[salix11]

I'm curious, after taking the quiz over the past few months, I keep scoring highly on things that 3 separate counselors never picked up on. I find this discrepancy odd. It also picked up on things I've been diagnosed as having problems with, such as depression, low self-esteem, and poor coping skills. But it also alerts me to OCD and borderline personality disorder as serious concerns - wouldn't at least one of my therapists have picked up on either thing?

I've also played around with the 4degreez personality disorder test in the past and scored very high on BPD traits (and schizoid personality disorder). I've just had 3 therapists who think that I'm a fairly healthy person besides suffering from moderate depression and have trouble coping with stress.

[dezzy94]

I dont think you can believe that 4degreez personality disorder test because i score high or very high for every personality disorder and im very sure i dont have all of them maybe only Paranoid and Avoidant personality disorder .....

[kim_johnson]

Self report tends to result in people scoring higher than they do with alternative measures. So, for example, if someone asks you 'do you feel sad' you think... Hmm... Maybe I do... And it primes you to remember all those sad times... So you end up saying 'yes'... And end up getting a high score on a self-report test, whereas objective measures wouldn't rate you high for sadness at all.

When people take a test (like the sanity score) they are typically sure that things aren't right with them (or why would they take it?) The sanity score also seems to be mostly about being safe rather than sorry (so getting people to seek professional advice if at all possible). It would over diagnose considerably compared to other measures.

Are you interested in reading history at all? Reading about the history of psychiatry can be kinda informative. Many things (sadness, anxiety and so on) never used to be thought of as medical problems where you should seek a doctors advice. Instead... People used to seek social supports like their friends, family, clergy and so on. Where we are at now is the 'medicalization of distress' where the rates of mental illness are booming through the roof. It isn't that people have gotten sicker. It is rather that we have broadened the definition of mental illness such that someone who says they 'feel sad' gets given an anti-depressant medication and labelled as mentally ill. Sigh.

Go with the 'just a regular person having some troubles - as indeed are the majority of the human race'. That isn't to undermine troubles... Not at all... But it isn't to magnify them, either... The consequences of taking 'mental disorder' to be partly defining of ones sense of identity... Harms more than helps, I'd say...

Sounds like the professionals told you you shouldn't be concerned. The sanity score is simply about getting to to get a professional opinion. NOT to undermine it...

[Phoenix1985]

On both The Sanity Score and the 4degreez Personality Disorder Test I've scored very high for Borderline Personality Disorder. I've spoken to my psychologist about this and I am not borderline.

[DocJohn]

No test is perfect and we're still refining the questions used and how specific sub-scales are measured here. Specific feedback of this nature helps us re-evaluate some of these questions and ensure we try and be more specific when addressing specific concerns.

Thanks,
DocJohn