What are some signs and behaviours of a mentally ill person?

[Anonymous]

There's this guy I know and sometimes he's happy then he can get angered easily then he can be pretty serious or down... when he's mad or down he doesn't look like himself at all - he turns into a monster or the "Hulk"... is he bipolar? Schizophrenic? Anxiety disorder?
He's also slow to respond or react to anyon or anything in general...

Are these signs of a mental illness or disability of any kind? What are signs or behaviours that someone is mentally ill?

[asomeone]

I'd say he's probably not bipolar - it's highly unusual for someone with bipolar to change back and forth between being manic and depressed more than once a year or so. If he was schizophrenic he'd be psychotic (seeing/hearing things, being convinced of things that are demonstrably false, etc) and you'd notice that. Anxiety doesn't really fit with the symptoms. Depression is possible - when I'm really depressed I sleep a ton and get very angry when people try to talk me into being happy. It's also entirely possible that he isn't mentally ill and he's going through something that's making him act this way. I'd be careful not to rush to any conclusions. If he does turn out to be mentally ill remember that:

a) Statistically speaking, a mentally ill person is actually less likely to commit a violent crime then someone with no mental illness
b) While few mental illnesses can be "cured" most of them are very manageable. Unless I'm off my medication nobody guesses that I'm bipolar. Even before I was medicated nobody noticed anything was wrong until I got manic because depression = extreme shame and in my case the fact that nobody noticed that I was depressed delayed my diagnosis by years: I was too ashamed of being depressed to get help. My grandfather, who also has bipolar, had a long and tremendously successful career as a bankruptcy appellate lawyer.
c) You can't force him to get treatment. If he's depressed trying to guilt him into seeing a psychiatrist could actually make things worse if, for example, he now feels ashamed both of being depressed and of not being able to get help for being depressed. There's no easy solution to this.

Source: As you might imagine, group therapy brings you into contact with people with all sorts of pathologies.

[Anonymous]

Well an illness if you think about it is anything about you which acts to make your life worse and so a mental illness is something about your mind which acts to make your life worse.

By this definition (the only one that makes complete sense) most people are mentally ill.

[vonasaurus]

it depends; mental illness rarely looks the same on two people, even if their diagnoses are identical.

that said, it definitely sounds like the guy in question has a temper (though not necessarily a mood disorder or other mental illness). the only one who can properly diagnose him is a doctor or other mental health professional.

[Asker]

There are are times when he talks to himself or says stuff that don't make sense as well... his face also changes and he doesn't look like himself... people even call him "crazy"... u thin it's just a temper? Or something more?

[vonasaurus]

the only one who can make that call is a doctor or mental health professional. and, where i am neither, i'm not qualified to diagnose him (or not).

[scooogy]

Just ask a psychiatrist