The common psychological disorders - Term Paper Example

The common psychological disorders Today psychology is defined as the study of behavior even though earlier it was defined as the study of mind. So, any disorders or irregularities observed in the behavioral pattern of a person can be referred as mental or psychological disorders. Some of the psychological disorders are not chronic whereas some others are severe in nature. It is not necessary that the reason which caused psychological disorder to a person may cause same psychological disorder to another person. For example, some people become mentally ill when they lost some of their beloved ones. However, it is not necessary that the loss of beloved ones will cause psychological problems to all the people. Some of the common psychological disorders are; Anxiety disorders, Childhood disorders; Dissociative disorders; Mood disorders, Personality disorders, Schizophrenia, Somatoform disorders etc. Many researches have already been conducted in studying more about the reasons, symptoms and treatment options for psychological disorders. As a result of these researches, currently, most of the psychological disorders can be controlled or managed well, if treated properly. Several medicines are available in the market for treating psychological disorders. Psychological disorders have been a topic of discussion for many years; affect millions of people around the globe and while some have treatments others do not. This paper briefly analyses the different dimensions of psychological disorders. What is a psychological disorder? Our brain is a place where lots of mental processes or activities are going on virtually in every second. Sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings etc are some of the common mental processes. Our sense are feeding lot of inputs to the brain and form these inputs, brain is making lot of outputs which is fed to other parts of our body. These outputs often force us to behave in a particular way. In other words, mental processes are the controller of our behavioral pattern. If any irregularity occurs in the mental processes, it can be observed in the behavior of that person. Thus change in behavior of a person from his normal behavior can be taken as the symptom of psychological disorder for that person. Behavior is an observable thing whereas mental processes cannot be observed or measured. It is not necessary that all the mental processes are taking place in the conscious mind. It can occur both in the conscious and unconscious mind. Nobody has any control over the activities going on inside the unconscious mind even the activities inside the conscious mind can be controlled up to certain extent. At the same time, the activities of both the conscious and unconscious mind can shape the behavior of a person. That is why different people may have different ideologies, opinions, attitudes, character etc. Thus, it is possible that different people may react differently to the same stimulus. Dr Vasily Klucharev, from the FC Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging in the Netherlands has said that people often change their decisions and judgments to conform to normative group behavior (Alleyne). On the other hand behaviors usually occur consciously and it is possible for us to change our behavior if we make a conscious effort. It is difficult to standardize the reasons for psychological disorders because of the different abilities people possess in dealing with difficult situations. Some people may have good mental power so that they may not be easily agitated when they face some problem in their life. On the other hand, some people may react emotionally even to simple problems. This is because of the changes in the heredity and environment in which different people brought up. Heredity plays an important role in making person psychologically sound or weak. The chances of occurrence of psychological disorders among the children of mentally disordered persons are more than that of the children of the normal people. Same way even mentally tough persons may become psychologically disordered if they happen to be in unhealthy environment. Some of the physical diseases like thyroid can also cause major changes in the hormone level and lead towards psychological disorders. In short, heredity, environment and some of the physiological diseases can cause psychological disorders. The psychological disorders can be identified from the deviant behaviors. The persons with psychological problems cannot behave normally. For example, people with depression may try to isolate themselves from others and take shelter in a lonely life. Anxiety is another major symptom of most of the psychological disorders. In chronic cases, psychological disorders can force a person to engage in violent behaviors. In such cases, the disordered person may try to kill or attack others or kill himself. Common psychological disorders Anxiety disorders, Childhood disorders; Dissociative disorders; Mood disorders, Personality disorders, Schizophrenia, Somatoform disorders etc are some of the common psychological disorders. Anxiety is mainly caused by negative thoughts and negative energy driven by unpleasant emotions or feelings. It is a psychological disorder characterized by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. Low mood, lack of activity, sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, guilty feeling, restlessness, uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry are some of the common symptoms of anxiety disorder. Attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood psychological problem. “ADHD co-occurs with other problems such as oppositional behavior toward adults, conduct problems, and academic failure” (HOZA ET AL, 2005, p.412). ADHD is caused mainly because of the lack of care children receive during their childhood from their parents. Such children may have problems in the proper development of some of the parts of their brain. The improper brain development may lead them towards improper behaviors. Even though ADHD normally affects only the children, children can carry this disease to their adulthood, if not treated properly during their childhood. Cherry (2010) has defined personality as the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. It arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life (Cherry, 2010). Personality controls the success and failures of a person in his/her life. Even a simple problem may make some people introverts whereas we have many examples in which people with serious problems lead their life without too much concerns. Personality makes or breaks a person. No two individuals are alike. Different people have different personalities because of the differences in their heredity and the environment in which they were brought up. Because of the problems in the development of personality, people can behave abnormally which is another psychological disorder. Personality disorder cannot be identified during childhood since people may not take the behaviors of children