SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF

MENTAL ILLNESS

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

Signs and symptoms of mental illness can vary,
depending on the particular disorder, circumstances and
other factors. Mental illness symptoms can affect
emotions, thoughts and behaviors.
Examples of signs and symptoms include:
Feeling sad or down
Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate
Excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt
Extreme mood changes of highs and lows
Withdrawal from friends and activities
Significant tiredness, low energy or problems sleeping

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS (CONT)

Detachment from reality (delusions), paranoia or
hallucinations
Inability to cope with daily problems or stress
Trouble understanding and relating to situations and to
people
Alcohol or drug abuse
Major changes in eating habits
Sex drive changes
Excessive anger, hostility or violence
Suicidal thinking

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS (CONT)

Sometimes

symptoms of a mental health

disorder appear as physical problems such
as
stomach pain, back pain, headache, or other
unexplained aches and pains.

Common signs of mental

illness

Disorder of thought
Disorder of memory
Disorder of mood
Disorder of perception
Disorder of affect
Disorder of motor
activity

Disorder of perception
-False sensory perception in the absence of
external stimulus-Hallucination
-It may affect any of 5 senses
1.

Auditory H- [hearing], {very common in

schizophrenia}
-patient hears voices talking to him
-scolding/ abusing/ commanding.

Contd
2. Visual H- [sight], {delirium}
-see things that are not present
3. Tactile H- [touch], {alcoholism}
delirium
-feels insects crawling on the
skin, people touching her
4. Olfactory H- [smell]
-smells something that is not
present
5. Gustatory H [taste]
-tasted something that is not
present

Disorder of perception
Illusion:
An abnormal perception caused by a sensory
misinterpretation of actual stimulus.
e.g. shadows is perceived as ghost
e.g. rope is perceived as snake
( illusion are more common when there is a
reduced level of consciousness, for example in
delirium)

Thinking
Normal human thinking has FOUR charecteristic:
1. Content: what is being thought about.
2.

Form: what manner, or shape is the thought.

3.

Stream or flow: how it is being thought about- the

amount and speed of thinking.

4.

Possession: control of our thoughts, feelings and acts.

Disorder of thought
1.

DISORDERS OF STREAM OF THOUGHT

Circumstantiality:
-The patient takes too long to reach goal. He gives too
many unnecessary details but never loses track of the
topic in hand.

Poverty of Speech (Laconic speech):

-Poor content or no content.

Thought blocking:
-An unpleasant experience of having ones flow of
thought is suddenly stopped.

2. DISORDERS OF FORM OF THOUGHT

Flight

of ideas (rapid thought)

Loosening of associations (derailment)
Neologisms (new words)
Perseveration( persistent repetition of same
idea)
Tangentiality (responding in a manner irrelevant
to the topic)
Word salad (mixed up words/ incoherence)
Poverty of content of speech (few words/empty)

Contd

Flight of ideas:
Characterized by accelerated flow of thoughts
associated with pressure of speech and ideas shift from
one topic to another rapidly.
Derailment:
Slow and progressive digression from original topic.
Incoherence:
Lacks cohesiveness and grammar-meaningless
sentence.

Contd

Tangentiality:
Here reply to a question starts with an irrelevant answer not
related to a question and patient gives the right or relevant
reply at some point and then again moves on to something
unrelated.
Neologism:
Invention of new words.
Perseveration:
Repitition of same word to different question.
Empty speech:
Speech gives no information though speech is normal.

Disorder of content
(Delusions)
A

delusion is a false, fixed belief that cannot

be corrected by any reason, [out of touch with
reality].
Hypochondriacal: False belief that
something is wrong with individuals body in
the absence of any physical injury.
Jealousy: He believes that the spouse is
having affair that someone else.

Contd
Unworthiness

(depression)- believes that he

is useless and feel worthless to live.
Nihilistic is a false belief that a part of
individuals body is non existent.
Delusion of poverty: False belief that
individual is poor or lost his status.
Paranoid: belief that people are against him.

Contd
Persecutory-

delusions in which the central

theme is that the person is being watched,
attacked or harassed
(e.g. someone believing that he is being
followed by government agents)
Grandiose- delusions about inflated worth,
power, or status (e.g. someone believing that
he is actually a religious figure)
Ideas of reference: False belief that certain
remarks or actions of others refer to him.

