disturbed
adjective/dɪˈstɜːbd/
/dɪˈstɜːrbd/
- mentally ill, especially because of very unhappy or unpleasant experiences
- a special school for emotionally disturbed children
- His behaviour is deeply disturbed.
Which Word? Talking about mental healthTalking about mental health- Do not use the words mad or crazy to describe somebody who has a mental illness. You can say that somebody has a mental illness, has mental health issues/problems or is mentally ill:
- I have experienced mental health issues since the age of 14.
- The pressure made her mentally ill.
- I have an anxiety disorder.
- He had a psychotic episode.
- Disturbed can be used to describe somebody who has problems with mental health because of very unhappy or unpleasant experiences:
- He works with emotionally disturbed children.
- Insane is a formal or old-fashioned term used in the past to describe somebody with a serious mental illness. It can now be offensive, although it still has a technical use in law meaning that somebody is not able to understand that their own actions are wrong or not able to understand a trial process:
- The question is, was the man insane when he committed the crime?
Extra Examples- Many of our patients are severely disturbed.
- Some of the people on the ward are very disturbed.
- Their father seems to be seriously disturbed.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- become
- …
- deeply
- highly
- seriously
- …
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- unhappy and full of bad or horrible experiences
- The killer had a disturbed family background.
- very anxious and unhappy about something
- I was deeply disturbed and depressed by the news.
- I felt vaguely disturbed by the incident.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- feel
- become
- …
- deeply
- greatly
- profoundly
- …
- by
compare undisturbed
Check pronunciation:
disturbed