Is mental illness contagious?
481596
Mental Illness is NOT contagious.  If your children have Bipolar Disorder, they will have it from day one based on what genetic coding your genes provided.\n\nThe best way you can protect him is to keep up YOUR medical regimen to be emotionally and mentally healthy AND to continue to monitor him for any signs or symptoms that HE is having problems.  If he seems to be having any difficulties that may be related to Bipolar Disorder, have him assessed.\n\nBut don't obsess about it.\n\nI have depressive disorders, I am a Mental Health Nurse for a facility for the Mentally Delayed AND I have two sons who are Autistic with OCD and ADHD.  \n\nEven with all these issues, my sons are happy, healthy, well-adjusted boys of 9 and 11 years old.  A fammily CAN be stable... if you make it stable.
906816
Yes. Whenever body fluids make contact with another person' body fluid, there is potential to contract any disease one another is carrying.
980347
There are no mental illness that do not impair cognitive thinking but cause violence/violent tendencies. Only criminal behavior - and maybe tempory insanity (e.g. anger).\n\nHope this answers your question!
246032
It depends on:\n\na) The sort of illness\nb) You towards the illness, you towards your sick bf/gf\nc) He/her towards your reaction to his/her illness\n\nThe illness is physical and temporary (flu/sore throat/headache/stomachache)  It does not worth the pain... I mean, I wouldn't like him to be as I am now...\n\nThe illness is physical and long lasting and not contagious... I would like him to take care of me but if he has things to do I would respect that\n\nDid you meant also mentally sick because thats a complete chapter!
760409
Mental illness is best diagnosed by a social worker, psychcologist of psychiatrist.  Behavior such as severe controlling may be improved by their help.  Whether or not it is a mental illness falls into diagnostic guidelines.  Generally a person with that behavior needs to seek professional help on their own volition.  Hope this helps to answer your question.
999214
AS long as the place is clean it's fine.  With infection you are no longer contagious after 48 hrs of antibiotics.   A month and a half is ample time.  A bit excessive, if you ask me.  Pneumonia isn't as contagious as people think. \nhttp://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T083800.asp\nS PNEUMONIA CONTAGIOUS?\nYes it is, but it is LESS contagious than most people think. The cold virus that started the cough in the first place is contagious. But the pneumonia part of the illness down in the lungs is far less contagious. People who are exposed to someone with pneumonia may catch the normal cough and cold symptoms of the virus, but usually don't progress to pneumonia. The formation of the pneumonia is not determined by the particular cold virus or bacteria that the person has, but rather by each person's susceptibility in their own lungs.\n\nNo need to worry, everthing should be a ok.
354083
your mental health and social well being have been shown to have correlations with physical health\n\npeople that are happy and have friends and family to support them get sick less and recover faster and more fully when they do get sick (on average)
377560
yes it is contagious, some are mild but many are sever, depending which organ was infected.  \n\nin addition, viarl infection are also contagious.
782708
No.  When a person is in a mental health crisis, they have no idea. So when you hear a person say "I think I'm having a nervous breakdown".....they aren't.  It's like a person saying "Oh no...I think I am getting Alzheimer's.."  but if you had it, you wouldn't be able to identify it.
166373
Some refinement of this question is most important.\n\nWhat is the mental illness you suffer?  Or, at least, what are the symptoms you are attributing to the mental illness?\n\nMany mental illnesses are characterized by difficulties coping with one or more of life's inescapable stressors; often, either recognizing the stressors and minimizing them, or recognizing the difficulty that is experienced in dealing with them and then learning new patterns of handling the stressor is quite enough.\n\nSome forms of mental illness appear to be due to hereditary malfunctions of critical communications systems in the brain--chemical messengers and their receptors & transmitters, on the whole, though not universally--and these require medication, on the whole.
