Ad
related to: definition of a psychological disorderEmpowering recovery. Make the right choices when faced with real-life issues. Breaking the stigma - your guide to overcoming mental health challenges.
- Makechoice Logo
Watch the Video
To Get Valuable Insights.
- Personalities
Don't miss out on
your-personalities on...
- Diplomats
Read Through the Information To
Understand Diplomats Personality.
- Find your best matches
Ideal personalities to match you
What is best work culture for you?
- Makechoice Logo
Search results
People also ask
What are psychological disorders?
What is a psychiatric disorder?
What is a mental disorder?
A mental disorder is characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behaviour. It is usually associated with distress or impairment in important areas of functioning. There are many different types of mental disorders.
- Overview
- Anxiety disorders
- Depressive, bipolar, and other mood disorders
- Schizophrenia and other psychoses
- Trauma- and stress-related disorders
- Personality disorders
- Sleep disorders
- Eating disorders
- Substance use disorders
- Where can you learn more and find support?
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Psychological disorders, also called mental illnesses, can affect how you think, feel, and behave.
Psychological disorders are also called mental illnesses or mental health conditions. They can affect your thinking, emotions, and behavior, often affecting your relationships and day-to-day functioning. These conditions may be temporary or lifelong.
Mental health conditions are common. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 1 in 5 adults in the United States experiences a psychological disorder each year.
Although psychological disorders can be challenging to live with, they can be treated. Talk therapy, self-care strategies, and medication can all play a role in helping people with psychological disorders function better.
Everybody feels anxious from time to time, and anxiety is a natural part of life. But people with anxiety disorders experience persistent anxiety that often gets in the way of their day-to-day functioning. Often, their anxiety is disproportional to the situation at hand.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), anxiety disorders are the most common type of neurodevelopmental condition, affecting nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives. Although anyone can have an anxiety disorder, they’re more common among women than men.
Common types of anxiety disorders include:
•generalized anxiety disorder
•illness anxiety disorder (previously called hypochondria)
•separation anxiety disorder
Mood disorders include:
•Depressive disorders such as major depressive disorder, postpartum depression, and major depressive disorder with seasonal patterns, also known as seasonal affective disorder.
•Bipolar disorders
•Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which involves severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms, especially symptoms relating to mood
The symptoms can include:
•depressive symptoms, such as persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or apathy
Schizophrenia, an often misunderstood condition, affects less than 1% of the U.S. population. It’s a chronic psychiatric disorder that involves distortions of reality, often in the form of delusions or hallucinations.
The early symptoms of schizophrenia can include:
•isolating oneself from friends and family
•changing friends or social groups
•a change in focus and concentration
•difficulty sleeping
The two common trauma- and stress-related disorders are obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The APA estimates that 2% to 3% of people in the United States have OCD.
OCD is characterized by:
•obsessions, which are repetitive, unwanted thoughts that won’t go away
•compulsions, which are behaviors or rituals they feel urged to do in order to relieve the obsessive thought
OCD can be treated and managed with talk therapy. A type of therapy called exposure and response prevention is considered the gold standard for treating OCD, but other kinds of therapy may also be used.
People with personality disorders may have a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that deviates from the expectations of the culture in such a way that it causes distress and makes it difficult for them to function healthily.
In order to be diagnosed with a personality disorder, you have to have long-term patterns of behavior and inner experiences that affect at least two of the following:
•how you think about yourself and others
•how you respond emotionally
•how you relate to other people
•how you control your behavior
Sleep disorders can affect your sleep pattern, which means you may sleep significantly more or significantly less than typical.
Certain sleep disorders involve unusual behavior while asleep, such as sleepwalking.
Types of sleep disorders include:
•circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders
•hypersomnolence disorder
•insomnia
Eating disorders affect your behaviors and thoughts around eating and food. According to the APA, eating disorders may affect up to 5% of the U.S. population.
Common types of eating disorders include:
•avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, which can involve extreme picky eating to the point of being unable to meet your nutritional needs
•anorexia nervosa, which may be further categorized into a restricting type or a binge eating/purging type
•bulimia nervosa, which involves alternating dieting with binge eating
•binge eating disorder, which includes episodes of binge eating and, later, a sense of guilt and distress about the binge behavior
Substance use disorders involve the compulsive use of substances. These substances may be legal or illegal. The APA categorizes substance use disorder as a brain disease.
Substance use disorders are treatable. Usually, the first step is detoxification, which involves stopping (or gradually stopping) your use of the substance. During this phase, the withdrawal symptoms are treated.
Further treatments, such as individual and group counseling, can help encourage long-term abstinence from the substance.
Medications can also help with recovery — for example, if you experience heroin addiction, a clinician may prescribe a medication called methadone or buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) to help soothe withdrawal symptoms.
If you have a psychological disorder, know that you’re not alone. Psychological disorders can be challenging to live with, but they can be treated. Consulting with a doctor or therapist can be a great first step.
Our list of Mental Health Resources includes guidance on finding therapy as well as lower-cost and free support services. You don’t need to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder in order to benefit from therapy.
Psychological disorders, also called mental illnesses or mental health conditions, can affect your thinking, emotions, and behavior. Learn about the common types of psychological disorders, such as anxiety, mood, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, and how they can be treated.
- Sian Ferguson
Feb 17, 2022 · The DSM-5 defines a mental disorder as a syndrome that causes significant disturbance in behavior, emotion, and cognition. These disorders are also usually accompanied by significant distress that affects a person's work, school, and social relationships.
A psychological disorder is a condition characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Psychopathology is the study of psychological disorders, including their symptoms, etiology (i.e., their causes), and treatment. The term psychopathology can also refer to the manifestation of a psychological disorder.
Apr 12, 2021 · A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or development processes underlying mental functioning.
- Dan J Stein, Andrea C Palk, Kenneth S Kendler
- 2021
Definition of a Psychological Disorder. Perhaps the simplest approach to conceptualizing psychological disorders is to label behaviors, thoughts, and inner experiences that are atypical, distressful, dysfunctional, and sometimes even dangerous as signs of a disorder.
Definition of a Psychological Disorder. Perhaps the simplest approach to conceptualizing psychological disorders is to label behaviors, thoughts, and inner experiences that are atypical, distressful, dysfunctional, and sometimes even dangerous, as signs of a disorder.
