Since we can choose what topic we want to discuss this week, I thought that I could take some quizzes on psychcentral.com that gauge psychological disorders. Disorders have always intrigued me since they have more or less been a part of my entire life. However, by no means are any of these tests meant for actual diagnosis! They are merely indicators of what might or might not be true. I have taken these for the sole purpose of science!!!
Psychopathy Quiz
The first quiz I took measured the presence of psychopathic tendencies. A score of 18 and up means one displays strong psychopathic tendencies. A score between 13 and 17 means one displays moderate to minor psychopathic tendencies. Lastly, a score between 0 and 12 means one displays no psychopathic tendencies. With a score of 3, the site congratulated me "for not being a psychopath today!" Of course, this was not a surprise at all to me since I wouldn't exactly classify myself as a psychopath. With my love of animals and nature in addition to my empathetic predisposition towards others, I don't have what it takes to be a psychopath. The site is sure to inform the test taker that psychopaths tend to be quickly found out for their antisocial behaviors since their charm is purely superficial and easily detected over time with greater exposure to the psychopath. The more you know, the better!
Anxiety Screening Quiz
The next quiz surveys the severity of anxiety in the test taker. A score of 38 and up means one has severe anxiety. A score between 23 and 37 means one has moderate anxiety. A score between 6 and 22 means one has mild to little anxiety, while a score between 0 to 5 means one has no anxiety. My score was 16 meaning I have mild to little anxiety. This result actually surprised me since I would definitely classify myself as an anxious person. Furthermore, since the recent two weeks have been full of AP testing (standardized tests = YIKES), I would expect to have even greater levels of anxiety. But this quiz was a pleasant surprise. Maybe I'm just making matters out to be worse than they really are! The quiz continued to ensure me that a little anxiety is normal and expected and that anxiety is "our body's way of telling us that we should pay closer attention to a situation, event, or person in our lives."
Schizophrenia Screening Test
Clearly, this quiz screens for the likelihood of its taker having schizophrenia. A score of 14 and up means one may have early schizophrenia. A score between 10 and 13 means that one may possibly display early schizophrenia, and a score between 0 and 9 mean that one has no schizophrenia. Of course, I am clearly not schizophrenic as evidenced by my score of 4 and my relatively normal and functioning behavior. I just felt like taking this test since schizophrenia is a disorder in my family. My father has paranoid schizophrenia so I know firsthand that it is a very serious mental disorder that requires treatment. If you are suffering from feelings which are causing you concern and interfere with your daily functioning, you should seek immediate treatment from a trained mental health or social services professional! Also never frivolously or light-heartedly diagnose yourself with a mental illness--these are serious problems that need to be taken seriously.
I found an interesting article that discusses heredity and the genetics of schizophrenia. It states that although being relatives with a schizophrenic patient may increase one's risk of also being schizophrenic (thus implying that schizophrenia may be heritable), the article also states that it is not entirely a genetic disease. I just thought that it was interesting to note that an identical twin is at a 48% risk of developing schizophrenia if its other identical twin has it. It's also rather strange and mind-boggling to think that I am at a risk of 13% for developing schizophrenia compared to the general populations risk of 1% since I am a child of a schizophrenic patient.
Psychopathy Quiz
The first quiz I took measured the presence of psychopathic tendencies. A score of 18 and up means one displays strong psychopathic tendencies. A score between 13 and 17 means one displays moderate to minor psychopathic tendencies. Lastly, a score between 0 and 12 means one displays no psychopathic tendencies. With a score of 3, the site congratulated me "for not being a psychopath today!" Of course, this was not a surprise at all to me since I wouldn't exactly classify myself as a psychopath. With my love of animals and nature in addition to my empathetic predisposition towards others, I don't have what it takes to be a psychopath. The site is sure to inform the test taker that psychopaths tend to be quickly found out for their antisocial behaviors since their charm is purely superficial and easily detected over time with greater exposure to the psychopath. The more you know, the better!
Anxiety Screening Quiz
The next quiz surveys the severity of anxiety in the test taker. A score of 38 and up means one has severe anxiety. A score between 23 and 37 means one has moderate anxiety. A score between 6 and 22 means one has mild to little anxiety, while a score between 0 to 5 means one has no anxiety. My score was 16 meaning I have mild to little anxiety. This result actually surprised me since I would definitely classify myself as an anxious person. Furthermore, since the recent two weeks have been full of AP testing (standardized tests = YIKES), I would expect to have even greater levels of anxiety. But this quiz was a pleasant surprise. Maybe I'm just making matters out to be worse than they really are! The quiz continued to ensure me that a little anxiety is normal and expected and that anxiety is "our body's way of telling us that we should pay closer attention to a situation, event, or person in our lives."
Schizophrenia Screening Test
Clearly, this quiz screens for the likelihood of its taker having schizophrenia. A score of 14 and up means one may have early schizophrenia. A score between 10 and 13 means that one may possibly display early schizophrenia, and a score between 0 and 9 mean that one has no schizophrenia. Of course, I am clearly not schizophrenic as evidenced by my score of 4 and my relatively normal and functioning behavior. I just felt like taking this test since schizophrenia is a disorder in my family. My father has paranoid schizophrenia so I know firsthand that it is a very serious mental disorder that requires treatment. If you are suffering from feelings which are causing you concern and interfere with your daily functioning, you should seek immediate treatment from a trained mental health or social services professional! Also never frivolously or light-heartedly diagnose yourself with a mental illness--these are serious problems that need to be taken seriously.
I found an interesting article that discusses heredity and the genetics of schizophrenia. It states that although being relatives with a schizophrenic patient may increase one's risk of also being schizophrenic (thus implying that schizophrenia may be heritable), the article also states that it is not entirely a genetic disease. I just thought that it was interesting to note that an identical twin is at a 48% risk of developing schizophrenia if its other identical twin has it. It's also rather strange and mind-boggling to think that I am at a risk of 13% for developing schizophrenia compared to the general populations risk of 1% since I am a child of a schizophrenic patient.
The last quiz I took generally screens the symptoms related to ADD and ADHD. A score of 34 and up means one may have adult ADHD. A score between 26 and 33 means one may have moderate ADHD. A score of 18 to 25 means a possibility of ADHD. A score between 12 and 18 means one displays ADHD symptoms, and a score between 0 and 11 means one has no ADHD symptoms. I got a score of 31 meaning that I replied in a similar way to people who have symptoms of moderate attention deficit disorder. I am not really surprised with this result since I've had a significantly more noticeable difficult in concentrating on many things as I've gotten older. Whether it's an in-class reading assignment, studying for a big exam, or sitting down to read a textbook, I find it difficult to focus for longer than a couple of minutes and often find my mind wandering. However, I am still able to perform well in school and in other work and tasks because I try my best to apply myself in order to be successful. The quiz specifies that if I were diagnosed with ADHD, it would likely be of the inattentive presentation since I indicated multiple significant symptoms of inattention.
At the end of the day regardless of the results, I still function and perform at an above average expectation. And of course, I don't take any of these results to be a diagnosis and neither should you if you take these quizzes! They're just available so we can learn more about ourselves! It's also there because science!!
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