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Recommended: Study of psychology
Like what Myers says in his psych book, “People are fascinated by the exceptional, the unusual, the abnormal” (Myers 2013). This statement that is presented in the book is really ultimately true. People study people, whether intentional or not. The more “different” one individual is from society, the more he or she stands out and is made an outcast from the rest of society. Those who possess disorders are different, though they cannot help it and they should not be isolated, but they are.
According to the book 450 million people in this world suffer from mental or behavioral disorders, which that account for roughly 6.5% of the population (Meyers 2013). This strikes me as odd. 6.5 is not that small of a percent, so why is it that the 93.5% of the remainder of the people of the world get to judge the remainder of the worldly citizens. Since there are three aspects that help to lead to a psychological disorder: biological, psychological, and social-cultural, it is hard to believe that we are not bringing these disorders upon ourselves.
Even after we as humans categorize “flawed” other individuals into the “broken” column, we then again split them from there into categories that best align those who are similar. Anxiety, mood, schizophrenia, and a numerous other categories are the labels that we corral them into.
Anxiety is broken up into five groups in the book: Generalized Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Myers 2013). Anxiety disorders seem to have a common social trend or a more focused inner self. These disorders to me resemble how we view the world. Each of the disorders listed above tend to be a mental loop or err in the human code. It is not that these in...
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...oming from the 6.5%, it is amazing to how the normal act with the abnormal. It is almost like the normal think the abnormal are contagious, they see them as sick and they want to try and heal them so the sickness cannot spread and the ill individual can be like the remainder of society. This world is flawed and filled with human err, and until we look ourselves in the mirror to point out/ fix our own cracks in our lives, then we should not be so quick to pass the judgment upon others. In Myers textbook he found a quote from T. H. Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics that I truly feel is better than any other words I could try and come up with to explain how the world is. “One of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world regards such a person as the police do to an unmuzzled dog, not under proper control” (Myers 2013).
As noted previously, system justification theory suggests that individuals possess a motive to justify and rationalize the status quo. According to the theory, stereotypes are often used to bolster the status quo because they easily explain differences among groups and thereby justify inequalities. The most commonly held stereotypes about mental illness in Western society are that its sufferers are dangerous, incompetent and personally responsible for their illness (Dickstein, Vogt, Handa & Litz, 2010). Not surprisingly, stereotypes like these have resulted in the persistent stigma around mental illness that exists today.
Fey’s says that many normal people are not really normal and have serious psychological issues like depression and alcoholism. According to Feys these conditions are caused by, “ The desire to fit in”. Trying to fit in is a common experience in life and it can be stressful trying to be something you're not, and while I have not gotten any of theses psychological conditions, I could see how others might turn to alcoholism, addiction, or become depressed, either to try and relieve or respond to that stress.Some people may say that once someone is depressed or an alcoholic they are no longer normal. But how do you know if someone has one of these problems, your neighbor or someone in your family could be depressed and you might never know unless they told you. Are they freaks just because they have a temporary problem? If they weren’t normal they would not of given themselves these conditions by trying to fit in. Leopard man is so happy because he is free from the pressures to conform and does not care abou...
For a very long time, mental health was a disease people would not dare speak about. The stigma associated with mental health meant that it was viewed as a curse or simply poor upbringing. Crazy, right? (Pardon the pun). Although it’s not seen as a curse by us in this generation any more, many people with mental health issues still have to face ignorance, prejudice and discrimination from our society just because of their lack of understanding or reluctance to try and understand. Be that as it may, these attitudes directly impact upon how and if people choose to seek help, making the negative and ignorant opinions and attitudes of others potentially dangerous to many individuals and the people around them.
In final analysis, mental illness is not being taken as seriously as an disease or a
There are many types of mental illnesses that can affect a person’s ability to function on a level fit for society. Those illnesses affect people differently and to different extremes. Diagnosable mental disorders are changes in thinking, moods, or behaviors that can cause a rise in the risk of death and may cause distress, pain, or disability. More severe mental illnesses include three major illnesses: Schizophrenia, major depression, and manic depression. Schizophrenia is a brain ailment that causes a loss in the ability to distinguish reality from fantasy. Many people who suffer from schizophrenia often hear voices that tell them to do different things. In some cases, the voices tell them to hurt themselves or other people. Other symptoms ma...
