Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that develops after you witness or experience a terrifying event, such as a serious accident, natural disaster, war, or a violent personal assault.
It’s normal to feel more anxiety and fear following any of these events. However, people with PTSD continue to experience symptoms of a trauma response long after the traumatic event has ended.
Some people relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares that trigger intense, disturbing feelings. These feelings can interfere with day-to-day functioning and make it difficult to maintain personal relationships.
PTSD symptoms fall into four main categories:
These include re-experiencing the traumatic event in the form of repeated, unwanted memories, nightmares, or flashbacks. Some flashbacks may be so vivid that you feel like you’re reliving the event right before your eyes.
Avoidance symptoms include staying away from places, events, and objects that trigger memories of the traumatic experience as well as avoiding thoughts and feelings of it. You may change your daily routine or resist talking about the event to avoid reminders.
You may develop distorted negative beliefs about yourself and others or experience persistent feelings of anger, guilt, fear, or shame.
These symptoms include having anger outbursts, being easily startled, behaving recklessly, and having trouble sleeping or concentrating.
OCD is a chronic mental health condition that causes obsessions and compulsions. The condition can become extremely disruptive as you spend increasing amounts of time engaging in compulsive behaviors to soothe your obsessive thoughts.
Everyone has topics that they think about frequently or follows routine behaviors, but OCD is much more severe. Fortunately, Overcare can treat OCD to help you regain your quality of life.
Obsessions are intrusive and distressing thoughts or urges. Compulsions are the repeated, ritualistic behaviors that temporarily calm your obsessions. Common themes include:
Compulsions are the ways you behave in response to your obsessions, often to relieve your negative feelings. For example, you might clean your home or body excessively in response to a fear of germs.
Other common compulsive behaviors include repeatedly checking that you’ve completed a task, such as locking a door, counting, tapping, and repeating words or phrases silently or aloud.
OCD, like many health issues, can become more severe if untreated. Make an appointment with Overcare if you have any OCD symptoms. Overcare Health provides a thorough evaluation to learn about your symptoms, lifestyle, and other factors that can impact your mental health.
Depression is a prevalent mental health condition that causes pervasive and disruptive feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and guilt. Your negative thoughts and emotions affect other aspects of your life, ranging from your work performance to your relationships with family and friends.
Depression is different from sadness or grief. Sadness and grief subside with time, while depression persists for months or even years. Fortunately, depression is treatable.
Depression causes mental, emotional, and physical symptoms. In addition to persistent and intense feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, common warning signs of depression include:
If you have suicidal thoughts or want to hurt yourself, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room for immediate help,
Feeling sad and experiencing grief are normal human emotions that everyone has from time to time. However, if you have persistent depression symptoms that interfere with your ability to function in your day-to-day life, make an appointment with Overcare Health.
Psychotherapy is a highly customizable approach to treating and managing mental health conditions and issues that interfere with your occupational, relational, or sexual well-being. It can help eliminate or control symptoms, restoring and enhancing your ability to function in your life.
Sometimes called talk therapy, psychotherapy allows you to think about and vocalize your thoughts, feelings, and fears in a safe environment. You may also learn and practice techniques to cope with negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Overcare offers individual and family therapy sessions. You may only need a few sessions to work through a specific issue, or you may need long-term therapy. Overcare can provide detailed advice following your initial consultation.
Overcare incorporates psychotherapy into treatment plans for most conditions, including:
If you already have an established and trusted relationship with a therapist, you can and should continue to work with them. With your permission, Overcare can collaborate with your therapist to provide medication management and ensure joined-up care and support.
Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that causes severe swings between depression and mania. There are several types of bipolar disorder, characterized by the type, intensity, and duration of your symptoms, including Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder.
Everyone experiences a range of moods and can swing between happiness and sadness. Bipolar disorders are different because of the intensity of your moods and the severity of the fluctuations.
With bipolar disorder, your mood changes may or may not be triggered by a life event.
Bipolar disorders cause manic and depressive symptoms. If you’re in a manic mood, your symptoms could include:
Bipolar II and cyclothymic disorder can cause hypomanic symptoms. Hypomanic symptoms are less intense versions of the signs of a manic episode.
When you swing to a depressive episode, you’re plagued by feelings of sadness, despair, and guilt. Your energy levels plummet, and your eating and sleeping patterns may change. Your concentration and decision-making skills decline, and you lose interest in hobbies and activities.
Depressive episodes can also trigger suicidal thoughts and other self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. Call 911 or go to your closest emergency room if you have thoughts of suicide.
Anxiety disorders are mental health conditions that cause intrusive, distressing, persistent worries and negative thoughts and feelings. Anxious feelings often lead to behaviors that can reduce your quality of life.
There are several types of anxiety disorders characterized by different kinds of fears and reactions.
Generalized anxiety disorder is the most common type. It causes you to feel nervous and fearful about daily activities and routine chores, like grocery shopping, as well as issues such as health and work responsibilities.
Other types of anxiety disorders include panic disorder, social anxiety, separation anxiety, and specific phobias.
Anxiety causes mental and physical symptoms. Depending on the type and severity of your condition, you might experience:
Some patients have panic attacks. During a panic attack, you experience a sudden onset of intense anxiety or terror, feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, and chest pain. You may have repeated panic attacks and eventually begin to worry about having an attack.
Anxious feelings are part of your ability to recognize danger and take action to stay safe. Everyone worries occasionally. However, if you have persistent anxious or nervous feelings that interfere with your life or health, it’s time to get help.
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that causes disruptive symptoms that affect how you perceive and interact with the world, symptoms that include psychosis, delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking and speech.
Schizophrenia typically develops in early adulthood. Men usually develop symptoms in their late teens or early 20s, while women begin to have symptoms in their late 20s or early 30s.
The condition is often misunderstood. It doesn’t cause multiple or split personalities, and in most cases, people who have schizophrenia aren’t dangerous.
Schizophrenia causes several types of symptoms.
Psychosis includes symptoms that affect your perception of reality. For example, you might have trouble distinguishing between what’s real and what isn’t.
Delusions are fixed false beliefs. You hold on to these beliefs despite reasonable evidence that they’re not true. Paranoia, or a belief that another person or group is harming or harassing you, is one of the most common delusions.
Hallucinations cause false sensory experiences. You might see, hear, smell, taste, or feel something that isn’t there. Auditory hallucinations are the most common — you may hear voices.
Schizophrenia can also impact how you think. You may have jumbled or nonsensical thoughts, or you may switch rapidly between seemingly unrelated topics, making it challenging to maintain a conversation.
You may also display abnormal movements such as repeated, purposeless movements, catatonia, or unpredictable agitation or silliness.
Negative symptoms refer to the absence of function. For example, you might have decreased speech output or emotional expression. Some people lose interest in social activities, hobbies, or self-care.
While schizophrenia often emerges in a clear psychotic break, you might not notice your own symptoms. A friend or family member may express concern and encourage you to talk to a doctor.
ADHD is a mental health disorder that affects your ability to pay attention and control your impulses. Psychiatrists often diagnose children with ADHD, but the condition can persist into or even emerge during adulthood.
While manageable, untreated ADHD can have a severe impact on your confidence and quality of life. It can interfere with your success at school or work and your ability to build relationships with friends, colleagues, and romantic partners.
ADHD presents differently in adults than it does in children. Adults who have ADHD may experience symptoms that include:
You might always be late or unable to find your phone or keys when you need them.
You should make an appointment with Overcare Health if you have signs of ADHD that interfere with your ability to function or your quality of life. ADHD can cause severe disruption in your life.