Discuss psychological disorders - Essay Example

a) Identify the diagnostic criteria for the disorder.  The criteria typically used in diagnosing Autism is the DSM-IV-TR criteria. Under this criteria, Durand & Barlow highlighted the problem of socialization and social function of autism whereby 50% of them never acquire useful speech. The disorder affects two to 20 persons for every 10,000 people and its symptoms typically develop before three years old. Prognosis is predicted through their language skills and IQ test performance. Current understanding about autism acknowledges that there is no biological and medical treatment for the disorder.

Treatment is only limited to intervention that is focused on skill building and and improvement of problematic behavior (23). b) Describe what the symptoms would look life, how is the behavior portrayed?  While the generally accepted symptoms of autism are observable by 18 months of age characterized by inattention and undeveloped speech, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development added more behavioral symptoms that includes problems with eye contact, not responding to one’s name, joint attention problems, underdeveloped skills in pretend play and imitation, and problems with nonverbal communication and language.

They also added that there are more subtle signs of autism that would begin at eight months of age. In the investigation of O'Hearn et al, it reported that autistic people process their world slower and with fewer elements. The study reported that autistic people have “slightly fewer elements, slower serial processes, and less sensitivity to parallel/holistic processes that mature into adulthood” and this “could undermine the representation of multiple elements in several ways” (14). c) Discuss how you would handle this as a member of the family/friend.

What would you do? What questions would you ask?  Autism is often misunderstood by society and people who have it are readily judged to be academically and socially inadequate. At the onset, this may appear to be true because autistic people have relatively slower cognitive skills compared to a mainstream individual. This assessment however is also inadequate because it failed to recognize that contribution to the general good of society is not only limited to the ability of being in a regular class or having the regular cognitive and motor skill but rather is measured on the final output of an individual less the liability that he or she may pose.

If I have a family member or a friend that has autism, I would advise them to be enrolled in special education classes for their special needs to be attended. I would still treat them as normal people because study shows that when they are treated as normal and educated properly, they could be also act “normal”. I will encourage them not to feel bad about the disorder (autism) because it could be addressed well. To encourage them, I will mention people that have autism yet lived a very productive life such as the popular artwork and character Pokemon who was created by Satoshi Tajiri, in addition to Matt Savage, the jazz prodigy who was actually autistic (Toptenz.com). I will also shield them from bullying and discrimination which is the most painful stigma of the disorder and educate people around us that autism can be addressed properly and individuals who has the disorder can still be productive and live a “normal” life. d) Identify ways in which this disorder could be treated