mental illness

any of various disorders in which a person's thoughts, emotions, or behaviour are so abnormal as to cause suffering to himself, herself, or other people

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mental illness

disease of the mind. Mental illness varies from transitory episodes of anxiety or depression (see NEUROSES) which interfere with normal daily living through the mood changes involved, to the PSYCHOSES which may require in-patient psychiatric treatment to control the severe changes in mood and behaviour associated with them.

A sociology of mental illness has developed as a response to epidemiological studies which have pointed to social causes of mental illness (e.g. depression and bad housing), and from the impetus of the theories of the anti-psychiatrists, such as LAING (1960) and Szasz (1961). See also ANTI-PSYCHIATRY, MADNESS.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

mental illness

[′men·təl ′il·nəs]

(psychology)

Any form of mental aberration; usually refers to a chronic or prolonged disorder in which there are wide deviations from the normal.

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References in periodicals archive

One in four people deal with a mental illness in any given year.

Spiritual support: Parishioners don't have to be psychiatrists to accompany people with mental illness

In other states that have legalized marijuana, such as Massachusetts, organizations that support those with mental illness, like the National Alliance on Mental Illness, have come out against the legalization of recreational marijuana because of the detrimental effects of marijuana use on those with mental illness and those predisposed to mental illness.

New Hampshire should not commercialize marijuana: The link between cannabis and mental health problems is clear

Mental illness can have serious repercussions on anyone's life.

Mental illness

1-Demographic data survey instrument: The demographic form comprised of eight items to obtain the background information of the subjects in the study that included; age, gender, religion, professional qualification, residence, source of information and level of interest to learn about mental illness. 2-Knowledge assessment questionnaire: Modified version of 'Public Perception of Mental Illness Questionnaire''15' was used to collect subjects awareness on the risk factors for development of mental illness.

Knowledge and perceptions of Indian primary care nurses towards mental illness/Conocimiento y percepciones de las enfermeras hindues de atencion primaria sobre la enfermedad mental/Conhecimento e percepcoes das enfermeiras hindus de atencao primaria sobre a doenca mental

"Globally, one person out of four will be affected by a mental or neurological disorder at some point in his or her life, and, quite tragically, 90 percent of all who die by suicide have an underlying mental illness," said Dr.

JJ arts program to fight mental illness stigma

[U.S.A.], June 14 ( ANI ): Diabetes is deadlier for people with severe mental illness that it is for mentally stable people, a new research has claimed.

Diabetes not good for people with severe mental illness

"Surviving Mental Illness: My Story" won a Silver Medal Award by Readers Favorite for best non-fiction/autobiography and came in First Place and won the Life Journeys Award for best memoir/biography from Readers Views.

Author Linda Naomi Katz Promotes Her Award Winning Memoir, "Surviving Mental Illness: My Story"

It means an estimated 40,500 people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness are out of work across Birmingham.

How Brummies with mental illnesses are much less likely to be employed; 39% of people suffering from a mental illness in our city were employed at the end of 2017

Part of the problem is that mental illness carries a lot of stigma arising from association with psychological or emotional imbalances.True, there is a wide body of knowledge that demonstrates how emotional challenges lead to depression.

Mental illness calls for more attention

For a lot of us, the only experience we have with mental illness is what we see on TV and in film, yet there is still a lot of misinformation surrounding mental illness and filmmakers use tired old tropes when portraying characters with any mental illness.

A world away from movie land