What is mental illness or mental health disorders?

Health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, and/or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses can be associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, school, work, or family activities (APA, 2022).

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Mental illness exists on a spectrum. It is absolutely normal to struggle and almost everyone experiences periods or episodes of poor mental health. Mental illness becomes a disorder when you have several episodes or periods of poor mental health, your symptoms are persistent, and they affect your daily life and functioning.

Just because I am struggling with my mental health, does that mean I have a disorder?

No and always know that you can talk to your therapist or doctor about this if they give you a diagnosis.

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People are typically diagnosed with a disorder if:

• they are using insurance to access mental health services

• they have clinically significant symptoms or traits that qualify them for a disorder

• the struggles persist over time

• the struggles are a theme in various areas of their life and/or cause distress

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Unfortunately, if you use insurance to access mental healthcare like many Americans, you must be diagnosed with some sort of disorder for it to be billed to insurance.

What does it mean to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder?

You may be diagnosed with a mental health disorder by any of the following practitioners: 

• a mental health counselor

• a social worker

• a psychiatrist

• a psychologist

• a primary care physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant

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Mental health counselors, psychologists and social workers provide psychotherapy while psychiatrists, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants typically provide medications. Psychologists may also administer specialized psychological testing. Nurse practitioners may also provide therapy.

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Being diagnosed with a disorder can be incredibly powerful. It may give you an answer or a reason for your struggles. It may also provide you access to services and a community when previously you were feeling very alone. On the downside, it can open the door to a lot of stigma. It may make you feel like there is something wrong with you, that you're defective, or that you are hopeless to change. Certain disorders hold a significant amount of stigma because of their historical origins but that does not mean there is no hope. Every disorder can be treated with hard work, dedication, psychotherapy, and/or medication.

Can mental health disorders be cured?

Typically, we do not think of therapy as a "cure" for mental health disorders or struggles. Being a human is hard and we are all going to struggle at some point in life. Therapy is meant to help lessen that burden and give you tools to manage it better, not "cure" you.

Many individuals can experience a reduction in their distress or symptoms because of medication or psychotherapy. Medication often proves to work faster but it does not get to the root of the problem. High quality psychotherapy aims at targeting an individual's developmental origins, thought patterns, emotion dysregulation, actions, and/or environment to improve their mental well-being. Psychotherapy can have more significant impact in the long term but medication may also be necessary.