Types of Mental Illness

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Three different sorts of mental illness:

There are lots of different types of mental illness and they all affect people in different ways. The three you probably hear the most about are:

Schizophrenia (Skitsa-free-nee-ya) is a mental illness that makes it hard to know what is real and what is not real. If someone has schizophrenia they may hear things that are not really there, may see things that are not really there, and think things that are not real. When a person has had these unreal thoughts, or sights, or sounds for several months, then it is called schizophrenia. It can also affect all your senses, so that the person's sight and smell may be affected. Schizophrenia can effect a person's energy level and wanting to do things they normally do. More info on schizophrenia...

Depression (Dee-presh-en) is a mental illness which means a person feels very sad for several weeks or months, has no energy to do things, they might cry a lot, they do not enjoy anything any more, they might have trouble getting to sleep, or they might sleep all day. These unhappy feelings go on for a long time. A person with depression may be grumpier than usual and get more angry about what you think are small things. They cannot just 'make' themselves cheer up.
We all feel sad sometimes - if we lose something that is important like a skateboard, or bike, or have a fight with a friend, or someone dies who is close us. This is a normal feeling, and you should talk to someone about it. More info on depression...

Bipolar disorder (Bi-pole-ar Dis-or-der) is a mental illness in which the person can go from being depressed to being very, very happy in a short space of time. This mental illness used to be called Manic Depression. When they are really happy, or manic, they might race around doing lots of things at once, not going to bed, talking very fast, jumping from one topic to another very quickly, buying lots of new things at the shops. More info on bipolar disorder...

They might think that they have super powers and that nothing can harm them, which is not true.

Facts About Mental Illness