How to Cope with Mood Swings1. Make sure you get enough sleep. A recent study by the U.S. Mental Health Association and the Better Sleep Council identified a relationship between positive moods and sleeping between 6 and 8 hours a night. Regular bedtimes were also important. 2. Keep your bedroom as dark as possible as this stimulates production of melatonin. (Low melatonin levels are linked with depression.) 3. Make sure you have a diet that supports brain health. For example, the following nutrients have been shown to promote more stable moods: B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, zinc and fatty acids. Also, rapid changes in blood sugar can also precipitate changes in mood, so watch your consumption of refined sugar products, and make sure you eat lots of complex carbohydrates. 4. Try some natural remedies. Chamomile, lemon balm or valerian root tea are recommended for helping with anxiety. St. John’s wort is said to soothe the mind and relieve irritability. In terms of homeopathic remedies, lycopodium is believed to help with anger, and feelings of agitation; tarentula hispanica is used for mania; and chaste berry, red raspberry, black cohosh and sarsaparilla may help with female hormonal mood swings. 5. Include some regular exercise in your daily schedules. This releases endorphins, the feel good hormones. It also helps with insomnia. 6. Try and identify coping mechanisms that can ward off or soothe fluctuations in mood. Also, keeping a journal of negative triggers can help you interrupt a pattern early on, and work on strategies for coping with these triggers. Source:http://onlinecounsellingcollege.tumblr.com/post/28076812734/how-to-cope-with-mood-swings |
Mental Disorders A mental illness makes the things you do in life hard, like: work, school, and socializing with other people. If you think you (or someone you know) might have a mental disorder, it is best to consult a professional. Early identification and effective intervention is the key to successfully treating the disorder and preventing future disability. A health care professional (doctor, mental health specialist, etc) will connect the symptoms and experiences the patient is having with recognized diagnostic criteria (DSM or ICD) to help formulate a diagnosis.
The ICD-10 Chapter V: Mental and behavioural disorders, part of the International Classification of Diseases produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), is another commonly-used guide, more so in Europe and other parts of the world. The coding system used in the DSM-IV is designed to correspond with the codes used in the ICD, although not all codes may match at all times because the two publications are not revised at the same time. These guides separate mental disorders into a number of categories. We've listed some of the most common mental disorders below. This list is not comprehensive, but is reflective of the most common diagnoses.
This website provides information on many, however not all, mental disorders. We are continuing to add to this site and work with organizations around the globe to further develop this site. If there is information that you are looking for and can't find, please send us and emailand we'll do our best to connect you with someone that can help. |
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. It is most commonly used by clinicians, researchers, 