Mental Illness Symptoms Checklist

Mental illness indicates varieties of mental health conditions in individuals. These disorders cause adverse effect to one’s mood, behavior and thinking. Major examples of mental illness are anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, addictive behaviors and schizophrenia.

Most of the individuals deal with mental health concerns depending on specific period. However, any mental health concern converts to mental illness in case ongoing signs and symptoms result in frequent stress and affect a person’s ability to perform daily activities properly.

Mental illness makes a person miserable and it causes further problems in the daily life, which include work or school life and in relationships. In most of the cases, patients may manage symptoms with combination of essential medicines and by undergoing psychotherapy or talk therapy treatment.¹

Signs and symptoms associated with mental illness may vary largely depending primarily on the specific type of mental illness, along with underlying circumstances and other essential factors. Accordingly, symptoms of mental illness may affect your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Thus, based on broad classifications, signs and symptoms associated with mental illness may be of two different types, which include-

• Feeling down or sad
• Confusion in thinking or reduction in your ability towards concentration
• Excessive worries or feats, along with extreme guilty feelings
• Extreme mood swings in between lows and highs
• Withdrawal from regular activities and from friends
• Problems in sleeping
• Excessive tiredness and low energy levels
• Detachment from delusions/reality, hallucinations and paranoia
• Inability to manage your stress or cope up with your daily problems
• Difficulty in understanding anything or any individual’s perception
• Difficulty to relate to different situations and other people
• Abuse to drug or alcohol
• Big changes in the daily eating habits
• Changes in sexual drive
• Excessive hostility, anger and violence
• Thinking to commit suicide.²

In some cases, a patient may experience a few common physical symptoms related to mental illness. These include-

• Back pain
• Stomach pain
• Headache
• Unexplained pains and aches
• Malnutrition
• Unusual weight loss
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Loss of libido
• Fatigue and
• Amenorrhea³

Other than the aforementioned signs and symptoms of mental illness (both emotional and physical), you have to stay aware with certain factors, which trigger or increase the risk related to developing your mental health problems. These are as follows-

• Any blood relative, like your sibling or either of your parents has mental illness
• You are in stressful situations in your life, like death of your loved one, financial problems or divorce.
• Diabetes or any other type of ongoing/chronic medical condition
• Brain damage caused due to any severe or traumatic brain injury, including violent blow to your head.
• Assault or military combat and any other similar type of traumatic experience you face
• Usage of alcohol or any other recreational drug
• Child neglect or child abuse
• Individuals with only few friends or limited number of healthy relationships
• Mental illness in the past⁴

Mental illness is one among the common problems, as 1 among 5 adults suffers from it at any given year. Even the problem may start during any age, whether from one’s childhood or later on, during adult years. However, most of these problems start early in one’s life, while mental illness effects may be long lasting or temporary.

Even one can experience two or more than two different types of mental illnesses simultaneously. For instance, one can suffer from substance usage disorder and depression at the same time. Considering this fact, it is essential for a person and his/her family member to identify the symptoms in advance to follow proper precautions and prevention methods.

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Also Read:

• Is IBS a Mental Illness & What is the Link Between the Two?
• Are Mental Illnesses Hereditary?