Symptom Checklist from Healthy Moods by Grant Mullen M.D.

This checklist is taken from the Healthy Moods: a guide to the rocognition and treatment of mood disorders by Grant Mullen M.D. Click here if you wish to purchase the book.

Depression or Anxiety

At least 5 of the following symptoms need to be present every day for at least 2 weeks and that htere is no other personal situation (like grief) or medical condition that may be causing the symptoms like drugs or low thyroid:

1. Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood, most of the time, most days.
2. Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism and low self esteem.
3. Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness.
4. Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex.
5. Insomnia, early-morning awakening or oversleeping.
6. Loss of appetite and/or weight loss or overeathing and weight gain.
7. Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling "slowed down" or agitation that can't be controlled.
8. Procrastination, since simple tasks seem harder.
9. Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts, constant feeling of "life isn't worht living like this".
10. Restlessness, irritability, bad tempered, never relaxed or content.
11. Difficulty concentrating, remembering and making decisions due to persistent uncontrollable cluttering of down, sad, negative thoughts that can't be kept out of the mind.

Other common symptoms of depression are:

1. Persistent physical synptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive  disorders, and chronic pain.
2. Continuous anxiety which can't be turned off. Uncontrollable worry about small things, including physical health.
3. Social isolation or withdrawal due to increasing difficulty making small talk.
4. Other relatives with depression, alcoholism or nervous breakdowns.
5. In children, look for increased irritability, persisting complaints of physical problems, agitation and unwarranted anxiety or panic, or social withdrawl.

Adolescent Depression:

1. Depressed mood or irritability that may lead to antisocial or rebellious behaviour.
2. Unstable mood that chagnes rapidly even with insignificant events.
3. Poor concentration, drop in school performance, skipping school.
4. Loss of interest in school or friends, social withdrawl even from family.
5. Inability to stop worrying.
6. Inability to sleep or always oversleeping to escape.
7. Over or undereating.
8. Too much restles enerty or always overtired.
9. Inability to enjoy thigns that they used to find pleasurable.
10. Many physical complaints like muscle pains, headaches, abdominal pains.
11. Feeling picke don or that everyone is against them.
12. Inappropriate guilt, shame and blame.
13. Increased use of street drugs or alcohol to self medicate.
14. Loss of interests in own appearance and personal hygene.

Dysthymia:

Dysthmia is a milder form of depression that is just as treatable as Depression and with the same medications.

1. Depressed mood most of the time for most days for at least two years with at least two of the following: 
1. Poor appetite or overating.
2. Insomnia or oversleeping.
3. Low energy, always tired.
4. Low self esteem.
5. Poor concentration and difficulty making decisiong.
6. Feeling hopeless.
7. These symptoms interfere with social or vocational function.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

1. Recurring intrusive and persisting, disturbing thoughts whcih cause anxiety and distress.
2. The thoughts are unrealted to actual events.
3. The person tries to stop the thoughts with another thought or action.
4. The person is aware that the thoughts are untrue and from his own mind.
5. Repetitive meaningless behaviorus (hand washing, ordering, checking) or thought rituals (praying, counting, repetitions) that they must to do neutralize the unwanted disturbing thoughts.
6. The thoughts and resulting actions are time consuming , disruptive and embarrassing to the person but they have no control over them.

Manica or Hypomania (mild mania), indicating Bipolar Disorder

1. Exaggerated elation, rapid unpredicatble mood changes.
2. Irritability, impatience with others who can't keep up with them.
3. Inability to sleep, not neeing sleep, too busy to sleep and not being tired the next day.
4. Big plans, inflated self esteem, exaggerated self importance, impulsive overspending.
5. Increased talking, louder and faster and can't stop.
6. Racing and jumbled thoughts, changing topics rapidly, no one can keep up.
7. Poor concentration, distractability.
8. Increased sexual desire. uninhibited, acting out of character or promiscuous.
9. Markedly increased energy, "can't be stopped", erratic aggressive driving.
10. Poor judgement, no insight, refusing treatment, blaming others.
11. Inappropriate high risk social behaviour, brash, tellin gpeople off, overreaction to events, misinterpreting events, distortion of meaning of ordinary remarks.
12. Lasts hours to days, usually ending with a crash into profound depression.
13. Not caused by street drugs like "Speed" or Cocaine.

Attention Defecit Disorder

Without hyperactivity

A.D.D. may be mild, moderate, or severe so thess symptoms may only be present mildly. As in the other mood disorders, everyone is affected differently.

One needs six or more of these symptoms daily for over six months.

1. Racing cluttered thoughts causing constant thought distractions and making them very susceptible to any distraction.
2. No attention to details, lots of careless errors.
3. Inability to complete tasks since they can't pay attention.
4. Hearing but not listening even when spoke to directly.
5. Unable to concentrate on school work unless with one to one attention.
6. Makeing purposeless noises to fill any silence.
7. Falling grades, disruptive in class, defiant of authority, disorganized.
8. Daydreaming, losting things, forgetful.
9. Sometimes shy and withdrawn.

With hyperactivity

1. Fidgets and squirms.
2. Can't remain seated in classroom.
3. Excessive running and climbing when inappropriate.
4. Can't do anything quietly.
5. Always in motion as if "driven by a motor".
6. Can't stop talking.
7. Blurts out answeres before question is completed.
8. Unable to wait a turn and easily frustrated.
9. Often interrupting and intruding, impulsive and disruptive.
10. Difficulty making or keeping friends, unable to share, demanding their own way, impatient, poor losers and generally socially immature.
11. Exaggerated emotional response to both good and bad events with wide mood swings.

There will often be a family history of A.D.D., depression, other mood disorders or alcoholsim in relatives of an A.D.D. child.

Adult A.D.D.

1. Chronic forgetfulness.
2. Problems with time and money management.
3. Disorganized lifestyl.e
4. Frequent moves or job changes.
5. Periodic depression, mood swings or anxiety as in the mood disorders above.
6. Chronic patterns of under achievement.
7. Feelings of restlessness.
8. Impulsive behaviour.
9. Tendency toward substance abuse.
10. Low self esteem.
11. May be over/under reactive.
12. Easiy frustrated.
13. Difficulty concentrating.
14. Difficulty mainting relationships.
15. Often labeled as lazy, immature, daydreamers, quitters, having a bad attitude.

Schizophrenia or any psychotic breakdown

1. Emotionally flat and widthdrawn or very excited, hostile or grandiose.
2. Poor verbal communication, disorganized, unconnected thoughts.
3. Delusional thinking, believing something to be true which is outside the realm of reason and for which there is no real evidence, often relisious.
4. Seeing things not visisble to others or hearing things not audible to thers.
5. Feelings of being watched or followed by other individuals or roganizations.
6. There are many complex symptoms in psychotic illnesses needing professional assessment. Basically, during a psychotic episode a person loses touch with reality and is ubale to function in their normal life activities. If you see this symptom, the personal needs urgent medical attention.

The information contained in this here is for educational purposes only and does not replace the medical evaluation of a physician.