Mental illness is a disturbance of brain functions that change a individual thoughts, emotions, behaviours and impaired his abilities to carry out daily activities effectively.

Mental illness is not a single entity. It comprises of many different form. Generally it can be divided into 3 groups :

1.Neuroses:
This group of people experienced some changes in thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
Usually they are aware of their condition. Their daily function may be affected. Example of neuroses are:
*Depression
Depression is a deep or prolonged emotional feeling of sadness. Sadness is a normal emotion but if it is severe, last more than 2 weeks and it affect normal daily functions then it is an illness.
*Anxiety
The main features of this condition is anxious feeling. A person feels tense, sweating, palpitation and fear of unknown danger.

WHO showed mental illness as one of 5 leading diseases that cause disability around the world and expect it to be second in year 2020.

2.Psychoses
This group of people suffered marked changes in thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

During a psychotic episode, a person is confused about reality and experiences hearing voices talking to him (hallucination) and believe people are trying to charm him (delusion).

They may have incoherent speech; strange behaviours; they may have inappropriate laughter or anger. This is a group of people we usually referred as mad. Example of psychoses:

*Schizophrenia
People with this condition suffered from marked disturbance of thought and perception. They heard voices talking to them (hallucination) and thought people around them want to harm them (delusion) Their work functions decline because of this.
*Bipolar disorder
People with this condition suffered from marked disturbance of emotion. They are either very sad (depressive phase) or very happy (manic phase).

3.Personality Disorders
This basically a flawed in a person character which cause a lot of difficulty in his interaction with others around him.

What cause mental illness?

The exact cause is still unknown.There are multiple factors contributed toward development of mental illness.

1.Genetic
Family members with mental illness have higher risk of developing mental illness

2.Biochemical
A variety of biochemical called neurotransmitter exists in brain. They are important to ensure the brain function properly. Disturbance of certain biochemicals in the brain have been associated with mental illness. For example:
*Schizophrenia:
High concentration of dopamine.
*Depression:
Lower concentration of serotonin

3.Viral infection:
Viral infection was implicated in mental illness.

4.Traumatic life event:
For example birth trauma, loss of parent during childhood and grief.

5.Poor socio-economic condition:
For example, poverty, homelessness, and community violence.

Is mental illness treatable?

*Yes
*Modern medical technology has enable development of drugs with better efficacy and least troublesome side effects
*Almost all drugs use for treatment of mental illness take some time before it full effect take place, so we must be patience and continue taking the medication.
*We cannot depend solely on drugs to achieve full recovery. Other supportive measures like counselling, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, group therapy, psycho education, family therapy, occupational therapy, psychosocial rehabilitation are equally important.