Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsExamplesSymptomsTypesSymptoms vs. Disorders

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Table of Contents

Examples

Symptoms

Types

Symptoms vs. Disorders

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In addition, your symptoms must be more severe than expected response to an upsetting event, such as normal grief after the loss of a loved one.

Examples of Psychiatric Disorders

A large number ofpsychiatric disordershave been identified.Chances are that, whether or not you or someone close to you has been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, you know something about one or more of the following examples:

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five adults in the U.S. has some type of mental illness. This includes conditions that can range from mild to severe.

NIMH distinguishes between any mental illness (AMI), which represents all recognized mental health conditions, and serious mental illness (SMI), which involves a small and more severe subset of illnesses.

NIMH reports that in 2021, 5.5% (14.1 million) of U.S. adults over the age of 18 had a serious mental illness.

Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders

Examples of ongoing signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders include:

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

A psychiatric disorder may also cause physical symptoms, such as ​a headache, back pain, or stomach pain.If you’re being evaluated for a psychiatric disorder, tell your doctor about any physical symptoms you’re having, including unexplained aches and pains.

Types of Psychiatric Disorders

Psychiatric disorders fall into one of the following main types (often called classes or categories):

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Neurodevelopmental disorders affect how your brain functions and can affect cognition, behavior, communication, and motor abilities.The many psychiatric disorders in this group usually begin in infancy or childhood, often before a child starts school. Examples include:

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Psychotic disorders cause detachment from reality. People with these diagnoses experience delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking and speech.

Schizophreniais probably the best known of these illnesses, although detachment from reality can sometimes affect people with other psychiatric disorders.

This group includes disorders in which episodes ofmania(periods of excessive excitement, activity, and energy) alternate with periods of depression.

There are three types of bipolar disorder:

Depressive Disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety involves focusing on bad or dangerous things that could happen and worrying fearfully and excessively about them. Anxiety disorders include:

People with these disorders experience repeated and unwanted urges, thoughts, or images (obsessions) and feel driven to take repeated actions in response to them (compulsions).

Examples includeobsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD), hoarding disorder, andhair-pulling disorder(trichotillomania).

Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders

These psychiatric disorders develop during or after stressful or traumatic life events. Some of the conditions that are included in this category of psychiatric disorders include:

Dissociative Disorders

These are disorders in which a person’s sense of self is disrupted. This can affect a person’s identity and memory. Some examples of dissociative disorders include:

A person with one of these disorders may have distressing and incapacitating physical symptoms with no clear medical cause.(“Somatic” means “of the body.”) Examples include:

Feeding and Eating Disorders

These psychiatric disorders are disturbances related to eating. These conditions involve an excessive focus on weight or body shape that result in disordered eating patterns. These eating behaviors have a severe impact on both mental and physical health. Such conditions include:

Elimination Disorders

Sleep-Wake Disorders

These conditions interfere with a person’s ability to get adequate sleep, which then disrupts daytime functioning. These are severe sleep disorders, including:

Sexual Dysfunctions

These disorders of sexual response include such diagnoses as premature ejaculation, erectile disorder, and female orgasmic disorder.

Gender Dysphoria

These disorders stem from the distress that goes with a person’s stated desire to be a different gender. The diagnostic criteria in this group differ somewhat among children, adolescents, and adults.

Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders

People with these disorders show symptoms of difficulty with emotional and behavioral self-control. Examples include kleptomania (repeated stealing) andintermittent explosive disorder(which causes extreme outbursts of anger).

People with these diagnoses have problems associated with excessive use of alcohol, opioids (for example, oxycodone and morphine), recreational drugs, hallucinogens, cannabis, stimulants, or tobacco. This group also includesgambling disorder.

Neurocognitive Disorders

Personality Disorders

A personality disorder involves a lasting pattern of emotional instability and unhealthy behaviors that seriously disrupt daily living and relationships. Examples include:

Paraphilic Disorders

Many sexual-interest disorders are included in this group. Examples include sexual sadism disorder, voyeuristic disorder, and pedophilic disorder.

Other Mental Disorders

This group includes psychiatric disorders that are due to other medical conditions or that don’t meet all the requirements for any of the other psychiatric disorder groups.

Is Mental Illness Genetic? What the Research Says

When Does a Mental Health Concern Become a Psychiatric Disorder?

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably had a mental health concern from time to time, such as depression following ​the loss of a job. These concerns are typically time-limited, and eventually, you start to feel better.

That’s not true of a psychiatric disorder, in which your symptoms are ongoing and frequently upsetting to you and the people around you.

A psychiatric disorder also interferes with your ability to do day-to-day tasks.

When the stress of trying to cope with your symptoms becomes more than you can handle, treatment typically involves a combination of medications andpsychotherapy(also called talk therapy).

The Best Online Therapy ProgramsWe’ve tried, tested and written unbiased reviews of the best online therapy programs including Talkspace, Betterhelp, and Regain.

