Mental Disorders
Guide To Mental Disorders, & How They Can BE treated
A mental disorder is a health condition that affects our ability to think, act, and behave.
Read our comprehensive guide, or contact us today to begin therapy and find your path to recovery.
Mental health recovery is not just about managing symptoms—it’s about thriving, growing, and building resilience for life’s challenges ahead. Through evidence-based treatments delivered in our serene, supportive environment, we help individuals move beyond survival mode and into a space of genuine healing and personal empowerment.
What Are Mental Disorders?
Mental disorders, or mental illnesses, are health conditions that affect thinking patterns, emotional regulation, behavior, and social functioning.
Unlike temporary stress responses or normal life challenges, mental disorders persist over time and significantly interfere with an individual’s ability to function in daily life, maintain relationships, or pursue personal goals.
Mental disorders can arise from interactions between biological factors such as genetics and brain chemistry, psychological factors including past experiences and coping mechanisms, and environmental influences like trauma, stress, and social circumstances.
Mental disorders are not character defects, personal failures, or signs of weakness—they are medical conditions that require professional understanding and treatment.
At Kingston Wellness Retreat, we view mental disorders through a lens of hope and possibility. While these conditions can feel overwhelming, they are also opportunities for profound personal growth, self-discovery, and transformation when approached with the right support and therapeutic interventions.
What Types of Mental Disorders Are There?
Each mental illness has distinct characteristics, symptoms, and treatment approaches.
Mental health professionals rely on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, as the authoritative guide for classifying and diagnosing mental health conditions. The DSM-5 organizes these conditions into broad categories to better understand their nature and develop effective treatment strategies.
Many individuals experience symptoms across multiple categories, highlighting the interconnected nature of mental health and the importance of comprehensive, individualized care.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are one of the most significant mental health challenges globally, affecting approximately 9.7% of adults in the United States annually.
Mood disorders involve persistent disturbances in emotional state that extend far beyond typical mood fluctuations.
Research indicates that major depressive disorder affects about 8.4% of adults each year, while bipolar disorder impacts approximately 2.8% of the adult population.
Below are some of the most common mood disorders that we treat:
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) manifests as persistent sadness, hopelessness, and anhedonia—the inability to experience pleasure in previously enjoyable activities. This condition affects every aspect of life, from sleep and appetite to concentration and self-worth, requiring comprehensive treatment approaches that address both biological and psychological factors.
Bipolar Disorder creates a rollercoaster of emotional extremes, alternating between depressive episodes and periods of mania or hypomania. These mood swings can be devastating to relationships, career prospects, and personal stability, but respond remarkably well to integrated treatment approaches that combine medication management with therapeutic support.
Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) represents a chronic form of depression where symptoms persist for at least two years. While potentially less acute than major depression, PDD can be equally debilitating due to its persistent nature, often leaving individuals feeling trapped in a cycle of ongoing sadness and diminished functioning.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) recognizes the profound connection between environment and mental health, occurring predictably during specific seasons, typically fall and winter. This condition responds particularly well to light therapy combined with traditional depression treatments, highlighting the importance of addressing both biological and environmental factors in healing.
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) affects women during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle, causing severe mood symptoms including depression, anxiety, and irritability. This condition requires specialized treatment approaches that address both psychological and physiological factors.
Trauma Disorders
Trauma disorders are a reaction from the brain’s attempt to process and cope with overwhelming experiences that exceed an individual’s capacity to integrate them effectively.
These conditions reflect the profound impact that traumatic events can have on neural pathways, stress response systems, and overall psychological functioning.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) represents the most recognized trauma response, characterized by intrusive re-experiencing of traumatic events through flashbacks and nightmares, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, negative alterations in mood and cognition, and hyperarousal symptoms that persist for more than one month following the traumatic experience.
Acute Stress Disorder shares many similarities with PTSD but occurs in the immediate aftermath of trauma, lasting between three days and one month. This condition often serves as a precursor to PTSD and represents a critical window for early intervention that can prevent long-term complications.
Adjustment Disorder occurs when individuals struggle to adapt to specific life stressors or changes, resulting in emotional or behavioral responses that are disproportionate to the triggering event. While less severe than other trauma disorders, adjustment disorders can significantly impact functioning and quality of life if left untreated.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders is one of the most common mental health conditions, affecting approximately 40 million adults in the United States annually.
While anxiety is an important evolutionary functions in protecting us from danger, anxiety disorders involve excessive, persistent fear and worry that interferes with daily functioning and diminishes quality of life.
Despite their high prevalence and treatability, only about one-third of individuals with anxiety disorders receive appropriate treatment.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) involves chronic, excessive worry about multiple life domains including work, health, family, and routine activities. This persistent apprehension creates a constant state of tension and anticipation that can be physically and emotionally exhausting, often accompanied by physical symptoms such as muscle tension, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating.
