Is mental illness a likely outcome of an illness?

Answer 1

As our body has got a multitude of defenses against various illnesses it will quickly and most ferociously counterattack the infection.

The most likely outcome is that you will become well again.

As an added benefit, the same illness will not be able to infect you again for the next 3-10 years. Diseases that are very similar might be cured faster as the body's immune system recognises certain patterns that are the same between the new versus the old similar disease.

This counts for most all diseases.

There are of course quite many exceptions with diseases the body normally can not cure itself without medical attention. The likely outcome of even most of these diseases is that after your body has been helped to get rid of the disease, you will be immune against same disease for the next 3-10 years.

The likely outcome of an illness or disease can be predicted if we know what disease it is.

Some are exceptionally fast acting. These fast acting diseases shuts down your body faster than the immune system manages to adapt, compensate and kill off. These diseases are in most cases fatal in 99 to 100 % of recorded cases. Example of such a disease is Ebola.

Ebola and similar diseases such should not be greatly feared unless it breaks out in a very dense populated area. They kill off their victims so fast that the chance of actually spreading to the general mass of people is very little. As of such, these diseases are however dangerous, not very successful.

Dangerous diseases that have a long incubation-period, weeks or even months, are to be more feared. An example of such a disease is Rabies. Rabies even cross the barrier of species, something of which only further add to the danger posed by it.

As medical science move forward, diseases like Rabies will probably be "easily" curable in the future. The key today is to be vaccinated against this disease before you get it. If you get the disease today, the most likely outcome is death unless you get intensive medical care immediately after infection.

Without medical attention this disease is a 100% killer, and even with doctors best efforts, the survival rate is still only about 20% if treatment is received after symptoms break out.

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Answer 2

It depends on the illness. Some diseases can cause brain damage, which can result in mental illness. Others can cause physical and/or emotional trauma for the person who is ill, and the experience can result in mental illness.