20 Warning Signs of Untreated Mental Illness
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In the United States, about 1 in 5 adults have some type of mental illness (mental health condition). However, mental health challenges can affect people of any age.
Symptoms of mental health conditions vary. Mood swings and feeling angry or sad are warning signs that you may be struggling with a mood disorder. Or you may notice behavior changes—like social isolation or self-destructive behaviors—in loved ones with a mental health condition.
1. Extreme Mood Swings
Mood swings involve rapid and intense changes in how you feel. You may rapidly cycle between feelings of elation, anger, irritability, sadness, or indifference. In children or others, you may notice changes in energy level, rapid speech, and more impulsive behavior.
Mood swings may occur in a wide range of mood disorders and mental health conditions. It’s a symptom in 40% to 60% of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
2. Outbursts or Temper Tantrums
Temper tantrums are emotional outbursts of yelling, crying, physically lashing out, and aggression toward others. Young children may hold their breath, scream, cry, kick, bite, hit, or collapse onto the ground.
These are common symptoms of disruptive, impulse control, and conduct disorders, which all impact emotional regulation. Bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression can also lead to outbursts.
Taking on Mental Health Symptoms In Kids
Talk to a pediatrician if you suspect a child in your care is displaying signs of a mental health condition. A pediatrician may refer you to a mental health specialist or psychiatrist. In addition to getting them prescribed care, you can support a child’s mental health by encouraging regular physical activity, a well-balanced diet, sufficient sleep, and connection with family members, friends, and the community.
3. Excessive Anxiety or Anger
Excessive anxiety or anger that disrupts daily life can be a sign of an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety is a feeling of intense fear, worry, guilt, and agitation, something that often arises alongside periods of uncontrolled anger. Children may express anxiety by becoming distant, withdrawn, agitated, upset, or avoiding social contact.
4. Overwhelming Sadness
All-consuming, uncontrollable sadness is a hallmark of depression. You may feel emptiness, hopelessness, and pessimism, a feeling that everything is going wrong. Severe cases can lead to suicidal ideation (suicidal thoughts).
Signs of depression in children include irritability, loss of interest in activities they usually enjoy, and social isolation.
5. Confused Thinking
Some mental health conditions can cause you to feel disoriented or hazy, have difficulty concentrating or remembering, or be unable to separate fiction from reality. Confusion can occur alongside depression and anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, and dementia (declining cognitive impairment, affecting thinking, memory, and aspects of daily life).
In others, look for sudden, irregular changes in the subject when speaking, as well as strange, unpredictable behaviors.
6. Changes in Performance
Changes in how well you get tasks done or noticeable declines in work or school performance can be signs of a mental health condition. A drop in a child’s grades, loss of interest in extracurricular activities, and lack of enthusiasm about school are, too.
Many mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, can affect your energy and interest levels and your attention, focus, or ability to retain information.
7. Hyperactivity
Restlessness and problems concentrating are hyperactive behaviors, often related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), manic episodes of bipolar disorder, and anxiety, among others.
In children, signs of hyperactivity include:
- Fidgeting, squirming, or constantly moving while seated
- Interrupting others, impatience
- Running around or playing at inappropriate times
- Standing up at inappropriate times
- Talking a lot and not being able to do quiet activities
8. Appetite Changes
You may find it difficult to eat and will consume very little food. Or, you may compulsively eat, even when you’re not hungry, and feel out of control. Both instances are examples of eating disorders.
Depression and depressive episodes of bipolar disorder can cause bingeing or compulsive eating in some and appetite loss in others.
9. Sleep Changes
Sleep is crucial for mental health. Sleep problems contribute to mental health conditions, and vice versa. Difficulty falling or staying asleep (insomnia) and sleeping more than usual (hypersomnia) arise with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and PTSD, among others.
10. Lack of Energy
Mental health conditions impact energy levels, resulting in fatigue, disinterest, and the feeling of being slow. You may lose interest in previously enjoyed activities and lack motivation to complete essential tasks. It may be more challenging for children to complete schoolwork or chores, and they give up quickly once started.
11. Decreased Sex Drive
Women facing mental health challenges become less interested in sex, won’t respond to sexual stimulation, and feel little to no pleasure during intercourse. Males may feel less interested in sex, have fewer sexual thoughts, have erectile dysfunction (ED), and have an inability to maintain an erection.
