Am I Insane Quiz
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- No thoughts about dying or injuring myself appeared.
- A brief unwanted thought appeared, without any wish, plan, preparation, or action.
- The thoughts or urges returned or became hard to dismiss, but I do not have an immediate plan.
- I have current intent, a plan or access to means, made preparations, or recently injured myself.
- No, this did not occur.
- Only while falling asleep or waking, and I clearly recognized it as sleep-related.
- Occasionally while fully awake; afterward, I could question whether it was real.
- While fully awake, it felt unquestionably real and influenced what I did.
- I did not have an unusual experience that required reality-checking.
- I could compare evidence and settle on a plausible explanation by myself.
- I needed repeated input from someone I trust before I could reconsider it.
- I could not consider another explanation, even when trusted people or evidence contradicted it.
Am I Insane Quiz - Description and methodology of the test
People trying to make sense of ambiguous recent changes in safety, perception, thought, mood, sleep, energy, or responsibilities may use the Am I Insane Quiz to arrange what they have noticed. A visitor may describe the concern as an insanity quiz, but the questionnaire reviews specific recent experiences rather than a global condition. Its result helps identify areas for closer reflection.
What This Assessment Explores
It suits someone reviewing changes in safety, perception, thought, mood, sleep, energy, or essential responsibilities. It organizes experience and impact rather than judging identity. As a mental state self-check, this questionnaire addresses worries about losing control or making sense of recent mental-state changes.
The result groups three dimensions:
- Daily Functioning and Immediate Safety (0-15) covers essential functioning and immediate safety; bands are No items endorsed (0), Support advisable (1-2), and Immediate action warranted (3-15).
- Perception and Reality Checking (0-15) covers unusual perceptions and reality checking; bands are None endorsed (0), Worth noticing (1-2), and Prompt support warranted (3-15).
- Thought, Mood, and Mental Organization (0-15) reflects recent disruption in thought, mood, attention, sleep, or energy; bands are No items endorsed (0), Worth noticing (1-2), and Prompt support warranted (3-15).
Together, they show which experiences were endorsed and where support may matter.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
Each item offers four ordered descriptions, moving from no experience or impact through increasing difficulty, uncertainty, impairment, or danger. Several ask about the past two weeks. The displayed result summarizes responses by dimension; no standardized scoring rule is stated.
The structure matches the Early Psychosis Screener (EPS) (Brodey et al., 2018) in its focus on unusual perceptions, suspicious interpretations, and reality checking. Safety overlaps with the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (Posner et al., 2011), while mood, reduced sleep, energy, and increased activity echo themes in the Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale (Altman et al., 1997). These comparison points do not mean the questionnaire was adapted from, standardized against, or validated by those instruments.
It organizes recent mental health changes across dimensions rather than reducing them to a yes-or-no label. Its bands are unvalidated reflective summaries, not severity, clinical, or legal cutoffs. Any concerning response matters independently: a score-3 safety red flag calls for immediate action; a score-3 red flag on either other scale calls for prompt support, with urgent help if danger or escalation is present. Memory, insight, and circumstances shape self-report.
- Brodey BB, Addington J, First MB, Perkins DO, Woods SW, Walker EF, Walsh B, Nieri JM, Nunn MB, Putz J, Brodey IS. The Early Psychosis Screener (EPS): Item development and qualitative validation. Schizophrenia Research. 2018;197:504-508. 10.1016/j.schres.2017.11.027
- Brodey BB, Girgis RR, Favorov OV, Addington J, Perkins DO, Bearden CE, Woods SW, Walker EF, Cornblatt BA, Brucato G, Walsh B, Elkin KA, Brodey IS. The Early Psychosis Screener (EPS): Quantitative validation against the SIPS using machine learning. Schizophrenia Research. 2018;197:516-521. 10.1016/j.schres.2017.11.030
- Posner K, Brown GK, Stanley B, Brent DA, Yershova KV, Oquendo MA, Currier GW, Melvin GA, Greenhill L, Shen S, Mann JJ. The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale: Initial validity and internal consistency findings from three multisite studies with adolescents and adults. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2011;168(12):1266-1277. 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10111704
- Altman EG, Hedeker D, Peterson JL, Davis JM. The Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale. Biological Psychiatry. 1997;42(10):948-955. 10.1016/S0006-3223(96)00548-3
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