What are Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders?
Behavioral or mental health is a state of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It impacts how well an individual can cope with stress, relate to others, and make other healthy choices. Behavioral or mental health can also directly impact other health conditions. For example, people with depression have a 40 percent higher risk of cardiovascular or metabolic diseases, and those with serious mental illness are at twice the risk. Disorders affecting behavioral or mental health, whether co-occurring with another ailment or not, indicate an absence of complete well-being.
Behavioral or mental health conditions encompass a broad range of conditions that affect an individual’s thoughts, mood, and behavior. These conditions are clinically defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Serious mental illness (SMI) refers to conditions that result in an even greater functional impairment that substantially interferes with an individual’s daily functioning. The table below lists the major condition categories with a description of the condition and examples of specific diagnoses.
Categories of MHSUD Conditions
| Condition Category (ordered by prevalence) | Description | Types of Diagnoses (not an exhaustive list of conditions or diagnoses; classifications of conditions vary by source) |
| Mood disorders (classified by the DSM-5 depressive disorders and bipolar disorders) | Conditions characterized by emotional effects, such as loss of pleasure and/or intense mood swings from highs to lows | Depressive disorders: persistent depressive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, seasonal affective disorder Bipolar disorders: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic disorder |
| Anxiety disorders | Conditions characterized by excessive fear and worry that result in significant distress or impairment in functioning | Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias |
| Substance use disorders (SUD) | Conditions that affect a person’s brain and leads to an inability to control the use of a drug or medicine | Alcohol use disorder (AUD), opioid use disorder (OUD), and/or other drug use disorders |
| Psychotic disorders | Conditions that cause significant impairments in perception (i.e., delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking) | Schizophrenia spectrum, delusional disorder |
| Eating disorders | Conditions characterized by abnormal eating and preoccupation with food and body weight or size | Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder |
| Personality disorders | Conditions characterized by a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that deviates from cultural expectations (i.e., violating the rights of others, extreme shyness, extreme need for admiration) | Borderline, antisocial, narcissistic personality disorders |
| Neurodevelopmental disorders | Conditions that arise during the developmental period and cause difficulties in intellectual, motor, language, or social functions | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) |
| Trauma / stress related disorders | Conditions characterized by unwanted memories or flashbacks to a traumatic situation, avoidance of situations, severe anxiety | Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder |
| Serious mental illness | A heightened condition that results in serious functional impairment and substantially interfere with daily activities | Major depressive order, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder |