Mental Ilnesses

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Mental illnesses are health problems that affect the mind—your thoughts, your emotions, your behaviours. There are many different mental illnesses, and they affect people in different ways. In this section, learn more about the different mental illnesses, learn more about treatment and recovery, and find help in your community.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Many of us look forward to our retirement. But for hundreds of thousands of Canadians, this becomes a time of loss and confusion. Some memory loss is a normal part of aging, but when memory loss and confusion impact your day-to-day life, it might be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

Anxiety Disorders

Suddenly your heart is racing, palms are sweaty, stomach’s churning. Your muscles are tense and your senses alert. Your mind is flooded with worries and fears that something bad will happen. This is anxiety; and we have all had it.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Youth

There are times when children just can’t seem to concentrate. This isn’t a huge problem for most kids—they can regain their focus and get back on task fairly easily. But it’s a serious problem for others.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults

Everyone feels distracted and restless at times. For the most of us, the feelings pass and we can easily get back to work. Some people struggle with these problems for many years.

Bipolar Disorder

Mood swings. We all have them once in a while. But for some people these mood swings can happen to the extreme.

Borderline Personality Disorder

In the past, people thought that someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) was “on the borderline” between psychosis and neurosis (anxiety/depression). Today, we know much more about BPD and there is more research on BDP than any other personality disorder.

Children, Youth, and Depression

While we may think of low mood or other challenges as adult problems, they can affect people at any age. Children and teens can experience mental illnesses like depression.

Depression

Sadness is a natural part of being human and feeling this way for a few days is normal. But if these sad feelings last for more than a couple of weeks and you start noticing that it’s affecting your life in a big way, you may be suffering from depression.

Eating Disorders

Millions of people aren’t happy with the way they look. Some people go to extremes to lose weight because they feel like they’re not thin enough. And unfortunately, this can lead to an eating disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Worry is a normal reaction to a stressful or troubling event. We all worry sometimes. But if you seem to worry much more than other people and you worry so much that it affects the quality of your life, you may have something called generalized anxiety disorder.

Mental Illnesses in Children and Youth

Kids and teens are constantly changing. They grow up quickly and before you know it, your giggly, energetic toddler is a teenager who sleeps until noon. As we grow, it’s…

Mood Disorders

Moods affect us every day. Sometimes we’re sad, other times we’re happy. But sometimes people’s mood can get “stuck” on sad. Or the moods might change a lot or become extreme. When this happens, it might be caused by mood disorders.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Most of us have had times when we find ourselves thinking about something constantly. Repetitive thoughts, worries and rituals have a definite place in our lives. But when these begin to impact your everyday life it may be a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Panic Disorder

Your heart starts racing. You start to feel dizzy, nauseous and sweaty. It feels so bad that you get the overwhelming feeling you’re going to die. This is what a panic attack feels like. Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that causes repeated, unexpected attacks of intense fear.

Personality Disorders

Each of us has a unique personality that that is reflective of both our genetic make-up and our life experiences. Personality disorders involve patterns of behaviour, mood, social interaction, and impulsiveness that cause distress to one experiencing them, as well as to other people in their lives.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

People are strong, but some kinds of trauma can be overwhelming. After a traumatic event like a car accident or crime, some people continue to relive the experience through flashbacks and other challenges. It can impact their lives in a big way. This is called post-traumatic distress disorder, and it’s a form of mental illness.

Postpartum Depression

You’ve just had a new baby and this is supposed to be the happiest time of your life. But what if that joy doesn’t come so easily? What if you feel scared and overwhelmed by all these new responsibilities? What you may be experiencing is postpartum depression.

Psychosis

Psychosis is often described as a “loss of reality” or a “break from reality” because it makes you experience or believe things that aren’t real. Psychosis is a serious and disabling mental health condition—but it is treatable and many people recover after only one episode when they get proper treatment.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental illness. It causes people to lose touch with reality and sometimes makes it difficult for them to think and speak in an organized way. While it can often be misunderstood, many people learn how to manage schizophrenia with the right tools and supports.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Everyone’s mood can be affected by the weather. But when the seasons change, some people are affected in other ways. If you find that you feel like a completely different person depending on the season, you may have seasonal affective disorder.

Self-harm

Some people hurt themselves on purpose to help them deal with bad feelings or thoughts. This is called self-harm. People who self-harm don’t do it to end their life—instead, self-harm may be the best way they know to survive.

Social Anxiety Disorder

We can all feel nervous in social situations like giving presentations. But if you’re so scared of interacting with others that it affects your relationships with other people or it affects your work or school performance, you may have something called social anxiety disorder.

Youth and Self-Injury

People cope with difficult thoughts, feelings, or situations in different ways. Some people cope by injuring themselves on purposeand it may be the only way for them to feel better. Self-injury may seem frightening, but its important to look beyond the injuries and see whats really going on.

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