Pacing is an energy management strategy based on the observation that symptoms of the illness tend to increase following minimal exertion. There are two forms: symptom-contingent pacing, where the decision to stop (and rest or change an activity) is determined by an awareness of an exacerbation of symptoms; and time-contingent pacing, which is determined by a set schedule of activities which a patient estimates he or she is able to complete without triggering post-exertional malaise (PEM). Thus the principle behind pacing for CFS is to avoid over-exertion and an exacerbation of symptoms. It is not aimed at treating the illness as a whole. Those whose illness appears stable may gradually increase activity and exercise levels, but, according to the principle of pacing, must rest if it becomes clear that they have exceeded their limits.

Patients with CFS benefit from a well-balanced diet and eating regularly (eating little and often), including slow-release starchy foods in meals and snacks. Although elimination diets are not generally recommended, many people experience relief of CFS symptoms with these diets, including gastrointestinal complaints. To avoid the risk of malnutrition, they should be supervised by a dietitian.

A catastrophic illness is a severe illness requiring prolonged hospitalization or recovery. Examples would include coma, cancer, leukemia, heart attack or stroke. These illnesses usually involve high costs for hospitals, doctors and medicines and may incapacitate the person from working, creating a financial hardship. They are the type intended to be covered by high-deductible health plans. Research indicates that the unusual economic environment of the delivery of catastrophic illness care encourages the use of innovative therapies. Medicare contains a benefit for catastrophic illness.

Mild disease can be treated with fluids by mouth. In more significant disease spraying with mist and using a fan is useful. For those with severe disease putting them in lukewarm water is recommended if possible with transport to a hospital.

Prevention includes avoiding medications that can increase the risk of heat illness (e.g. antihypertensives, diuretics, and anticholinergics), gradual adjustment to heat, and sufficient fluids and electrolytes.

The Institute of Medicine reviewed the evidence for treatments for symptoms associated with Gulf War syndrome and related conditions. They concluded that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioural therapy were most likely to be beneficial to patients.

Acute alcohol poisoning is a medical emergency due to the risk of death from respiratory depression and/or inhalation of vomit if emesis occurs while the patient is unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency treatment for acute alcohol poisoning strives to stabilize the patient and maintain a patent airway and respiration, while waiting for the alcohol to metabolize. This can be done by removal of any vomitus or, if patient is unconscious or has impaired gag reflex, intubation of the trachea using an endotracheal tube to maintain adequate airway:

Also:

- Treat hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) with 50 ml of 50% dextrose solution and saline flush, as ethanol induced hypoglycaemia is unresponsive to glucagon.

- Administer the vitamin thiamine to prevent Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which can cause a seizure (more usually a treatment for chronic alcoholism, but in the acute context usually co-administered to ensure maximal benefit).

- Apply hemodialysis if the blood concentration is dangerously high (>400 mg/dL), and especially if there is metabolic acidosis.

- Provide oxygen therapy as needed via nasal cannula or non-rebreather mask.

- Provide parenteral Metadoxine.

Additional medication may be indicated for treatment of nausea, tremor, and anxiety.

Only a small proportion of those with co-occurring disorders actually receive treatment for both disorders. Therefore, it was argued that a new approach is needed to enable clinicians, researchers and managers to offer adequate assessment and evidence-based treatments to patients with dual pathology, who cannot be adequately and efficiently managed by cross-referral between psychiatric and addiction services as currently configured and resourced. In 2011, it was estimated that only 12.4% of American adults with co-occurring disorders were receiving both mental health and addictions treatment. Clients with co-occurring disorders face challenges accessing treatment, as they may be excluded from mental health services if they admit to a substance abuse problem, and vice versa.

There are multiple approaches to treating concurrent disorders. Partial treatment involves treating only the disorder that is considered primary. Sequential treatment involves treating the primary disorder first, and then treating the secondary disorder after the primary disorder has been stabilized. Parallel treatment involves the client receiving mental health services from one provider, and addictions services from another.

Integrated treatment involves a seamless blending of interventions into a single coherent treatment package developed with a consistent philosophy and approach among care providers. With this approach, both disorders are considered primary. Integrated treatment can improve accessibility, service individualization, engagement in treatment, treatment compliance, mental health symptoms, and overall outcomes. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the United States describes integrated treatment as being in the best interests or clients, programs, funders, and systems. Green suggested that treatment should be integrated, and a collaborative process between the treatment team and the patient. Furthermore, recovery should to be viewed as a marathon rather than a sprint, and methods and outcome goals should be explicit.

