Psychological Disorders - Term Paper Example

Psychology is the science or study of human and animal behavior. This includes functioning of the brain and other parts of the body. As a science, it involves several branches   such as the biological psychology. It is also referred to as physiological psychology, psychobiology, or biopsychology in other words. Biological psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between behavior and the body especially majoring on the brain. According to psychologists, behavior not only means the way a living creature behaves or acts. In their view, they also include events that take place internally such as arousing of emotions, thinking, and learning (Garrett, 2009). Biological psychologist wants to find out what takes place in the brain when there is a behavior change. This is as they try to find out how people behave differently despite of being under similar conditions. This is for example some people get angry, others happy while some may behave normally as if nothing happened. Thus by looking at all this it is evident that the biological psychologists focus on finding the role of the brain to change in behavior. Biological psychology grew out of philosophy and physiology. This is when the United States wanted to construct their own space and they sent an astronaut to the moon. Due to this there grew a demand to understand the mysterious of the brain. The psychologists wanted to explore the inner space of human thoughts and emotions. Therefore, in the attempt to understand the space program project of the United States this branch of psychology emerged as they tried to examine the horizons of human brain and advance treatment of psychological disorders. Psychological disorders include behavior or psychological symptoms that make the person experiencing them uncomfortable. The psychological disorders are grouped according to the psychological symptoms that they are associated with. When a patient goes to the hospital, a diagnosis is done and this displays the kind of disorder. When patients present similar symptoms to the doctor then they are termed as suffering from the same disorder. When the physicians diagnosed their patients, they arranged the symptoms together according to the disorder and came up with particular syndromes that differentiated the cases from others (Garrett, 2003). The syndromes were put in different categories and termed with a specific label. These labels made it easy to know the kind of person’s disorder thus effective treatment could administered easily. This is where by when a person was identified to have a particular abnormality the specialists in the field knew the disorder. Psychology disorders are of two categories, which include the psychosis and the neurosis. These two types differ by much in terms of the problems they cause and their characteristics. A person with the neurosis type of disorder displays signs of anxiety, which comes because of internal conflict. The person is in a condition where there are no hallucinations or irrational thoughts. On the other hand, a person with psychosis displays the symptoms of loosing contact with the reality. The person experiences hallucinations and nonsensical thoughts that interfere with the common sense. Psychological disorder models have much contributed in the biological psychology. The models explain the disorders and show ways on how to treat them. Among the models, include the medical model, which treats the mental disorders by considering it as a physical cause. It assumes that the mental disorders are because of physical cause related to the structure and functioning of the brain. Biological psychology has much impact on a person’s lifestyle, health and the well-being. This is where by there is a strong relationship between a person’s mental and the physical health. The mental illness leads to poor health whereas poor health can lead to mental illness as well. When a person suffers from a mental disorder, we likely find that it affects the physical health. This is for example we find that people with a diagnosis of mental illness such as depression and stress has a high risk of getting a physical problem. Mental problem increases the risk of getting diseases such as cancer, muscle problems like back pain and leads to high death rate. We find that in general mental illness leads to a wide range of diseases. On the other hand, health problems are also associated with mental illness. People with health problems such as the chronic diseases are at a high risk of suffering mental disorders such as depression, stress, and anxiety. Those with long-term health problems most likely suffer from mental illness. By this, we find that mental problems associated with physical illness lead to high health cost hence high cost of living. It is evident that unhealthy lifestyles are often a response to mental problems such as stress. This is where a person would wish to involve in smoking and consumption of alcohol because of dealing with stress. Therefore, we find that biological psychology has much influence to a person’s way of life in that it attempts to study the relationship between his behaviors and the functioning of the brain. Biological psychology creates awareness that behaviors influence much how a person works and approaches issues in life. This is where by when a person displays an abnormal behavior it is likely associated by the brain. In an attempt of explaining biological psychology, various researches have been carried out. These include various psychological models that have been developed such as the medical model. The information acquired in studying these models has helped much in stabilizing psychology. Psychology as a study of human mind and behavior has benefited much from the research. Thus by this much contribution this is an important branch of psychology (Toates, 2011). Apart from biological psychology having much affecting individuals lives we also have gender roles, ethnicity culture and socialization affecting. Gender roles involve the expected behavior of an individual in then society. They are cultural and personal and include how males and females should think, speak, behave, dress, and interact within the environment of the society. They are acquired through the process of learning and socializing with various people such as the peers, parents, and teachers. These roles can also be achieved through interaction with media. This involves watching movies, television, reading books, novels, newspapers, and the religion. Parents contribute much in imparting the role to the young ones since they have much influence on them. These gender roles are attained during the early stages of human development affect a person later in life. This influences many individuals since they only adopt the roles according to the society they grow from. This is where we find that the gender roles are passed on from parents to children and from one generation to another. Thus individual’s behavior will depend on the society where they grew. Ethnicity also plays a major role on influencing individual’s lives. It refers to the common characteristics of a group of people. This is where by people belonging to a certain ethnic group pertain shared cultural traits and history. Different ethnic groups display different traits and customs from the other. Ethnicity affects individuals much since their behaviors are because of the ethnic group they belong. Through this, it is evident that the ethnic group will affect the individual’s actions and way of life. More so, we also have culture and socialization that affects much individual’s way of life. Culture refers to the beliefs, values, customs, and behavior that characterize people’s way of life. It also includes the religious beliefs and arts that differentiate one group or society from the other. Different societies have different cultures. Culture influences the way people behave and think in some points. Thus by this, it is evident that an individual way of thinking and style of living will be influenced by the culture he belongs to. On the other hand, socialization refers to the act of interacting with other people. This includes learning other people’s behavior and way of life in order to relate well with them. It is through socialization that we find people can acquire social and language skills from their fellows. Through this it affects Individuals in life since by watching how their fellows act and live they can also try to adapt the same. This contributes much to their way of life since they may to some extent forced to acquire the behavior of those they socialize. Generally, it is clear that a person’s behavior and the functioning of the brain have a strong relationship. We find that the functioning of the brain controls everything one knows feels and does. This shows that when one has a psychological disorder it in return determines how he behaves. This is whereby according to the symptoms of the disorder one can display anxiety, depression or even experience hallucinations. Due to this, it is evident that their behaviors are influenced by how their minds work. The study of psychology and its major branches such as biological psychology are of much importance. References  Editorial board. (2014). Biological Psychology, 103. Los Angeles: Sage Garrett, B. (2003). Brain and behavior. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Garrett, B. (2009). Brain behavior. Los Angeles: Sage Jha, M., & Sharma, V. (2014). Dissociative Fugue Disorder: Identification and Psychological Intervention. Psychology Study. NewYork Toates, F. (2011). Biological psychology. Harlow, Essex: Prentice Hall/Pearson.   Read More