Mental Health
19 condition pages in this specialty.
Free sample chapters
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Depression
FreeA clinically diagnosed disorder of mood, interest, cognition, energy and function in which severity, suicide risk, bipolar history and patient preference determine the treatment pathway.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
FreePersistent, difficult-to-control worry across multiple areas of life, with physical and cognitive symptoms causing distress or impairment, managed using a NICE stepped-care pathway.
Eating Disorders
3 topicsAnorexia nervosa
Full accessAn eating disorder in which restriction driven by fear of weight gain and disturbed body image causes significantly low weight, starvation physiology and potentially life-threatening medical instability.
Binge Eating Disorder
Full accessAn eating disorder with recurrent binge episodes, loss of control and marked distress, without regular compensatory behaviours; body weight varies and is not a diagnostic shortcut or the primary therapy target.
Bulimia nervosa
Full accessAn eating disorder with recurrent binge episodes, loss of control and regular compensatory behaviour, often at a normal weight but with potentially dangerous electrolyte, cardiac, dental and gastrointestinal complications.
Alcohol dependence
Full accessA chronic alcohol-use disorder in which neuroadaptation, impaired control and continued drinking despite harm create a potentially dangerous withdrawal syndrome when alcohol is reduced or stopped.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Full accessADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by persistent, developmentally excessive inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that began in childhood, is present across settings and causes functional impairment.
Autism spectrum disorder
Full accessAutism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference involving persistent social-communication and interaction differences together with restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities, present from the early developmental period and associated with support needs or functional impact.
Bipolar disorder
Full accessA recurrent mood disorder defined by episodes of mania or hypomania, often with depression, requiring urgent risk assessment, polarity-specific treatment and long-term relapse prevention.
Delirium
Full accessAn acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness caused by an underlying illness, substance effect or withdrawal: treat it as a medical syndrome until the cause is found.
Delusional disorder
Full accessDelusional disorder is a primary psychotic disorder in which one or more thematically related delusions remain the dominant feature, typically for at least 3 months, while prominent schizophrenia symptoms, mood episodes, substances and medical causes have been excluded and functioning outside the delusional system is relatively preserved.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Full accessA disorder of intrusive obsessions and repetitive compulsions that briefly reduce distress but maintain the cycle and impair daily life.
Panic disorder
Full accessPanic disorder is recurrent unexpected panic attacks followed by at least a month of persistent concern or maladaptive behavioural change, with ongoing functional impact and no better physical, substance-related or mental-health explanation.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Full accessA trauma-related disorder characterised by re-experiencing, avoidance, threat arousal and negative changes in mood or thinking that impair recovery and daily functioning.
Postpartum psychosis
Full accessPostpartum psychosis is a rapidly evolving severe mental illness, usually beginning in the first 2 weeks after birth, with psychotic and affective symptoms that require immediate specialist assessment, urgent risk management and usually inpatient treatment.
Schizoaffective disorder
Full accessSchizoaffective disorder is a specialist psychotic disorder in which schizophrenia symptoms and a clinically significant mood episode occur in the same illness; diagnosis depends on the classification system and a reliable time course, so psychosis, mood, risk, medical causes and treatment response must all be assessed longitudinally.
Schizophrenia
Full accessA psychotic disorder diagnosed through longitudinal assessment of persistent psychosis, functional change and exclusion of mood, substance-related and medical causes, requiring urgent risk management and coordinated long-term care.
Self-harm and suicide risk
Full accessIntentional self-poisoning or self-injury irrespective of apparent purpose, requiring concurrent physical care, compassionate psychosocial assessment, individualised safety planning and coordinated aftercare.