- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
Because we are all unique, there’s no perfect checklist to look at when trying to figure out if you or someone you love may be experiencing mental illness. Each illness has its own symptoms as well, some of which may overlap with other conditions. It may not be a foolproof list, but here are some common symptoms and warning signs:
- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
- Difficulties invunderstanding or relating to other people
- Thinking about suicide
- Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
- Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack of insight” or anosognosia)
- Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding friends and social activities
- Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don't exist in objective reality)
This list is just a fraction of possible symptoms one can experience when experiencing mental illness, but it’s a good starting point to see if you or someone you love may have had some unexpected neighbors move into their mind.
