Psychological disorders are symptoms that cause distress and have impact on the lives of people experiencing these symptoms (Cherry, 2016). According to Huffman and Dowdell (2015), experts on mental health have four criteria to identify psychological disorders (p.442). These are deviance, dysfunction, distress and danger. A person who is deviant from the usually accepted beliefs, norms, and customs of the society, whose actions and behaviors interrupt his routine activities, cause personal distress and appear to be dangerous both for himself and others is considered to have a psychological disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (DSM) classifies psychological disorders as anxiety disorders, depressive and bipolar …show more content…
451). Huffman & Dowdell (2015) note that there are two reasons as to why people develop anxiety disorders psychologically. One is having a "faulty cognitive process," in which people with anxiety disorders tend to look for dangerous things in the environment they are in. They tend to neglect the safe things that surround them and begin to search for threats. The other psychological factor is "maladaptive learning," in which people have inappropriate learning mechanism to certain conditions or situations. They are adapted in order to decrease one's anxiety towards a particular situation or object. One example of maladaptive learning can be avoiding the feared objects and conditions. Even though avoidance can reduce the anxiety at that specific moment, it cannot be a permanent solution to the problem. Some people can also develop anxiety disorders as a means of imitating someone else. For example, children who grew up watching a family member having a fear of dogs, are likely to have Cynophobia (phobia of dogs). According to Calm Clinic (2016), biological factors that contribute to people having anxiety disorders are imbalance working with in the brain, mostly having issues with brain chemicals that are responsible for sleep, mood and emotional stability (Serotonin and norepinephrine), as well as genetic problems, in which people whose parents are sufferers of anxiety disorders are susceptible to develop …show more content…
She is reminded of her unfortunate childhood incident whenever she finds herself in social situations. Case 2: Biniam is afraid of nothing but darkness. He cannot control himself whenever he is in a dark place. He finds it very frightening; he screams, shivers and tries to avoid such places as much as he can. However, Biniam does not have a clear idea as to why he has such excessive reactions to dark places. In case 1, Genet seems to have social phobia, and she particularly remembers why she has the anxiety disorder and why she panics in social situations; whereas in case 2, Biniam does not really know as to why he has Nyctophobia (fear of darkness). Nevertheless, the good thing in both situations is that they both have understood their illness can be treated and went to see a mental health professional. A combination of different treatments are given to people with anxiety disorders. These are medications such as antidepressants and psychotherapy, in which health professionals give counseling and help the sufferers of anxiety disorders to deal with their illness through different mechanisms. These mechanisms include helping them to change their behavior that cause them distress, assisting them to change their diets and life styles, and giving them relaxation
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), it defines mental illness as Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. (What Is Mental Illness? (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2016, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness). Mental Disorders are a wide range of mental conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. There are a lot of different psychological disorders here is a list of the major psychological disorders and their definitions:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-I) was published in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association to define and classify mental disorders. It did not have much influence in classifying mental disorders during that time. Up until the late 1960s, when the system of nosology starts to have some real influence on mental health professionals, the American Psychiatric Association published DSM-II in 1968. DSM-I and DSM-II system lacked precise descriptions of the disorders and relied heavily on unproven and unpopular theories. Therefore, the third edition of the DSM was published in 1980 to make new reforms to its predecessors. One of the changes was more specific classification of the disorders and being more precise. For example, phobia
...olism. “I say this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say there was never man thus abused” (IV.ii.40–42). In other words, the darkness (meaning madness) is not in the room with him, but outside, confined in Toby and Maria, who have wrongly imprisoned him.
There are a wide range of problems that are considered psychological disorders; these include mental or emotional disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and some disorders that involve emotional and physical symptoms. These types of disorders usually occur during childhood, but during teenage years there is a steep increase in the number of people affected by them. Approximately 20% of the population will struggle with a type of mental disorder at some point in their life. (Bayer, 2000)
According to Sharp (2012), “anxiety disorders are the most widespread causes of distress among individuals seeking treatment from mental health services in the United States” (p359).