Personality disorders and mental illnesses are viewed by the general public as similar attributes that are equally harmful. However, when one delves into the diagnostics and patterns of the individual disorders and illnesses, it can be seen that there are major differences between each one. There are many levels of severity of the effects each disorder or illness has on society as a whole. They range from affecting only the individual on a solely personal basis to affecting a large amount of people on a highly violent level. Generally, it is found that mental illnesses have an influence on an individual level while personality disorders have an influence on a widespread level. As in every medical topic, there are outliers, or cases that are far outside the expected outcome, but for the most part, illnesses have less far reaching effects than disorders. On the spectrum of the societal effects of personality disorders and mental illnesses, the obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is actually a mental illness, is on the lowest level in terms of widespread consequences; just above this illness is schizophrenia which has the ability to affect more than the individual unless treated; the narcissistic disorder has farther reaching effects in society, such as in bureaucratic situations, than the two previously mentioned illnesses, placing it higher on the spectrum, and last, but not least, the schizoid personality disorder has proven to have the most wide spread consequences in the form of both emotional trauma and violence allocating it the highest level.
Bearing in mind that an anxiety response is a result of various factors, there are different types of anxiety disorders. The most common type of anxiety disorders as described as specific phobias, social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder (PD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) (2016), specific phobias affect about 19 million adults in the U.S, while SAD affects 15 million, PD affects 6 million, GAD affects about 6.8 million, OCD affects about 2.2 million and PTSD affects 7.7 million adults respectively. Considering that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S, yet only about one-third of those suffering receive treatment (ADAA, 2016).
Cultural differences can conflict with diagnosing in different countries mental health disorders aren’t even recognised and there is also a stigma attached to mental health problems making people resistant to seek help or treatment. Diagnosing can also be difficult due to problems such as in one culture hearing voices can be totally normal yet in others this could mean your schizophrenic. (Hayes,2000)
(198)First, we need to understand what fear and anxiety is. Fear is when the nervous system responds to a threat to ones well being. Anxiety is when there is a vague sense of danger. Both of these term help the body determine when action needs to be taken like “Fight” or “Flight”. When they both come clinically significant is when people can’t not live there normal lives without one or there other or both interfering. “Their discomfort is so server or to frequent, last too long, or is trigger to easily, (Comer, 2013, pp.114)”. Then they are termed with having an anxiety disorder or some other disorder. Most psychologist use the DSM-5 check list when diagnosing a patient with anxiety disorder. They look for these signs that the DSM-5 list:
Fear and Anxiety are essential functions that occur in the brain that allow people to respond to stimuli appropriately. These feelings as normal as they are can cause problems and in 3.1 percent of adult Americans approximately 6.8 million people it does cause problems (“Generalized anxiety disorder”, 2014). A problem can arise when people have too much fear and anxiety; a problem is evident when it interferes with their life and their ability to do things. This is known as general anxiety disorder (GAD). When someone is suffering from generalized anxiety disorder they normally experience excessive exaggerated anxiety and worry about normal life events that give no clear reason for worry (“Generalized anxiety disorder”, 2014). This disorder can be debilitating and rule over people’s lives if it is severe and a better understanding of the disorder can be gained by looking at historical views, current views, causes and symptoms, case studies, differential diagnosis considerations, and treatment.
Not every single person that has been diagnosed with a mental disorder is an unlawful individual, drug addict, or danger to society. But sadly, that’s the stigma. The public fears people with mental illness. They think that anyone with a psychiatric disorder cannot be controlled. In an online blog post, Susan Blumenthal states, “many consider mental health problems to be the result of personal character flaws rather than real illnesses, like heart disease or diabetes” (Blumenthal, 2012). Family members often think that the diagnosed loved one is just “attention seeking” or that they “need to just get over it already.” When an unfortunate event happens in the world, such as a public shooting, immediately the public assumes that “they must have some type of psychotic
Nevid, J. S., Rathus, S. A., & Greene, B. (2011). Schizophrenia and Other Psycholtic Disorders. In J. Marshall (Ed.), Abnormal psychology in a changing world (pp. 390-425).
Imagine society blaming people for being diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer? Claiming that it was their choices in life that led to such an awful disease. To make them feel guilty of a situation that was in no way deserved by them. This happens all the time to victims of mental illness, but with the added burden of shame. Considering the shocking statistic that one in four will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year in the UK, why is it that we hardly hear of people suffering from mental illness?
People with a mental illness are often feared and rejected by society. This occurs because of the stigma of mental illness. The stigma of mental illness causes the perception of individuals with mental illnesses to be viewed as being dangerous and insane. They are viewed and treated in a negative way. They are almost seen as being less of a human. The stigma affects the individual with a mental illness in such a cruel way. The individual cannot even seek help without the fear of being stigmatized by their loved ones or the general public. The stigma even leads to some individuals developing self-stigma. This means having a negative perception of one’s self, such as viewing one’s self as being dangerous. The worst part is that the effects of
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.