The human brain controls almost everything inside the body. Be it controlling memory, senses, nervous system, the brain is an integral part of the human body. If there is any kind of abnormality in the brain, it is more likely that a person suffers from mental illness. Abnormality in the brain can be caused by any kind of illness, injury and in some cases genetics. But the fact is that all brain diseases do not cause mental illness. For example, we can not call the brain tumour a mental illness disease.
An article was written on the website of NCBI(National Centre for Biotechnology Information) which described the relationship between the brain and mental illness. The article emphasized the fact that mental illness can be caused if brain structure is changed and mental illness may have some kind of relation with genes.
Mental illness in adults includes bipolar order, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, panic disorder. Around 3% of the world’s population suffers from mental illness and 8 million people suffer from depression each year. Children under the age of 18 also suffer from mental illness and one in every five people gets affected by mental illness.
There are many symptoms that can be seen as a form of mental illness. These include personality change, depression, lack of ability to concentrate, mood swings, suicidal thoughts, use of alcohol and drugs, anger, hate towards others and many more. Any person who is suffering from these symptoms should seek medical help.
For treating mental illness, the functioning of the brain becomes very important. Some scientists have used the concept of biological methods to identify if there is any problem with genes while some try to visualize the changes in the brain.
Scientists have shown that if there is any problem with neurotransmission, then also the mental illness can prevail.
Basic understanding of the Brain
Although brain weighs 2% of our body, it consumes 20% oxygen and 20% energy. It controls each and every part of the body including sensing, movement, breathing. Every second number of chemical reactions takes place in the brain and these reactions include our thoughts, actions and our behaviour responding to our surroundings. Neurons are present in the brain. The main function of neurons is to carry out the information.
Brain investigation for mental illness
PET(Positron emission tomography) is one of the techniques which is used extensively for investigation of the brain for any signs of mental illness. 2D and 3D images can be obtained by PET scan. Because the patient remains awake during the investigation, doctors can easily find out the relation between brain activity and psychological effects. Doctors can easily know the position of active neurons in the brain. Scientists use a PET scan to see the changes in the brain after the patient received the treatment.
Medication
Because of increasing social media activities and attractive advertisements, people are becoming more aware of mental illness but it is very important to take proper treatment if you are suffering from it. Professionals/Doctors have started their own micro-niche blogs about mental health to spread more awareness as people rely on the internet for almost every information. Doctors monitor the patient’s health after prescribing the medicines. If the prescribed medicine does not provide relief to the patient, then medicines are changed accordingly. People should also watch for the side effects of prescribed medicines. If there are side effects of medicine then the doctor should be consulted immediately.
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