Facts about Mental Illness

Schizophrenia, the major mental disease, affects at least one in every 100 people.

Common forms of mental illness include schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, bi polar (manic depression), major depression, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

These disorders are neurobiological brain diseases - physical in the same way that diabetes, heart disease  and other physical diseases.  Neither the victim nor his/her parents are to blame.

Mental illness occurs worldwide, in all classes and ethnic groups, and usually strikes youth in what would be their most productive years - between the ages of 15 and 30.

Mental illness is characterized by disordered thinking, unjustified fears, loss of touch with reality, poor judgment, negative self-image, and immature behavior.  Many become unmotivated, withdrawn and quiet, absorbed in their inner world.  They are more often the victims rather than the aggressors.

Mentally ill people represent a cross-section of the whole society--some are artistic, talented and unusually intelligent; some have normal or below-normal capabilities.

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Last modified: February 22, 2000