The most common of emotional disorders, anxiety disorders affect millions of people. Anxiety disorders include panic disorder that brings an overwhelming combination of physical and psychological distress; phobias that might be a specific extreme fear of an object or situation, significant discomfort with social situations; a fear of heights; or any other excessive or persistent fear of an object, situation or activity.
Once known as manic depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings that fluctuate between emotional highs and lows. An individual with bipolar disorder may feel energized and euphoric, and then shift to hopelessness and depression. Most individuals with bipolar disorders feel much more like themselves with treatment plans that often include medications and counseling.
A mood disorder that causes persistent sadness and loss of interest, depressive disorder is also called clinical depression. Depression can have a major effect on how an individual thinks, feels and behaves and can lead to loss of motivation and focus. Not merely a “case of the blues,” depression is not a weakness but a disorder that may require long-term treatment that may involve a combination of medication and counseling.
Psychotic disorders are severe mental disorders that cause abnormal thinking and perceptions and can lead sufferers to lose touch with reality. Hallmark symptoms of psychotic disorders are delusions and hallucinations. One type of psychotic disorder is schizophrenia, a disorder that can cause people to hear voices that aren’t there or can lead them to think others are trying to hurt them. While it is not known what causes schizophrenia, researchers believe that a combination of genetics and environment contributes to the disorder’s development.
Drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a disease that affects a person's brain and behavior and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medication.
