is there anyway to know if youre mentally ill or have a chemical imbalance and if so which is better?

Answer 1

Doctors believe that having an improper amount of brain chemicals causes mental illness so a chemical imbalance and a mental illness is usually the same thing. There is no medical test to determine wheather someone is mentally ill, so doctors judge by symptoms.

Here are three illnesses and some common symptoms:

Depression:

Persistant feelings of sadness, worthlessness or guilt
Thoughts of suicide
Lack of intrest in activities that were previously thought to be fun.

Bipolar (Manic Depressive)
The mood of a person with bipolar goes between two extremes: deep depression, and strong excitement or joy. So they would have the symptoms listed above for depression, but would also have times of "mania" with symptoms like these:

an extremely "high" or euphoric state (without the use of drugs)
Rapid thoughts
irresponsible behavior, like wild spending sprees
insomnia

Schitzophrenia
Hearing voices
Seeing things that are not there
Believing things that are not true
lack of interest in making friends
lack of inititive

What I've listed is not an exaustive list, but it is some of the more common, major symptoms. Doctors have clinically proven that certain prescription medications alleviate or reduce the severaity of these symptoms. If you are experiencing these symptoms, talk to your doctor about what could help you. Having a mental illness is like having poor eyesight; it doesen't mean you are a second-class citizen nor stupid, you just need some medicine to banance the chemicals in your brain like someone who wears glasses needs glasses. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Mental illness IS a chemical imbalance.

The only way to really know what you're suffering from is to see a psychiatrist so you can be properly diagnosed.

Btw, having a mental illness is not the end of the world. 8 of 10 ppl suffer from SOMETHING & there are a large number of medications to treat most things.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

A chemical imbalance can generally be treated with medications much more easily than a mental illness. If you're concerned, share those concerns with your physician... he will order some bloodwork and you'll either be relieved or concerned.

Answer 4

well i would rather have a chemical imbalance coz u can fix that! yes the doctors should be able to run tests that say if u have a chemical imbalance or not.