Have you ever wondered, “What is the most painful mental illness?” It’s a difficult question to answer because people’s opinions will vary due to how they experience a mental health disorder compared to others. To settle on just one being the worst can leave people who struggle with other disorders feeling like they must not have it that bad.
Montare Behavioral Health treats a variety of conditions that can be described as the most painful mental illness. We operate both outpatient and residential treatment centers to provide structured care for a diverse population of people. We help you understand your diagnosis and the symptoms it causes. From there, we can design a program of therapies that help manage your moods and improve your behaviors. With our help, living with the pain of a mental illness can be eased and change how you feel and act.
What is the Most Painful Mental Illness to Live With?
What the most painful mental illness is depends on who you ask. Not everyone experiences mental health disorders the same. For example, one person might have depression that responds well to therapy and medications while another has treatment-resistant depression. How painful a mental illness is depending on a few factors. These include how long the individual has had it, how severe their symptoms are, if the illness is curable, the treatment available to them, and the support they have from loved ones.
Having said that, some mental health disorders are known for being particularly challenging and are often cited as particularly painful by those who have them.
Depression
Treatment-resistant depression can be quite difficult to navigate because the person who has it typically does not respond well to the usual treatment options. Therapy and the use of different prescription medications can only get them so far, and they must seek alternative types of treatment.
Anxiety
Living with anxiety causes even the simplest of tasks to be difficult to perform. It limits a person’s social life and ability to perform well or even go to work or school. Some people develop anxiety so severe that they cannot get out of bed.
Bipolar Disorder
Severe bipolar disorder is exhausting emotionally and physically for those who have it. The constant swing from lows to highs affects how they think, feel, act, sleep, and interact with others.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
BPD keeps people from regulating their emotions and causes them to engage in risky or impulsive behavior. They also have tremendous difficulty having healthy, long-term relationships with others.
Schizophrenia
Living with schizophrenia often isolates the person from others. Society has a general fear of people with this disorder, in part because so many people who have schizophrenia experience hallucinations and have difficulty thinking and communicating with others.
Eating Disorders
Someone with binge eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia, and other eating disorders focuses on food, calories, and weight without realizing their obsessive behaviors are driven by psychological and emotional issues. Their disorder is also typically misunderstood by family and friends, which tends to make them feel worse about themselves and isolated.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Living with PTSD causes flashbacks, anxiety, and other symptoms that make it difficult to feel at ease. A person’s sleep cycle is often disturbed, and they tend to avoid situations, locations, or people who may trigger their symptoms.
How is the Most Painful Mental Illness Typically Treated?
While living with what each person feels is the most painful mental illness can leave them feeling defeated on a daily basis, the good news is that help is available. Which types of treatment work well depends on how the individual responds to them, but several types offer help for more than one type of mental illness. Commonly used types of therapy used to treat particularly difficult mental health disorders include:
- Individual Therapy: This forms the backbone of treatment and allows a person to begin to sort out their issues and emotions while building a bond with their therapist.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: CBT helps a person identify their emotions and thoughts and draw a direct correlation to how they influence how they behave. Any necessary positive changes can be made from there.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: The individual learns to be mindful of which emotions they are experiencing and accept them while still learning how to change the ones that hold them back.
- Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy: A therapist uses directed eye or hand movements while a person recounts a traumatic event to help them process it differently. This causes a reduction in symptoms.
- Family Therapy: A therapist guides family members in sessions designed to help them understand what their loved one’s mental illness is like and how to support them.
- Holistic Therapy: This type of therapy embraces the concept that a person must heal in mind, body, and spirit at the same time.
- Group Therapy: Much good comes from peer support because everyone participating understands how the other people feel and act.
- Trauma Treatment: People who suffered trauma and have not resolved it can benefit from therapies that address it.
List of Other Painful Mental Illnesses
Other painful mental illnesses include Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Dual Diagnosis.
Additional Treatment Options for Mental Illness
Other treatment options for mental illness include discussing the use of prescription medications. The prescribing clinician will monitor how the person responds to the drug and make any necessary changes in dosage or type of medication used. People with poor mental health are also encouraged to develop a habit of eating healthy and exercising at least a few times a week. Both good nutrition and moving their bodies help boost their moods and improve their sleep cycles.
Treat Mental Illness at Montare Behavioral Health
For most people who struggle with poor mental health, it doesn’t matter what others think the most painful mental illness might be. The disorder the individual has is quite painful to them and disturbs their ability to lead a life of balanced behaviors and emotions. Montare Behavioral Health recognizes that the severity of a person’s symptoms and how long they have been ill impacts how they feel about their particular illness. We offer compassionate care for everyone in a comforting environment meant to ease them into beginning the healing process.
Contact us now to find out more about how our programs work. Our admissions counselors can discuss your mental health and identify the right level of care to help you begin to turn your life around.
Published: 11/15/2024
