Recognize the Symptoms of Mental Illness

No single human being on this earth, entirely freed from the possibility of a psychiatric disorder sufferers. In the use of "defense mechanism" for example, might be said that the normal and abnormal difference lies only in the frequency and intensity of use that defense. So also with symptoms and signs are abnormal in general. Almost every person classified as normal at certain moments and in certain conditions of life which had shown abnormal symptoms in attitude, way of thinking, and their behavior.

Therefore, the servants of God as the counselor must be careful to recognize and classify clients in a group of people who called the patient psychiatric disorders.

This is due because:

- The signs and symptoms of abnormal client does not necessarily show symptoms of mental illness is real, so

- We are aware of the limitations and weaknesses of the human soul doctors and mental hospital staff who often wrong diagnosis to the client / patient.

D.N. Rosenhan has proved this by experiments, which should make every servant of God is more alert and careful in sending patients to a mental hospital. cut examples

This does not mean that the servant of God does not need to work closely with psychiatrists and the mental hospital, because neither of the above show human weakness the doctor and the psychiatric hospital and not show the "untruth" psikatri science and psychology itself. Human weaknesses of other professionals actually bring the servants of God how big their responsibilities in counseling services. For that he must have a general knowledge about the symptoms and signs of major mental illness.

a. Some of the symptoms that appear simultaneously.

For people who belong to normal, abnormal symptoms usually appear as the only symptom, while aspects of life showed no other abnormal symptoms.

For example:

Because of the pressures of life, one can bawl, but it appears other people he knew and know that controlling or directing the crying on a rational purpose and acceptable to the neighborhood in general.

But that's not a disease. Some abnormal phenomenon emerged and appeared at the same time; she bawl, did not realize how other people thought of her behavior and she directs the crying at something chaotic and irrational.

b. The symptoms that make him different than before.

The emergence of symptoms that make the other person than before. Other people recognize that he really did not like that, and should not do that kind of behavior is.

For example:

- Playing games with his own feces, sometimes even eating.

c. The symptoms lasted until the period of time long enough and appeared constantly.

Normal people can behave abnormally, but will soon find himself and tends to quickly adapt to what is desired environment. But as with other mental illnesses.

In addition, mental illness can also be recognized through the symptoms:

1. Physical (physical / bodily)

Lots of psychiatric symptoms (such as for example, insecurity, sadness, anger, anxiety, etc..) That can directly affect the condition of that person's body. If the person then suffers pain, then obviously that the disease primarily caused by mental state. This is often referred to as 'Psychosomatic' or 'psychophysiological reaction', ie menggejala psychiatric disorders in body as a disturbance of the body. These diseases are usually (not always) classified as 'Psychosomatic reaction' among others: asthma, headaches, insomnia, colitis, diarrhea, some skin diseases such as eczema, rashes, ulcers that do not heal, etc..

Of course, people with symptoms not just psyhosomatis can be classified as a mental patient, although the symptoms that arise due to psychological disturbances. Most of these symptoms have on the people who normally, therefore, require treatment despite the doctor, they should not be treated as totally patients with mental illness.

2. Psychological (psychic)

Disease and psychiatric disorders are also expressed in psychological example:

i. Faulty Perception (perception of chaos) Humans are equipped with a variety of senses. If the stimulus arrives, then the stimulus would be transmitted through the system requirements to the brain. With this one can see, recognize, hear, feel hot and cold, pain, smell, etc.. However, there are psychiatric cases which can sometimes lead to disruption of this perceptual process so that the person with the eyes, nose, ears, tongue and skin are normal in fact has a different perception even chaotic. He could as if blind (psychological blindness), can not hear anything, or always heard that other people do not hear, and see visions that others do not see. Psychiatric disorders may cause people to feel 20-watt lamps in the room was too bright, or the sound drops falling one by one from the faucet as hammering sound in his head, etc..

From here we know terms such as:

- Illusions, the stimulant in penyalahtafsiran sight. For example: Seeing the trees as people.

