Mental Health Disorders
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Overview of Mental Health CareMental health (psychiatric or psychologic) disorders involve disturbances in thinking, emotion, and/or behavior. Small disturbances in these aspects of life are common, but when such disturbances cause significant distress to the person and/or interfere with daily life, they are considered mental illness or a mental health disorder. The effects of mental illness may be long-lasting or temporary.
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Anxiety and Stress-Related DisordersAnxiety is a feeling of nervousness, worry, or unease that is a normal human experience. It is also present in a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias. Although each of these disorders is different, they all feature distress and dysfunction specifically related to anxiety and fear.
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Dissociative DisordersOccasionally everyone has minor problems integrating their memories, perceptions, identity, and consciousness. For example, people may drive somewhere and then realize that they do not remember the drive. They may not remember it because they are absorbed—with personal concerns, a program on the radio, or a conversation with a passenger—or are just daydreaming. Such problems, referred to as normal dissociation, typically do not disrupt everyday activities.
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Eating DisordersEating disorders involve a disturbance of eating or of behavior related to eating, typically including
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Mood DisordersMood disorders are mental health disorders that involve emotional disturbances consisting of long periods of excessive sadness (depression), excessive joyousness or elation (mania), or both. Depression and mania represent the two extremes, or poles, of mood disorders.
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Obsessive-Compulsive and Related DisordersIn body dysmorphic disorder, a preoccupation with one or more nonexistent or slight defects in appearance results in significant distress and/or impairs functioning.
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Paraphilias and Paraphilic DisordersParaphilias are frequent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies or behaviors that involve inanimate objects, children or nonconsenting adults, or suffering or humiliation of oneself or the partner. Paraphilic disorders are paraphilias that cause distress or cause problems functioning in the person with the paraphilia or that harm or may harm another person.
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Personality DisordersPersonality disorders are long-lasting, pervasive patterns of thinking, perceiving, reacting, and relating that cause the person significant distress and/or impair the person's ability to function.
- Overview of Personality Disorders
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
- Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Schizoid Personality Disorder
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder
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Schizophrenia and Related DisordersSchizophrenia and related psychotic disorders— brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder—are characterized by psychotic symptoms, and often by negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction.
- Introduction to Schizophrenia and Related Disorders
- Antipsychotic Drugs
- Brief Psychotic Disorder
- Delusional Disorder
- Psychotic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition
- Schizoaffective Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Schizophreniform Disorder
- Shared Psychosis
- Substance- and Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorders
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Gender DysphoriaVarious terms are used to talk about sex and gender:
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Somatic Symptom and Related DisordersSomatic symptom and related disorders are mental health disorders characterized by an intense focus on physical (somatic) symptoms that causes significant distress and/or interferes with daily functioning.
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Substance-Related DisordersMedications and other substances, whether used for legitimate medical purposes, as a habit (for example, caffeine), or recreationally, are an integral part of everyday life for many people (see table ).
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Suicidal Behavior and Self-InjurySuicide is death caused by an intentional act of self-harm that is designed to be lethal. Suicidal behavior includes completed suicide, attempted suicide, and suicidal ideation.
