What Physiological Disorder Do You Have?

Congratulations! You have none of the psychological disorders listed! Whatever you're doing keep it up!

You have bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorder gets its name from the fact that the person alternates between two "poles" along a continuum of emotion running from mania at one extreme to severe depression at the other. In most cases, the person cycles between these two extremes over a period of days, weeks, or months, with periods of apparent normality in between. During the manic phase the person exhibits agitation, an emotional high where everything seems possible, high energy with little apparent need for sleep, a flood of ideas coming one right after the other, and irrationality. During the depressive phase the opposite is evident: little energy, difficulty in initiating activity, slowed thought processes, serious depression. Irrationality is again present -- the person may believe that he or she has done some horrible thing for which they are being punished, for example.

You have Neurosis. Neurosis is characterized by anxiety, often as a result of inner conflict. The outward signs of anxiety may be hidden, however, as the person uses ego defenses to keep the anxiety under control.
person remains in good contact with reality (no irrational thought, delusions, or hallucinations). To reduce these unpleasant feelings, the ego might use defence mechanisms (conscious or unconscious blockage of the id impulses). Freud believed that conflicts between these two structures resulted in conflicts associated with psychosexual stages.

You have psychosis. Psychosis is characterized by a loss of contact with reality. The person may be delusional, have irrational beliefs that conflict with common sense, or suffer hallucinations. Although anxiety may be present (or not), it is not a characteristic of the disorder.

You have Hypochondriasis. You are probably more familiar with the label for the person: "hypochondriac." This is someone who is perpetually convinced that he or she has some dread disease which, if not treated promptly, is going to lead to their demise. If their own diagnosis is not confirmed by the doctor, hypochondriacs are likely to ask for a second opinion or to decide that, well, if it's not THIS, then surely it must be THAT. The disorder may be maintained by a strong fear of death, although being the center of attention and concern of physicians, friends, and others can provide its own source of motivation.

You have a type of dissociative disorder. There are three types. Dissociative amnesia is the loss of memory due to psychological factors as opposed to physical trauma to the brain. Dissociative fugue is when the person disappears, forgets their true identity and past, replacing them with an imaginary identity and past, and begins a new life in some other place, but is not conscious of having done these things. Dissociative identity disorder is when the person develops several alternate personalities, each of which seems like a normal person. The currently "active" personality may or may not have any awareness of what was happening when other personalities were active. This was once referred to as "multiple personality disorder".

You have schizophrenia. Although the term "schizophrenia means "split mind," it does not refer to the splitting of the personality into several functioning personality subtypes as in dissociative identity disorder. Rather, the term was intended to convey a splitting of the normally integrated cognitive/behavioral/emotional functioning of the brain. For example, a person may suddenly become emotionally agitated even though there is no apparent objective reason for this change. Some symptoms are hallucinations, disordered thought, attentional difficulties, word salad, delusions, and catatonia.