What is the hardest mental illness to live with?

Asked by: Ansel Howe  |  Last update: October 10, 2025
Score: 5/5 (8 votes)

What Is the Hardest Mental Illness to Live With?
  • Schizophrenia.
  • Severe Bipolar Disorder.
  • Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
  • Major Depression and Treatment-Resistant Depression.
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Eating Disorders.
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • So, What is the hardest mental illness to live with?

What is the most complex mental illness?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What is the most painful mental disorder to live with?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has long been believed to be a disorder that produces the most intense emotional pain and distress in those who have this condition.

What is considered the worst mental illness?

There's no definitive “worst” mental illness. The severity depends on individual experiences. However, conditions like severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder can be extremely debilitating without proper treatment.

What is the toughest mental illness to treat?

Borderline personality disorder historically has been viewed as challenging to treat.

What is the most difficult mental health disorder to treat?

40 related questions found

What is the most crippling mental illness?

Despite 50 years of pharmacological and psychosocial intervention, schizophrenia remains one of the top causes of disability in the world [2].

What is the most painful emotion?

The pain of traumatic loss, whether it's the heartbreak of a break-up or the loss of a loved one, is one of the most emotionally painful experiences we can have as human beings.

What is the most fatal mental illness?

Anorexia Nervosa – Highest Mortality Rate of Any Mental Disorder: Why? Anorexia is a deadly disease. In fact, experts suggest it's one of the most dangerous illnesses that can impact men and women.

What is the rarest mental disorder?

Rare Mental Health Conditions
  • Clinical Lycanthropy. ...
  • Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder. ...
  • Diogenes Syndrome. ...
  • Stendhal Syndrome. ...
  • Apotemnophilia. ...
  • Alien Hand Syndrome. ...
  • Capgras Syndrome. ...
  • Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

What is the most misdiagnosed mental illness?

Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorder may be the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health issue. Furthermore, treating bipolar incorrectly may have the most adverse effects. A number of studies have looked at the misdiagnosis of bipolar.

What is the most aggressive mental disorder?

Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is a mental health condition marked by frequent impulsive anger outbursts or aggression. The episodes are out of proportion to the situation that triggered them and cause significant distress.

What is the #1 diagnosed personality disorder?

The most commonly diagnosed personality disorders are borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.

When to walk away from someone with mental illness?

It's okay to leave if someone's mental health illness is chipping away at your feeling of self-worth or endangering you in any way. So, take time to re-evaluate your relationship and consider all the available options.

What is the most excruciating mental illness?

BPD patients are in constant pain, stress, and emotional turmoil. They also often think they're a burden to others.

What is the most serious mental illness?

TAC's definition of severe mental illness includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, bipolar I disorder, and major depression with psychotic features. These disorders often include psychosis as a component.

Is BPD worse than bipolar?

When considering borderline vs bipolar as mental health conditions, there is no way to discern if BPD is worse than bipolar or vice versa. Each disorder will affect every individual differently, and it's crucial to seek proper medical treatment to effectively manage the symptoms so they do not spiral out of control.

What is the #1 most diagnosed mental disorder?

The most common category of mental health disorders in America—anxiety disorders—impacts approximately 40 million adults 18 and older. Anxiety disorders cause people to experience distressing and frequent fear and apprehension.

What is the most mysterious mental illness?

Capgras is a mental condition in which you feel that a close friend, spouse, family member or a pet has been replaced by an identical imposter. People suffering from this disorder feel that their reality has become warped or substituted.

What is the biggest mental illness in the world?

Mental disorders are among the top 10 leading causes of health loss worldwide, with anxiety and depressive disorders ranked as the most common across all age groups and locations.

What's the worst disorder to have?

The HRQoL 15D was again used to evaluate the quality of life in those found to have one of these disorders. Among those with one of these three disorders, those with schizoaffective disorder were found to have the worst quality of life, followed by those with schizophrenia, and then by those with bipolar disorder.

What is severely mentally ill?

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) – SMI is a smaller and more severe subset of mental illnesses; SMI is defined as one or more mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder(s) resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities (NIMH).

What disorder is considered to be the deadliest of all psychiatric disorders?

Eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa) are associated with high premature mortality and are generally considered to be among the most lethal of all psychiatric disorders (1).

What is the #1 most painful thing in the world?

These acute or chronic conditions can cause severe pain and rank high on a pain scale:
  • Kidney stones.
  • Childbirth.
  • Trauma.
  • Shingles.
  • Trigeminal neuralgia.
  • Post-surgery pain and recovery.
  • Back pain or injury.
  • Major joint osteoarthritis.

What is the hardest emotion to handle?

Sadness is just one challenging emotion that we might try to avoid. Others include anger, fear, guilt, and shame.

Why does BPD hurt so much?

People with BPD are often on edge. They have high distress and anger levels, so they may be easily offended. They struggle with beliefs and thoughts about themselves and others, which can cause distress in many areas of their lives. People living with BPD often have an intense fear of instability and abandonment.