What do most people deal with every day? The typical drudge, dealing with the lover and finding a way to go to sleep without peeing the bed. Some people have to deal with a little bit more… . I’m going to list below the 10 worst mental disorders. Just know that when I say “worst,” I’m not saying that the people struggling are the worst. I’m just saying how badly the given disorder affects them and others around them.
Certain factors may increase your risk of developing a mental illness, including: A history of mental illness in a blood relative, such as a parent or sibling. Stressful life situations, such as financial problems, a loved one’s death or a divorce. An ongoing (chronic) medical condition, such as diabetes.
Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions. These disorders are ones that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. Many people have mental health concerns from time to time; however, a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress. They will also affect your ability to function from day to day. A mental illness can make you miserable and can cause problems in your daily life. Examples such as at school, work, or in relationships are prominent. In most cases, symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and talk therapy (psychotherapy).
Psychotherapy is the therapeutic treatment of mental illness provided by a trained mental health professional. This kind of therapy explores thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and seeks to improve an individual’s well-being. Psychotherapy paired with medication is the most effective way to promote recovery.
While I believe that there are states of mind that can go to the detrimental and discrepant extremes, I also believe that they’re over-diagnosed. Yes, the illnesses have always been there; however, we’re just now (especially since psychoanalysis and Freud) recognizing, understanding, and defining them more. There’s a larger awareness now, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t, especially since the 1800’s, being diagnosed too much. Since doctors nowadays simply throw out diagnoses like hotcakes, it almost makes it seem like just about everyone has one; the epidemiology needs to be understood better by everyone. The other issue is that people love to use these illnesses interchangeably. People in general will confuse them with a condition far less severe than should be considered. They’re not the actual illnesses, their description just often gets muddled in with confusion and ignorance.
Fifty percent of mental illness begins by age 14, and three-quarters begins by age 24. The negative effects of mental illness are, for a large proportion of people, ongoing and pervasive. Mental illness is most often not ‘permanent’ in the sense that its effects are not consistent over time. Although, the pattern of impairment and functioning can persist for many years.
However, just because doctors love to hand out diagnoses, doesn’t mean that these illnesses are any less severe, of course.
Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective Disorder
Person: John Nash
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder characterized by it’s continuous and relapsing episodes of psychosis. Those struggling with schizophrenia will often suffer various symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdrawal, decreased emotional expression, and apathy. Symptoms typically come on gradually, begin in young adulthood, and in many cases never resolve. There is no objective diagnostic test. Diagnosis is based on observed behavior, a history that includes the person’s reported experiences, and reports of others familiar with the person. To be diagnosed with schizophrenia, symptoms and functional impairment need to be present for six months or one month. Many people with schizophrenia have other mental disorders that often includes an anxiety disorder such as panic disorder, an obsessive–compulsive disorder, or a substance use disorder.
In schizophrenia, mood symptoms are not expected to occur without psychotic symptoms. The psychotic symptoms are almost always present, but the mood symptoms come and go. In schizoaffective disorder, it’s a little different. The psychotic symptoms may or may not be present during the times when a person is experiencing depression or mania.
Schizoaffective disorder is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal thought processes and an unstable mood. The diagnosis is made when the person has symptoms of both schizophrenia (usually psychosis) and a mood disorder. This can be either bipolar disorder or depression, but it does not meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia or a mood disorder individually. The main criterion for the schizoaffective disorder diagnosis is the presence of psychotic symptoms for at least two weeks without any mood symptoms present. Schizoaffective disorder can often be misdiagnosed when the correct diagnosis may be psychotic depression, psychotic bipolar disorder, schizophreniform disorder, or schizophrenia. It is imperative for providers to accurately diagnose patients, as treatment and prognosis differs greatly for each of these diagnoses.
Schizophrenia includes hallucinations and delusions. Schizotypal personality disorder does not. Schizotypal personality disorder often co-occurs with mood disorders. Schizophrenia rarely co-occurs with mood disorders. Schizophreniform disorder, like schizophrenia, is a psychotic disorder that affects how you act, think, relate to others, express emotions and perceive reality. Unlike schizophrenia, it lasts one to six months instead of the rest of your life. Schizoid personality disorder can have some similar symptoms to schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia, such as a severely limited ability to make social connections and a lack of emotional expression. People with these disorders may be viewed as odd or eccentric.
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Borderline Personality Disorder (The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Person: Pete Davidson
I’ve covered borderline personality disorder on here before, and it’s certainly a mental disorder you wouldn’t want. Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a mental illness characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong emotional reactions. Those affected often engage in self-harm and other dangerous behavior. They may also struggle with a feeling of emptiness, fear of abandonment, and detachment from reality.
Borderline personality disorder involves a longstanding pattern of abrupt, moment-to-moment swings — in moods, relationships, self-image, and behavior (in contrast to distinct episodes of mania or depression in people with bipolar disorder) that are usually triggered by conflicts in interactions with other people.