- Hallucinations, which occurred despite the perception that there is no real stimulant. For example:

* Seeing a dead husband, even speak to him.
* Hearing strange noises, etc..

ii. Distorted thinking (thinking is distorted and chaotic)
Psychiatric disorders are often also expressed in the form of chaotic thoughts and unreasonable.

For example:
- The Amir is convinced that he was born 2000 years ago.
- The Ahmad who was so confident that under her bed
there is a time bomb installed by Khomeini's men.

This is called 'distorted thinking', which became one of the signs of mental disturbance.

Seeing it, 'distorted thinking' can be divided into three groups namely:

- Obession (obsession): ie irrational thoughts that arise because of the encouragement and unpleasant memories, so as if there was something that made him constantly thinking, "... I must ..." or "would be ...", and so on. For example: The experience of seeing people who are persecuted in the war, caused him to think "would some day I will experience the same thing". He was so sure outside the home is waiting for those who would persecute him, so he was compelled to continue doing things that are irrational, such as hide under, peek through the door, etc..

Experience with the perfectionist parent, making it always felt a drive "I had to take this", "I have to finish it" and are often unreasonable, for example, wake up at midnight just to clean the car, etc..

- Phobia: the irrational fear. And this fear can be shaped in a dark room, fear of blood, water, snake, wind, in the midst of many people, are in high places, through the bridge, and so on.

- Delusion (delusions): namely the irrational thinking in the form of the emergence menggejala belief (false) that it was he actually experienced, or he heard, or she saw, and so on. For example: Absolutely sure that he met with the Lord Jesus, and even convinced that he himself had been appointed as an apostle and requires other people to follow and worship him.

iii. Faulty Emotional Expression (expression of emotion is wrong)
Every person has learned since childhood how to express feelings of love, hard, pain, happiness, love, hate, etc.. And most people who normally have a similar expression with other people. For example, laughing as the expression of sadness. But is not the case with people who experience mental disorders, they often make wrong expression of emotions, and certainly different than the people in general.

Wrong expression of emotion can be shaped:
a. Without the expression of a mental patient often lives in his own world, so his emotions are not moved by circumstances and situations around him. They did not laugh at things that are funny and fun, not too sad for the things that pathetic.

b. Elation or Euphoria (expression / cheerful exaggeration) People with mental illness also often express emotions exaggerated. For the little things he can laugh until the tears.

c. Depression At certain times each person may experience / feel no excitement, discouragement and difficulty, but only temporarily. But is not the case with psychoneurotic. There are cases in which no apparent reason the sadness that comes down and even long-lasting. They were able to say that they worry about something (whether work, family, health, future, etc..) But in fact things were not the main cause of concern that it exaggerated. The things that just 'precipitating factor' is a mental disorder due to the existing 'predisposing factors' in them. Therefore, the things for others just a sad feeling normal and for a while, for they become "depressed" in which desperate and unhappy constant.

Enos D. Martin mentioned a psychiatrist about three types of depression with practical examples:

- Normal grief reaction (feelings of sadness as a normal reaction to a 'loss') A priest is nearing retirement feels sad because of the emergence of feelings of 'not useful and can not be used again'. The pressure that has caused grief various disorders such as loss of appetite, could not sleep, headaches, etc.. Apparently after a church tribunal stated that her retirement just means that he does not need to do administrative tasks (which means that he can still preaching, counseling, etc..) Direct psychiatric symptoms disappeared.

- Neurotic depression (neurotic depression) Reverend X depressed because as he feels the senior pastor tersaing with the emergence of the young priest who in some ways was much admired by the congregation. He could not sleep, loss of appetite, etc.. Encouragement of many people that he has more advantages it did not help. In this case it is clear that her grief is not just a 'normal grief reaction', he is really suffering from depression and had to get treatment from a doctor. By a psychiatrist found that this priest was a 'predisposing factors' for depression, such as for example, is a great emotional shock in childhood when he was sick and had to go to the hospital, as well as other factors that as a child he was not getting the love from his parents.

