Blog

According to Mayo Clinic research studies, finding the right diagnosis for a mental illness is often difficult, especially when there are over-lapping symptoms and individual concerns. Taking the time to find the right mental illness health professional, such as an experienced psychiatrist, can make the critical difference in determining which diagnosis or which multiple diagnoses are present in order to develop a successful treatment plan.

Mental Illness Diagnosis

There are a wide range of mental illness diagnoses that can point to where the proper treatment plan should begin. Individual differences as well as lifestyle, family and social interactions need to be included in the treatment plan as it is developed as well as when the plan needs adjusting. Working with a mental illness psychiatrist can help you find the right diagnosis or diagnoses and treatment that meets your individual situation more quickly than working with health care practitioners less experienced with psychiatry.

Classes of Mental Illness

Most all mental illness diagnoses fit into one or more specific categories. The following list shows the wide variety of types of mental illness that can occur as a singular diagnosis or as part of a combination of symptoms and disorders. Treating one mental illness when multiple disorders exist will not bring all the success one hopes for.

Following is a listing of different classes of mental illness disorders:

• Bipolar and other related disorders – This class of mental illness includes disorders with alternating episodes of mania where there are periods of excessive activity and energy as well as periods of depression.
• Depressive Disorder – this class includes your emotional health, including the level of sadness and happiness you live with.
• Anxiety Disorders – this class of mental illness includes an emotion of anxiety that is characterized by a feeling of dread, danger, misfortune, or of impending doom. This class can include panic disorder, anxiety disorder, and phobias.
• Trauma and Stress Related Disorders – these mental illness disorders are adjustment issues where difficulty arises during or after a stressful event. This class includes PTSD and acute stress disorder.
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders – while many of these issues may begin in childhood, thousands of adults are faced with undiagnosed ADHD.
• Obsessive Compulsive and related disorders – these mental illness disorders include a preoccupation or an obsession, as well as repetitive thoughts and actions.
• Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders – this class of mental illness, psychotic disorder, causes a detachment from reality with, for example, delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, and detachment from reality. While schizophrenia may be the most widely known diagnosis in this class there are numerous other numerous forms of this class of mental illness.
• Substance and Addictive Disorders – these mental illness disorders include issues associated with alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, drugs (both legal and illegal) and having a gambling disorder.
• Personality Disorders – this class includes having a pattern of emotional instability and unhealthy behavior that cause an issue in your life and relationships. These types of mental illness include antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder.

While the list of different classes of mental illness continues on, those listed may be the most common ones diagnosed and treated by mental health practitioners.  Other mental illness disorders include dissociative disorders, somatic symptoms and disorders, feeding and eating disorders, sleep-wake disorders, sexual dysfunctions, and impulse control and conduct issues to name a few more that need psychiatric treatment.

• Other Mental Disorders – this is another class of mental illness that includes mental disorders that are due to other medical conditions or those disorders that do not meet the full criteria for one of the above listed mental illness disorders.

Connect with a Psychiatrist

Get the help you need by finding the right psychiatrist for you. Make the call and get connected to Dr. Hege to start treatment that is tailored to fit your individual issues and needs.