MENTAL ILLNESS

*A therapist helps a client work with a horse in Guadalix de la Sierra, Spain, April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Juan Medina*

Common mental illnesses include anxiety and depression.

Symptoms of anxiety, according to Australia’s Black Dog Institute, include:
— Feeling very worried or afraid most of the time;
— Tense and on edge, nervous or scared, panicky, irritable and agitated;
— Worried you’re going crazy, detached from your body;
— Thinking: ‘everything’s going to go wrong’, ‘I might die’, ‘I can’t handle the way I feel’, ‘I can’t focus on anything but my worries’, ‘I don’t want to go out today’;
— Experiencing sleep problems, a pounding heart, sweating, stomach aches, dizziness, trembling, problems concentrating and excessive thirst.

Symptoms of depression, according to the Black Dog Institute, include:
— Feeling bad about yourself;
— Changes in sleep patterns;
— Changes in appetite or weight;
— Feeling overwhelmed or preoccupied by excessive guilt and worthiness;
— Persistent sadness and feeling of hopelessness;
— Inability to enjoy life;
— Poor concentration and memory and indecisiveness;
— Low motivation to do things that used to matter to you;
— Feeling exhausted.

Another mental illness is bipolar disorder, which the Black Dog Institute describes as a “set of ‘mood swing’ conditions, the most severe form of which used to be called ‘manic depression’. The term describes the exaggerated swings of mood, cognition and energy from one extreme to the other that are characteristic of the illness.”

Reuters believes there should be no stigma attached to suffering from a mental illness or asking for help to treat it.

Reuters journalists can read personal experiences shared by colleagues in Mental Health Week blogs each year.