Many people wonder if they have a mental disorder. Mental illness is diagnosed when your thoughts or feelings cause a significant impairment in some realm of your life, such as your ability to maintain friendships, hold a job, manage a household or have an intimate relationship. It may also be diagnosed based on severe internal symptoms, such as prolonged and extreme sadness, anger or fear. If you have any of the following symptoms of mental disorder, seek mental health care. Medications, treatments and counseling are available.
Profound Sadness
Various mental illnesses can leave you feeling sad and hopeless. You may consider suicide or feel preoccupied with death. You may also be mentally ill if you consistently feel no emotion in situations when others do. Alternatively, you may feel overwhelmed by life's changes and ill-equipped to cope with demands placed on you.
Anger
If you are unable to control your anger, you may be mentally ill. Verbally or physically abusing others indicates that you need to make major changes in your life; this often begins with talking with a therapist. You may be mean to others without remorse. Alternatively, you may not think you are hurting others, but are often told that you are.
Obsession
You may be obsessed with keeping things orderly or performing a particular action over and over. If mentally ill, you may become obsessed with someone you know or a stranger. Pornography is another common obsession. Obsession may take the form of addiction, such as sexual addiction.
Paranoia
Mental illness may make you feel suspicious of others. You may suspect your family, neighbors, co-workers or the government of being out to get you in some manner. If you are afraid to eat food prepared by others or feel that people are constantly watching you, you may be suffering from paranoia.
Extreme Fear
You may be extremely fearful about the future and dread each day. You may be afraid of the dark, of enclosed spaces, of open spaces or of talking to other people. You may be unable to walk outside of your home. You may be very fearful about your health and think you are about to die.
Confusion
If you often feel confused, you may be mentally ill. You may find yourself in circumstances in which you aren't sure how you got there or you may consistently forget important things.
Grandiosity
If you feel that you are more privileged than others or have special powers, you may have a mental disorder. You may think you have mental control of others or that you are actually from a different planet or a different century.
Peculiar Behavior
It is hard to know if your behavior is peculiar, but if you are often told by different people that you are acting oddly, you may have a mental disorder. This can be the case if you have an inability to make friends despite attempting to or if you cannot find or keep a job.
Substance Abuse
Mental Health America explains that drug or alcohol abuse may be indicative of mental illness. This also applies to alcoholism and drug addiction. Addiction may be the root problem or you may use these substances to cope with another mental illness.
Physical Complaints
The Mayo Clinic explains that having frequent physical complaints such as back pain, chest pain, dizziness or stomach problems without medical diagnosis may be indicative of a mental disorder. This may involve multiple complaints of pain or discomfort in one area, such as a chronic backache, or it may involve a variety of health complaints, such as a headache one day and a stomachache the next.
Hallucinations
Other signs of mental illness include seeing things or hearing things that others say they do not see or hear. You may hear a voice that tells you to do things or distrust people around you. The voice may mock you or it may seem to be wanting to guide you.
