Mental health disorders are patterns of symptoms — psychological, behavioral, or both — that cause distress and can have negative effects on your personal, social, or work life.

Mental health disorders are characterized by issues regarding mood, thoughts, and behavior. They may also be referred to as psychological disorders, mental illnesses, and mental health conditions.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mental illness affects around 1 in 5 adults (52.9 million) in the United States.

Depressive disorders and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health disorders. The rates are higher in females, young adults, and adults identifying as more than two races.

Mental health professionals in the United States diagnose mental health conditions using a handbook of symptoms called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), which also offers a list of diagnostic codes. Please keep in mind that only an experienced mental health professional can make a diagnosis.

Most mental health conditions are treatable, often through talk therapy (psychotherapy), medication, or both.

While not a comprehensive list of all mental health diagnoses, you can learn more about different mental health disorders, their symptoms, and treatments by browsing the list below.

If you’re looking for mental health support or wondering if you have a mental health disorder, Psych Central’s How to Find Mental Health Support resource may help.

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Anxiety disorders are defined by disproportionately high levels of fear, anxiety, and avoidance in response to certain objects or situations. Panic attacks are common in anxiety disorders, but they can occur in other disorders, too.

Mood disorders are mental health conditions that affect your mood. Depressive disorders involve sad, empty, or irritable moods along with physical and thought (cognitive) changes that affect your ability to function. Bipolar disorders involve extreme mood shifts, such as between the highs of mania and the lows of depression.

Alcohol and substance use disorders involve changes in brain chemistry that create a dependence on the substance you’re using. People with these conditions may experience dependence, withdrawal symptoms, and impairments in their personal or work lives that are related to substance use.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are defined by challenges in one or more of these five areas: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought or speech, abnormal movements such as catatonia, and negative symptoms, such as a lack of motivation, pleasure, or emotional expression.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and OCD spectrum disorders involve elements of thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions). The disorders in this group share some characteristics but are different in many ways.

Some experts believe the conditions should be considered independent disorders rather than OCD spectrum disorders.

Feeding and eating disorders are defined by disrupted eating patterns that involve a change in how much you eat or how much food your body absorbs. For a diagnosis to be made, these eating patterns will have significant effects on your body or your personal, social, work, or school life.

Trauma or stressor-related disorders are disorders where having experienced trauma or extreme stress is an essential part of the diagnosis. Stress-related disorders have close links with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and dissociative disorders.

Dissociative disorders involve a disruption to the typical states of awareness, impairing your consciousness, memory, identity, emotions, and perceptions of yourself and your surroundings. Often, they develop due to a stressful or traumatic situation.

Neurodevelopmental disorders begin early in child development, often before a child starts grade school. These disorders are defined by developmental issues that affect your personal, social, school, or work life.

Personality disorders are a group of 10 disorders that involve a persistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are very different from cultural expectations and can lead to significant stress and disruption to your life.

Sexual dysfunctions are defined as significant problems with your ability to experience sexual arousal or sexual pleasure. Some people have several of these disorders at the same time.

Sleep disorders affect the quality and amount of sleep you get. The symptoms usually involve distress during the daytime and can interfere with your ability to function in day-to-day life.

Neurocognitive disorders involve a decline in your cognitive (thinking) abilities. By definition, neurocognitive disorders aren’t present at birth or at an early developmental stage, but rather represent a loss of previously acquired functions or skills.

Childhood mental health disorders, often labeled as developmental disorders or learning disorders, most often arise and are diagnosed when the child is of school age. Adults may also relate to some of the symptoms of these disorders, but typically their symptoms need to have first appeared at some point in childhood.

Other mental health disorders, conditions, and symptoms include the following: