Updated on October 1, 2026 by John Ingham
What is the hardest mental illness to live with? That depends on a few factors, like who you ask and the severity of the symptoms each person experiences. To be fair, all mental illnesses cause difficulties and challenges in a person’s life. Yet some can be more troublesome and long-lasting than others.
Montare Behavioral Health recognizes the complexities that accompany every kind of mental health disorder. We use our knowledge and experience to help treat people with effective and compassionate care. Regardless of which mental illness a person has, we have a treatment plan for it. We provide outpatient and residential care that offers evidence-based therapies and access to prescription medications. Let us help ease your symptoms of poor mental health and show you how to begin to enjoy life again.
10 Mental Health Conditions That Can Cause Significant Impairment
When it comes to answering the question, “What is the hardest mental illness to live with?”, one must recognize that they all have their own complexities and challenges. Some are lifelong illnesses while others can be overcome with time, therapy, and the potential use of medications.
There is no clinically established ranking of the “10 hardest” mental illnesses. The following are examples of conditions and co-occurring concerns that can cause significant impairment; their impact varies by person, severity, support, and access to care.
Depression
In a 2020 CDC survey, almost one in five adults reported having ever been diagnosed with depression; this was a lifetime measure, not the number newly diagnosed in 2020. More recently, SAMHSA’s 2025 national survey estimated that 19.7 million adults had a major depressive episode in the past year. Common symptoms include:
- Constant feelings of depression and hopelessness
- Crying
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Changes in appetite or weight
- Suicidal thoughts
- Isolating from others
- Cognitive difficulties
- Loss of interest in social activities and hobbies
Anxiety Disorder
Approximately 19.1% of adults in the U.S. struggled with an anxiety disorder in the past year. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders in the country. Symptoms include:
- An impending sense of doom
- Panic attacks
- Insomnia
- Sweating
- Dizziness
- Elevated heart rate
- Shakiness
- Avoiding people, places, or situations that may trigger panicky feelings
- Numbness in hands and feet
- Living in a constant state of anxiousness
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder impacts the lives of one in forty Americans. While it cannot be cured, its symptoms can be managed. Common symptoms include:
- Manic moods that include hyperactivity and difficulty focusing on tasks and conversation
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Engaging in risky behavior
- Trouble maintaining long-term healthy relationships
- Difficulty handling work and social situations
- Feelings of overwhelming depression
- Crying
- Feeling worthless
- Isolating from others
Borderline Personality Disorder
This mental health disorder typically shows up during a person’s teenage or young adult years. Common symptoms include:
- Feeling or acting aggressively
- Difficulty having healthy relationships with others
- Switching from adoring a person to hating them quickly
- Mood swings that cannot be controlled
- Often feeling self-hatred
- Suicidal feelings
- Engaging in risky behavior
- Feeling the world is out to get them
- Self-injury
- Fear of abandonment
- Sees themselves and others in an unrealistic light
Schizophrenia
Approximately 1% of Americans have schizophrenia. While the disorder cannot be cured, the symptoms can be managed with appropriate and consistent treatment. Common symptoms include:
- Cognitive difficulties
- Non-communicative or having difficulty communicating
- Incoherent speaking or jumping from one topic to another
- Lacking common emotional reactions
- Hallucinations
- Delusional thinking
- Psychosis
- Unable to work or having trouble keeping a long-term job
- Suicidal feelings
- Poor hygiene
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD happens after a person experiences one or more traumatic events in their life. The trauma may have occurred as far back as childhood or be an ongoing situation. Symptoms of PTSD include:
- Easily startled
- Withdrawing from loved ones
- Flashbacks
- Acting aggressively
- Suicidal feelings
- Avoiding people, places, and activities that can trigger symptoms
- Nightmares and difficulty sleeping
- Anxiety
- Unable to discuss the trauma
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
About 1% to 3% of the global population experiences obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Common symptoms of OCD include:
- Obsessive thoughts that cannot be controlled
- Compulsive behaviors that must be repeated
- Anxiety when the actions that come with OCD are disrupted
- Detailed and repetitive cleaning rituals
- Washing hands repeatedly throughout the day
- Checking something over and over, such as if a light has been turned off
- Unwanted intrusive thoughts sometimes related to sexual, taboo, or violent imagery
- OCD symptoms interfere with a person’s performance at work or in school
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder may be diagnosed in adulthood, but symptoms must have been present during childhood, with several symptoms before age 12. Typical symptoms include:
- Easily distracted from tasks and conversations
- Speaking quickly
- Fidgeting
- Feeling restless or moody
- Acting in impulsive or risky ways
- ADHD affects performance at work or in school
- Difficulty concentrating
- Forgetfulness
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders aren’t really about food but rather the emotions and experiences that drive a person to try to control their lives through patterns of how they eat. Common symptoms of eating disorders include:
- Restricting how much a person eats, often to the point of starvation
- Binge eating
- Purging by vomiting or the use of diuretics and other medications
- Hiding evidence like food wrappers and containers used for vomiting
- Low self-esteem
- Self-harming
- Dealing with trauma, anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders by eating too much or too little
Co-Occurring Disorders
Co-occurring conditions means that a person has more than one condition at the same time—for example, depression alongside an anxiety disorder. The combined impact varies, and each concern should be assessed rather than treated as a single diagnosis. Possible difficulties include:
- Having a mental health disorder
- Withdrawing from others
- Erratic behavior
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Feeling emotionally detached
- Difficulty performing well at work or in school
Why Treatment for Mental Illness is Essential
Regardless of how hard a mental illness is to live with, there is help available to treat them all. Without treatment, the individual’s symptoms will worsen, and they may become suicidal. Talk therapy forms the backbone of ways to help people understand their disorders and how to minimize the symptoms. Someone with a mental health disorder often benefits from the following types of therapy:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Family Therapy
- Group Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy
- Trauma-Based Therapy
- Holistic Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
Contact Montare Behavioral Health to Begin Treating Mental Illness Today
Have you asked yourself, “What is the hardest mental illness to live with?” and wondered if it’s the one that impacts your life? Regardless of which disorder interrupts your life, you know that it causes suffering and insecurity, and stops you from enjoying life to the fullest. Montare Behavioral Health employs a talented and experienced staff of mental health experts to guide you out of the fog of living with a mental health disorder. Our programs are a cut above the rest because of the skills of our treatment providers. We also meet with each person we treat to determine if using prescription medications can benefit them.
Contact us today and find out how we can make living with a mental illness easier to bear. Whether you have a disorder that can be cured or one that is a lifelong illness, our specialists can help you rise above it and feel better.