12. Inability to Manage Stress
An inability to cope with stress or stressful situations is also a symptom of a psychiatric disorder. It’s especially common with anxiety disorder, PTSD, and adjustment disorder (a severe stress reaction to a traumatic life event).
Stressful feelings—worry, tension, and anxiety—become intense and don’t go away. They impact relationships, school or work, and daily life.
13. Increased Physical Sensitivity
Increased sensitivity to touch, sound, sight, feel, and pain is a common sign of PTSD, sensory processing disorders, OCD, and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder). Overstimulation causes severe discomfort, so people with certain mental health conditions avoid crowded, loud, or overstimulating environments.
In young children, increased physical sensitivity causes crankiness, tantrums, crying, and defiant behaviors.
14. Withdrawal and Social Isolation
Depression and mood disorders cause a sudden withdrawal from others, along with a complete or nearly complete lack of social contact (social isolation). It may present as a loss of interest in activities you’d previously enjoyed and a lack of desire to go to work or school, see friends or family, or be around people in general.
Fearful and avoidant social behaviors are a key sign of anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder.
15. Feeling Helpless or Hopeless
Feeling hopeless or helpless are signs of depression, depressive phases of bipolar disorder, and other conditions.
You may feel like everything is going wrong and spinning out of control lack hope that things will improve in the future. Sadness, bitterness, or irritation often accompany these feelings. In children, this can lead to tantrums, social isolation, and loss of interest in play.
16. Apathy and Feeling Disconnected
Associated with depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorders is a feeling of apathy and a lack of connection to others and surroundings. Typical signs include a lack of motivation and indifference to favored activities, friends, or family. Children with this condition lose interest in their favorite toys, games, friends, or other interests.
17. Drug or Alcohol Use
Excess recreational drug use or drinking are central signs of alcohol use disorder and substance use disorder. People with depression, anxiety disorder, or PTSD may turn to alcohol or substances in an effort to self-regulate. However, these behaviors worsen mental health conditions.
Certain behaviors, such as social avoidance, erratic behavior, and failure to meet obligations, are telltale signs of alcohol and substance use in others.
18. High-Risk Behavior
Depression, manic stages, bipolar disorder, and certain anxiety disorders increase impulsive, self-destructive behaviors. These behaviors include having condomless sex with strangers, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and impulsively eating or spending money, among others.
Children or adolescents may break the rules, get in trouble, or push boundaries more than in the past.
19. Delusions or Hallucinations
Mental health conditions also cause delusions, false beliefs, and hallucinations. Causing rapid shifts in mental state, these are the primary symptoms of the serious mental disorder schizophrenia and can be signs of dementia, severe depression, PTSD, and others. You see strange things, hear voices, or lose awareness of your surroundings.
Parents or caregivers may witness erratic or dangerous behaviors in children experiencing delusions or hallucinations (sensing something that does not exist).
20. Illogical Thinking
Distorted, unsound thinking can arise with borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, and manic episodes of bipolar disorder, among other mental health conditions. You may have irrational beliefs about your influence or power, difficulty comprehending the meaning of events, or cannot separate fact from fiction.
Children may quickly shift from topic to topic when talking, or they will contradict themselves.
When to Contact a Healthcare Provider
Call a healthcare provider if you, your child, or a loved one experiences any of the following:
- A drop in energy levels, school or work performance, and interests
- Medications or therapies have stopped working
- Symptoms lasting four or more weeks
- Symptoms that severely disrupt their life, work, school, or relationships
- Suspected symptoms with a family history of mental health conditions
- Unexplained changes in behavior
Many insurance companies have search engines to find in-network providers. Resources such as the nonprofit Open Path Collective, which offers online and in-person therapy, are also available for people without insurance to access mental health providers at lower costs.
Who Treats Mental Health Conditions?
Several types of health professionals treat mental health conditions, including psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and counselors. Pediatricians, child psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health counselors can treat mental health in children.
Summary
Mental health conditions can cause a range of effects on the mind and body. Common signs include severe mood swings, irritation, confusion, and withdrawal from others. Children may be more likely to throw temper tantrums, cry, or lose interest in socializing or attending school. Contact a healthcare provider if mental health symptoms persist and disrupt your ability to function.
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