Mental Health Disorders
If you tend to worry a lot, even when there’s no reason, you may have generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. Medicine and lifestyle changes can help.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common anxiety disorder. It causes unreasonable thoughts, fears, or worries. A person with OCD tries to manage these thoughts through rituals.
Panic disorder is when you have repeated, unexpected panic attacks and worry constantly about when the next one might happen. Medicines and therapy can help.
A phobia is an uncontrollable, irrational, and persistent fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. The fear experienced by people with phobias can be so great that some go to extreme lengths to avoid the source of their fear.
Posttraumatic stress disorder is a debilitating anxiety that can affect people who have been through or seen a traumatic event. Counseling and medicine can help.
Detailed information on the most common types of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias
Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder. People with bipolar disorder switch between periods of mania and periods of depression. There is no cure, but medicine and therapy can help manage symptoms.
Detailed information on the most common types of mood disorders, including major depression, manic depression (bipolar disorder), dysthymia, seasonal affective disorder, and suicide
Depression is a serious mood disorder. It touches every part of your life and is caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. Treatment involves medicine and counseling.
Dysthymia is a milder, yet long-lasting form of depression.
Detailed information on the most common types of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder
Binge eating disorder is when someone often eats large amounts of food in a short time. It is also called compulsive overeating. Learn more about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments.
Bulimia is an eating disorder. It is marked by uncontrolled episodes of overeating, called bingeing. This is followed by purging with methods such as vomiting or misuse of laxatives.
A psychiatric evaluation will look at symptoms and when they happen, as well as what impact they have on family and work relationships.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression. It happens during certain seasons of the year, most often fall or winter. Here's what you need to know.
Detailed information on mental health disorders, including the psychiatric evaluation, the psychiatric treatment team, seeking mental health treatment, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, substance ab
A mood disorder is a mental health class. The term is used to broadly describe all types of depression and bipolar disorders.
Detailed information on the most common types of personality disorders, including paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, narcissisti
Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder. It is caused by a chemical imbalance and often runs in families. This illness can't be cured. But it can be managed with medicine and therapy.
Detailed information on mental health disorders, including the psychiatric evaluation, the psychiatric treatment team, seeking mental health treatment, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, substance ab
Most people who commit suicide have a mental disorder, most commonly a depressive disorder or a substance abuse disorder.
Detailed information on the most common mental health disorders in children and teens
Families, spouses, or friends are often the first to suspect that their loved one is challenged by feelings, behaviors, or environmental conditions that cause them to act disruptive, rebellious, or sad.
An adjustment disorder is an unhealthy emotional or behavioral reaction to a stressful event or change in a person's life. The response happens within 3 months of the stressful event.
Detailed information on behavior problems in adolescents, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder
Tourette disorder (TD) is a neurological disorder that causes repeated tics. Tics are sudden, uncontrolled vocal sounds or muscle jerks. Symptoms of TD often begin between ages 5 and 10. They usually start with mild, simple tics of the face, head, or arms.
Conduct disorder is a type of behavior disorder. It’s when a child has antisocial behavior. They may disregard basic social standards and rules.
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a type of behavior disorder. It is mostly diagnosed in childhood. Children with ODD are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures.
Team members may include a child and adolescent psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker, and a psychiatric nurse. Read on to learn more.
Suicide is when a teen causes his or her own death on purpose. Before trying to take his or her own life, a teen may have thoughts of wanting to die. Read on to learn how to recognize the warning signs, and how to get your teen help.
Anorexia nervosa (or simply anorexia) is an eating disorder that causes people to obsess about their weight and food. People who suffer with this behavior problem have a distorted body image. They see themselves as overweight even when their weight is dangerously low.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a kind of mental health problem. People with BPD have unstable moods and can act recklessly. They also have a hard time managing their emotions. Read on to learn more.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health problem. If you have BDD, you may be so upset about how your body looks that it gets in the way of your ability to live normally.
Rumination syndrome causes an automatic regurgitation of recently eaten food. Here's what you need to know about this disorder.