Conditions and diagnoses
Plain-language explanations of what a diagnosis means, how it is assessed, and what the evidence actually supports.
Anxiety
Explainer
Anxiety disorders: NIMH overview
Generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety, and phobias: what they are, how they differ, and what works.
10 min read
Explainer
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: NIMH overview
What OCD is, how it presents beyond the stereotypes, and why exposure-based therapy is the first-line treatment.
8 min read
Explainer
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
Patient-facing education, a clinician directory, and self-screening tools for anxiety, depression, and OCD.
5 min read
Explainer
Panic disorder: NIMH overview
Panic attacks, panic disorder, and the cognitive-behavioral treatments with the strongest evidence.
7 min read
Explainer
Social anxiety disorder: NIMH overview
Beyond shyness: what social anxiety disorder is, how it differs from introversion, and what helps.
7 min read
Explainer
Generalized anxiety disorder: NIMH overview
GAD distinguished from everyday worry, and the treatments that change its course.
7 min read
Explainer
Selective mutism: Child Mind Institute guide
A childhood anxiety disorder in which a child speaks freely in some places but cannot speak in others, often mistaken for shyness or defiance.
6 min read
Mood and depression
Explainer
Depression: NIMH plain-language overview
Symptoms, types, treatments, and what current evidence supports: written for the general public by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.
12 min read
Explainer
Bipolar disorder: NIMH overview
Bipolar I, II, and cyclothymia: the diagnostic distinctions, the mood-episode shapes, and the treatment scaffolding that holds them.
10 min read
Explainer
Mind UK: A-Z of mental health problems
Mind's UK-focused condition library, written in plain English with rights and treatment information.
varies read
Explainer
NAMI: Mental Health Conditions library
Plain-language overviews of every major condition, written for patients and families.
varies read
Explainer
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
Peer-led support groups and education for people living with mood disorders.
5 min read
Explainer
Grief: what's normal, what's complicated, and where to find help
Grief, prolonged grief disorder, and the resources that exist for both.
7 min read
Explainer
Bipolar I, II, and cyclothymia: what the distinctions actually mean
DBSA's plain-language breakdown of the bipolar spectrum, written by and for people who live with it.
8 min read
Explainer
Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia): the quiet, durable kind
What it means when low mood stops feeling like an episode and starts feeling like weather.
7 min read
Explainer
Seasonal affective disorder: NIMH overview
Why depression that arrives with the dark months is a distinct pattern, and what the evidence actually says about light therapy.
6 min read
Explainer
PMDD: premenstrual dysphoric disorder, by the people who study it
IAPMD's overview of a hormone-sensitive mood condition that is widely under-recognized and frequently misdiagnosed.
8 min read
Explainer
Adjustment disorders: when the situation is the diagnosis
A short, time-bound diagnosis for distress that is proportional to a real stressor but disabling in scale.
6 min read
Explainer
Gender dysphoria and gender-affirming care
WPATH's Standards of Care v8: the international clinical consensus on gender-affirming care across the lifespan.
12 min read
Explainer
Chronic pain and mental health
The International Association for the Study of Pain on how chronic pain and mental illness affect each other.
9 min read
Explainer
Long COVID: cognitive and mental health effects
CDC's overview of the neurological and mental health dimensions of long COVID, including 'brain fog' and post-infectious depression.
7 min read
Explainer
Late-life depression and dementia-adjacent mental health
The Alzheimer's Association on the overlap between depression, mild cognitive impairment, and the dementias, and why distinguishing them matters.
9 min read
Trauma and OCD
Explainer
PTSD: NIMH overview
Post-traumatic stress disorder beyond combat: how it forms, how it presents, and what treatments are best evidenced.
9 min read
Explainer
International OCD Foundation
The standard U.S. provider directory and explainer library for OCD and related disorders.
5 min read
Explainer
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: National Center for PTSD
The most comprehensive evidence-based PTSD resource in the U.S., open to everyone: not just veterans.
8 min read
Explainer
Dissociative disorders: Mind UK overview
Dissociation, depersonalization, derealization, and dissociative identity: what they are and what helps.
9 min read
Explainer
Hoarding disorder: IOCDF overview
Hoarding as a distinct condition, with its own diagnostic frame and treatment evidence.
7 min read
Explainer
Trichotillomania and body-focused repetitive behaviors: TLC Foundation
Hair-pulling, skin-picking, and related BFRBs: what they are and what helps.
6 min read
Explainer
Dissociative disorders: the ISSTD public overview
What dissociation is, what it isn't, and how clinicians who specialize in it think about treatment.
10 min read
Explainer
Functional neurological disorder: neurology's interface with mental health
FND Society's plain-language overview of a condition that crosses the neuro/psych boundary and is poorly served by it.
9 min read
Explainer
Body dysmorphic disorder: IOCDF overview
BDD is in the OCD family, not the eating-disorder family, and the treatment implications are real.