Although many patients may reject medications as antithetical to substance-abuse recovery and side effects, they can be useful to reduce paranoia, anxiety, and craving. Medications that have proven effective include opioid replacement therapies, such as lifelong maintenance on methadone or buprenorphine, to minimize risk of relapse, fatality, and legal trouble amongst opioid addicts, as well as helping with cravings, baclofen for alcoholics, opioid addicts, cocaine addicts, and amphetamine addicts, to help eliminate drug cravings, and clozapine, the first atypical antipsychotic, which appears to reduce illicit drug use amongst stimulant addicts. Clozapine can cause respiratory arrest when combined with alcohol, benzodiazepines, or opioids, so it is not recommended to use in these groups.

Most research indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for hypochondriasis. Much of this research is limited by methodological issues. A small amount of evidence suggests that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can also reduce symptoms, but further research is needed.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most common techniques used to build resilience in children suffering from chronic illnesses. CBT includes the practice of breathing exercises, relaxation training, imagery, distraction methods, coping models, cognitive coping skills, reinforcement for compliance, behavioral rehearsal, role-play and direct coaching. Another intervention that is gaining popularity is the PASS Theory of Intelligence. The PASS Model combines a multitude of interventions to create a well-rounded program to foster resiliency in not only the children but the families affected as well. The goals of the pass model are to minimize trauma symptoms, develop adaptive coping skills, strengthen resiliency, and connect families to support networks.

There are a number of different treatments that are available to treat and manage conversion syndrome. Treatments for conversion syndrome include hypnosis, psychotherapy, physical therapy, stress management, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Treatment plans will consider duration and presentation of symptoms and may include one or multiple of the above treatments. This may include the following:

1. Explanation. This must be clear and coherent as attributing physical symptoms to a psychological cause is not accepted by many educated people in western cultures. It must emphasize the genuineness of the condition, that it is common, potentially reversible and does not mean that the sufferer is psychotic. Taking a neutral-cause-based stance by describing the symptoms as functional may be helpful, but further studies are required. Ideally, the patient should be followed up neurologically for a while to ensure that the diagnosis has been understood.

2. Physiotherapy where appropriate;

3. Occupational Therapy to maintain autonomy in activities of daily living;

4. Treatment of comorbid depression or anxiety if present.

There is little evidence-based treatment of conversion disorder. Other treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, EMDR, and psychodynamic psychotherapy, EEG brain biofeedback need further trials. Psychoanalytic treatment may possibly be helpful. However, most studies assessing the efficacy of these treatments are of poor quality and larger, better controlled studies are urgently needed. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the most common treatment, however boasts a mere 13% improvement rate.

The US military issued pyridostigmine bromide (PB) pills to protect against exposure to nerve gas agents such as sarin and soman. PB was used as a prophylactic against nerve agents; it is not a vaccine. Taken before exposure to nerve agents, PB was thought to increase the efficiency of nerve agent antidotes. PB had been used since 1955 for patients suffering from myasthenia gravis with doses up to 1,500 mg a day, far in excess of the 90 mg given to soldiers, and was considered safe by the FDA at either level for indefinite use and its use to pre-treat nerve agent exposure had recently been approved.

Given both the large body of epidemiological data on myasthenia gravis patients and follow-up studies done on veterans it was concluded that while it was unlikely that health effects reported today by Gulf War veterans are the result of exposure solely to PB, use of PB was causally associated with illness. However, a later review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that the evidence was not strong enough to establish a causal relationship.

Depressed mood may not require professional treatment, and may be a normal temporary reaction to life events, a symptom of some medical condition, or a side effect of some drugs or medical treatments. A prolonged depressed mood, especially in combination with other symptoms, may lead to a diagnosis of a psychiatric or medical condition which may benefit from treatment. Different sub-divisions of depression have different treatment approaches.

In the United States, it has been estimated that two thirds of people with depression do not actively seek treatment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has predicted that by 2030, depression will account for the highest level of disability accorded any physical or mental disorder in the world (WHO, 2008).

The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2009 guidelines indicate that antidepressants should not be routinely used for the initial treatment of mild depression, because the risk-benefit ratio is poor. A recent meta-analysis also indicated that most antidepressants, besides fluoxetine, do not seem to offer a clear advantage for children and adolescents in the acute treatment of major depressive disorder.

