If you think that all mental illnesses are the same, you might want to think again. The truth is that there are over 200 types of known mental health disorders. The more common ones include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, and eating disorders.
Continue reading to learn about the different types of mental illness, how they are diagnosed, and the forms of treatment available.
Table of Contents
Types of Mental Illness
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, social anxiety, and general anxiety. People often experience extreme dread or fear. A person with an anxiety disorder doesn’t suffer from a simple form of stress. Instead, they often react strongly to certain situations. These reactions are too intense to the point that they affect their day-to-day life.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders involve the unusual inclination to control eating habits. There are different forms of eating disorders and these include:
- Anorexia or eating way too little h
- Binge eating or eating excessively only to feel deep regret afterward
- Bulimia or going to extremes after eating just to eliminate the calories consumed
People with mood and anxiety disorders are more prone to developing eating disorders.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders impact a person’s emotions. The most common ones include bipolar disorder and depression. Depression is ongoing sadness, while bipolar disorder involves extreme mood swings from happiness to depression.
Psychotic Disorders
People with psychotic disorders can perceive reality differently. Schizophrenia often involves interpreting reality unusually. Some of the most common signs of psychotic disorders include:
- Catatonia or emotional or physical zoning out
- Delusion or false beliefs
- Hallucinations or seeing or hearing things that aren’t even there
- Paranoia or strong feelings of suspicion and fear
Back in the day, people used to assume that schizophrenia involves having multiple personalities. But this is found to be a different form of mental illness known as dissociative identity disorder.
Diagnosis of Mental Illnesses
A doctor often starts with screenings first when you visit for a checkup. They will ask questions about your symptoms and habits and perform blood tests as well as other physical tests. Doing so will let them detect any problem, ideally before they get too serious.
Mental health screenings are also conducted for a similar reason. Doctors might conduct mental health screenings as part of an annual exam. There are also online quizzes that help determine the existence of a mental health disorder so you will know if you should seek help soon.
Treatment Options for Mental Illnesses
The treatment plan for every person is personalized depending on their goals and symptoms. Numerous treatment options are now available, with most people using several of them at the same time.
Medications, support groups, and talk therapy are the most popular approaches used right now. All of them work well for different mental health concerns.
