How do people know if they are mentally ill or just hormonal?
How does someone know if they are mentally ill?
Are the wild rushes of emotion just hormones or symptoms of something greater? Is the fear of not knowing what one is going to do next normal? Are the thoughts that seep into ones mind just a phase of adolscence?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjTIlCvbB6A
Maybe you could go to the doctor and get a professional opinion. I’d go to a female doctor.
But, it sounds to me like PMS…I had it so bad I thought I was losing my mind. I finally learned to recognize the feelings and tell myself it was just PMS and to remember that as I went through the day feeling like I was nuts. PMS can be really AWFUL, but it will eventually go away.
This is a tough one. There are a lot of poor young people out there who are too hastily told something is “wrong” with them just because they are overly emotional and question what the purpose of life is– obsess over their future– etc. These things are incredibly normal.
Actual mental illness usually surfaces during the late teens to mid twenties, and is generally characterized by severe change in their behavior and attitude. Things like clinical depression are really hazy and have no definition, but they will severely hinder your ability to be a functional person.
I guess there are two main measures. Degree of deviation for the norm for the demographic (age, sex, etc). Think of a bell curve. Mental illness is the legs, so there’s lot’s of room for differences. The other is degree of functional impairment. This is probably more practical since ppl are not very good at comparing themselves to a broad group objectively.
If you are a teen, most likely hormones explains it. If the rushes follow your cycle, that probably is the explanation regardless of age. Ppl think all types of things. Acting them out is a different story. Thoughts change as ppl grow older, so having them change throughout adolescence is not terribly unusual. All that said, if you seriously question what’s up with you, talk to your doctor or make an appt with a psychologist for an evaluation.