seriously. However, children carry their personality disorders to their adulthood and only after the child completed his 16 or 18 years of age, people will notice or the problems in the behavior pattern of that person. For example, some people may have more concerns about their looks rather than anything else in their life. They will give more attention to the preservation of their beauty and for that they may ready to spend as much time as they can. Even a small beauty problem may irritate them too much as they value their beauty as the most precious thing in their life. This is a personality disorder, developed over period of time. During childhood parents will never bother about such behaviors of their children. However, it is difficult for the society to accept such behaviors from adults. “Mania is the medical condition where patients suffer severely elevated moods at all times. Normally it is associated with mood swings when the patient goes through extremely elevated or happy mood at one time and at the other time may feel depressed.” (Barker, n.d) Even normal person can have their mood swings at times based on the circumstances. But they will have control over their moods. They will manage their moods judiciously even though it swings at times. But a person with mood disorder may not be able to control his moods. Such persons may not sleep well and they may become hyperactive in their thoughts in most of the times. “They may fail to recognize signs of sadness in the facial expression of others, while they can easily recognize expressions of happiness the expression of sadness fails to register in their minds”(Barker n. d). The main reasons for mood disorder are genetic factors, physical problems in brain and stress. A person with a close relative having mood disorder can be more volatile for this disorder because of genetic factors. It doesn’t mean that all the relatives of a mania patient may be affected by mood disorders. Physical problems of the brain systems which control mood can also cause mood disorders. Stress can be considered as the third factor which contributes to the mood disorder. Mood disorders can be treated effectively by medication and talk therapy. Talk therapy is nothing but counseling. The counselor will try to identify the causes of the disorder through long sessions of free association with the patient using psycho analysis techniques. Once the counselor identifies the reasons for the mood disorder, he will try to suggest remedies for it. What research has been done in regards to psychological disorders? Healthcare professionals are the ones who constantly and continuously interact with the psychologically disordered persons. Because of such constant interaction with the mental patients, healthcare professionals can contribute heavily to the researches with respect to psychological disorders. Earlier, psychological disorders were considered as incurable diseases. However, recent researches succeeded in developing adequate mechanisms in controlling psychological disorders. This includes both medicines and mental strengthening exercises. Antidepressant medicines are available in the market at present for most of the psychological disorders. Apart from medicines, Yoga and deep breathing like mental exercises are proposed for reducing the mental stress and most of the simple mental disorders. Deep breathing allows a person to consume more oxygen which will increase the blood circulation to brain. Increased blood circulation will result in increased mental activities which will force the disordered person to think rationally. The recent researches in psychological disorder focus mainly on four areas. The first is risk reduction, which means that although the ultimate goal is to prevent cases of mental disorder, the interventions attempt to decrease specific risk factors and increase specific protective factors in the lives of the study participants; that is, to modify shorter-term (and more easily measurable) aspects of behavior and environment. The second focus is on developmental processes. The studies are longitudinal and must ask how risk factors conspire to cause mental disorders as well as determine during which critical periods in the life span interventions can have maximum impact. The third element of modem prevention research is an epidemiological perspective, which is required to identify the essential risk and protective factors that might be important or useful to modify. The fourth concept in the quartet is that of the cyclical and iterative nature of research, meaning that the outcomes of an intervention must be objectively evaluated, and that assessment must inform the next revision and next trial of the intervention (Rowe, n. d) Today, most of the psychological disorders are curable which means the researches in psychology is going in the right direction. Even severe mental disorders can be treated effectively t present with the help of psychologists and psychiatrists. Some of the psychological disorders can be treated effectively even without any medicine. Psychotherapy is one of the most common treatment options available for psychologically disorders people which requires no medicine use at all. It consists of several lengthy counseling sessions in which the patient and the psychologists interact freely in a pleasant environment. Conclusions Psychological disorders are increasing day by day because of various reasons. The stress levels of the current generation are more than that of the older generation because of the over commitments of the current generation. Psychological disorders can be identified from the abnormal behavior of a person. Both heredity and environment can cause psychological disorders. Apart from that some physiological diseases can also lead towards psychological problems. Researches in psychology are advancing in the right direction so that we have effective treatment options available for most of the psychological disorders at present. Psychological disorders have been a topic of discussion for many years; affect millions of people around the globe and while some have treatments others do not. References 1. Alleyne, R. (2009). Mental Process Which Explains Why We Follow Crowds Revealed. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/4240758/Mental-process-which-explains-why-we-follow-crowds-revealed.html 2. Barker K (n. d), What Is Mania And How Do I Know If I Have Mania?, Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-Mania-And-How-Do-I-Know-If-I-Have-Mania?&id=216708 3. Cherry K. (2010). What Is Personality? Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm 4. HOZA B., Hinshaw S. P., Bukowski W.M., Gold J. A., Kraemer H. C. Pelham W.E., Wigal T & Arnold L. E (2005). What Aspects of Peer Relationships Are Impaired in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology American Psychological Association 2005, Vol. 73, No.3, p.411–423 5. Rowe P.M. (n. d). Progress in the prevention of mental disorders. Observer. Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/1996/july-august-96/progress-in-the-prevention-of-mental-disorders.html Read More