Mental Disorders, Are They Dangerous?

What is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear "mental disorder"? What do you think about someone with a mental disorder? Do you fear, avoid, and stay away from them? That's what we humans think of them. This is a stigma.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "stigmata" is a reproach or a mark of someone's disgrace. Stigma has a negative connotation and contains discrimination. Stigma can lead to the destruction of a person's dignity and serious human rights violations.

Imagine if we had crippled legs, were lame, were blind, or had cancer, and people looked at us with contempt and looked down on us. Then, we will begin to feel that we are an embarrassment. We may be angry because we are not the ones who want this disease and disability to happen, but people always see us as if you are the one to blame.

It's the same with people with mental disorders. They don't want to have that distraction either. So what is the difference between mental disorders and other diseases?

Mental disorders are clinically significant behavioral syndromes that occur in individuals in one or more important areas of functioning. Mental disorders affect a person's thoughts, emotions, behavior, and cognition so that they can cause disruption of a person's functioning in education, work, or social life.

Mental disorders are the same as other diseases, it's just that mental disorders affect the organs of the brain that regulate a person's "psyche." Mental disorders such as high blood pressure (hypertension) or diabetes mellitus (diabetes mellitus) require lifelong treatment to be able to control them stably. The risk factor is the main difference. There are no definite factors that cause mental disorders, but research has found that three risk factors are involved, namely biological, psychological, and social factors.

The main biological factors are genetics and an imbalance of neurotransmitters (substances in the brain that communicate with each other) in the brain. Children with parents who have mental disorders are prone to have similar disorders. Recent studies have found that individuals with schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are common in their offspring. In addition, research has also found that an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, and norepinephrine, can cause the behavioral changes that we often find in people with mental disorders.

Excess dopamine is assumed to cause the hallucinations and delusions that are often found in schizophrenia. Shortages of serotonin and norepinephrine have been found to play a role in depression. Excess glutamate and dopamine were found to play a role in the symptoms of bipolar mania.

The neurotransmitter imbalance itself is the goal of treatment, namely to balance the imbalance of these substances in the brain. Research has also found that severe infections, brain injuries, chronic kidney disease, exposure to poisons, and drug use and abuse are also associated with mental disorders.

In addition to biological factors, there are often psychological factors involved in causing mental disorders. Having a history of physical and emotional abuse and neglect in childhood can be a major cause of psychological trauma. Losing parental figures too early also forces a child to grow up faster without anyone to take good care of him. The way their parents educate them has an impact on how they solve, overcome, and adapt to problems as adults, or vice versa. All this is closely related to personality growth and behavior.

Social factors are also not forgotten because they often trigger mental disorders in individuals who are already prone to them. Certain stressors, such as the death of a significant other, failure at work or school, divorce, exposure to a disaster, or a change in circumstances, can trigger a significant change in behavior. The social factor itself can also act as therapy that helps heal sufferers. For example, according to research, work can help people with mental disorders improve their symptoms in addition to medication. It can be said that people with mental disorders should not be shunned or denied jobs but must be assisted to work according to their capacities so they can experience improvement.

Diagnosing mental disorders is not as easy as other diseases, such as tumors or hepatitis, which can be diagnosed through a blood test, Computerized Tomography Scan (CT scan), or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Mental disorders are different and cannot be diagnosed in such a simple way. Diagnosing mental disorders must be done carefully with a very thorough interview to explore the whole phenomenon, from the history of the current disorder to the history of past and birth disorders, as well as interviewing the next of kin.

Most people recognize depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia as mental disorders, even though there are so many mental disorders that are rarely known, such as panic disorders, phobias, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, internet addiction, gaming, and drug addiction. All of these are mental disorders that are often experienced by many people around us today but are not known as mental disorders. Perhaps we are experiencing it as well. 

Hopefully we can understand more about mental disorders and the need to stay away from the stigma that can worsen sufferers' conditions and lower their self-esteem. Let's help sufferers by taking them to a psychiatrist at the nearest hospital and continuing to support them.