For years now, beyondblue has been doing as much work as possible to encourage people to learn about the symptoms and types of stress, anxiety and depression, which they could face or may already be experiencing.

Fleeting periods of sadness, pessimism, and lowered self-esteem are often popularly called depression. Clinical depression, however, is a serious but treatable illness characterized by a dejected mood of longer duration or greater intensity. It is among the most common of mental disorders, affecting many millions of people, from children to the elderly.

Anxiety disorders aren't actually a single condition, but rather a spectrum of related disorders. However, some of the same imbalances in brain chemistry are thought to underlie many different anxiety disorders, which helps explain why more than half of all people with one anxiety disorder also have another.

Biological causes of clinical depression continue to be studied extensively. Great progress has been made in the understanding of brain function, the influence of neurotransmitters and hormones, and other biological processes, as well as how they may relate to the development of depression.

Identifies Meningitis types, signs and symptoms, prevention and treatment.

Inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, is known as meningitis. Meningitis is usually, but not always, a result of bacterial or viral infection.

Meningitis is a potentially fatal inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that encase the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is most commonly caused by viruses, but also may be caused by a bacterial or (less commonly) fungal infection.

Bacterial meningitis is a medical emergency requiring immediate diagnosis and immediate treatment. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis are the most common and most aggressive pathogens of meningitis. Emerging antibiotic resistance is an upcoming challenge. Clinical and experimental studies have established a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms resulting in brain damage, sequelae and neuropsychological deficits. We summarize the current pathophysiological concept of acute bacterial meningitis and present current treatment strategies.

A stroke is a serious medical condition that occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. See links on the right for causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and prevention.

A stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel or artery, or when a blood vessel breaks and interrupts blood flow to an and bleeding occurs into an area of the brain. Every stroke is different. The symptoms and effects vary according to the type of stroke, the part of the brain affected and the size of the damaged area.

Stroke is a brain injury caused by an interruption in blood flow to brain tissue due to a blocked or burst artery. It is also called a cerebral vascular accident (CVA) or brain attack.

A spinal cord injury — damage to any part of the spinal cord or nerves at the end of the spinal canal — often causes permanent changes in strength, sensation and other body functions below the site of the injury.

Spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (e.g. car accident, falls or diving) or disease (e.g. polio, spina bifida or Friedreich's Ataxia).

Approximately 10,000 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur each year in the United States. About 250,000 people are currently affected. Spinal cord injuries can happen to anyone at any time of life. The typical patient, however, is a man between the ages of 19 and 26, injured in a motor vehicle accident (about 50% of all SCIs), a fall (20%), an act of violence (15%), or a sporting accident (14%).

Shingles is a painful rash of small blisters that appear on one side of the body, often in a band on the chest and back. It’s caused by a virus called varicella zoster. This is the same virus that causes chickenpox.

Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is an infection of a nerve and the skin around it. It's caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. It's estimated around one in every four people will have at least one episode of shingles during their life.

Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a condition caused by the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV) that causes chickenpox (varicella). After a bout of chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in the sensory nerve ganglia that are adjacent to the spinal cord and brain . Years later the virus reemerges, traveling along the nerves to the skin where it causes red rashes that develop into blisters.

Seizures and epilepsy are not the same. A seizure is an event - a disruption of the normal electrochemical activity of the brain - and epilepsy is the disease characterised by tendency to have recurrent seizures.

Epilepsy is a medical disorder that affects the brain, causing sudden and recurring seizures. A seizure is a disturbance in brain function caused when nerve cells in the brain suddenly send too many signals, or electrical impulses. Normally, nerve cells communicate with other cells by releasing these signals in a controlled way.

Epilepsy is a chronic (persistent) disorder of the nervous system. The primary symptoms of this disease are periodic or recurring seizures that are triggered by sudden episodes of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. The term "seizure" refers to any unusual body functions or activities that are under the control of the nervous system.