mental health disorders
Personality and Behavior Changes
Key Points
Not all changes in personality and behavior are due to mental disorders. Other causes include drugs (including withdrawal and side effects), disorders that mainly affect the brain, and bodywide disorders that affect the brain. Doctors are particularly concerned about people with symptoms that suggest brain malfunction, such confusion or delirium, fever, headache, people with a recent head injury and people who want to harm themselves or others. Typically, doctors do blood tests to measure the levels of oxygen, sugar (glucose), and certain drugs (such as antiseizure drugs) the person is taking, and they may do other tests based on the symptoms and results of the examination. 