Top 10 Most Terrifying Mental Illnesses

The Top Ten
1 Schizophrenia

Even as someone who doesn't have schizophrenia, reading about the experiences that people with the disorder have endured is extremely scary, almost like you're having a nightmare while awake.

I have this. It's horrible to live with. But I feel like I can't take medicine to get rid of my delusions. They're mean, but I have to do what they say.

Psych meds must be key at all times to deal with people like this. Once they're off it, the mental mind games get really tedious and frustrating.

2 Borderline Personality Disorder

It's terrifying. You feel like a constant danger to yourself and others, always leaving emotional and mental pain in your wake. One day you may love someone, the next you may wish them out of your life, and then beg them to return from fear of abandonment.

I have this, and it's awful. I am genuinely scared for myself and others, and my emotions can be so strong that there is no way to let them out.

Hitler was most likely bipolar, along with being paranoid and delusional.

3 Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
4 Bipolar Disorder

You're not bipolar because you have small mood swings. Your weather is not bipolar. When you're in a very bad depressive state, it's the worst. Manic can feel good at times, but it's hard too. You can't slow down no matter how much people tell you to. You can't sleep, and everyone and everything irritates you. Then you crash into a dark depression, and the paranoia and hallucinations are so scary.

5 Depression

I've kind of gotten used to being depressed. I don't know if I'll ever be how I was before. And in a way, I don't want to.

A lot of people suffer from depression.

6 Anxiety Disorder

This is by far one of the most terrifying mental illnesses. I have had it almost my whole life, and it's made doing simple things, such as talking to others, a living hell for me. I am constantly afraid of failing tests, being bullied, dying, etc. Sometimes, I stay up all night crying and shaking so hard that I can't breathe. Anxiety is no joke. No one deserves to go through it.

I can't believe it is so low on the list. Not only do people have to live with this, but they have almost no control over it. I am a 15-year-old with this problem, and I am scared to do anything because I think people would always judge me. When I talked to my dad about this, he said to "suck it up, you are probably overexaggerating." From then on, I didn't know what to do and thought everyone was as scared as I am.

7 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

I suffer from OCD, and it's a living nightmare. I have literally zero control over my thoughts. In most cases, the worst possible thought appears in my head. I also have a terrible obsession with numbers. I won't do anything in 2s, 5s, 6s, or 8s. I don't know how the numbers came up, but each one is associated with a different disastrous event that my brain thinks will occur if I do anything in these numbers.

I also have a tendency to knock on wood if literally anything unsettling comes into my mind. For example, if I see one of those smoking commercials with people who have holes in their necks, I will knock on wood because my brain thinks I will get one if I don't. I've done a great job hiding this, but again, I am not a very social person, so no one has gotten close enough to really know about it.

8 Dissociative Identity Disorder

I have to live with it, and I have no control over my life! This disorder, also known as "Dissociative Identity Disorder," often occurs when you are traumatized. Yes, it's real!

Otherwise known as dissociative identity disorder. It truly sounds awful and so difficult to explain to new people.

9 Dementia
10 Illness Anxiety Disorder

Imagine living in constant fear of dying from illness or injury. This isn't just ordinary everyday fear that people can put to one side and ignore. This is continual and terrifying. You notice a small bodily symptom, and your mind inflates it until it's stage 5 deadly cancer, and you're about to die. But you're too scared to go to the doctor in case they confirm your fears because you'd rather not know either way than have it confirmed for you. Hypochondria should at least be in the top 10.

The Contenders
11 Alien Hand Syndrome

I have this - or at least I suspect I do. My hand once randomly went up and took off my headphones. It has also slapped me and pulled on my shirt, causing the oxygen flow to stop. Thankfully, it only lasted for a second. It's either ALS or this. Sadly, it's in both hands.

12 Wendigo Psychosis

I've seen this before. It wasn't so bad until I saw these birds circling around someone. Geez, they were like waiting.

13 Paranoia
14 Pedophilic Disorder

This disorder causes adults to take a sexual interest in prepubescent children and fantasize about sex with them. Thankfully, there are treatments and therapy that can help keep it under control and reduce the likelihood of them acting on these urges.

It is important to note that not all child molesters are pedophiles, and not all pedophiles are child molesters. As long as someone does not act on their fantasies, they are not a child molester.

Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for this horrible disorder.

15 Alzheimer's Disease
16 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
17 Cotard Delusion

This is also known as walking corpse syndrome. Here is some insight: Anyone with this believes they are a dead corpse, walking like a zombie. They think they died and are rotting away. This can cause people to die of starvation or dehydration. They usually root into this by having depression and suicidal thoughts.

18 Capgras Delusion

Capgras syndrome is an uncommon type of delusional disorder. It is characterized by intense, unwavering feelings that a close friend or family member has been replaced by an identical impostor. A sufferer recognizes the face and behavior of the loved one but is convinced that he or she is a double.

19 Stockholm Syndrome
20 Panic Disorder

Panic attacks, especially multiple attacks a day, are the worst. A panic attack feels almost exactly like a heart attack: the sweating, tingling in arms, heavy feeling in my chest, nausea, and hyperventilating until my vision becomes almost black. It's horrible.

Panic attacks are absolutely terrifying.

21 Boanthropy
22 Kluver-Bucy Syndrome
23 Social Anxiety Disorder

Stuttering is stumbling over words. It is frustrating and embarrassing enough, but Social Anxiety Disorder with Stuttering is stumbling over words while being afraid to talk. It is much more impairing. - Mark Irwin (Chair of IFA's Self Help and Advocacy Committee)

24 Misophonia
25 Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder
8Load More
PSearch List