Symptoms of BPD may be triggered by events considered normal to others. BPD typically begins by early adulthood and occurs across a variety of situations. Substance abuse, depression, and eating disorders are commonly associated with BPD. Approximately 10% of people affected with the disorder die by suicide. The disorder is often stigmatized in both the media and the psychiatric field.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Person: Howard Hughes
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental disorder in which a person has certain thoughts repeatedly (called “obsessions”) or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly (called “compulsions”) to an extent which generates distress or impairs general functioning. The person is unable to control either the thoughts or activities for more than a short period of time. Common compulsions include hand washing, counting of things, and checking to see if a door is locked. These activities occur to such a degree that the person’s daily life is negatively affected, often taking up more than an hour a day. Most adults realize that the behaviors do not make sense. The condition is associated with tics, anxiety disorder, and an increased risk of suicide.
Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a cluster C personality disorder marked by an excessive need for orderliness, neatness, and perfectionism. Symptoms are usually present by the time a person reaches adulthood, and are visible in a variety of situations.
Primarily cognitive obsessive-compulsive disorder (also commonly called “primarily obsessional OCD”, purely obsessional OCD, Pure-O, OCD without overt compulsions or with covert compulsions) is a lesser-known form or manifestation of OCD. It is not a diagnosis in DSM-5. For people with primarily obsessional OCD, there are fewer observable compulsions, compared to those commonly seen with the typical form of OCD (checking, counting, hand-washing, etc.). While ritualizing and neutralizing behaviors do take place, they are mostly cognitive in nature, involving mental avoidance and excessive rumination. Primarily obsessional OCD takes the form of intrusive thoughts of a distressing or violent nature (e.g., impulsion phobia).
Primarily obsessional OCD has been called “one of the most distressing and challenging forms of OCD.” People with this form of OCD have “distressing and unwanted thoughts pop into [their] head frequently,” and the thoughts “typically center on a fear that you may do something totally uncharacteristic of yourself, something… potentially fatal… to yourself or others.” The thoughts “quite likely, are of an aggressive or sexual nature.”
According to DSM-5, “The obsessive-compulsive and related disorders differ from developmentally normative preoccupations and rituals by being excessive or persisting beyond developmentally appropriate periods. The distinction between the presence of subclinical symptoms and a clinical disorder requires assessment of a number of factors, including the individual’s level of distress and impairment in functioning.”
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Person: Donald Trump
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive craving for admiration, and struggles with empathy. People with NPD often spend much time daydreaming about achieving power and success, and the perceived injustice of failing to do so. This is a pattern of obsessive thoughts and unstable sense of identity, often to cope with a sub-par real life.
People with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are characterized by the personality traits of persistent grandiosity, an excessive need for admiration, and a personal disdain and lack of empathy for other people. As such, the person with NPD usually displays arrogance and a distorted sense of personal superiority, and seeks to establish abusive power and control over others. Self-confidence (a strong sense of self) is a personality trait different from the traits of NPD; thus, people with NPD typically value themselves over others, to the extent of openly disregarding the wishes and feelings of anyone else, and expect to be treated as superior, regardless of their actual status or achievements. Socially, the person with NPD usually exhibits a fragile ego (self-concept), intolerance of criticism, and a tendency to belittle other people, in order to validate their own superiority.
People with the diagnosis in recent years have spoken out about its stigma in media, and possible links to abusive situations and childhood trauma. Such narcissistic behavior typically begins by early adulthood, and occurs across a broad range of situations.
Bipolar Disorder
Person: Vincent Van Gogh
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania. During mania, an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy, or irritable, and they often make impulsive decisions with little regard for the consequences.
The main difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 disorders lies in the severity of the manic episodes caused by each type. A person with bipolar 1 will experience a full manic episode, while a person with bipolar 2 will experience only a hypomanic episode (a period that’s less severe than a full manic episode).
There is usually also a reduced need for sleep during manic phases. During periods of depression, the individual may experience crying and have a negative outlook on life and poor eye contact with others. The risk of suicide is high; over a period of 20 years, 6% of those with bipolar disorder died by suicide, while 30–40% engaged in self-harm. Other mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, are commonly associated with bipolar disorder.
Major Depressive Disorder
Person: Abraham Lincoln
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known simply as depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood. Low self-esteem, loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities, low energy, and pain without a clear cause are common symptoms. Those affected may also occasionally have delusions or hallucinations. Some people have periods of depression separated by years, while others nearly always have symptoms present. Major depression is more severe and lasts longer than sadness, which is a normal part of life.
Dysthymia is typically defined as a chronic but less severe form of major depression. It has many similar symptoms to other forms of clinical depression. At some time in their life, 1 in 6 people will experience depression. Around 1.3 percent of U.S. adults experience dysthymia at some point in their life.
