep. They may complain about fatigue, loss of energy, and inability to consume food; they may show difficulties in handling problems of elimination or personal hygiene in general.

The combination of these various complaints may result in important symptoms, namely depersonalization. The patient frequently complains that he is not sure whether all these things are happening to him or whether he is watching someone else very much like himself go through troubles. He is not sure of what is ‘I’ and what is ‘I’ all these indicate depersonalization.