List of Mental Disorders

Many adults and children suffer from mental disorders. There are numerous types of mental disorders, ranging from the temporary to the permanent. Most mental illnesses can be treated or cured with appropriate medical attention and programs. Mental disorders are difficult to diagnose because they can vary in symptoms and severity from patient to patient. Only licensed psychologists and psychiatrists can properly diagnose mental disorders.

Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety disorders affect people in many ways, causing anxious feelings of discomfort, panic and stress when confronted with various stimuli. People with general anxiety disorder experience anxiety randomly with no clear trigger while some people with panic disorders or phobias become anxious in certain situations like heights, crowds and around dogs. Post traumatic stress disorder causes hypervigilance and anxiety after serious trauma.

Addiction Disorders

• People with addiction disorders exhibit compulsive behavior and cannot control their use of substances or certain practices like sex, gambling and stealing. Alcohol and drugs commonly lead to addiction disorders that can become life-altering problems, affecting people's jobs, family lives and relationships. Treatments for addiction disorders include therapy, group counseling, detoxification centers and pharmaceuticals.

Eating Disorders

• Eating disorders usually occur in young women and can continue into adulthood if untreated. Anorexia nervosa, a common eating disorder, is a condition in which the sufferer eats almost nothing, leading to malnutrition, illness, hair loss and even death. Bulimia is similar to anorexia nervosa in that the sufferer has body image problems and is unsatisfied with her weight. Bulimics eat a lot at once but induce vomiting or take laxatives to purge their bodies of food. Bulimics suffer malnutrition and damage their esophagi with the stomach acid from constant purging. Binge eating, another disorder, entails eating large amounts of food at once without controlling caloric intake. Binge eaters become morbidly overweight if not treated.

Mood Disorders

• People who have difficulty controlling their moods and experience sudden changes in behavior and mood sometimes suffer from mood disorders. Common mood disorders include bipolar disorder, depression and mania. Depressive people have overwhelming feelings of sadness and have trouble maintaining regular sleeping and eating patterns and withdraw from social interaction. Manic disorders cause frantic or racing thought episodes that last for varying lengths of time. Bipolar disorder sufferers experience sudden mood changes, experience sudden bouts of anger, jealousy or rage.

Personality Disorders

• Personality disorders affect peoples' sense of self, relationships with others and ability to function in jobs and relationships. Antisocial personality disorders cause people to live by themselves and rarely leave their houses except for necessities. Some antisocial personality types frequent places with other people but only communicate when absolutely necessary. Borderline personality disorder affects people who have self-identity problems, including feelings of emptiness, thoughts of suicide and difficulty controlling anger.

Psychotic Disorders

• The term "psycho" comes from psychotic disorders, which affect less than 1 percent of Americans, according to WebMD. Hallucinations and delusions are standard symptoms of serious psychotic disorders. When people experience hallucinations they see, hear or sense things that aren't there and believe they're real. Delusional people believe things that objectively are not true, such as a sense of entitlement, personal greatness or conspiracies. Schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders change a person's sense of the real world.