It’s long been a goal of mine to help people better understand themselves, because in doing so, they can lead a more happier, peaceful life. You probably know someone who has no insight into their own behaviors, we all do. What if there was a way to give them some feedback about their issues in a non-judgmental but valid way? Real life, face-to-face screenings do some of this, but most people who have issues — sometimes, very serious mental health issues — often don’t seek out help on their own. Many don’t even know they have an issue that could benefit from attention.

Enter Sanity Score™. We started working on the underpinnings of this test nearly 2 years ago, and have been refining the concept and putting it to real work in the past year. It provides a general emotional wellness or mental health screening, scientifically examining 21 common issues in a person’s life.

It’s simple (most people complete it in less than 15 minutes), free, and at the end provides you immediate feedback on possible problem areas. It currently errs a bit more on the aggressive side of suggesting something might be an issue when it may very well not be, because we’re in beta and still refining some of the proprietary algorithms. These equations become more and more reliable and validated as more and more people take the test.

Other online health assessments focus on physical health concerns, or they tack on emotional or mental health issues as almost an afterthought. But research has long shown that your emotional health and well being is a critical part of your overall health, and any assessment that doesn’t take that into account is missing a good 50% of what’s going on with you right now.

Over the past 12 years we’ve been running Psych Central, we’ve helped over 41 million people find reliable mental health information relevant to their lives. We hope our new Sanity Score service helps another 41 million individuals discover something new or interesting about themselves. Please let us know what you think of it by sending us feedback when you get your Score.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 May 2007
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