Psychological Disorders By Katherine Colon

Abnormal Behavior

What one individual may

perceive as abnormal

behavior to them is

something that is strange

and out of the ordinary or

unusual. You are not

completely incorrect.

“Abnormal behavior refers to

actions,thoughts,and feelings

that are distressing or

harmful to the person or to

others.” Lahey tenth edition

With a mental evaluation on

an individuals actions and

behavior that is abnormal

along with the duration of

time and the harmful affects

it is having on the individual

or others will determine

abnormal behavior and may

need to be dealt with by the

psychiatrist with therapy

and possible medication to

help the individual.

Anxiety Disorders

Every individual experiences

anxiety,

nervousness,scared, worried

through out their life.

Depending on the situation

at hand but that does not

mean they have an anxiety

disorder.

There are different forms of

anxiety that with out

treatment from a physician

on ways to help control it

can make an individual very

unstable.

Women experience

anxiety disorders more

than men do. The kinds of

anxiety disorders vary as

29% of Americans will

experience an anxiety

disorder at some point

and time in their life.

Panic Anxiety Disorder

Some people can develop a

panic anxiety disorder which

involves a form of panic,

which can happen even

while a person is calm for a

long period of time. Rapid

heart beats and respiration

can develop along with

sweating, they may think

he/ she is going crazy

because it is happening so

suddenly to them.

If these attacks are becoming

very frequent for the individual

they will need to seek help as

it is interrupting their lives.

Current theory suggests that

panic attacks are non specific

responses to stress. It can

happen with out a direct

trigger like in a calming

situation.

Somatoform Disorders

Some people state to have

physical problems that are

really more psychological

than physical. That is a

Somatoform Disorder the

person is not “faking” it as

they truly believe they are in

pain a psychological problem

has taken the form of a

physical problem in a sense.

There are four different

types of Somatoform

Disorders:

Somatization Disorders,

Hypochondriasis, conversion

disorder, somatoform pain

disorders they are all very

similar with slight

differences in each.

Conversion Disorder

• Conversion disorders are there rarest and most dramatic of Somatoform disorders, symptoms like blindness, deafness, fainting,seizures and paralysis can occur. To better understand consider this:

• “A 22 year old man was complaining of night blindness and failing vision. The onset of his symptoms seemed closely related to his

• difficulties with a girlfriend who lived some miles away from his home. In order to visit her he was to drive at night which was made impossible by his night blindness. Soon after the relationship was broken and the girlfriend became engaged to someone else visual acuity improved and the visual fields showed on slight contraction.” Lahey tenth edition pg. 484

Dissociative Disorder

• Dissociative disorders deal with rare sudden alterations in cognition. There are four kinds of dissociative disorders depersonalization, dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue,dissociative identity disorder

• There are various types that deal with change in perception,identity or memory.

Depersonalization

• Depersonalization is when an individuals perception of their body or a body part has become “unreal” or that distortions have occurred in ones surroundings.

• For example the individual may feel like a robot, or may feel they have enlarged feet, or that there little brother is not real.

• The individual knows that what they are thinking or feeling is not true.

• These experiences are not considered abnormal unless they are accompanied by other problems or become recurrent to the point of becoming uncomfortable.

Mood Disorders

• Depression and mania are the two different types of mood disorders.

• Depression can occur alone ( major depression) or mania which alternates with periods of depression it is not as constant ( bipolar disorder) Both conditions can become very serious where an individual will need medication to help stabilize their moods.

Bipolar Disorder

• Bipolar disorder formerly called manic-depressive psychosis has periods of mania which occur irregularly with periods of sever depression.

• Bipolar disorder can become very serious, during these periods one may go on shopping sprees, act completely out of the ordinary, for example if one is normally quite and an introvert may become the opposite and very talkative, and restless.

• “When mania is recurrent, it usually alternates irregularly with episodes of depression.” Lahey tenth edition pg 492

• To determine bipolar disorder one will need to undergo a thorough examination to identify or rule out physical causes for the symptoms. Anti psychotic drugs and anti anxiety drugs which can be used to stabilize mood as well as anti depressant medications can prove to be helpful for people who are bipolar.

Schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder involving delusions and hallucinations, reduced enjoyment, and disorganization.

• Scizophrenia is an uncommon disorder that affects about %1 of the general population men are %30 more likely than women to be affected by schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (continued)

• Both genetic and environmental are factors that can cause schizophrenia, schizophrenia is strongly influenced by genetic factors.

• Schizophrenia is a broad class of psychotic disorders and not just one disorder. It is broken down into three different sub types Paranoid Schizophrenia, Disorganized schizophrenia, Catatnic Schizophrenia.

• With diagnosing Schizophrenia CT scans of the head and other imaging techniques may find some changes that occur with schizophrenia and may rule out other disorders.

• Antipsychotic medications are the most effective treatment for schizophrenia. They change the balance of chemicals in the brain and can help control the symptoms of the illness.

References

• Lahey Tenth Edition

• WebMD.com

• Google.com ( for images)