Psychotherapy, more specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is the most widely used form of treatment for Somatic symptom disorder. In 2016, a randomized 12-week study suggested steady and significant improvement in health anxiety measures with cognitive behavioral therapy compared to the control group.

CBT can help in some of the following ways:

- Learn to reduce stress

- Learn to cope with physical symptoms

- Learn to deal with depression and other psychological issues

- Improve quality of life

- Reduce preoccupation with symptom

Moreover, brief psychodynamic interpersonal psychotherapy (PIT) for patients with multisomatoform disorder has shown its long-term efficacy for improving the physical quality of life in patients with multiple, difficult-to-treat, medically unexplained symptoms.

Antidepressant medication has also been used to treat some of the symptoms of depression and anxiety that are common among people who have somatic symptom disorder. Medications will not cure somatic symptom disorder, but can help the treatment process when combined with CBT.

A major option for many mental disorders is psychiatric medication and there are several main groups. Antidepressants are used for the treatment of clinical depression, as well as often for anxiety and a range of other disorders. Anxiolytics (including sedatives) are used for anxiety disorders and related problems such as insomnia. Mood stabilizers are used primarily in bipolar disorder. Antipsychotics are used for psychotic disorders, notably for positive symptoms in schizophrenia, and also increasingly for a range of other disorders. Stimulants are commonly used, notably for ADHD.

Despite the different conventional names of the drug groups, there may be considerable overlap in the disorders for which they are actually indicated, and there may also be off-label use of medications. There can be problems with adverse effects of medication and adherence to them, and there is also criticism of pharmaceutical marketing and professional conflicts of interest.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes used in severe cases when other interventions for severe intractable depression have failed. Psychosurgery is considered experimental but is advocated by some neurologists in certain rare cases.

Counseling (professional) and co-counseling (between peers) may be used. Psychoeducation programs may provide people with the information to understand and manage their problems. Creative therapies are sometimes used, including music therapy, art therapy or drama therapy. Lifestyle adjustments and supportive measures are often used, including peer support, self-help groups for mental health and supported housing or supported employment (including social firms). Some advocate dietary supplements.

Reasonable accommodations (adjustments and supports) might be put in place to help an individual cope and succeed in environments despite potential disability related to mental health problems. This could include an emotional support animal or specifically trained psychiatric service dog.

There are various treatments available to calm racing thoughts, some of which involve medication. One type of treatment involves writing out the thoughts onto paper. Some treatments suggest using activities, such as painting, cooking, and other hobbies, to keep the mind busy and distract from the racing thoughts. Exercise may be used to tire the person, thereby calming their mind. When racing thoughts are anxiety induced during panic or anxiety attacks, it is recommended that the person wait it out. Using breathing and meditation techniques to calm the breath and mind simultaneously is another tool for handling racing thoughts induced by anxiety attacks. Mindfulness meditation has also shown to help with racing thoughts by allowing practitioners to face their thoughts head-on, without reacting.

While all of these techniques can be useful to cope with racing thoughts, it may prove necessary to seek medical attention and counsel. Since racing thoughts are associated with many other underlying mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and ADHD, medications used commonly to treat these disorders will help calm racing thoughts in patients.

Treatment for the underlying causes of racing thoughts is helpful and useful in order to calm the racing thoughts more permanently. For example, in people with ADHD, medications used to promote focus and calm distracting thoughts, will help them with their ADHD. Also, people with insomnia who have resulting racing thoughts will find Sleep Apnea treatment & Nasal surgery helpful to eliminate their racing thoughts. It is important to look at the underlying defect that may be causing your racing thoughts in order to prevent them long-term.

To date, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the best established treatment for a variety of somatoform disorders including somatization disorder. CBT aims to help patients realize their ailments are not catastrophic and to enable them to gradually return to activities they previously engaged in, without fear of "worsening their symptoms". Consultation and collaboration with the primary care physician also demonstrated some effectiveness. The use of antidepressants is preliminary but does not yet show conclusive evidence. Electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) has been used in treating somatization disorder among the elderly; however, the results were still debatable with some concerns around the side effects of using ECT. Overall, psychologists recommend addressing a common difficulty in patients with somatization disorder in the reading of their own emotions. This may be a central feature of treatment; as well as developing a close collaboration between the GP, the patient and the mental health practitioner.

Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness or just sociogenic illness, is "the rapid spread of illness signs and symptoms affecting members of a cohesive group, originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously have no corresponding organic" cause. MPI is distinct from other collective delusions, also included under the blanket terms of mass hysteria, in that MPI causes symptoms of disease, though there is no organic cause.

There is a clear preponderance of female victims. The DSM-IV-TR does not have specific diagnosis for this condition but the text describing conversion disorder states that "In 'epidemic hysteria', shared symptoms develop in a circumscribed group of people following 'exposure' to a common precipitant."

The self-medication theory suggests that people with severe mental illnesses misuse substances in order to relieve a specific set of symptoms and counter the negative side-effects of antipsychotic medication.

Khantizan proposes that substances are not randomly chosen, but are specifically selected for their effects. For example, using stimulants such as nicotine or amphetamines can be used to combat the sedation that can be caused by higher doses of certain types of (usually typical) antipsychotic medication. Conversely, some people taking medications with a stimulant effect such as the SNRI antidepressants Effexor (venlafaxine) or Wellbutrin (bupropion) may seek out benzodiazepines or opioid narcotics to counter the anxiety and insomnia that such medications sometimes evoke.

Some studies show that nicotine administration can be effective for reducing motor side-effects of antipsychotics, with both bradykinesia (stiff muscles) and dyskinesia(involuntary movement) being prevented.

A normal liver detoxifies the blood of alcohol over a period of time that depends on the initial level and the patient's overall physical condition. An abnormal liver will take longer but still succeeds, provided the alcohol does not cause liver failure.

People having drunk heavily for several days or weeks may have withdrawal symptoms after the acute intoxication has subsided.

A person consuming a dangerous amount of alcohol persistently can develop memory blackouts and idiosyncratic intoxication or pathological drunkenness symptoms.

Long-term persistent consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol can cause liver damage and have other deleterious health effects.

Among the indigenous peoples of Latin America, in which this illness is most common, susto may be conceptualized as a case of spirit attack. Symptoms of susto are thought to include nervousness, anorexia, insomnia, listlessness, fever, depression, and diarrhea.

Psychogenic disease (or psychogenic illness) is a name given to physical illnesses that are believed to arise from emotional or mental stressors, or from psychological or psychiatric disorders. It is most commonly applied to illnesses where a physical abnormality or other biomarker has not yet been identified. In the absence of such "biological" evidence of an underlying disease process, it is often assumed that the illness must have a psychological cause, even if the patient shows no indications of being under stress or of having a psychological or psychiatric disorder.

Examples of diseases that are believed by many to be psychogenic include psychogenic seizures, psychogenic polydipsia, psychogenic tremor and psychogenic pain.

There are problems with the assumption that all medically unexplained illness must have a psychological cause. It always remains possible that genetic, biochemical, electrophysiological or other abnormalities may be present which we do not have the technology or background to identify.

The term psychogenic disease is often used in a similar way to psychosomatic disease. However, the term "psychogenic" usually implies that psychological factors played a key causal role in the development of the illness. The term "psychosomatic" is often used in a broader way to describe illnesses with a known medical cause where psychological factors may nonetheless play a role (e.g., asthma can be exacerbated by anxiety).

Chronic critical illness is a disease state which affects intensive care patients who have survived an initial insult but remain dependent on intensive care for a protracted period, neither dying nor recovering. The most characteristic clinical feature is a prolonged requirement for mechanical ventilation. Other features include profound weakness associated with critical illness polyneuropathy, increased susceptibility to infection, metabolic changes and hormonal changes. There may be protracted or permanent delirium, or other marked cognitive impairment. The physical and psychological symptoms of the disease are very severe, including a propensity to develop post traumatic stress syndrome.

Strict definitions of chronic critical illness vary. One definition is the requirement for mechanical ventilation for 21 days or more. It is estimated that 5-10% of patients who require mechanical ventilation as part of their initial illness will go on to develop chronic critical illness. Overall prevalence has been estimated at 34.4 per 100 000 of the population. Most adult patients do not survive chronic critical illness, and furthermore even those who are discharged from hospital frequently die soon after discharge. One-year mortality in adults is 48-68%. However, children fare better with two-thirds surviving to 5 years or beyond.

Susto (, ) is a cultural illness primarily among Latin American cultures. It is described by Razzouk et al. as a condition of being frightened and "chronic somatic suffering stemming from emotional trauma or from witnessing traumatic experiences lived by others".