Explore straightforward guides to mental health conditions, from signs and symptoms to treatment options and everyday support.
Clear information. No judgment. A place to start.
Addiction can take hold in college through alcohol, drugs, nicotine, gambling or other compulsive patterns that keep going despite harm. Campus culture…
Adjustment disorders are mental health conditions that develop in response to an identifiable stressor or major life change. The emotional or behavioral…
College can expose ADHD symptoms that were easier to manage in a more structured environment. Adult ADHD affects attention, organization, impulse control…
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder involving intense fear and avoidance of situations where leaving might feel difficult, embarrassing or impossible, or where…
Alcohol use disorder, often shortened to AUD, is a medical condition in which a person has difficulty controlling alcohol use even when…
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological disease that damages brain cells and the connections between them. Over time, it affects memory, thinking,…
Amnesia means a significant loss of memory. It may affect memories from the past, the ability to form new memories after an…
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder involving persistent restriction, significantly low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight or behavior that prevents…
College can give anxiety plenty to work with: deadlines, relationships, money, uncertainty and constant evaluation. An anxiety disorder is more than being…
Attachment disorders are rare childhood mental health conditions that affect how a young child relates to caregivers after severe disruption in early…
Autism spectrum disorder is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that can affect communication, social interaction, sensory processing, routines and patterns of interest. College…
Binge-eating disorder involves recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food while feeling unable to control the eating, followed by significant…
Binge drinking is common enough on college campuses that it can be easy to mistake it for harmless tradition. It is a…
Bipolar disorder causes episodes of major changes in mood, energy and activity, including mania or hypomania and often depression. College schedules can…
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) causes intense preoccupation with perceived appearance flaws that seem minor or are not noticeable to others. College environments…
Borderline personality disorder, or BPD, is a mental health condition that affects emotion regulation, relationships and a person's sense of self. People…
Broken heart syndrome is a real heart condition in which part of the heart muscle temporarily becomes weak and changes shape. The…
Bulimia nervosa involves recurrent binge-eating episodes followed by compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, fasting or excessive exercise. Because many people with bulimia…
Child abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment that harm a child, create a threat of harm or fail to meet a…
Compulsive sexual behavior describes a persistent pattern of sexual urges, fantasies or behaviors that feel difficult to control and cause significant distress,…
Delirium is a sudden disturbance in attention and awareness that makes thinking confused or disorganized. It usually develops over hours or a…
Dementia is not one disease. It is a clinical term for a decline in cognitive abilities that is significant enough to interfere…
Depression can make college feel strangely far away even when you are still attending class. It may show up as sadness, numbness,…
Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions involving significant disruptions in memory, identity, emotion, perception, behavior or a person’s sense of self. Dissociation…
Down syndrome is a genetic condition caused by having an extra copy of chromosome 21, or extra genetic material from that chromosome.…
Drug addiction is a severe pattern of substance use in which seeking or using a drug becomes difficult to control even when…
Dyslexia is a reading-related learning disorder that can make word recognition, decoding, spelling and reading fluency unusually difficult. In college, high reading…
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that affect eating behavior, thoughts about food or body, and physical health. College can intensify…
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder in which a person has recurring seizures caused by abnormal bursts of electrical activity in the…
Factitious disorder is a mental health condition in which a person deliberately falsifies, exaggerates or induces physical or psychological signs and symptoms…
Female sexual dysfunction is a broad term for ongoing problems with desire, arousal, orgasm or sexual pain that cause distress. Occasional changes…
Gambling disorder is a mental health condition in which gambling becomes persistent, difficult to control and harmful. It is the behavioral addiction…
Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis used when a person experiences clinically significant distress or impairment related to incongruence between their experienced gender…
Generalized anxiety disorder can turn ordinary college responsibilities into a constant stream of what-ifs. The worry moves from grades to money to…
Major depressive disorder, often called clinical depression, is a diagnosable mood disorder that can change mood, sleep, concentration, energy, motivation and daily…
Mood disorders cause changes in mood that go beyond ordinary emotional ups and downs and begin to change sleep, energy, thinking, motivation…
Narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD, is a mental health condition involving a persistent pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and difficulty with…
Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological sleep disorder that causes severe daytime sleepiness and disrupted sleep. In college, symptoms can be mistaken for…
Nicotine dependence is an addiction to nicotine, the drug found in tobacco and in most e-cigarettes. In clinical language, a problematic pattern…
Nightmare disorder involves recurring disturbing dreams that cause significant distress, sleep disruption or daytime impairment. College stress, trauma, irregular sleep and some…
Obesity is a chronic disease in which excess body fat increases health risk. It develops through a complex interaction of biology, genetics,…
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes intrusive, unwanted thoughts, urges or images and repetitive behaviors or mental rituals that feel difficult to resist. College…
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a childhood mental health condition involving a persistent pattern of angry or irritable mood, argumentative or defiant…
A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear or discomfort that rises quickly and can make your body feel as…
Personality is the relatively consistent way a person tends to think, feel, respond and relate to others. Everyone has personality traits. A…
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after exposure to trauma and may cause intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in mood or beliefs,…
Postpartum depression is depression that develops after childbirth. It can lead to persistent sadness, anxiety, irritability, exhaustion, hopelessness and changes in sleep,…
Grief can be intense, disorienting and long-lasting without being a mental disorder. Prolonged grief disorder is evaluated and diagnosed when severe grief…
Schizoaffective disorder involves symptoms of psychosis along with major mood episodes such as mania or depression. Because symptoms can overlap with schizophrenia…
Schizoid personality disorder is a long-standing pattern of detachment from social relationships and limited outward expression of emotion. People with the disorder…
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that can affect perception, thinking, motivation and daily functioning. Symptoms often emerge in late adolescence or…
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a recurring seasonal pattern of depression, most often beginning in fall or winter and improving in spring.…
Self-injury means intentionally hurting your own body, often as a way to cope with overwhelming emotion, numbness or distress. It usually is…
Sleep problems are common in college, but chronic insomnia, breathing-related sleep problems, narcolepsy, parasomnias and other sleep disorders are not just the…
Sleep terrors are episodes of intense fear and arousal that occur during deep non-REM sleep, often with screaming, movement and little memory…
Social anxiety disorder is more than being shy or awkward. It is persistent fear of being judged, embarrassed or rejected, and college…
Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder that can involve repetitions, prolongations and blocks. College can make its social impact more visible through…
Suicidal thoughts are thoughts about ending your life or not wanting to be alive. They can range from passive thoughts such as…
Tourette syndrome is a neurological condition involving motor and vocal tics that begin in childhood. College can change tic patterns through stress,…
A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, occurs when an external force damages the brain or disrupts normal brain function. Falls, vehicle crashes,…
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