Social Anxiety Disorder centers on intense fear of social situations due to concerns about judgment, embarrassment, or humiliation. This condition can severely limit personal and professional opportunities, creating a cycle of avoidance that reinforces fears and maintains the disorder over time.
Panic Disorder involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks—sudden surges of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, and feelings of impending doom. The unpredictable nature of these attacks often leads to anticipatory anxiety and avoidance behaviors that can significantly restrict daily activities.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder consists of intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that create anxiety, leading to repetitive behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions) performed to reduce distress or prevent feared outcomes. This cycle of obsessions and compulsions can consume hours each day and significantly interfere with normal functioning.
Personality Disorders
Personality disorders involve enduring patterns of inner experience and behavior that deviate markedly from cultural expectations and remain stable across time and situations. These patterns typically emerge by early adulthood and create significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of others’ rights, including deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability, aggression, reckless disregard for safety, consistent irresponsibility, and lack of remorse after harming others.
Borderline Personality Disorder involves a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, along with marked impulsivity. Individuals may experience intense fear of abandonment, identity disturbance, chronic feelings of emptiness, inappropriate anger, and recurrent suicidal behavior or self-injury.
Histrionic Personality Disorder is marked by excessive emotionality and attention-seeking behavior, including being uncomfortable when not the center of attention, inappropriate sexually seductive behavior, rapidly shifting and shallow emotions, and theatrical behavior.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder involves grandiose sense of self-importance, preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success or power, belief in being special or unique, need for excessive admiration, sense of entitlement, interpersonal exploitation, lack of empathy, and arrogant behaviors.
Avoidant Personality Disorder is characterized by pervasive social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, leading to avoidance of occupational activities involving significant interpersonal contact and reluctance to engage in new activities or relationships.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder involves preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, often manifesting as excessive devotion to work and productivity.
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
Schizophrenia spectrum disorders represent complex neurobiological conditions that affect thought processes, perceptions, emotional expression, and social functioning. These disorders involve disruptions in the brain’s information processing systems, leading to difficulties distinguishing between internal experiences and external reality.
Catatonic Schizophrenia is characterized by prominent psychomotor disturbances that may include stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, mutism, peculiar voluntary movements, echolalia, or echopraxia. These motor symptoms often overshadow other aspects of the condition and require specialized treatment approaches.
Cenesthopathic Schizophrenia involves prominent abnormal bodily sensations and somatic preoccupations alongside typical schizophrenia symptoms, creating a complex presentation that requires careful assessment and individualized treatment planning.
Hebephrenic Schizophrenia (disorganized type) is marked by disorganized thinking, speech, and behavior, along with inappropriate or flat emotional responses. This subtype often has an early onset and may be associated with poor prognosis without appropriate intervention.
Paranoid Schizophrenia features prominent delusions and auditory hallucinations while cognitive functioning and emotional expression remain relatively preserved. This subtype often responds well to treatment and may have a better overall prognosis.
Residual Schizophrenia occurs following a previous episode of schizophrenia when prominent positive symptoms are no longer present, but some negative symptoms or mild positive symptoms continue to persist.
Schizoaffective Disorder combines features of schizophrenia with major mood episodes, creating a complex presentation that requires integrated treatment approaches addressing both psychotic and mood symptoms.
How Common Are Mental Disorders?
Mental disorders affect nearly one in four adults in the United States each year, with approximately half of all Americans experiencing at least one mental health condition during their lifetime.
These statistics reveal that mental health challenges are a common part of the human experience rather than rare or unusual occurrences.
Among adolescents and young adults, mental health conditions are particularly common, with nearly one-third of teenagers experiencing an anxiety disorder and approximately 13% experiencing a major depressive episode.
The onset of many mental health conditions occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, making early identification and intervention crucial for long-term outcomes.
Despite their high prevalence, mental health conditions often remain untreated due to various barriers including stigma, lack of awareness about available treatments, financial constraints, geographical limitations, or difficulty accessing appropriate care.
Every Mental Disorder Has One Thing In Common: They Can All Be Treated
Regardless of their specific manifestations, symptoms, or severity, all mental disorders share one fundamental characteristic:
They are treatable conditions that respond to appropriate, evidence-based interventions.
This shared treatability represents hope for every individual struggling with mental health challenges, regardless of their diagnosis or current level of functioning.
Recovery and healing are not only possible but expected outcomes when individuals receive comprehensive, individualized treatment that addresses their unique needs, strengths, and circumstances.
Modern mental health treatment offers numerous proven interventions including various forms of psychotherapy, medication management when appropriate, lifestyle modifications, complementary therapies, and supportive services that can significantly improve symptoms and overall quality of life.
Find Help for Mental Disorders Today
At Kingston Wellness Retreat, we believe that every person has an innate capacity for healing and growth.
Recovery is not about returning to a previous state—it’s about moving forward into a fuller, more meaningful life with greater self-awareness, resilience, and well-being.
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At Kingston Wellness, our mental health treatment programs are aimed at providing maximum healing and comfort, so you can recover in peace.
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