Psychological disorders

Definition Illness anxiety disorder or Hypochondria is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by a persistent fear of having or developing a serious medical condition. In general, individuals with illness anxiety disorder display a dysfunctional degree of concern regarding their health, which is also known as health anxiety. This fear usually …

Definition Somatic symptom disorder is diagnosed when a person has a significant focus on physical symptoms, such as pain, weakness or shortness of breath, to a level that results in major distress and/or problems functioning. The individual has excessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors relating to the physical symptoms. The physical …

What is borderline personality disorder? Borderline personality disorder is a mental health disorder that impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others, causing problems functioning in everyday life. It includes self-image issues, difficulty managing emotions and behavior, and a pattern of unstable relationships. With borderline personality disorder, …

Definition Psychosis can be a symptom of serious mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. In a psychotic episode, a person loses touch with reality as other people see it. They might hear voices, see or feel things that aren’t there, feel paranoid or believe things that don’t rationally make …

Description Excoriation disorder (also referred to as chronic skin-picking or dermatillomania) is a mental illness related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is characterized by repeated picking at one’s own skin which results in skin lesions and causes significant disruption in one’s life. Individuals may pick at the healthy skin, minor skin …

Introduction Binge eating is an overeating disorder in which an individual eats a large amount of food in a discrete period time and feel uncontrollable over the amount of eating. Unlike Bulimia nervosa, people with BED are not having a purging, fasting, and excessive exercise. As a result of these …

Introduction Depression also called “clinical depression” or a “depressive disorder” is a mood disorder that causes distressing symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating or working. Everyone feels sad or low sometimes, but these feelings usually pass with a little time.   …

Introduction Bulimia nervosa is a serious eating disorder characterized by frequent episodes of binge eating followed by extreme efforts to avoid gaining weight, often by vomiting or exercising to excess. This repetitious binge-and-purge cycle can cause damage to your digestive system and create chemical imbalances in the body that harm …