Mental Disorders

Seizures(EPILEPSY)

The diagnosis of generalised tonic–clonic seizures, in which there is loss of consciousness, falling to the ground and clonic movements, is easy but lack of eyewitness accounts can leave uncertainty.

Less dramatic seizures, such as absences or some focal seizures which cause alteration of consciousness without the patient falling to the ground, may merely be experienced as ‘lost time’. Since epileptic seizures are the result of specific processes that vary from patient to patient, their manifestation tends to be intermittent and stereotyped and often clusters in time, for reasons incompletely understood.

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Disorders of Sleep

Sleep disturbances include too much sleep (hypersomnolence or excessive daytime sleepiness), insufficient or poor-quality sleep (insomnia), and abnormal behavior during sleep Insomnia is usually causedby psychological or psychiatric disorders, shift work and other environmental causes, pain and so on, and will not be discussed further.

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Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychosis characterised by delusions, hallucinations and lack of insight. Acute schizophrenia may present with disturbed behaviour, marked delusions, hallucinations or with insidious social withdrawal and other so-called negative symptoms and less obvious delusions and hallucinations.

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Depression

Major depressive disorder has a prevalence of 5% in the general population. It is a major cause of disability and suicide. If combined with a medical condition,depression magnifies disability, diminishes adherence to medical treatment and rehabilitation, and may even shorten life expectancy.

Symptoms of depressive disorders

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Mood disorders

Mood or affective disorders include:

• unipolar depression: one or more episodes of low mood

• bipolar disorder

episodes of elevated mood
interspersed with episodes of depression

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