970 million people worldwide have mental health issues, substance abuse disorder or one of the lesser-known mental health disorders. As per the statistics, 1 in 4 individuals suffers from some kind of mental health disorder. As per Mental health America, there are more than 200 classified forms of mental illness.
Some of the more common disorders are depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. Symptoms may include changes in mood, personality, personal habits and/or social withdrawal depending upon the disorder varying from person to person.
We have a long way to go, till we raise the awareness to a level where people will casually talk about any mental health condition like they do for any physical health conditions and seek appropriate help, but we need to talk more and more about every possible disorder to spread about its existence.
In this blog, I am sharing about such 9 lesser-known mental health disorders, I am sure you never knew about.
9 Lesser-Known Mental Health Disorders
We want conversations around mental health, disorders, and neurological imbalance, but we must talk about its existence to raise the bar of awareness. People hardly believe in depression, panic attacks, autism, therefore inclusivity and acceptance go for a toss.
People are fighting a tough fight daily to stay with life, perhaps even they don’t know what is happening to them, why are they feeling, what they are feeling? Will anybody understand their state of mind or match their mind equation? Most of the time people suffer in silence and prefer keeping it to themselves.
Determinants of mental disorders include not only individual attributes such as the ability to manage one’s thoughts, emotions, behaviours and interactions with others, but also many other factors like standards of living, working conditions, and especially community support.
Here is a brief list of a few lesser-known mental health disorders:
| 1.) Fragile-X Syndrome |
| 2.) Internet Gaming Disorder |
| 3.) Anhedonia |
| 4.) Trichotillomania |
| 5.) Dependent Personality Disorder |
| 6.) Alice in the Wonderland Syndrome |
| 7.) Paris Syndrome |
| 8.) Peter Pan Syndrome |
| 9.) Diogenes Syndrome |
1.) Fragile-X Syndrome:
Fragile X Syndrome is one of the lesser-known mental health disorders and the most common genetic cause of intellectual disabilities. Disorders such as autism, speech delays, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and can even lead to seizures in 25% of the patients.
According to the Fragile X Society, India is trying to raise awareness about the condition, as the early diagnosis is important so that the child and the parents start therapy to deal with the challenges. – Hindustan Times.
2.) Internet Gaming Disorder:
Playing games can be very entertaining, and it may be easy to get absorbed in the competition, but can they be addictive? That is a question still being debated among researchers and health professionals.
Backed with research and accompanied by other conditions like social isolation, depression and lack of self-worth, evidence shows Internet gaming could be addictive and might cause significant impairment or distress in the long run.
3.) Anhedonia:
A constant feeling of lack of interest in doing anything. Anhedonia affects the individual at multiple levels. Their daily functioning, work-related performance, quality of personal relationships, overall quality of life of the individual.
Hence effective intervention for anhedonia will have a great impact on improving the quality of life of various individuals.
4.) Trichotillomania:
Also, know as hair-pulling disorder is one of the lesser-known mental health disorders. Trichotillomania is classified as a Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviour (BFRB), which is when an intense urge comes over the sufferer to start and repeat the behaviour. Other examples include nail biting and skin picking.
5.) Dependent Personality Disorder:
People with dependent personality disorder find it difficult to make decisions. They need constant assurance and decision-making support. It also accompanies anxiety and anxious personality disorder. As the inability to take decisions makes one anxious and fearful over things and situations, making it hard to comprehend for them.
6.) Alice in the Wonderland Syndrome:
One of the most fancy name for a lesser-known mental health disorder, isn’t it? This syndrome as the name suggests makes one delusional. It is often triggered by migraine, drug use or brain tumors. It is a neurological condition hampering a patient’s sense of body image, experiencing hallucinations, sensory distortion and an altered sense of velocity. The most prevalent one is altered body image- Patients are confused about the size and shape of parts of their own bodies.
7.) Paris Syndrome:
This is probably one of the most lesser-known mental health disorders and seemingly unbelievable mental-health issue you’ve never heard of — yet, it’s very real to the roughly 20 Japanese people who suffer from it every year.
It’s called Paris Syndrome and is considered a case of extreme culture shock experienced largely by Japanese people who travel to the city and are disappointed that it didn’t live up to their expectations.
8.) Peter Pan Syndrome:
Peter Pan Syndrome is a psychological condition that is used to describe an adult who is socially immature. People who develop similar behaviours of living life carefree, finding responsibilities challenging in adulthood, and basically never growing up suffer from PPS. If you see the signs, make sure you don’t become a Wendy to this Peter.
9) Diogenes Syndrome:
Last but not least in the list of lesser-known mental health disorders is Diogenes Syndrome. It is a behavioural disorder that mostly affects senior citizens. People with this type of disorder prefer staying isolated. Over the period they develop extreme hygiene issues and become too neglecting.
They hoard things and prefer staying in a dirty environment which makes it difficult to deal with for other family members.
To conclude, I would say, the more we talk about such disorders the more we raise awareness. I have collected these 9 lesser-known mental health disorders over the study of one week referring to several articles and case studies.
I hope you find it useful and spread awareness.
Love and light
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Priyanka is a published author of 26 Days 26 Ways for a Happier you, Ardhaviram and Broken & Beautiful. An NLP practitioner and Founder of Sanity Daily, helping you prioritize your mental health. Let’s build a happy community.