- Endogenous depression (depression talent derived from his parents) Y Reverend depressed because of his efforts to reconcile the two church leaders did not succeed, even fatal, that is both just blame him. He now felt that his whole life, including his ministry failed. He later suffered from insomnia (can not sleep), loss of sexual desire, appetite, no more passion in all his hobbies, often crying and get away from an encounter with another person repeatedly and even tried to commit suicide. Found on this priest, a 'predisposing factors' more severe depression than priests X; as pastor Y has talents that are derived from biological parents. His mother was also a severe depression. ( "What is Depression", Leadership, Winter 1982, Vol. III, No. 1, pp. 82-83).

d. Emotional Variability (kinds of emotional expression)
Each person will experience ups and downs of emotions in reaction to the experiences of this life. But for people with mental illness emotional ups and downs are not in accordance with the existing reality. Perhaps this pleasant experience happened a few days ago and suddenly she could smile, smiling and even laughing can be controlled by without remembering it. Often also found that people with mental illness to cry for no reason to cry, or a sudden angry and attack others for no reason, etc..

e. Inappropriate affect (emotional reactions that are not appropriate)
Slightly different from the 'emotional Variability', here people have mental disorders typically provide emotional reaction that does not fit with the existing stimulant. For example: - Cry to hear a funny story - Laughing amused to see a sad person crying abandoned lover.

iv. Unusual motor activity (activitas abnormal motor)
In this life we are sometimes able to perform motor activity that is not unusual, for example: running, say, think, act more quickly or more slowly than usual. But it was always there for a reason and purpose clear and conscious, and only temporarily, but it is different with mental disease. Often we can recognize the signs of mental disorders through motor activity that is not normal, for example:

a. Over activity (excessive activitas)
For example, patients who spoke constantly with sentence structure that contains no sense at all (chaotic, and irrational). Inability to sit still, constantly agitated; surprised and even running scared of a certain sound; hands and feet and even eyes moving on, and so on.

b. Under activity (less active)
As opposed to 'over-activity', the symptoms of mental illness often characterized by silence, not moving, such as if the body is weak, unable to speak, and so on.

c. Compulsive activity (activities that do not unbridled)
In this life we often feel a great urge to do something, but often because of certain reasons it can not be implemented. For normal people this is normal and he can adjust to divert attention to the activities of others. But in people with mental illness is not the case, maybe what he wants to do himself he does not realize anymore, but he felt a strong urge to do the activity. And this is expressed with a nail biting constantly scratching his legs, playing with the genitals, biting his lip, fold his hands, writing, writing with his fingers, sucking the end of the clothes, etc..

v. Other abnormal symptoms
Other signs of psychiatric disturbance in this Ketegori can often be found in the daily life of the people who normally. Therefore, we must be careful and not to generalize any symptoms as abnormal or symptoms of mental illness. For example:

* - Disorientation; where one can not know where he was, who he was, what day it is, and so on.
* - Withdrawal; withdraw from meetings with other people.
* - Suspicion exaggerated.
* - The sensitivity of exaggeration of the authority.
* - Hiding something is not normal, for example, the money stored in the basement.
* - Stimulation and sexual needs that are not normal.
* - Childish, etc..

3. Social

Usually called abnormal because it shows the behavior, attitudes, ways of thinking, which does not fit the normal standards of society or the environment in which he lived. Human beings are social creatures, so he has the social needs and wants to become an integral part of the environment. Because it's normal if he always tends to adjust to the environment. However, do not automatically people "can not adapt" might be called normal people who do not or have symptoms of mental illness, if he was consciously doing it. Which may be the reason that she did not / do not become an integral part of the community's. In such cases the social context of missionaries, we are only able to recognize abnormal symptoms, if the person is not aware of that does not behave in accordance with normal standards of society, which he himself became an integral part in it.

4. Spiritual (spiritual)

The symptoms of mental illness can also express themselves spiritually, like the idea of not feeling guilty terampunkan, fanatical, doubts continued, and so on. Frank Minirth said that psychological disturbances could menggejala spiritually.