Watch out, stroke can attack sufferers of depression and mental disorders

Stroke is a chronic disease that most often occurs due to blockage of blood vessels in the brain. Stroke has been the cause of death for six million people each year and resulted in five million people worldwide experiencing paralysis.

Many things can cause a person to have a stroke, one of which is a history of mental disorders. How can a mental disorder cause a stroke?

What mental disorders can cause stroke?

There are many conditions that are classified as mental disorders. Some of them are:

• Anxiety disorders, such as excessive panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, and depression caused by trauma (post traumatic stress disorder).
• Bipolar disorder
• Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Dietary deviations, such as binge eating .
• Mood disorder , a condition in which a person's mood is very volatile.

These mental disorders are some of the mental disorders that are believed to increase the risk of stroke and other heart diseases.

The risk of stroke increases many times in people with mental disorders

In several studies, it is stated that people who have mental disorders are at higher risk of having a stroke. This is evidenced in a study from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

This study involved about 52 thousand patients who make regular visits to the hospital. Then it is known that as many as 3,337 patients from the total study participants experienced depression, anxiety disorders, and various other mental disorders. At the end of the study, experts found that patients with mental disorders had a three to four times higher risk of developing a stroke than patients who had no mental illness at all.

In another study, it was stated that if a person has experienced a mental disorder just once in his life, whether it is depression or other mental disorders, he has a twice as large risk of developing a stroke. Similar to research conducted by researchers from Harvard Chan School which found that depression in the 50 year old group is one of the causes of the high incidence of stroke.

What causes a high risk of stroke in mental patients?

All researchers from these studies stated that the stroke experienced by patients with mental disorders was related to the response that the body had when the mental disorder occurred.

First, the body will make a natural response when experiencing mental disorders, namely the response fight-or-flight. This response will be automatically carried out by the body when it feels threatened, depressed, and stressed. Meanwhile, this response will cause changes in various body functions, such as increasing blood pressure, and making the heart pump blood faster. Changes in body function can increase the risk of stroke in patients with mental disorders.

In addition, people with mental disorders, such as depression, will usually find places to escape and engage in various bad habits that can increase the risk of stroke and other heart diseases. For example, consuming alcoholic beverages, being unable to sleep or experiencing insomnia, or using food as an escape so that he eats uncontrolled portions.