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Abnormal psychology assessment and diagnosis
Abnormal psychology assessment and diagnosis
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The patient Thabo in the case study may be diagnosed with having bipolar I with a comorbidity of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The following essay aims to discuss how the patient was diagnosed and the reasons for this diagnosis. This will be done by discussing how Thabo’s behaviours may be classified as abnormal and by listing the symptoms of abnormality. This would then lead to the differential diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and substance abuse disorder, which will then facilitate the discussion of why Thabo is diagnosed with bipolar I with comorbidity OCD.
A mental disorder and abnormal behaviour are defined as a psychological dysfunction of an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning, along with a response that is not typical (Barlow & Durand, 2012). Thabo may be classified as having abnormal behaviour and mental illness due to the fact that personal distress is seen in his obsessive compulsive tendencies, suicidal thoughts, depression and psychosis. Due to these factors Thabo has impairment in his occupation and social life. These behaviours of Thabo are atypical and therefore Thabo meets the criteria for a psychological disorder as he shows signs of psychological dysfunction, distress or impairment, and atypical responses.
Mental disorders are described by not just one, but a set of syndromes as seen in the theory of multidimensional models (Barlow & Durand, 2012), and this is seen in Thabo as he suffers numerous abnormal symptoms. Initially he seeks help for his constant worrying and lack of concentration, which may potentially be a cause of his obsessions and compulsions, and this will be discussed further in the essay. He has episodes of depression, which at some point eve...
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Bipolar disorder is a lifelong mood disorder characterized by periods of mania, depression, or a mixed manic-depressive state. The condition can seriously affect a person’s reasoning, understanding, awareness, and behavior. Acco...
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a psychopathology that affects approximately 1% of the population. (1) Unlike unipolar disorder, also known as major affective disorder or depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by vacillating between periods of elation (either mania or hypomania) and depression. (1, 2) Bipolar disorder is also not an illness that remedies itself over time; people affected with manic depression are manic-depressives for their entire lives. (2, 3) For this reason, researchers have been struggling to, first, more quickly diagnose the onset of bipolar disorder in a patient and, second, to more effectively treat it. (4) As more and more studies have been performed on this disease, the peculiar occurrence between extreme creativity and manic depression have been uncovered, leaving scientists to deal with yet another puzzling aspect of the psychopathology. (5)
What do bipolar disorder and obsessive disorder have in common? They are both diseases that three authors have given to their characters in order to develop a great story. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide (Stoppler). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) as an anxiety disorder. It is characterized by distressing intrusive thoughts and/or repetitive actions that interfere with the individual's daily functioning. The DSM-IV criteria for OCD are as follows: The individual expresses wither obsessions or compulsions. Obsessions are defined by the following four criteria: recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images are experienced at some time during the disturbance as intrusive and inappropriate and caused marked anxiety and distress. The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply worries about real-life problems. The person attempts to suppress or ignore such thoughts, impulses, or images or to neutralize them with some other thought or action. The person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his/her own mind (not imposed from without as in thought insertion). Compulsions are defined by the following two criteria: the person feels driven to perform repetitive behaviors (e.g. hand washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts (e.g. praying, counting, repeating words silently) in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly. The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts are either not connected in a realistic way with what they are meant to neutralize or prevent or they are clearly excessive (PsychologyToday). Tennessee Williams' character Blanche DuBois, from Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and May from Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees all suffer from these two illnesses in their own ways like by lying and believing their lies to escape reality, lying and acting crazy to seek revenge on another character, and getting really upset by the world's problems and then start singing.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a disease that afflicts up to six million Americans, however all its characteristics are yet to be fully understood. Its causes, triggers, attributes, and variations are still unknown although effective medicines exist to treat the symptoms. OCD is a very peculiar disease as Rapoport discusses it comes in many different forms and have different symptoms yet have many similarities. One sure aspect is that it appears, or at least its symptoms do, out of the blue and is triggered either by stressful experiences or, most of the time, just appears out of nowhere. One example is a boy who's father was hard on him for being affected by the worlds "modern ways", the boy at a high school party tries LSD ( a hallucinatory drug), after that thoughts of whether his mind was dangerously affected by the drug. What seemed like completely appropriate worrying and anxiety turned into attacks of anxiety, he couldn't shake the thoughts that something was wrong with his mind. Essentially he had "his mind on his mind" constantly and that haunted his days his thought were as follows: " did the lsd do anything to my mind? The thought never went away ; instead it got more and more complicated. There must be something wrong with my mind if i am spending so much time worrying about it. Is there something wrong with my mind? Was this from the lsd? Will it ever get better?" (The boy who, J. L. Rapoport 125,126) Dr. Rapoport promptly put him on Anafranil (an anti-depressant, used for OCD, not marketed in the U.
