The Negative Physiological Effects Mental Illnesses have on Body Systems

The Adverse Psychological Effects of Mental Illnesses on the Body

The results related to mental phenomena or the mind are psychological effects, and the effects occur in topics related to psychology. There are different ways in which mental disorders have adverse psychological influences on the processes of the body. Notably, psychiatric disorders are made up of a wide variety of different conditions. The only common trait of these conditions is that they all impact an individual’s personality, social behaviors, or thought processes. Mental disorders are difficult to precisely identify, unlike physical diseases. Mental illness is composed of disorders which affect the behavior of thinking and people’s moods. Examples of mental illnesses include schizophrenia, depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders and various addictive behaviors. This paper explores the adverse psychological effects caused by mental illnesses on the body systems.

Schizophrenia

It is a mental disorder which involves failure in thoughts, behavior, and emotion which lead to improper feelings and actions, faulty perceptions, extraction from personal relationships and reality into delusion and fantasy, and psychological fragmentation in a person (Cold et al.). There are various negative psychological effects which Schizophrenia has on the body systems. However, if schizophrenia is untreated, it affects the body in many ways. However, the condition affects the brain, and because of this fact, most of the complications which are associated with the malady mainly affects the mind(R Fox 411’418). Notably, some of the complications which are related to the disease are depression which at most times makes the individual inflict self-injury. Depression is a psychological effect which later may lead to suicide because the victim feels that he or she cannot cope with the life challenges.

Besides, Schizophrenia is also associated with alcoholism and drug abuse. As a result, these actions lead to health problems such as liver failure or heart disease. Moreover, the other negative behavior associated with Schizophrenia is smoking ((DE HERT et al. 52-77). In this case, smoking is a behavior which can lead to other complexities in an individual. Different types of cancer, stroke and heart diseases which affect different parts of the body hence various systems of the body suffer in this case. An example of those systems includes the respiratory system amongst the others. On the other hand, Schizophrenia is treated with various medications. However, these medications also have adverse effects on the body such as movement problems, fast heartbeat, blurry vision, and obesity.

Depression

Depression is a type of mood condition which causes a persistent feeling of loss of interest and sadness. This condition affects how an individual feels, thinks and behaves. At later stages, it can lead to physical problems which are accompanied by a variety of emotional feelings. Depression victim sometimes may feel that life is not worth living. As a result, they have trouble in doing the normal daily activities. There are more effects of depression rather than affecting the mood (DE HERT et al. 52-77). It is because it causes changes in the brain which affect body systems. For instance, it causes abnormal functioning of the brain messages which alters the threshold of pain in the body. As a result, the victim is more profound to body pain specifically the back pain. On the other side, depression also causes serotonin which also affects elements in the body such as lowering sex drive and sleep. In connection to this, research has shown that almost half of those people with depression have a sex problem.

On the other hand, depression increases the number of risk factors which increase the probability of getting diseases and other conditions which affect the body systems. For instance, it increases the level of different hormones in the body such as adrenaline and cortisol. The increase of these hormones puts the body at a risk of getting body illnesses. As a result, an individual becomes more susceptible to diseases. On the other side, depression also affects the immune system which makes it hard for the body to fight against diseases and infections(Deans). The condition also makes some vaccinations such as the shingles vaccines to be less useful to the old people. In some other times, it has been linked with heart diseases because of the increased use of drug and substance abuse. Some of those conditions affect different body systems which coexist with depression. They include HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, heart attack, arthritis, kidney diseases and many more others.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are severe, prospective life-threatening conditions which affect the physical and people’s emotional health. Notably, eating disorders do not come by phase, and as a result, people do not only catch them for a particular period. Eating disorders are rather complex and real devastating conditions which cause severe consequences in human productivity, health, and relationships. Anorexia nervosa is the first eating disorder which has various effects in body systems. In this case, a person faces self-starvation where the body is denied its essential nutrients, and as a result, it doesn’t function normally(R Fox 411’418). Most of the body processes are slowed down for the body to conserve energy, and this leads to serious medical problems. Some of the complexities in the body include abnormal heart rate, lowered blood pressure, overall body weakness which causes fainting and fatigue, dry skin and hair loss, osteoporosis, muscle loss and weaknesses and many more others.

Bulimia nervosa is the other eating disorder which affects the entire digestive system. However, it causes chemical and electrolyte imbalances which affect the major organs of the body like the heart. For instance, it causes inflammation and possible rupture of the esophagus because of frequent vomiting(Deans). It also causes pancreatitis and peptic ulcers including frequent vomiting which may cause tooth decay. It also leads to irregular heartbeats which may result in death due to heart failure. Moreover, Binge eating disorder is the other condition which also leads to many health risks associated with obesity. However, these problems include high cholesterol levels, type II diabetes mellitus, gallbladder disease, heart disease and also high blood pressure just mentioning a few (Cold et al.). People having eating disorders are supposed to seek early professional help because they always require initial treatment which includes both emotional and physical recovery. The other types of mental illness which are associated with psychological effects which affect body systems include the addictive behaviors such as alcoholism and drug abuse and various anxiety disorders such as OCD, panic disorder, and PTSD.

Conclusion

In general, mental illnesses cause various psychological effects which have adverse effects on the health of individuals. These diseases have multiple causes such as environmental factors, the lifestyle of individual, genetic factors and many more others such as a stressful job or traumatic events. Moreover, mental illnesses affect the feelings, moods, and thinking of people and hence destroy the sense of living to individuals. Apart from affecting the health of an individual, mental illnesses also influence the social life of individuals because they hinder the proper functioning of the body. The good news is most mental illnesses can be treated and controlled, and hence most of the victims can be helped to resume their meaningful social life and regular duties especially when it is done on the right time.

Works Cited

Cold, Flu & Cough et al. “Mental Health.” WebMD. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.Retrieved from:http://www.webmd.com/404?aspxerrorpath=%2fbalance%2fguide%2fhow-worrying-effects-your-body#1
DE HERT, MARC et al. ”Physical Illness In Patient with Severe Mental Disorders. I Prevalence, Impacts of Medications and Disparities in Health Care”. World Psychiatry 10.1 (2011): 52-77. Web. 25 Apr. 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048500/ Negative psychological effects mental illness have on body systems
Deans, Emily. ”The Gut-Brain Connection, Mental Illness, and Disease.” Psychology Today. N.p., 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201404/the-gut-brain-connection-mental-illness-and-disease
R Fox, Kenneth. The Influence Of Physical Activity On Mental Well-Being. 1st ed., Bristol, UK: Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Priory House, Woodlands Rd, 1999. Print. Retrieved from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1368980099000567