mental illness
noun
variants
or mental disorder
or less commonly mental disease
: any of a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked distress or disability and that are typically associated with a disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning
mentally ill
adjective
Examples of mental illness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That's despite the fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 23.1 percent of U.S. adults, or 59.3 million people in 2022, live with some form of mental illness.
—
Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024
As his behavior increasingly grows erratic, Curtis struggles with whether his warnings of an impending disaster are genuine or the onset of mental illness.
—Travis Bean, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Breed was tasked with getting the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with a surge of drug overdose deaths, rampant homelessness, untreated mental illness, the racial justice protests of 2020, a rise in retail theft, and the collapse of the downtown area’s economy.
—Barnini Chakraborty, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 13 Dec. 2024
Responding to people with behavioral health disabilities The 2023 DOJ investigation found nearly a quarter of all use-of-force incidents involved people experiencing a behavioral health crisis or had other signs of mental illness.
—Connor Giffin, The Courier-Journal, 13 Dec. 2024
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Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024
As his behavior increasingly grows erratic, Curtis struggles with whether his warnings of an impending disaster are genuine or the onset of mental illness.
—Travis Bean, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Breed was tasked with getting the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with a surge of drug overdose deaths, rampant homelessness, untreated mental illness, the racial justice protests of 2020, a rise in retail theft, and the collapse of the downtown area’s economy.
—Barnini Chakraborty, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 13 Dec. 2024
Responding to people with behavioral health disabilities The 2023 DOJ investigation found nearly a quarter of all use-of-force incidents involved people experiencing a behavioral health crisis or had other signs of mental illness.
—Connor Giffin, The Courier-Journal, 13 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mental illness
Dictionary Entries Near mental illness
Cite this Entry
“Mental illness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mental%20illness. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
mental illness
noun
variants
or mental disorder
also mental disease
: any of a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked distress or disability and that are typically associated with a disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning
Some homeless families are also hindered by substance abuse and mental illness.—Ellen L. Bassuk, Scientific American
Ellen L. Bassuk, Scientific AmericanCatatonia is usually an expression of mental disorders like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but it could also come from other medical problems, such as a brain tumor.—Forrest Wickman, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Forrest Wickman, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette… mental diseases such as schizophrenia and manic depression may either involve more than one gene or may result from a complex mix of genetic predisposition and environmental rotten luck.—Natalie Angier, The New York Times Book Review
Natalie Angier, The New York Times Book Review
mentally ill
adjective
mentally ill patients
Mental health workers … perform a wide variety of therapeutic, supportive, and preventative functions for persons who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
—Barbara M. Swanson, Careers in Health Care
Barbara M. Swanson, Careers in Health Care
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