The term mental ill health is defined by Mind as ‘mental health problems that can affect the way you think, feel and behave’ (Mind, 2013). This means that it is a serious disorder in a person’s behaviour which can impact their thinking, feeling or mood and it may also affect their ability to participate with others and function on a day to day basis. There are many types of disorders and some are more common than others. For example, mood
Culture has a huge influence on how people view and deal with psychological disorders. Being able to successfully treat someone for a mental illness has largely to do with what they view as normal in their own culture. In Western cultures we think that going to a counselor to talk about our emotions or our individual problems and/or getting some type of drug to help with our mental illness is the best way to overcome and treat it, but in other cultures that may not be the case. In particular Western and Asian cultures vary in the way they deal with psychological disorders. In this paper I am going to discuss how Asian cultures and Western cultures are similar and different in the way they view psychological disorders, the treatments and likelihood of getting treatment, culture bound disorders, and how to overcome the differences in the cultures for optimal treatments.
Anxiety disorder is a type of abnormal behavior characterized by unrealistic, irrational fear. These types of disorders are diagnosed two as often in women as in men. Although these disorders can be very chronic and serious, they are easily treatable. Generalized anxiety disorder is when people experience fear and worry that is not focused on one specific aspect; nevertheless, they suffer greatly with headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and insomnia. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, better known as OCD, involves persistent, unwanted, obsessions and irresistible urges to perform compulsions in order to relieve anxiety. Unlike other anxiety disorders, OCD consists more of anxiety and worry rather than fear itself. Many people who experience OCD are aware that there is no motive behind their actions, however their anxiety is heightened when they try to ignore the compulsions. People with such anxiety disorders often experience sensitivity to other people’s views as well as worry over their surroundings.
Mental health can be seen as a continuum where illnesses are defined as patterns of behaviour that cause psychological suffering, distress and disability preventing adequate functioning with the potential of risk of harm to the self or others (Martins-Mourao, 2010, p. 92).
What is fear? Is it being in a prison so dark a person can not see in front of them? In this complete darkness the narrator finds himself eating and drinking, then passing out on a cold floor. When he wakes he is somewhere else in the dark cell. Or is it a cell? Could it be a tomb? Just when he thinks the cell is so big he finds himself almost falling into a pit. He eats and sleeps again. Where or how will he wake? Does he wake from his drugged food? In this story “The Pit and the Pendulum,” by Edgar Allan Poe, he tells the terrifying struggle of a man dealing with fear, torture, and confinement.
To begin with, one of the major factor contributing to anxiety are environmental factors. These are experiences you have that are non-genetic and are taught to us through our surrounding’s (“The Anxiety Guide”, n.d.). The stress some experiences on a day to day basis may lead to them developing an anxiety disorder. When our bodies experience stress
Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. Every person experiences some form of anxiety in his or her lifetime. Anxiety helps us deal with tense situations like using our flight or fight reaction, study harder for an exam, or keep focus on important deadlines. Anxiety can be useful until it gets to the point of interfering with everyday life. Some people explain it as not being able to shut the anxiety off. When anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it becomes a disabling disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). Each year, anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). There are five major Anxiety Disorders they include Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Phobias.
There are many different types of psychological disorders ranging from anxiety disorders, sexual disorder, dissociative disorders, even eating disorders. These disorders happen to affect many people all over the world. A dissociative disorder to me is when you have trouble understanding what reality is and when something isn’t real. You may have this disorder if you have double personalities. This could also fall under the category of a personality disorder, which by definition is a disorder characterized by a set of inflexible, maladaptive behavior patterns that keep a person from functioning appropriately in society. There are many forms of a dissociative disorder.
People sometimes have symptoms of mental disorders, but they usually do not meet the criteria or are not clinically significant, severe enough to necessitate treatment. Before a person can be diagnosed with a mental disorder, his or her problematic thoughts, feelings, and actions must meet the criteria for the mental disorder and must prevent adequate social, occupation, or other forms of functioning.
Mental illness is the condition that significantly impede with an individual’s emotional, cognitive or social abilities (Savy and Sawyer, 2009). According to (Savy and Sawyer, 2009) neurological, metabolic, genetic and psychological causes are contributing factors for various types of mental illness like depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse and progression of condition. An elaborate system known as DSM-IV-TR gives a classification system that acts to separate mental illness into diagnostic categories based on the description of symptoms of illness (Savy and Sawyer, 2009). The exact primarily causes of mental illness are complicated, however, it seems to occur in a psychologically and biologically prone individual, in the trigger of environmental and social stress (Elder, Evans and Nizette, 2007).