The 10 worst mental disorders

We review ten mental disorders or psychopathologies that are experienced with great distress.

Mental disorders are diagnosed with relative frequency nowadays. Everyone has heard of some pathology related to mental health.

In reality, these mental disorders (or mental illnesses) have their origin in neurological and psychological disorders that in turn cause abnormal behaviors in the affected persons.

Mental illnesses: from the common to the bizarre

Most disorders are related to a specific area of the brain or nervous system, although the causes of each of them may differ and even be unknown to the scientific community.

Mental illnesses affect large numbers of people. Statistically speaking, it is said that one third of the population will suffer from some type of mental disorder during their lifetime..

Below I will reveal a list containing some of the most severe mental disorders.

10. Antisocial Personality Disorder

The person who suffers from this disorder is characterized by his or her tendency not to interact in society, avoiding any interaction with others..

The different symptoms and behaviors that characterize ASPD include: theft, aggressiveness, tendency to loneliness, violence, lying... In addition, people affected by ASPD tend to be shy, depressive and have social anxiety. This last point is due to their fear of being rejected. All in all, psychological therapy is very effective in dealing with the drawbacks of antisocial disorder.

• More about Antisocial Personality Disorder: "Psychopathy: what goes on in the mind of the psychopath"?

9. Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome is a relatively common mental disorder in people who have been victims of kidnapping. They show some kind of positive feeling towards their captors..

International police records show that about 27% of kidnapping victims present this disorder.

Stockholm Syndrome also applies in cases such as child abuse, rape or mistreatment. It is not a distressing disorder to experience, but it attracts a lot of attention because it is difficult to understand.

• More about Stockholm Syndrome: "Stockholm Syndrome, friend of my kidnapper".

8. Lima Syndrome

The Lima Syndrome is, precisely, a disorder opposite to the Stockholm Syndrome. In this case the kidnappers show sympathy towards their hostage..

This disorder was coined after an incident that occurred in the capital of Peru in 1996. MRTA kidnapped hundreds of politicians, diplomats and military personnel from the Japanese embassy in Lima. Hours later, the kidnappers began to empathize with the hostages and gradually released them.

7. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxious disorder characterized by recurrent thoughts characterized by recurrent thoughts that produce fear, uneasiness, preoccupation, compulsive behaviors, etc.etc.

Some of the symptoms of OCD are compulsive checking, excessive washing or cleaning, religious thoughts, nervous rituals such as opening doors a certain number of times before entering the room, or irrational aversions to certain numbers. Fortunately, psychotherapy and learning some habits allow a great quality of life for those affected.

• More about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: what is it and how does it manifest itself?"

6. Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disorder. The dyslexic person cannot read correctly due to the discrepancy between learning potential and performance level, in the absence of any kind of problem, be it sensory, physical, motor or educational deficiency. This causes certain mismatches in reading that in turn can cause other types of learning and self-image psychopathologies.

As a consequence, people affected by Dyslexia have serious reading comprehension problems. Fortunately, in our time, intervention and treatment offer many guarantees to cope with this disorder and, upon reaching adulthood, a large majority of dyslexics have no problem writing correctly.

5. Selective Mutism

Selective Mutism is a psychiatric disorder that causes the person not to be able to speak in certain social situations or with certain people.. Usually, Selective Mutism is associated with shyness and social anxiety.

It is relatively frequent in children. When they start school, some of them do not utter a word, despite speaking fluently at home. Only the continuity of this behavior over time can alarm us of a case of MS. In most cases, the symptoms gradually disappear.

4. Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder caused by an abnormality in the cognitive processes and by a poor emotional response. The affected person suffers from alterations in the perception or expression of reality.. Recently there have been important scientific advances in schizophrenia.

This disorder is commonly known as one in which the affected person hears many voices in his head, and these voices are perceived as external to his body. These symptoms may be present or absent. The general symptoms of the disorder, however, are usually disorganized language and thinking, delusions, hallucinations (among which we could refer to the famous 'voices'), affective disorders and inappropriate behavior.

Although it has been a vastly studied disorder, it is still considered a complex disorder with a large amalgam of symptoms. Psychiatric and psychological treatment has shown great efficacy in controlling this disorder.

• More about Schizophrenia: "Research finds that Schizophrenia is the manifestation of eight genetic mutations".

3. Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder, is an identity disorder. The person affected by this disorder develops more than one personality and displays different behaviors and behaviors in different situations.. In the article "Multiple Personality Disorder" you have much more information on the characteristics of what is considered one of the most severe mental disorders.

It is often said that people with MDD change their behaviors radically and later do not remember that episode.

It is one of the disorders whose sufferers live with the greatest anxiety, as well as one of the most controversial among the scientific community due to the difficulty of psychometric devices to diagnose it and the lack of effective treatment. However, in recent years there have been important steps in the improvement of treatments.

• More information on Dissociative Identity Disorder: "Multiple Personality Disorder".

2. Self-injury / Suicide

The person suffering from this mental disorder tries to take his or her own life (or tries to get attention because of these behaviors). These behaviors include cutting one's hands or arms, burning, etc.

In this type of mental disorder the person tries to self-injure or even take his or her own life.. Usually, this behavior may be motivated not in the pursuit of death, but in some kind of attention they receive by showing this behavior, which refers to an underlying disorder that is usually serious.

• More information on suicide: "Suicides: facts, statistics and associated mental disorders".

Cotard's syndrome

In this rare psychiatric disorder the sufferer believes that he or she has died, or that he or she has lost Blood or an internal organ.. This delirium can be dangerous because the person may act unpredictably. This type of behavior is frequently associated with nihilistic and hypochondriac personalities.

Cotard's Syndrome is named after Jules Cotardwho was the first physician to diagnose this strange condition. He described the different phases of the disorder in a thesis written in Paris in 1880.

People affected by Cotard's syndrome refuse social contact and neglect their personal well-being. It is commonly caused by neurological or mental pathologies, and is associated with derealization and depression.

• If you want to know more about Cotard's Syndrome, we recommend you to read: "Cotard's Syndrome: living people who believe they are dead".

Bibliographical references:

• Barlow, D.H. (2003). Psychopathology. Thomson Ed.
• Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV. (1995). Ed. Masson and DSM-IV-TR (2002).
• Vallejo, J (Ed.). (2006). Introduction to Psychopathology and Psychiatry. Barcelona: Masson.