Quote:
Originally Posted by LeapOfFayth
Yes a physician can diagnose mental illnesses although it would be much better to go to a psychiatrist as they are trained specifically in mental illnesses where physicians just get a quick course.
In terms of an online test, those are never accurate, almost never right, are for entertainment and educational purposes only. Everyone shows signs of personality disorders, they're part of personalities after all. I can guarantee you if I took that quiz I would score very high for 3 or 4 of them while I know for a fact I have none.
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Fantastic response here.
General practitioners (i.e. what most people consider family doctors) can diagnose mental illness, but in my opinion as someone who works in the mental health field, they do it far more often than they should. Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors (if there is a distinction in your area from Licensed Professional Counselors) are much better trained in mental illness and diagnostics than a general practitioner.
The only tests that I would rely on heavily are pscyhological tests such as the MMPI, MBTI, etc., which are only administered by a trained professional. Out of all of them, the MMPI is the most extensive and best at identifying personality disorders. Unless the test you took was something like that, while the result may be an indication it definitely isn't the end all-be all. Heck, when I took the MMPI it told me that I had a leaning toward dependent personality disorder, and I can tell you that I am definitely not diagnosed with that and am 99.99999999% I never will be. So, even THOSE tests aren't the end all, be all.