MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT LIKE A HEADACHE

A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. ... Mental disorders are usually defined by a combination of how a person behaves, feels, perceives, or thinks.

Mental illness affects many people in the world. As people are able to learn more and science improves more therapies become available. However as with all treatments there is a number of issues one must consider when deciding on the right therapy. Mental illness is not like a headache where one knows what is wrong and can take a aspirin. Mental illness varies in so many ways that treatment varies among everyone who suffers from the disease.

When dealing with mental illness the need for treatment is imperative. Unlike other illnesses and disorders, the task of finding a treatment for one’s mental illness is difficult because everyone responds differently to medication. Even when medicines work for different people so many variables play a role in the treatment that issues such as side effects and long term efficacy that the process of treating mental illness is always ongoing and very to the letter. For example, Patient A a 28 year old woman suffers from bipolar disorder. She takes 60 mg depakote daily which is the maximum recommended dosage. On the opposite end of the spectrum Patient B a 25 year old male take 30 both exhibit the same symptoms  both are similar in  numerous ways  yet Patient A who is 100lbs lighter than Patient B must take more than double the dosage for the same symptoms, same diagnosis in an effort to reach the same      outcome.

Prevention of mental disorders are measures that try to decrease the chances of a mental disorder occurring. A 2004 WHO report stated that "prevention of these disorders is obviously one of the most effective ways to reduce the [disease] burden."The 2011 European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on prevention of mental disorders states "There is considerable evidence that various psychiatric conditions can be prevented through the implementation of effective evidence-based interventions." A 2011 UK Department of Health report on the economic case for mental health promotion and mental illness prevention found that "many interventions are outstandingly good value for money, low in cost and often become self-financing over time, saving public expenditure". In 2016, the National Institute of Mental Health re-affirmed prevention as a research priority area