Why is it so tough to tell what's normal?

It's often difficult to distinguish normal mental health from mental illness because there's no easy test to show if something's wrong. Also, primary mental health conditions can be mimicked by physical disorders.

Mental health conditions aren't due to a physical disorder and are diagnosed and treated based on signs and symptoms, as well as on how much the condition affects your daily life. For example, a mental health condition can affect your:

• Behavior. Obsessive hand-washing or drinking too much alcohol might be a sign of a mental health condition.
• Feelings. Sometimes a mental health condition is characterized by a deep or ongoing sadness, euphoria or anger.
• Thinking. Delusions — fixed beliefs that aren't changeable in light of conflicting evidence — or thoughts of suicide might be symptoms of a mental health condition.