Disorders of Possession
Thought

insertion: The experience of

thoughts being inserted into the mind.
Thought withdrawal: The experience of
thoughts being removed or extracted from
ones mind.
Thought broadcasting: Ones thoughts are
being transmitted from ones mind and
broadcast to everyone.

Contd

Obsession:
-Repetitive, persistent ideas, impulses or
images present in mind against his will.

Compulsion:
-An irresistible impulse to act, regardless of
the rationality of the motivation.
-Repetitive, persistent thoughts-activities
done (hand washing repeatedly)

Disorders of affect

Affect
-the external expression of such a feeling
Appropriate affect
-same as the situation of speech/ idea
Inappropriate affect
-crying while reporting feelings of joys
Labile affect
-rapid change in feeling
Blunted affect
-no feeling/ response to external situation (severe reduction)
Flat affect
-lack of emotional response to pleasant external stimuli

Disorder of mood (pervasive

sustained emotional state)
Euthymic-

normal range of mood

Dysthymic-unplesant mood
Irritable- patient is easily angered, annoyed
Euphoric/elated- subjective sense of well
being and intense feelings of joy
Exaltation-elation with feelings of grandeur

Contd
Depression-

sadness
Anxiety- feeling of apprehension without a
cause.
Apathy- dull emotional state (dont care about
surroundings)
Ambivalence-two opposite emotions toward
same person, object or situation.

Motor activity disorder

Hyper activity
-increased motor
activity

Stereotypy
-repeated movements
(no significance)

Contd
Mannerism

- a habitual or characteristic manner, mode, or

way of doing something; distinctive quality or
style, as in behavior or speech: He has an
annoying mannerism of tapping his fingers while
he talks.
Tics
-irregular, repeated movements involving
group of muscles.
-e.g. raising shoulder, eye blinking, throat clearing

Contd

Psychomotor agitation
-restlessness associated with irritability (patient
walk up & down, cant stand still)

Psychomotor retardation
-very slow motor activity (speech
slow, monotonous, sit motionless)

Catatonic (stupor)
-markedly reduced movements

Contd

Posturing
-adoption of unusual bodily postures for an unusually
long time
Waxy flexibility
-patients limbs can be placed in any position, remains
in that position untill asked to change
Echopraxia
-imitation of interviewers movements
Echolalia
-imitation of interviewers speech
Negativism
-automatic resistance to all request (asked to show
tongue, tightly clenching jaw)

Disorders of motor activity

Echolalia:
- Automatic repetition of
the last words.
- A speech disorder in
which the person
inappropriately and
automatically repeats
the last words he or she
has heard.

Memory disorders
Amnesia:
-a total or partial loss of memory following
physical injury, disease, drug, or psychological
trauma.
Anterograde amnesia:
-loss of memory due to any cause.
e.g. brain trauma.
Retrograde amnesia:
-loss of memory for a period of time prior to any
cause.

Contd
Confabulation
- filling memory gaps with
fantasy story

Dj vu
- the experience of
thinking that a new
situation had occurred
before.

Other Terminologies
Abuse:

-a maladaptive pattern of substance use

leading to problems in life.
-any harm or injury to child, adult, elder
(physical, psychological, emotional, sexual).
Abstinence:
-voluntary refraining/restraining from a
behavior, or use of substance that has
caused problem in all dimensions of life.

Contd
Addiction:
-a maladaptive, compulsive dependence on a
substance (alcohol, other drugs) or behavior
(gambling,spending)
Agnosia:
-loss of comprehension of auditory, visual or
other sensation, although senses are intact.
Anhedonia:
-loss of pleasure and interest in activities
previously enjoyed in life.

Contd

Empathy:
-projecting sensivity and
understanding of
anothers feeling.

Insight:
-the ability tp perceive
oneself realistically and to
understand oneself and
the motives behind ones
behavior.

Contd

Psychosis:
-inability to recognize reality, bizarre behaviors or inability
to deal with lifes demand.

Neurosis:
-group of disorders where the disturbance of mental
functions is mild.

Anorexia nervosa:
-eating disorder
characterized by
excessive dieting and by
exercising.

Bulimia nervosa:
-an obsession with
thinness and a
compulsive cycle of
bingeing (eating much)
and purging (vomit back).