Mental Disorders Common in Young Adults

The Article

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D

A new robust, in-depth study that interviewed over 5,000 young adults from 2001 to 2002 has found that nearly half of them (47.7%) likely have a diagnosable mental disorder — most commonly, alcohol abuse, depression, ADHD or anxiety.
One in five was also found to meet the criteria for a personality disorder, a more chronic condition that often interferes with the person’s ability to interact in a healthy manner with others at school, work, or in relationships.
The study also compared those attending college with those who weren’t, to see if mental concerns were more prevalent in one group, or if specific concerns occurred with more frequency. It found overall rates similar between the two groups, but alcohol-related concerns significantly more prevalent in those attending college (surprise, surprise!). College students, however, were less likely to have a substance abuse or nicotine problem, and were less often diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Not surprising (but still eye-opening) was the fact that the vast majority of young adults never seek treatments for these concerns. Only about a quarter of those who qualified for a diagnosis had received treatment for a mental disorder (compared with about 33% of the general population who have a diagnosable mental disorder seek treatment for it).
I say “not surprising” because treatment as a young adult is difficult to come by. At university, the only readily accessible treatment option is the student counseling center, which often is only equipped to focus on non-serious mental disorders and concerns (such as procrastination, test anxiety, and relationship issues). Outside of college, options are even more limited, as many young adults choose not to have health insurance (or can’t afford it), and therefore would have to pay significant costs for treatment (or spend up to a year on a wait-list waiting for treatment from a community health or mental health center).
A study such as this also raises the very real concern and age-old debate about over-diagnosis and whether we’re becoming a society that has a label for every discomfort. The last edition (4th) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM, the diagnostic bible that defines mental disorders) greatly expanded the breadth of disorders from the previous edition. The edition currently under development (5th) threatens to expand the number even more, potentially defining virtually any dysfunctional behavior which causes some distress as a disorder on the same playing field as depression or bipolar disorder.
I don’t know the answer, but according to the current criteria, a lot of young people are grappling with some pretty serious concerns. Many of whom would benefit from treatment, if only we had a way to reach out to more of them and provide an economical way to pay for it.

Summary

This article was really fascinating because it is really relate able growing up with a sister that has a mental disorder and knowing its more common that people would like to believe. This article talks about how many young people cant even afford to receive treatment but to be honest many people who receive treatment for lets say bi-polar disorder when on the medication for a period of time start to feel as though the don't need it and relapse and refuse to take their medication. As a society i don't feel as though we are over diagnosing the population with just any discomfort these problems are real and at the rate we're going at now the next generation will have even more disorders, lets just hope we have a lot of medical advances by then.

Personality

I am ENFJ

When i looked at the career paths recommended i found it interesting that one of them was education and my major going into college next year is early childhood education. It also gave me a 67 in judging which means i make sound decisions, i would have thought i would have had a higher score on emotion because i consider myself to be a very emotional person.



My Goals in life

value financial success about as centrally as the typical study participant. less central value on social recognition than the typical study participant. substantially less central value on attractiveness than the typical study participant. more central value on affiliation than the typical study participant. substantially more central value on community involvement than the typical study participant. slightly more central value on self-acceptance than the typical study participant. prioritize intrinsic goals over extrinsic goals substantially more than the typical study participant. This was not surprising because i know i have a strong priority of helping people and building relationships with people i care about than maybe attractiveness because looks will fade of frame and money because that can go as easily as it came.



Are you Satisfied with you life?

Your score on Satisfaction with Life was 25.00. Based on previous research, we classify you as being slightly satisfied with your life overall. I find this a tad bit surprising because i do feel like i am quite content with my life at the moment.



Attractiveness

Individuals who score high on this dimension tend to be particularly attracted to men that are sexually suggestive and expressive. Low scorers tend to prefer guys that are more modest about their sexuality. Individuals that score high on this dimension are particularly attracted to guys that look happy, fun-loving, and upbeat. Individuals who score high on this dimension tend to be particularly attracted to men that look intelligent and soft-hearted.


What's your EQ?
Congratulations! You have very high emotional intelligence. This is good news! EQ counts for twice as much as IQ and technical skills combined in determining who will be a star performer. Your level of EQ likely has been and will be a driver of your high performance for years to come. Areas to work on: While you are doing well - don't forget to take time out of your busy day-to-day activities to stop and reflect on what brings you the greatest meaning in your life. If we fail to do this on a regular basis, we risk becoming tranquilized by the trivial. Sedated by the small details. Yes, deadlines need meeting and goals must be achieved. But if we are working toward goals that are not in alignment with our key values and greater purpose, we face becoming hostile and cynical - losing the reason we are doing 'all of this' in this first place! This translates into less joy and enthusiasm for our work - resulting in a diminished ability to be effective, at ease, and on purpose. As William James said: I have no doubt whatever that most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness... much like a man who, out of his whole body organism, should get into the habit of using and moving only his little finger... We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream.

This isn't very surprising to me because I've come to this of myself as a very composed emotionally stable being. I try not to let the little things in life get me down. I mean we all have our days it's just how we recover from it.