7 min read
Explainer
Hoarding disorder: IOCDF overview
A condition that is widely caricatured, frequently criminalized, and rarely treated well.
8 min read
Explainer
Complex PTSD: the prolonged-trauma presentation
PTSD UK's plain-language explainer on CPTSD, the ICD-11 diagnosis for trauma that is sustained and inescapable.
9 min read
Psychosis and serious illness
Explainer
Schizophrenia: NIMH overview
What schizophrenia is, what it isn't, and what current treatment looks like.
11 min read
Explainer
Borderline personality disorder: NIMH overview
What BPD is, what current treatment looks like, and why the prognosis is better than the stigma suggests.
9 min read
Explainer
Schizoaffective disorder: at the seam of psychosis and mood
NAMI on a diagnosis that is often missed, often contested, and often treated as a moving target.
7 min read
Neurodivergence
Explainer
ADHD: NIMH overview
Childhood and adult ADHD, the diagnostic process, and what current treatment guidelines recommend.
10 min read
Explainer
CHADD: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
The U.S. patient-advocacy organisation for ADHD across the lifespan.
5 min read
Explainer
Autism spectrum disorder: NIMH overview
ASD across the lifespan: how it is identified, how it co-occurs with mental health conditions, and what support looks like.
10 min read
Explainer
Tourette syndrome: Tourette Association of America
TS as a neurological condition with strong mental health comorbidity, and the behavioral treatments that help.
6 min read
Explainer
Tic disorders and Tourette syndrome
The Tourette Association's overview of a neurodevelopmental condition that is often diagnosed late and treated reflexively.
8 min read
Explainer
Autism in adults: AANE on the late-recognized presentation
What autism looks like in adults, why it is so often missed, and what an evaluation actually involves.
10 min read
Substance use
Explainer
Substance use disorders: SAMHSA overview
What substance use disorders are, how they are diagnosed, and the treatments with the strongest evidence.
9 min read
Explainer
Alcohol use disorder: NIAAA overview
AUD on a spectrum, the medications most clinicians do not prescribe, and how to find help.
9 min read
Explainer
Opioid use disorder: NIDA overview
OUD, medications for opioid use disorder, and why MOUD remains the standard of care.
9 min read
Explainer
Problem gambling: National Council on Problem Gambling
Gambling disorder as a recognized behavioral addiction, with a national helpline and treatment directory.
5 min read
Explainer
Behavioral addictions: gambling, gaming, and compulsive sexual behavior
The National Council on Problem Gambling on the addiction patterns that don't involve a substance.
8 min read
Directory
Faces & Voices of Recovery
A national network of recovery community organizations led by people in recovery themselves.
4 min read
Sleep and everyday habits
Explainer
Eating disorders: NIMH overview
Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and ARFID: the diagnostic distinctions and what evidence-based treatment looks like.
9 min read
Explainer
National Alliance for Eating Disorders
Helpline, treatment directory, and free support groups for U.S. eating disorder care.
5 min read
Explainer
Insomnia disorder: Sleep Foundation overview
Insomnia distinguished from poor sleep, and why CBT-I is first-line.
7 min read
Explainer
Binge eating disorder: Alliance for Eating Disorders
BED as the most common eating disorder in the U.S., and the treatments most people are never offered.
7 min read
Explainer
ARFID: Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
ARFID distinguished from picky eating and anorexia, and the treatments that are emerging.
6 min read
Getting care
Explainer
WHO: Mental disorders fact sheet
The World Health Organization's standing summary of prevalence, treatment, and policy on mental disorders globally.
8 min read
Explainer
CDC: Mental Health hub
U.S. national mental health surveillance data, prevention frameworks, and public health resources.
6 min read
Explainer
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
An independent funder of mental health research with a public-facing science library.
5 min read
Explainer
A glossary of mental health and clinical terms
The APA Dictionary of Psychology: the standard free reference for definitions of clinical and research terms.
4 min read
Explainer
Stigma-aware language: a working guide
The APA Inclusive Language Guide and the National Center on Disability and Journalism's style guide on the words that matter and the ones that don't.
7 min read
Explainer
How to read a health study
Cochrane's free course for anyone who wants to judge health research on their own.
8 min read
Family and relationships
Explainer
Postpartum Support International
Helpline, provider directory, and support groups for perinatal mental health.
4 min read
Explainer
Postpartum psychosis: Action on Postpartum Psychosis
A rare, serious, medical emergency in the weeks after birth, and the support network for women and families who have been through it.
6 min read
Explainer
Perimenopause, menopause, and mental health
The Menopause Society on the mood, sleep, and cognitive changes of the menopausal transition, and what helps.
9 min read
Explainer
Postpartum psychosis: a medical emergency, not 'baby blues'
Postpartum Support International's primer on the rarest and most acute of the perinatal mood conditions.
7 min read
Explainer
MotherToBaby: medications and pregnancy / breastfeeding
Free, evidence-based answers about specific medications, illnesses, and exposures during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
4 min read