WHAT IS A MENTAL DISORDER? Mental disorders are a broad range of disorders with psychological or behavioral symptoms and/or impairment in functioning due to a social, psychological, genetic, physical/chemical or biological disturbance. Psychiatric illnesses are sometimes characterized as disorders of the mind rather than the brain, although the distinction is not always obvious and has changed in the last few decades as understanding of the treated illnesses grew. Many conditions have been linked to biological or chemical abnormalities in the brain's psychology, but for some conditions the cause are still the subject of intense research. THE MAIN PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ARE: Anxiety: Anxiety and fear are often used to describe the same thing. When the word "anxiety" is used to discuss a group of mental illnesses (anxiety disorders), it refers to an unpleasant and overriding inner emotional tension that has no apparent identifiable cause. Fear, on the other hand, causes emotional tension due to a specific, external reason. Anxiety disorders include phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic-stress disorder. These disorders are severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Bipolar Disorder: A major affective, or mood, disorder in which there are episodes of both mania and severe, disabling depression. Depression: When used to describe a mood, depression refers to what may be normal feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. More serious depression may be a symptom of a variety of physical and mental disorders, a syndrome of associated symptoms secondary to an underlying disorder, or it may itself be a specific mental disorder. The disorder known as major depression is characterized by slow thinking, decreased purposeful physical activity, sleep and appetite disturbances, low self-esteem, loss of sex drive and feelings of guilt and hopelessness. Mania: A mood disorder characterized by excessive elation or irritability, hyperactivity, poor concentration and accelerated thinking and speaking, and resulting in impaired judgment. Obsessive compulsive Disorder: A type of anxiety disorder marked by the persistent intrusion of unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts. Commonly, patients who suffer from obsessions also suffer from compulsions - repeated, senseless rituals victims go through in an attempt to reduce their anxiety. While compulsive behavior is almost always preceded by obsessive thoughts, some people have obsessive thoughts but do not ritualize. Organic Mental Disorder: A temporary or permanent impairment of the brain, caused by physiological disturbance of brain tissue at any level of organization - structural, hormonal, biochemical, electrical, etc. Causes are associated with aging, toxic substances or a variety of physical disorders. Dr. Kittay is a medical doctor specializing in: Psychopharmacology/medication to treat psychiatric problems He sees patients with: Mood Disorders: depression bipolar disorders manic depression Anxiety disorders: anxiety panic severe fears post-traumatic stress generalized stress Adult attention Deficit /ADHD Eating Disorders: anorexia bulimia Schizophrenia Addiction Issues: narcotics alcoholism tranquilizers (Valium, Librium, Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax) Woman’s Issues severe Premenstrual symptoms menopause postpartum depression and psychosis Sleep Disorders insomnia excessive daytime sleepiness     Panic Disorder: A type of anxiety disorder in which a person suffers intense, overwhelming terror suddenly and for no apparent reason. The fear is accompanied by such physical symptoms as shortness of breath; heart palpitations; chest discomfort; choking or smothering sensations; unsteadiness; feelings of unreality; tingling; hot or cold flashes; sweating; faintness; trembling; and fear of losing control, dying or going crazy.   Personality Disorder: A deeply ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive pattern of relating, perceiving and thinking serious enough to cause distress or impaired functioning. Personality disorders are usually recognizable by adolescence or earlier, continue throughout adulthood and become less obvious in middle or old age. Examples of formally identified personality disorders are antisocial, borderline, compulsive, histrionic, dependent, narcissistic, paranoid, passive-aggressive, schizoid and schizotypal. Phobia: An obsessive, persistent, unrealistic fear of an object or situation. Some common phobias are: acrophobia - fear of heights agoraphobia - fear of leaving the familiar setting of the home claustrophobia - fear of closed places xenophobia - fear of strangers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A disorder that develops after a person experiences a psychologically distressing event outside the range of usual human experience - a natural disaster such as an earthquake, an accidental disaster such as a plane crash, or a manmade disaster such as war or rape. Post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by reexperiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of stimuli associated with it, or a numbing of general responsiveness that was not present before the trauma. Schizophrenia: A large group of severe disorders of unknown cause and usually of psychotic proportion, typically characterized by disturbances of language and communication; thought disturbances that may involve distortion of reality, misperceptions and sometimes delusions and hallucinations; mood changes and withdrawn, regressive or bizarre behavior. These symptoms must last longer than six months to fall into the category of schizophrenia. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about psychiatric issues or would like to learn more about the practice.