The human perception includes emotions, individual thinking, attention and memory. Mental disorders can affect a person in any of these areas. This series depicts some of the most common and some of the lesser known disorders photographically.
COTARD DELUSION
Cotard delusion is a rare condition in wich the affected person holds the false belief that he/she is already dead, does not exist, is putrefying, or has lost their blood or internal organs.. It usually occurs with severe depression and some psychotic disorders. It can accompany other mental illnesses and neurological conditions. You might also hear it referred to as walking corpse syndrome, Cotard’s syndrome, or nihilistic delusion. Statistical analysis of a hundred-patient cohort indicated that the denial of self-existence is a symptom present in 45% of the cases of Cotard‘s syndrome; the other 55% of the patients presented delusions of immortality.
PICA DISORDER
Pica is the persistent eating of substances such as hair, dirt or paint, that have no nutritional value.
The Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology currently estimates that prevalence rates of pica range from 4%–26% among institutionalized populations. Research among non-institutionalized populations takes the form of individual case studies, making prevalence rates difficult to estimate.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.
Symptoms of schizophrenia usually start between ages 16 and 30. Males are more often affected and onset is on average earlier in age. The causes of schizophrenia include environmental and genetic factors. About 0.3% to 0.7% of people are affected by schizophrenia during their lifetimes.
BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a distinct mental disorder in which a person is preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see. As a result, people with this disorder see themselves as „ugly“ and often avoid social exposure or turn to plastic surgery to try to improve their appearance. BDD is a chronic (long-term) disorder that affects men and women equally. It usually begins during the teen years or early adulthood.
The most common areas of concern for people with BDD include:
Skin imperfections: These include wrinkles, scars, acne, and blemishes.
Hair: This might include head or body hair or absence of hair.
Facial features: Very often this involves the nose, but it also might involve any feature or the whole Face/head itself.
ILLNESS ANXIETY DISORDER
Illness anxiety disorder (IAD) is a recent term for what used to be diagnosed as hypochondriasis, or hypochondria. People diagnosed with IAD strongly believe they have a serious or life-threatening illness despite having no, or only mild, symptoms. Yet IAD patients’ concerns are to them very real. Even if they go to doctors and no illnesses are found, they are generally not reassured and their obsessive worry continues. IAD can also trigger worries in people who do have a physical illness that they are sicker than they really are. The disorder is not about the presence or absence of illness, but the psychological reaction.
BIPOLAR DISORDER
Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.People with bipolar disorder experience periods of unusually intense emotion, changes in sleep patterns and activity levels, and uncharacteristic behaviors—often without recognizing their likely harmful or undesirable effects. These distinct periods are called “mood episodes.” These moods range from periods of extremely “up,” elated, irritable, or energized behavior (known as manic episodes) to very “down,” sad, indifferent, or hopeless periods (known as depressive episodes).
