Types of mental illness

There are many types of mental illness, but a lot of people think they are only inherent (something you are born with and cannot get rid of), but what if I told you that I was recently ill and couldn’t come to work – would you not think of the possibility that I simply had a fever? Or the flue? Or something else that I had not always had? A mental illness is the same: your brain can acquire a mental “infection”, or condition, just like you can get an infection on a wound you got because you fell while skateboarding.

 

Types of mental illness: A cure

And just like with a lot of physical conditions, mental illnesses can be cured. A good example is depression. A lot of people every day no doubt think to themselves “am I depressed?” and it’s a good question, because depression is a grey area. Some forms of depression are considered illnesses, others are mere mood swings. But there are depression treatments just like there are treatments for most, but not all, mental illnesses.

 

Types of mental illness: More illnesses than meets the eye

That being said, depressive mood disorder is but one out of hundreds of recognized mental illnesses. And you wouldn’t believe how many illnesses the medical world actually recognizes. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is more or less the psychologist’s bible, categorizes mental illnesses into different boxes. As such, there are mood disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, sleep disorders, eating disorders, and so on. Most versions of the manual top a thousand pages and includes all kinds of conditions that you might never have heard of or considered having. So if you feel overwhelmed by indecisiveness and often cannot decide between options – if you, for instance, cannot decide whether or not to go for a walk and spend long time weighing arguments against counterarguments – you might have what is called Aboulomania. Or if you just think you’re just a bit antisocial, you might really have signs of depression and in reality be suffering from Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD).

 

Test yourself

Do you think you might have any of the types of mental illness that you didn’t know about? Take our quick mental health test to find out!