Psychological Disorders

Psychology disorders are refereed to as a mental illness but are described as abnormalities of the mind. Abnormalities of the mind causes persistent behavior patterns that can affect day to day life. The different types of disorders have been identified and classified Eating disorders (ex. Anorexia Nervosa), Mood disorders (ex. Depression), Personality disorders (ex. Anti-social personality disorders), Psychotic disorders (ex. Schizophrenia), and Sexual disorders (ex. Sexual dysfunction). One person may have multiple psychological disorders, causes are unknown. Factors may include imbalances of chemicals n the brain, childhood experiences, and stress. Borderline personality disorder and depression occur more in women, others like intermittent
Psychological disorders include sleep disturbances, inexplicable physical problems and weight or appetite changes. Serious life threatening symptoms are the inability to care for ones basic needs, being a danger to self or others (threatening, irrational or suicidal behavior) and trauma. A number of factors increase the rick of developing psychological disorders, not all people with risk factors will get psychological disorders. Risk factors include abuse or neglect as a child, intelligence below normal, low birth weight, parental absence, criminal activity, or substance abuse. The first step to treatment in psychological disorders is the recognize a problem exists. Often people deny they have a problem and refuse to get the help they need. Common treatments include anti- anxiety medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, group therapy, individual therapy, support groups, mood- stabilizing medications, and talk-
Behavior genetics, caused by differences in genotypes, typically take a combination of several altered genes to cause a disorder. Structural brain abnormalities occur when areas of the brain have not developed optimally (ex the ventricles). Methods used to assess the contribution of biological factors which include twin studies, studies on family history, and adoption studies. Psychological theories psychodynamic refers to the conflict of the forces in the mind, key assumptions include psychic determinism and unconscious motivation. The mind is organized on the bases of conflicts between ID( the unconscious wishes), EGO(coping / defense mechanisms), and SUPER EGO (the conscience). Instinctual drives; sex and agitation are the two main instinctual drives. If a person has wishes, desires, and fantasies that he/she regard’s as unacceptable and that arouse anxiety, he/she deals with them by the means of defense mechanism. Abnormality is a function of the interaction of these three sets of factors and the vulnerability they create in the individual, this is called bio-psycho-social-integration. Classifications of mental disorders are classified in categories of