“On a scale of 1-10, how do you feel?”
It’s a question that most psychiatrists ask when assessing mood and medication maintenance. The scale is used to monitor feelings of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. A patient’s response is the main test used for treatment.
But if 1 means that a person feels ecstatic, and 10 means they are suicidal, what is a 6 or a 3? What happens if a patient feels like something is wrong, but nothing has happened? Or if they can’t stop crying since their dog died last week? How much of an impact do average issues have? Are they really feeling an 8 or is the magnitude of sorrow dependent on the specific moment they are experiencing at the time? The scale has problems of its own.
“Normal” is a popular word in U.S. culture. We all want to feel it, but the definition is murky. To believe in something unreal seems abnormal. For example, schizophrenia involves hallucinations or magical thinking that falls under the category of psychosis. This has no basis in reality. Religion, however, involves unexplained theories and ideologies that also may not have basis on this earth. According to the Pew Research Center, 70.6% of Americans are Christian. Are Christian’s abnormal?
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