symptom checker mental
Symptoms of mental illness are plentiful; indeed, mental illness is far from a silent illness that just does its thing quietly in the background. Mental illness symptoms feel loud, obtrusive, disruptive, and emotionally and even physically painful. Even before full-blown symptoms of mental illness appear, there are early warning signs of mental illness that either the person or others around the person begin to notice.
Mental disorders have signs that are observable by other people, and they have symptoms that are experienced subjectively by the individual. Knowing the symptoms of mental illness helps people communicate with a mental health care professional so he or she can work with you to determine what is happening. (Types of Mental Health Doctors and How to Find One)
A Mental Illness Symptom Checker
A mental illness symptom checker is a list of some of the main symptoms associated with a given mental disorder. While symptom checkers can't diagnose, they can provide a list of symptoms as a tool for checking mental illness symptoms against a list of diagnostic criteria. For example, the HealthyPlace online psychological tests, act as a symptom checker.
Here is a list of some of the most common mental illness categories and their main symptoms (note that individual disorders within each category have their own specific symptoms. You can find a list of mental illnesses here.):
Anxiety disorders
- excessive worry and fear, either generalized or specific to a situation
- restlessness, feeling on edge or keyed up
- irritability
- difficulty concentrating
- sleep disturbances
- ruminations (recurring thoughts, worries, and fears)
- physical disturbances, such as heart palpitations, chest pain, sweating, shaking, respiratory problems, digestive problems, etc.) for which doctors can't find a medical explanation
(Find out what an anxiety disorder is, more details on anxiety disorder symptoms and see all anxiety disorder articles.)
Depressive disorders
- prolonged low/depressed/sad mood
- loss of interest in activities once enjoyed
- change in sleep patterns, either too much or too little
- fatigue
- weight gain or loss
- indecisiveness, problems with thinking and concentrating
- sense of worthlessness and hopelessness
- thoughts of dying
