List of Mental Illnesses

Mental illness is an umbrella term for a variety of disorders that affect a person's behavior, emotional responses, or thinking (or a combination of these).

Mental health issues are common. Experts estimate that one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.

There are many different types of mental illnesses that range in severity. Anxiety and depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are a few examples of mental illnesses. These disorders are diagnosed and treated based on criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) issued by the American Psychiatric Association.

This article provides a detailed list of anxiety, mood, eating, personality, trauma, and psychotic disorders.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is generally characterized by feelings of tension, worrisome thoughts, and physical responses such as sweating or increased heart rate.

People who have an anxiety disorder often deal with recurring intrusive thoughts—unwanted, automatic thoughts that get stuck in your head and cause great distress and anxiety.

The are four main types of types of anxiety disorders:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is defined by chronic worry as well as physical symptoms associated with anxiety, often occurring without a particular trigger.

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves recurring, unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors (such as cleaning surfaces or hand washing), often performed to try and alleviate the distress (such as fear of germs) caused by intrusive thoughts.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is characterized by repeated episodes of intense fear or panic attacks, leading to physical symptoms such as chest pain, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder, sometimes called social phobia, causes people to be overwhelmed by anxiety in social situations.

Specific Phobias

A phobia is an irrational fear of something, such as a type of animal, blood, a situation (such as flying in an airplane), or an environment, such as dark places. Someone with a phobia will try to avoid the object or situation and experience extreme anxiety when confronted with it.

Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is characterized by compulsive, unhealthy eating behaviors and is often associated with a preoccupation with one's body. These disorders can potentially lead to serious medical consequences.

Though an eating disorder is a mental health condition, it is also a physical one, since severe disturbances in eating patterns impact physical health. For example, severe restriction of calories, as is the case with anorexia nervosa, can cause a decrease in bone mineral density, increasing the risk of fractures.

There are several types of eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa involves an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, leading to self-starvation.

Bulimia Nervosa

People with bulimia nervosa eat large quantities of food (binge) followed by purging behaviors such as self-induced throwing up, excessive exercise, or use of laxatives.

Binge Eating disorder

Those with binge eating disorder eat a large amount of food in a short period, often accompanied by feelings of lack of control and shame. Unlike people with bulimia nervosa, they don't purge after a binge.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder is a condition that is characterized by fear of eating certain foods that results in nutritional deficiencies.

Pica

People with pica have recurring episodes of eating of non-food objects, such as chalk, metal coins, pebbles, or paper.

Rumination Disorder

Rumination disorder involves repeatedly regurgitating food unintentionally (bringing swallowed food back up), to re-chew and re-swallow it.

Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders

Any other eating disorder that causes distress and impairs someone's ability to function at home or work is labeled as an other specified feeding and eating disorder.

Mood Disorders

Mood disorders cover a variety of depressive and bipolar disorders. While everyone feels sad or depressed from time to time, a mood disorder is different. Mood disorders are very intense and persistent, and they significantly affect everyday life.

The following are the most common types of mood disorders:

Major Depressive Disorder

In major depressive disorder, a person feels hopeless, losing interest in one's normal activities, along with other physical and mental symptoms that last two weeks or longer.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

Persistent depressive disorder (formerly known as dysthymia) is characterized by chronic depressive symptoms that last two years or longer.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a condition generally marked by alternating periods of depression and feelings of mania or elevated mood.

Substance-Induced Mood Disorder

When alcohol, drugs, or medication cause depression or another mood disorder, it is called a substance-induced mood disorder.

Personality Disorders

Personality disorders are characterized by long-term maladaptive patterns of thought and behavior that may make it difficult to start or maintain relationships as well as deal with everyday stress in both personal and work life.

People with a personality disorder might not realize they have a mental illness.