Lish, J.D., Dime-Meenan, S., Whybrow, P.C., Price, R.A. and Hirschfeld, R.M. (1994). The National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association (DMDA) Survey of Bipolar Members. Affective Disorders. 31: pp.281-294.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
Obsessive compulsive disorder can be associated with other mental disorders that cause stress and anxiety, but it can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder with symptoms of obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions, such as cleaning, checking, and counting. OCD is linked to other disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and experiential avoidance disorder (EA). OCD and ADHD have similar effects in children, being that they both lead to procrastination when trying to complete simple tasks. People with OCD and EA both have consistent negative thoughts, but the same treatments can be used for both.
Bipolar disorder is characterized by mood swings to both ends of the emotional spectrum or ‘pole’ (book cite). It ranges from major depressive disorder to manic episodes that can last for days to weeks in length (book cite). When the subject goes into major depression, it is obvious, because they take less pleasure in activities they used to enjoy or refrain from doing any activities at all. Manic episodes give the subject a god like viewpoint on everything and are characterized by extreme happiness. During a manic episode the subject often refuses to believe facts that other people are telling them and in extreme cases believe they are a mythical god or a different person altogether. Another sign of mania is fast speech and incomplete sentences. In order to be classified as bipolar disorder the clinician must identify one or more manic episode in the history of the patient (Rivas-Vazquez, et al). The treatment of bipolar disorder is varied and has had mixed results.
Crowe, M. (2011). Feeling out of control: A qualitative analysis of the impact of bipolar
Bipolar disorder, also called a manic-depressive illness, is a common disorder which causes mood swings, lasting periods of depression, and episodes of mania. “Extreme changes in energy, activity, sleep, and behavior go along with these changes in mood” (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2008). A person becomes more goal-oriented and has grandeur visions of success. Patient M shows all these symptoms while talking to her friends and professors in college. She describes herself as a person who is above the two standard genders, what she calls a “third sex”, and who switched souls with a senior senator from her state. The latter belief inspires her to start a political campaign and achieve a high position in the government. She also suffered from depression in the past, which lead to contemplations about suicide at one point. Besides showing all appropriate symptoms, her environmental and inheritance factors point out that she has predispositions to develop the bipolar disorder.
"Bipolar Disorder." NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Paris, J. (2004), Psychiatric diagnosis and the bipolar spectrum, in Canadian Psychiatric Association Bulletin, viewed on 28 March 2014, http://ww1.cpa-apc.org:8080/publications/bulletin/currentjune/editorialEn.asp.
Eric Beck meets criteria for Bipolar 1 disorder. He shows some signs of General Anxiety Disorder as well. Anxiety disorders are the most coming co-occurring disorder with Bipolar 1. To be diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder you must meet criteria for Major Depressive Episode and Manic Episode. Eric meets criteria for part A of Major Depressive Episode due to his extensive history of depression. He stated that “I suffer even when doing things, I should enjoy.” He often had feelings of guilt or worthlessness. Along with this Eric struggled from a lack of concentration. He also had recurrent thoughts of death and has tried to commit suicide.