What Personality Disorder do I have?

Dear Pierre,
College is so tough for me right now asides from balancing school its hard being away from you for this long I feel like your cheating on me are u cheating on me, tell me! I still remember how u treated me wrong and i will never forgive you either. I guess I'll see you when i come home for Christmas. I really think that my roommate is super crazy she is always looking at me and i think she doest like me. I think she thinks i am mean because when she asks me something like 2 clean my side of the room i just tend I tend to overreact just a tad. Do u think she likes me because I'm not quite sure yet. I really don't like the food here either because i really don't trust the people who make it you never know what they can be doing to it. But besides that i feel as though everything is going pretty well. Oh wait i lied like all of my professors totally hate me i swear they do. They are always calling on me and being mean one day i just broke down and cried right there in class. Well i hope I'll get through this do u think i will, well i hope i do.
Love Always,
Sharnae

Case Study 7:

A 35-year-old clothing salesman was showing a particularly fussy customer a suit 2 months ago and suddenly began to sweat profusely. His heart started to pound, he felt dizzy, and became fearful that he was about to die. The customer didn’t notice his condition and continued to question him about the suit in minute detail. The patient, feeling faint, abruptly left the customer and went to lie down in the back of the store. The customer became insulted, complained to the manager, and left. When the manager found the patient he was slumped in a chair in the back room trembling. Approximately 10 minutes later the patient’s symptoms began to subside. He saw his physician the next day who found no evidence of any medical problems. Two weeks later, he had another similar unexpected attack. Since that time he has worried continuously about having another attack. His friends and colleagues have noticed that he is no longer as spontaneous and outgoing as he had been in the past.


Diagnosis
Agoraphobia Without History of Panic Disorder
Treatment

Antidepressants: Some of the antidepressants administrated in patients with agoraphobia include: selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which is the first choice medication prescribed for agoraphobia patients, due to their few side effects, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), or MAO inhibitors (MAOIs). Unfortunately, the desired effects occur only after several weeks of treatment.
Anti-anxiety medication: Benzodiazepine tranquilizers are prescribed because of their immediate effects in reducing the symptoms. Anti-anxiety medication help controlling the anxiety and panic attacks. The main disadvantage of benzodiazepine is increased agoraphobia symptoms when the treatment is stopped. Benzadiazepine also reduces the mental sharpness needed if the patient undergoes psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy. Individuals with agoraphobia seems to benefit mostly from psychotherapy. There are three types of psychotherapies used to treat agoraphobia: (1) behavioral therapy, (2) cognitive therapy, and (3) cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy is an effective treatment because individuals with agoraphobia learn to modify and gain control over unwanted behaviors, and to cope with challenging situations. During the initial phases of behavioral therapy, the person identifies those situations where the avoidance behavior occurs. The unwanted and unhealthy behaviors are changed through systematic desensitization (also called exposure therapy). The first step is learning relaxation skills that allows the person to cope and control the fear and anxiety. The second step is gradual exposure (first in imagination and than in reality) to feared stimulus.
Cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy is another therapy that can bring relief in those with agoraphobia. It can serve as an alternative if the behavioral therapy failes. Cognitive therapy focuses on re-training the way the person thinks. The benefit of this type of therapy is that (1) the person gains information regarding their condition and what it causes, (2) learns relaxations techniques that help him control the fear, anxiety, and panic attack symptoms, (3) gains control over the dysfunctional thoughts by realistically evaluating and modifying the thinking patterns that trigger the agoraphobic symptoms, and (4) faces the feared situation by applying the new skills achieved.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is considered the most effective psychotherapy that can treat agoraphobia. This type of therapy considers that our thoughts and not the external situations, people or events, trigger the behavior and feelings. This form of therapy combines methods from behavioral and cognitive therapies for a better outcome. Cognitive-behavioral therapy retrains the way a person thinks and reacts to different stimulus. This is possible if following several steps:
Education, a step where the therapist explains the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes involved in anxiety, panic attacks or panic-like-symptoms.
Monitoring, a step where the person monitors the frequency, severity, and length of panic attacks or panic-like symptoms, and identifies the situations when panic attacks or panic-like symptoms occur.
Physical control strategies, a step where the person learns relaxation techniques which decrease the physical symptoms (heavy breathing, fast heart beat, trembling, etc.) that maintains the fear and anxiety.
Psychological control strategies, a step where the person is taught to realistically evaluate and modify thinking patterns that trigger and help maintain the fear and anxiety.
Behavioral strategies, a step where the person is encouraged to face the feared situations that cause anxiety by applying their newly learned skills.
Individuals with agoraphobia seems to mostly benefit from exposure therapy, when the person eliminates the association originally formed between panic symptoms and feared situations, and cognitive restructuring, when the person identifies those thoughts associated with the feared situations, and replace them with realistic, functional thoughts.

Summary

The Patient seems to only experience these attacks during high stress situations and feels extremely helpless during and shortly after the attack. Him living in constant fear of having another attack. So I would recommend him taking a combination of anti-anxiety medication and therapy. the combination of both of these should help him regain his life back and become the the outgoing that he use to be.