There are several types of mental illness that have been diagnosed. All over the world, millions of people suffer from disorders and anxieties. There are also many people that find help from counseling and prescription drug treatment. It is important to never try self diagnose and self medicate. Only a medical professional can truly determine if there is cause for concern.
The most common types of mental illness are anxiety disorders because they can happen when a person is exposed to something that stresses them or makes them feel scared. The physical reaction that a person can feel are sweating, hyperventilating, and rapid heartbeat.
Mood disorders are another common type of mental illness but are harder to diagnose. Usually a person with a mood disorder will experience extreme highs and extreme lows.
There are more complicated and dangerous types of disorders that are psychotic like schizophrenia. Psychotic disorders can be more dangerous because they give a person an altered reality and way of thinking which can include hallucinations and delusions.
Any type of addiction is considered a mental illness. Whether the addition is related to substances or to something physical, the person who is experiencing the addition is unable to stop the behavior. Eating disorders can fit under this category as people are so obsessed with food that the thoughts consume them and they cannot stop the behavior. The same is true about obsessive compulsive disorder, where a person has to repeat the same type of movement or ritual over and over again for fear that something bad will happen. All of these are considered a type of addiction and personality disorder.