Contextual Information:

Mental health problems affect one in four people across the UK each year. Mental health problems affect a variety of people although some a more susceptible to an issue. Some mental illnesses can be genetic however this does mean that the person who has inherited the gene will be suspected to the illness. Brain damage, infections and substance abuse can also be factors of mental illness. Psychological factors that may contribute to mental illness include an important early loss e.g. a parent, a poor ability to relate to others, neglect and severe psychological trauma suffered a child such as emotional, physical and sexual abuse. There are also specific stressors which can trigger a period of poor mental health for example divorce, death, dysfunctional family life, low self-esteem, change and society's expectations. 

There are a large variety of mental health issues, some are neurotic whereas others are psychotic. Mental illnesses include loneliness, sleep problems, depression and anxiety which are quite common in the UK. However there are less common disorders such as eating disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia.

OCD: 

Obsessive compulsive disorder is described as an anxiety disorder which has two main parts: obsessions and compulsions.
The three most common obsessions are unwanted thoughts about harm or aggression, sexual thoughts and blasphemous thoughts. Obsessions link closely to an individual's situation for example, if you are religious, you may have blasphemous thoughts. Some examples of obsessions include:

• A fear of failing to prevent harm e.g. worrying that you may have left a cooker on and causing a fire.
• Imagining doing harm.
• Intrusive sexual thoughts e.g. worrying about abusing a child.
• Religious or blasphemous thoughts.
• Fear of contamination e.g. from dirt and germs in a toilet.
• Excessive concern with order or symmetry.
• Illness or physical symptoms e.g. thinking you have cancer when you have no symptoms. 

The most common compulsions include physical compulsions e.g. washing or checking, or mental compulsions e.g. repeating a specific word or phrase. Some compulsions include: 

• Repeating actions.
• Touching e.g. only buying things in the supermarket that you have touched with both hands.
• Focusing on a number e.g. buying everything in threes.
• Washing or cleaning.
• Checking e.g. reading through an email ten times before sending it.
• Ordering or arranging.
• Repeating a specific word or phrase.
• Praying.
• Counteracting or neutralising a negative thought with a positive one.

Many people with OCD will find that some objects or experience make obsessions or compulsions work and therefore try to avoid them. For example, if you fear contamination, you might avoid eating or drinking anywhere except your own home. Avoiding things can have a major impact on life.

Schizophrenia:

Schizophrenia affects only 1 out of 100 people in the UK. There are both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms represent a change in behaviour or thoughts such as hallucinations or delusions whereas negative symptoms represent a withdrawal or lack of function that you would usually expect to see in a healthy person. Many people have spoke about their experiences of living with schizophrenia as to break stigma, https://vimeo.com/23914250 is a short film about life as a schizophrenic by Pedro del Battenberg.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia: 

• Hallucinations are when a person experiences a sensation but there is nothing or nobody that can account for it, the most common sense is hearing voices. They are very real to the person experiencing them and brain scans have shows changes in the speech area in the brain of people with schizophrenia when they hear voices. These studies show that the brain mistakes the voices for real ones. Some people describe the voices they hear as friendly however more often they are rude, critical and abusive. The voices may describe activities taking place, discuss the hearer's thoughts, give instructions or talk directly to the person.
• Delusions are beliefs held with complete conviction even when based on a mistaken, strange or unrealistic view. They can affect the way that people behave and can begin suddenly or develop over a period of time. Some people develop delusional ideas to explain hallucinations they have had. Some people experience a paranoid delusion where they believe they are being harassed or persecuted, they often believe this is by a family member or friend. They may find different meanings in everyday events or occurrences. 
• People experiences psychosis often confuse their thoughts and conversations and find it difficult to concentrate. People may describe their thoughts as 'misty' or 'hazy' when this is happening to them. Thoughts and speech may become jumbled or confused, making conversation difficult and hard for others to understand them. 
• A person's behaviour and thoughts are prone to change. Their behaviour may become more disorganised and unpredictable and their appearance or dress may seem unusual. They may also behave inappropriately or become extremely agitated and shout/swear for no reason. Some people describe their thoughts as being controlled by others and others recognise that certain thoughts begin to disappear and believe someone is taking these away.

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia can often appear several years before someone has their first acute schizophrenic episode. These initial symptoms are referred to as the prodromal period. Symptoms usually appear gradually and slowly get worse, they include becoming socially withdrawn and experiencing a lack of care about your appearance and personal hygiene. The negative symptoms often lead to relationship problems with friends and family.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia:

• Losing interest and motivation in life and activities, including relationships and sex.
• Lack of concentration, not wanting to leave the house and changes in sleeping patterns.
• Being less likely to initiate conversations and feeling uncomfortable with people.

Anorexia: 

Anorexia nervosa is a serious mental illness in which a person keeps their body weight as low as possible. They usually do this by restricting the amount of food they eat, making themselves sick and exercising  excessively.  It has been suggested that anorexia develops from an anxiety about body shape and a desire to be thin/fear of being fat. Many people with anorexia have a distorted image of themselves where they think they are fat when they are not. The condition most commonly affects girls and women but has become more common in boys and men in recent years. 

Symptoms include:

• Missing meals, eating very small portions and avoiding fatty foods.
• Lying about what and when they eat and about how much they weigh.
• Obsessively counting calories.
• Exercising excessively. 
• Take appetite suppressants such as diet pills.
• Making themselves vomit - dental problems such as tooth decay or bad breath are caused by the acid in vomit.
• They may place a high value on their weight and how they look, they may try to hide their body by wearing loose or baggy clothing.
• Anorexic people may practise 'body checking' which involves persistently and repeatedly weighing themselves, measuring themselves and checking their body in the mirror.
• Low self-esteem or self-confidence. 
• Bloating or constipation.
• Headaches, lightheadness or dizziness. 
• Discoloured hands and feet caused by poor circulation.
• Dry skin.
• Hairloss.
• Women and older girls with anorexia may stop having monthly periods and in some cases become infertile.