Mental Health: What’s Normal and What’s Not?
Posted by Sylvia on March 20th, 2007
Does anyone truly know what’s normal and what isn’t? It’s a fine line that has become blurred even for scientists.
The fear a large number of us experience when we have to make a speech in front of an audience is, for the most part, just nervousness that we’d expect under such circumstances. If that same fear keeps us from many other social settings as well, it is not normal.
The majority of us experience ‘the blues’ at some point in our lives. It’s natural to feel sad when bad things happen and make us unhappy. When ‘the blues’ don’t go away and all interests are abandoned, it has become depression.
Experiencing anxiety when we feel threatened is a natural reaction to a stressful event. We can’t help ourselves. It’s our body’s way of defending itself from dangers. Feeling anxious for no apparent reason means we are suffering from more than normal fear.
But at what point do they become abnormal? When do we cross that blurred line? How do we know we’ve crossed it?
The problem scientists and researchers face is that there is no quick test to identify when that line has been crossed. Abnormal mental health doesn’t show up on X-rays and blood tests.
It’s even more difficult to recognize because what’s normal is often defined by our cultural expectations, our background and our upbringing.
There are some areas medical experts look at when making the determination.
Your Self Perceptions:
How you judge and evaluate your own perceptions, how you think, act and feel, can give them a clue to your condition. You might think they are normal, but others around you might think otherwise. You might see nothing wrong if you ignore your own hygiene for days at a time, although it could mean you are suffering from depression. You might recognize that you’re no longer able to cope but you cannot put your finger on what’s wrong.
Unfortunately, we aren’t always able to identify our own personality changes. That’s where other people can help.
The Perception by Others:
Your family members might have slowly become accustomed to your gradual shift in personality and behavior patterns and therefore the changes aren’t so obvious to them. Whereas someone outside the family can provide a fresh view of the situation and can often identify problems that are affecting you. This is where the doctor or therapist comes in.
Cultural Views:
Some cultures have views that are different from what’s normal to the rest of society, as in Asian cultures vs western cultures. While it might be normal in one culture for women to play the submissive role, in western culture it could be viewed as abnormal for a woman not to show her self-esteem and independence – to assert herself. In religious groups, it might be normal to talk to oneself, whereas in western culture this could be considered a form of schizophrenia.
There is also a statistical method that is used to determine normality based on what’s statistically average among the rest of the population.
The significance of your symptoms can be determined by asking a few questions:
- How long have you had these symptoms? If they’ve lasted more than a few weeks to a month, then you are probably having more than a temporary condition.
- How severe are your symptoms? If they’ve interfered with your normal routine for an extended time, you shouldn’t let it continue or your condition could worsen.
- How upsetting are your symptoms? In the case of anxiety, if fear prevents you from leaving the house, it’s time to seek help. If your sadness has you feeling like life isn’t worth living, it’s likely you are suffering from depression.
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