854039
What is Mental Health?   \n\nMental health can mean different things to different people.  For example, self-esteem and the ability to care about others might be one description of mental health.  In addition, mentally healthy people understand that they are not perfect nor can they be all things to all people.  They experience a full range of emotions including sadness, anger, and frustration, as well as joy, love, and satisfaction.  While they typically can handle life's challenges and changes, they can reach out for help if they are having difficulty dealing with major traumas and transitions,  loss of loved ones,  relationship difficulties, school or work problems, and the prospect of retirement. \n\nWhat is Mental Illness? \n\nThe term "mental illness" actually encompasses numerous psychiatric disorders, and just like illnesses that affect other parts of the body they can vary in severity.  Many people suffering from mental illness may not look as though they are ill or that something is wrong, while others may appear to be confused, agitated, or withdrawn.  Mental illnesses are often disorders of the brain that disrupt a person's thinking, feelings, mood, and ability to relate to others.  Mental illness can manifest in a persistent depressed mood, unrelieved anxiety, or an inability to cope with the ordinary demands of life.  \n\nMental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income.  It is a myth that mental illness is a sign of weakness or defect in character and that sufferers can get better simply by "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps".  Mental illnesses are  (illnesses)  as real as heart disease and cancer  and they require, and respond to, treatment.  As a diabetic may control their diet, make changes in their lifestyle, or take insulin, so a person with mental illness may need to assess their lifestyle, make changes, or take medications.  Counseling and other mental health and community services can provide support and stability, contributing to recovery.  (For more information, refer to www.nami.org/illness)
456738
No. I used to work at the Red Cross. You have to wait 3 full days until symptoms have passed; then you can donate.\nANY contagious illness temporarily disqualifies you.
895016
The challenges are great. The mentally ill and mentally retarded often have normal sex drives but have no understanding or fear of consequences. Hence they are are likely to NOT use protection, not seek medical treatment, and not take prescribed medication. Their sex partners are likely to be other people with mental problems. Or, sadly, they may be sexually abused because they do not have a normal sense of caution. I have a mentally ill sister-in-law who has been stranger-raped twice and has been intimate with a number of men in the institution where she usually lives. When she is not hospitalized, she refuses to take any medicine, so soon ends up back "inside." If she had HIV/AIDS, she would not take those meds either. We worry about her a lot but can't change the way she is!
192767
Many people with mental illness have a high degree of religiosity.  In the United States and other majority-Christian countries, that is likely to track to fervent Christian beliefs, but that's just demographics; there is nothing inherent in Christian beliefs more than any other religious belief systems to attract people living with mental illness.\n\nThere are several reasons for this:\n(1)  Some illnesses, particularly the manic phase of bipolar disorder, actually appear to intensify religious fervor in people; preoccupation with religious themes and spiritual thoughts & feelings is one possible manifestation of some psychotic disorders like mania or certain schizophrenic conditions;\n(2)  People with mental illness are often exposed to strong religious convictions, because so much of their personal care systems when they are not hospitalized involve "faith systems"; in other words, homeless people with mental illness are very likely to be frequently fed, clothed, housed, and counseled by faith-based organizations and charities, and often the free meals come with preaching and prayer, so this has an impact on their perception of what "healthy" people believe and want to hear;\n(3)  Spirituality is one of the last personal strengths people are left when many forms of empowerment are taken from them because of severe illness or the realities of hospitalization--long after you can't take care of your own money, healthcare, and business decisions, you are still in charge of your own spiritual destiny, so that makes it very important to chronically hospitalized people;\n(4)  Many evangelists deliberately target vulnerable people to hear their comparatively extreme version of their faith, and that means that psychologically impressionable mentally ill people are often deluged with religious proselytizing by the more fervent, vocal, and even at times fanatical elements of any given faith community;\n(5)  Religiosity, with its endorsement of the miraculous/magical dimension of life, resonates with the experience of psychotic people, whose delusions and hallucinations also keep them in touch with that miraculous and magical dimension of life.  In other words, when you hear all day that you are psychotic because you believe that demons possess your neighbors, it can be very reassuring to know that Jesus, too, believed in demons, and cast them out of people.  Religion is a safer place for those who believe in things that are, empirically speaking, not there.  The challenge is to encourage them to maintain their spiritual beliefs but ground them in a reality-based perspective that does not lead them into behaviors that hurt themselves or others.  (In other words, believing in demons is okay, but walking naked down the street to cast the demons out of pedestrians is not...)\n\nHope this helps.
1135061
Food poisoning is caused by bacteria in the food, so no, it is not contagious.
368783
Yes, it is possible to pass out from shock and have hallucinations.  Your friend could also be mentally ill.
34160
Mentally ill people are often looked down on because mental illness in not a disease that can be easily explained, unlike heart disease or asthma or any other physical illness; and as human beings it is our nature to be afraid or what we dont understand...in fact, mentally ill people in the middle ages were beaten over the head because they were thought to be victims of demonic posession...but heres the thing...mental illness is everywhere; there are Doctors, Lawyers, Cops, and even Psychiatrists who are mentally ill; there are hundreds of mental illnesess, and the more aware we become the better we can understand and evolve as a society...