An In-Depth Look at Undiagnosed Mental Illness

February 2025

By Natalia Yanez, Staff Reporter

Mental illness is any disorder that can affect some person’s mood, thinking, and behaviors. Mental illness is considered a real mental condition like a heart disease, but they are still often undiagnosed. In fact, 76-85% of serious mental disorders go undiagnosed in mostly low- and middle-income countries.

Why do mental illnesses go undiagnosed?

There are factors into why people are left undiagnosed. For example, the article called “ If Health is Wealth, Why Do So Many Ignore Mental Health?” It states, “Part of the reason mental health is often ignored is because there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness. For many people, mental illness is seen as a sign of weakness. There’s a belief that if you can’t “just snap out of it,” then there’s something wrong with you.” This shows how people sometimes unconsciously have a bias against people who have a mental health problem. Either the group have these biases by learned experiences from their guardian or how the media portray characters with mental disorder.

What mental disorders are undiagnosed?

Turns out that maybe at least five mental health conditions that are severely undiagnosed and are mostly common enough that people can already know about. In the article called “5 Mental Health Conditions That Are Way Underdiagnosed” it states, “Depression may be one of the most common mental health conditions, affecting an estimated 264 million people worldwide, but experts still warn it is under-recognized and under-treated. WHO states that up to 85% of people in middle- and low-income countries do not get treatment for depression. Here in the U.S., estimates suggest that only about half of people with depression get the treatment they need.” It also states, “Some bipolar disorder symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses, which can make it challenging for a healthcare provider to make a diagnosis,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. These mental health conditions are the top 2 that get undiagnosed because of how bipolar disorder one can get mistaken for another disorder like depression. And depression are left untreated.

What happens to the people who go undiagnosed?

Most of the time people with undiagnosed mental illnesses will suffer a lot until it may come as a severe case of the person committing suicide. In the passage called “About Mental Health” it states, “Without treatment, the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering. Untreated mental health conditions can result in unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, and suicide, and poor quality of life.”

What would help solve the issue of undiagnosed mental illnesses?

To start off by making some mental conditions undiagnosed is probably best for people to know basic knowledge of symptoms of a mental health condition. If a person thinks they need an evaluation, then they should do it with a mental health professional. Every person is different so that means even if a group of people have the same mental health problem they can vary. So it’s best people realize that understanding the mental health condition is helpful to know the person varying of their symptoms.