How does a psychiatrist know a mentally ill person is cured or not?!

they talk to them. ps how do you only have 1 point ?

They can't tell for sure, my friend went to a psych ward for trying to stab her mother, convinced her psychiatrist she wasn't really going to stab her and was just doing it for attention, got sent home and tried to do it again (she is a lovely person really - she just had, and still has, extreme depression and a tough home life).

It is obvious when someone has something like Schizophrenia, and there medications work. It is harder to tell with things like suicidal depression.

There are no blood tests, and some mental illnesses never go away - but can be managed with medication.


Edit - She was 13 at the time (prime age for attention seeking cutting/ deliberately failed "suicide" attempts - although I do admit the whole stabbing her mother thing surprised me too), she isn't "crazy" she does a damn good job at making people think she is just fine. She had to be switched from home economics because she wasn't allowed near the knives. You don't have to believe me, the story seems pretty unlikely - it is a good one to show that psychiatrists don't always get it right. Anyway...

Talking (and observing) is as scientific as it gets, it is how people are diagnosed. In 95% of all cases, as soon as they have found the right medication and dosage the person is very happy that they are being cured (or in some cases their symptoms stopped) and willing to tell the psychiatrist exactly what is going on.

There is no such blood test, they're "cured" when their symptoms are relieved or lessen to a manageable point.