This information comes straight from the World Health Organisation's website. To me it seems to be very much from the traditional biomedical approach towards mental health, as it focuses on symptoms and disease and viewing them them as being disorders or not normal.
Anyway, what do you think?
Q: What are the early signs of mental disorders?
A: A mental or behavioural disorder is characterized by a disturbance in thinking, mood, or behaviour, which is out of keeping with cultural beliefs and norms. In most cases the symptoms are associated with distress and interference with personal functions.
Mental disorders produce symptoms that sufferers or those close to them notice. These may include:
- physical symptoms (e.g. aches and sleep disturbance)
- emotional symptoms (e.g. feeling sad, scared, or anxious)
- cognitive symptoms (e.g. difficulty thinking clearly, abnormal beliefs, memory disturbance)
- behavioural symptoms (e.g. behaving in an aggressive manner, inability to perform routine daily functions, excessive use of substances)
- perceptual symptoms (e.g. seeing or hearing things that others cannot).
For more information, see the rest of the article at: http://www.who.int/features/qa/38/en/
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