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Person: Stephen Colbert
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about events or activities. Worry often interferes with daily functioning, and sufferers are overly concerned about everyday matters such as health, finances, death, family, relationship concerns, or work difficulties. Symptoms may include excessive worry, restlessness, trouble sleeping, exhaustion, irritability, sweating, and trembling.
As with many mental health conditions, the cause of generalized anxiety disorder likely arises from a complex interaction of biological and environmental factors, which may include: Differences in brain chemistry and function. Genetics. Differences in the way threats are perceived.
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Person: Billy Milligan
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a mental disorder characterized by the maintenance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The disorder is accompanied by memory gaps beyond what would be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
DID is associated with overwhelming traumas, or abuse during childhood. In about 90% of cases, there is a history of abuse in childhood, while other cases are linked to experiences of war, or medical procedures during childhood. Genetic and biological factors are also believed to play a role. The diagnosis should not be made if the person’s condition is better accounted for by substance abuse, seizures, other mental health problems, imaginative play in children, or religious practices.
The personality states alternately show in a person’s behavior; however, presentations of the disorder vary. Other conditions that often occur in people with DID include post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders (especially borderline and avoidant), depression, substance use disorders, conversion disorder, somatic symptom disorder, eating disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and sleep disorders. Self-harm, non-epileptic seizures, flashbacks with amnesia for content of flashbacks, anxiety disorders, and suicidality are also common.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Person: Chris Kyle
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, or other threats on a person’s life. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in how a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.
During the world wars, the condition was known under various terms including “shell shock” and “combat neurosis”. The term “post-traumatic stress disorder” came into use in the 1970s in large part due to the diagnoses of U.S. military veterans of the Vietnam War.
Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal trauma such as rape or child abuse are more likely to develop PTSD as compared to people who experience non-assault based trauma, such as accidents and natural disasters. About half of people develop PTSD following rape. Children are less likely than adults to develop PTSD after trauma, especially if they are under 10 years of age. Diagnosis is based on the presence of specific symptoms following a traumatic event.
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD; also known as complex trauma disorder) is a psychological disorder that can develop in response to prolonged, repeated experience of interpersonal trauma in a context in which the individual has little or no chance of escape. C-PTSD relates to the trauma model of mental disorders and is associated with chronic sexual, psychological, and physical abuse or neglect, chronic intimate partner violence, victims of prolonged workplace or school bullying, victims of kidnapping and hostage situations, indentured servants, victims of slavery and human trafficking, sweatshop workers, prisoners of war, concentration camp survivors, residential school survivors, prisoners kept in solitary confinement for a long period of time, and defectors from authoritarian religions. It is most often directed at children and emotionally vulnerable adults, and whilst motivations behind such abuse vary and it’s predominantly malicious, it’s been shown it can be well-intentioned. Situations involving captivity/entrapment (a situation lacking a viable escape route for the victim or a perception of such) can lead to C-PTSD-like symptoms, which can include prolonged feelings of terror, worthlessness, helplessness, and deformation of one’s identity and sense of self.
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Anorexia Nervosa/Body Dysmorphic Disorder (The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder, characterized by low weight, food restriction, fear of gaining weight and a strong desire to be thin. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are, in fact, underweight. They often deny that they have a problem with low weight. They weigh themselves frequently, eat small amounts and only eat certain foods. Some exercise excessively, force themselves to vomit, or use laxatives to lose weight. Complications may include osteoporosis, infertility and heart damage, among others. Women will often stop having menstrual periods. In extreme cases, people with anorexia who continually refuse significant dietary intake and weight restoration interventions, and are declared incompetent to make decisions by a psychiatrist, may be fed by force under restraint via nasogastric tube after asking their parents or proxies to make the decision for them.
Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging. Binge eating refers to eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time. Purging refers to the attempts to get rid of the food consumed. This may be done by vomiting or taking laxatives. Other efforts to lose weight may include the use of diuretics, stimulants, water fasting, or excessive exercise. Most people with bulimia are at a normal weight. The forcing of vomiting may result in thickened skin on the knuckles and breakdown of the teeth. Bulimia is frequently associated with other mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and problems with drugs or alcohol. There is also a higher risk of suicide and self-harm.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), occasionally still called dysmorphophobia, is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one’s own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it. In BDD’s delusional variant, the flaw is imagined. If the flaw is actual, its importance is severely exaggerated. Either way, thoughts about it are pervasive and intrusive, and may occupy several hours a day, causing severe distress and impairing one’s otherwise normal activities. The DSM-5 categorizes BDD in the obsessive–compulsive spectrum, and distinguishes it from anorexia nervosa.
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)
Mental Illness: mayoclinic
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Godspeed!
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
(The Worst Mental Disorders List)