There are no precise guidelines for the layman to define "normal" or "abnormal", "emotionally healthy" or "emotionally ill" or even "mentally healthy" or "mentally ill. Contemporary psychiatrists and psychologists added the following to Freud's original response. "A normal person should also be able to play, to see the people and things around him without distortion, to be able to live relatively free from pain and to be able to obtain a good deal of satisfaction from life."
In contrast, an emotionally or mentally ill person may feel undue and long-lasting distress. He may be limited in function and unable to work to the best of his abilities. He may be unable to interact with other people adequately, whether within a relationship or not. He may misunderstand or misinterpret the words or actions of people around him, seeing hostility for example where really friendship, or at the least neutrality exists. He may be unable to relax and obtain pleasure from activities and play. Accomplishments, small or large, may bring no satisfaction. Feeling himself to be unworthy and unloved, he may show suspicion of the motives of anyone who tries to befriend him.
Warning Signs of Mental Distress
If you or someone you know exhibits any of the following signs it is an indication that a professional opinion should be sought. Any one of them may, or may not be, evidence of psychological disorder, and requires diagnoses and treatment (if required). Recognition of these warning signs and prompt referral to an appropriate mental health worker may result in early treatment and recovery.
1. Apathy and fatigue for which there is no physical cause.
2. Sleeplessness or excessive sleep
3. Inability to hold onto a job
4. Temper tantrums or rages
5. Overeating or anorexia
6. Unreasonable fears of foods, germs etc
7. Recurrent nightmares
8. Suicidal thoughts or actions
9. Selve destructive acts like heavy drinking, persistent gambling, illicit drugs
10. Unjustified feelings of persecution
11. Sexual disorders eg impotence, frigidity, promiscuity and perversions
12. Lying, cheating, stealing
13. Physical symptoms such as chronic diarrhea, colitis or others without physical cause
14. Chronic fears and anxieties not based in fact
15. Feelings of paranoia, that someone is "out to get you"
16. Seeing, hearing or experiencing imaginary sensations
17. Having fixed ideas that can't be changed even when proven to be false.
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