11 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Mental disorder.Stein DJ, Phillips KA, Bolton D, Fulford KW, Sadler JZ, Kendler KS.What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V.Psychol Med. 2010;40(11):1759-1765. doi:10.1017/S0033291709992261American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, eds.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.National Institute of Mental Health.Mental illness.American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed, text revision. Washington, D.C.; 2022.Spurrier GF, Shulman K, Dibich S, Benoit L, Duckworth K, Martin A.Physical symptoms as psychiatric manifestations in medical spaces: A qualitative study.Front Psychiatry. 2023;13:1074424. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1074424Mullin AP, Gokhale A, Moreno-De-Luca A, Sanyal S, Waddington JL, Faundez V.Neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanisms and boundary definitions from genomes, interactomes and proteomes.Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(12):e329. doi:10.1038/tp.2013.108Stępnicki P, Kondej M, Kaczor AA.Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia.Molecules. 2018;23(8):2087. doi:10.3390/molecules23082087Brock H, Hany M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.Dimsdale JE.Research on somatization and somatic symptom disorders: Ars longa, vita brevis.Psychosom Med. 2017;79(9):971-973. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000533American Psychiatric Association.What is gender dysphoria?

11 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Mental disorder.Stein DJ, Phillips KA, Bolton D, Fulford KW, Sadler JZ, Kendler KS.What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V.Psychol Med. 2010;40(11):1759-1765. doi:10.1017/S0033291709992261American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, eds.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.National Institute of Mental Health.Mental illness.American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed, text revision. Washington, D.C.; 2022.Spurrier GF, Shulman K, Dibich S, Benoit L, Duckworth K, Martin A.Physical symptoms as psychiatric manifestations in medical spaces: A qualitative study.Front Psychiatry. 2023;13:1074424. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1074424Mullin AP, Gokhale A, Moreno-De-Luca A, Sanyal S, Waddington JL, Faundez V.Neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanisms and boundary definitions from genomes, interactomes and proteomes.Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(12):e329. doi:10.1038/tp.2013.108Stępnicki P, Kondej M, Kaczor AA.Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia.Molecules. 2018;23(8):2087. doi:10.3390/molecules23082087Brock H, Hany M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.Dimsdale JE.Research on somatization and somatic symptom disorders: Ars longa, vita brevis.Psychosom Med. 2017;79(9):971-973. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000533American Psychiatric Association.What is gender dysphoria?

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Psychological Association.Mental disorder.Stein DJ, Phillips KA, Bolton D, Fulford KW, Sadler JZ, Kendler KS.What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V.Psychol Med. 2010;40(11):1759-1765. doi:10.1017/S0033291709992261American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, eds.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.National Institute of Mental Health.Mental illness.American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed, text revision. Washington, D.C.; 2022.Spurrier GF, Shulman K, Dibich S, Benoit L, Duckworth K, Martin A.Physical symptoms as psychiatric manifestations in medical spaces: A qualitative study.Front Psychiatry. 2023;13:1074424. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1074424Mullin AP, Gokhale A, Moreno-De-Luca A, Sanyal S, Waddington JL, Faundez V.Neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanisms and boundary definitions from genomes, interactomes and proteomes.Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(12):e329. doi:10.1038/tp.2013.108Stępnicki P, Kondej M, Kaczor AA.Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia.Molecules. 2018;23(8):2087. doi:10.3390/molecules23082087Brock H, Hany M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.Dimsdale JE.Research on somatization and somatic symptom disorders: Ars longa, vita brevis.Psychosom Med. 2017;79(9):971-973. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000533American Psychiatric Association.What is gender dysphoria?

American Psychological Association.Mental disorder.

Stein DJ, Phillips KA, Bolton D, Fulford KW, Sadler JZ, Kendler KS.What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? From DSM-IV to DSM-V.Psychol Med. 2010;40(11):1759-1765. doi:10.1017/S0033291709992261

American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, eds.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

National Institute of Mental Health.Mental illness.

American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed, text revision. Washington, D.C.; 2022.

Spurrier GF, Shulman K, Dibich S, Benoit L, Duckworth K, Martin A.Physical symptoms as psychiatric manifestations in medical spaces: A qualitative study.Front Psychiatry. 2023;13:1074424. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1074424

Mullin AP, Gokhale A, Moreno-De-Luca A, Sanyal S, Waddington JL, Faundez V.Neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanisms and boundary definitions from genomes, interactomes and proteomes.Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(12):e329. doi:10.1038/tp.2013.108

Stępnicki P, Kondej M, Kaczor AA.Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia.Molecules. 2018;23(8):2087. doi:10.3390/molecules23082087

Brock H, Hany M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Dimsdale JE.Research on somatization and somatic symptom disorders: Ars longa, vita brevis.Psychosom Med. 2017;79(9):971-973. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000533

American Psychiatric Association.What is gender dysphoria?

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