There are many personality disorders, which can be classified into three major categories, each with its own subset of personality disorders:

Cluster A: Odd or Eccentric Behavior

• Schizoid personality disorder: Lifelong pattern of indifference toward others and social isolation
• Paranoid personality disorder: High degree of suspicion and mistrust of others without adequate cause
• Schizotypal personality disorder: A pattern of odd or eccentric behaviors and difficulty connecting in relationships

Cluster B: Dramatic, Emotional, or Erratic Behavior

• Antisocial personality disorder: Long-term pattern of manipulating or exploiting others without remorse
• Borderline personality disorder: Ongoing pattern of impulsive behavior, varying moods, unstable self-image, and problems with relationships
• Narcissistic personality disorder: Extreme sense of self-importance and lack of empathy for others

Cluster C: Anxious or Fearful Behavior

• Avoidant personality disorder: Extreme social inhibitions marked by fear of rejection and feelings of inadequacy
• Dependent personality disorder: Symptoms include feelings of helplessness, submissiveness, or an inability to make simple decisions or take care of oneself
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: Preoccupation with orderliness, rule-following, control, and perfection

Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the central disorder in this category. It is a psychiatric disorder where a past traumatic experience, witnessed or experienced, causes severe distress and disruption to everyday living. A natural disaster, serious accident, war, rape, and sexual violence are examples of traumatic events that may lead to PTSD.

People with PTSD experience intense and disturbing thoughts and feelings that are related to the traumatic event, even if it happened a long time ago. They may avoid situations that might trigger a memory of the traumatic event or react strongly to ordinary things that bring them back to that traumatic time.

Post-traumatic stress disorders are sometimes differentiated into the following types, though they are not included in the DSM-5:

Complex PTSD

Complex PTSD is a type of PTSD that develops after prolonged, repeated trauma (such as long-term sexual or physical abuse) rather than an isolated traumatic event.

Delayed Expression PTSD

Delayed expression PTSD (formerly called delayed-onset PTSD) is PTSD that develops more than six months after the trigger event.

Dissociative PTSD

Dissociative PTSD is characterized by dissociation, derealization (feeling disconnected from your surroundings), and depersonalization (feeling disconnected from your thoughts, feelings, and body) due to traumatic experiences.

Psychotic Disorders

Psychotic disorders are mental illnesses that cause abnormal thoughts and perceptions that, in turn, cause someone to lose touch with reality. Delusions and hallucinations are common. Psychotic disorders can cause great distress and functional challenges in everyday life.

Types of psychotic disorders include the following:

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, unusual behavior, and withdrawal.

Schizoaffective Disorder

Schizoaffective disorder involves a combination of psychotic features such as delusions (beliefs that are not based in reality) and mood symptoms like depression.

Schizophreniform Disorder

In schizophreniform disorder, schizophrenia episodes last longer than one month but less than six months.

Delusional Disorder

Delusional disorder is characterized by experiencing delusions without the other symptoms or unusual behavior seen with schizophrenia.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

Brief psychotic disorder describes a short-term episode of psychosis lasting less than one month.

Substance-Inducted Psychotic Disorder

Substance-induced psychotic disorder is when psychosis is caused by the short- or long-term effects of certain drugs such as LSD.

Psychotic disorder due to a medical condition

Psychosis can sometimes be a symptom of a medical condition such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. Certain prescription medications may also have psychosis as a side effect.

How Is Mental Illness Diagnosed?

Mental illness is generally diagnosed by a mental health professional, who uses the DSM-5 to evaluate whether someone meets the criteria for a certain mental illness. Sometimes it can take seeing more than one healthcare provider to make a formal diagnosis, and it often starts with talking with a primary care physician who can refer you to a mental health specialist.

Diagnosis may involve a medical evaluation to rule out any underlying physical causes that might be contributing to the mental illness. For example, a doctor may order bloodwork to rule out anemia or thyroid problems before diagnosing persistent depressive disorder. A psychiatrist or psychologist will ask about symptoms and family history and may use psychological evaluation tools, such as a questionnaire, to determine a diagnosis.

The symptoms that need to be present for a healthcare professional to make a diagnosis using the DSM-5 criteria vary based on the type of illness, but there are some common warning signs of mental illness. These include:

• Excessive worry or fear
• Feeling excessively sad or low
• Extreme mood changes, including strong, uncontrollable feelings of euphoria
• Thoughts of suicide

How Is Mental Illness Treated?

Treatment options depend on the specific mental illness and the type and severity of symptoms.

In some cases, psychotherapy alone is effective. Many types of therapies involve tools and techniques for combating unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that can help an individual cope long-term.

Medications such as antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and anti-psychotics are also very useful. Often a combination of therapy and medication is used.

Summary

There are many types of mental illnesses, which range in severity and how they impact everyday life. Categories of mental illnesses include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, and trauma-induced disorders. Most mental health disorders can be treated with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of both.