Each illness has its
own symptoms, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can
include the following:
- 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
- Prolonged
or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding
friends and social activities
- Difficulties
understanding or relating to other people
- Changes
in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
- Changes
in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
- Changes
in sex drive
- Difficulty
perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person
experiences and senses things that don't exist in objective reality)
- Inability
to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack
of insight” )
- Abuse of
substances like alcohol or drugs
- Multiple
physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach
aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
- Thinking
about suicide
- Inability
to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
- An
intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance
Symptoms in children may include the following:
- Changes in school performance
- Excessive worry or anxiety,
for instance fighting to avoid bed or school
- Hyperactive behavior
- Frequent nightmares
- Frequent disobedience or
aggression
- Frequent temper tantrums
Because
they’re still learning how to identify and talk about thoughts and emotions,
their most obvious symptoms are behavioral.
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