mental health

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Classifying Abnormal Behavior

Abnormal Behavior is behavior that is deviant, maladaptive, or personally distressful over a relatively long period of time.

Theoretical Approaches to Psychological Disorders:

Biological Approach - attributes psychological disorders to organic, internal causes. primarily focusing on the brain, genetic factors, and neurotransmitter functioning as the source of the abnormality.

Psychological Approach - emphasizes the contribution of experiences, thoughts, emotions and personality characteristics in explaining psychological disorders. Focus on the influence of childhood experiences or on personality traits in the development and course of psychological disorders.

Sociocultural Approach - emphasizes the social context in which a person lives, including the individual's gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family relationships, and culture. This perspective stresses the ways that cultures influence the understanding and treatment of psychological disorders.

Biopsychosocial Model - abnormal behavior can be influenced by biological factors, psychological factors, and sociocultural factors.

DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Axis I : All diagnostic categories except personality disorders and mental retardation

Axis II : personality disorders and mental retardation

Axis III : General medical conditions

Axis IV : Psychosocial and environmental problems

Axis V : Current level of functioning

Axes I and II are concerned with the classification of psychological disorders.

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Psychological Disorders

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disoder) - One of the most common psychological disorders of childhood, in which individuals show one or more of the following: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Anxiety Disorders - Psychological disorders involving fears that are uncontrollable, disproportionate to the actual danger the person might be in, and disruptive of ordinary life.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder - persistent anxiety for at least six months and in which the individual is unable to specify the reason for the anxiety. They may worry about their work, relationships, or health. That worry can also take a physical toll resulting in fatigue, muscle tension, stomach problems, and difficulty sleeping. The psychological and sociocultural factors include having harsh (or even impossible) self-standards, overly strict and critical parents, automatic negative thoughts when feeling stressed, and a history of uncontrollable traumas or stressors (such as an abusive parent).

Panic Disorder - Anxiety disorder in which the individual experiences recurrent, sudden, onsets of intense apprehension or terror, often without warning and with no specific cause. Panic attacks can produce severe palpitations, extreme shortness of breath, chest pains, trembling, sweating, dizziness, and a feeling of helplessness. These people may fear that they will die, go crazy, or do something they cannot control. They may feel that they are having a heart attack.

Phobic Disorder - Anxiety disorder characterized by an irrational fear of a particular object or situation. The fear becomes a phobia when a situation is so dreaded that an individual goes to almost any length to avoid it. As with any anxiety disorder, phobias are fears that are uncontrollable, disproportionate, and disruptive.

Here is a list of phobias that exist:

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/08/a-list-of-phobias-from-atelophobia-to-zelotypophobia/

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - Anxiety disorder in which the individual has anxiety-provoking thoughts that will not go away and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors to prevent or produce some future situation. The most common compulsions are excessive checking, cleansing, and counting. Most individuals do not enjoy their ritualistic behavior but feel extraordinarily anxious when they do not carry it out. There does seem to be some kind of genetic factor in this disorder. One interpretation of the data gathered on this disorder is that the frontal cortex of basal ganglia are so active in OCD that numerous impulses reach the thalamus, generating obsessive thoughts or compulsive actions. The amygdala, which is associated with the experience of anxiety, may be smaller in individuals with OCD compared to those who do not have the disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Anxiety disorder that develops through exposure to a traumatic event that has overwhelmed the person's abilities to cope. The symptoms include:

Flashbacks in which the individual relives the event

Avoidance of emotional experiences and of talking about emotions with others.

Reduced ability to feel emotions.

Excessive arousal, resulting in an exaggerated startle response or an inability to sleep.

Difficulties with memory and concentration.

Feeling apprehension, including nervous tremors.

Impulsive outbursts of behavior, such as aggressiveness, or sudden changes in lifestyle.

symptoms can follow a trauma immediately or after months or even years. not every individual exposed to the same event develops PTSD.

Mood Disorders - Psychological disorders in which there is a primary disturbance of mood: prolonged emotion that colors the individual's entire emotional state.

Depressive Disorders - mood disorders in which the individual suffers from depression: an unrelenting lack of pleasure in life.

Major Depressive Disorder - Psychological disorder involving a significant depressive episode and depressed characteristics, such as lethargy and hopelessness, for at least two weeks. MDD impairs daily functioning, and it has been called the leading cause of disability in the United States. Nine symptoms (at least five of which must be present during a two-week period) define a Major depressive episode:

Depressed mood most of the day

Reduced interest or pleasure in all or most activities

Significant weight loss or gain or significant decrease or increase in appetite

Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much

Psychological and physical agitation, or in contrast, lethargy

Fatigue or loss of energy

Feeling worthless or guilty in an excessive or inappropriate manner

Problems in thinking, concentrating, or making decisions

Recurrent thoughts of death and suicide

No history of manic episodes

Bipolar Disorder - Mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings that include one or more episodes of mania, an overexcited unrealistically optimistic state.

Bipolar I Disorder: individuals who have extreme manic episodes during which they may experience hallucinations, that is, seeing or hearing things that are not there.

Bipolar II Disorder: the individual may not experience full-blown mania but rather a less extreme level of euphoria.

Mania - an extremely euphoric mood that causes an individual to become extremely unconnected to reality.

Dissociative Disorders - Psychological disorders that involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity due to the dissociation ( separation) of the individual's conscious awareness from previous memories and thoughts. Under extreme stress or shock, the individual's conscious awareness becomes dissociated from previous memories and thoughts.

Dissociative Amnesia - a type of amnesia characterized by extreme memory loss that stems from extensive psychological stress. A person experiencing dissociative amnesia still remembers things like how to hail a cab or use a phone. only aspects of their own identity and autobiographical experiences are forgotten.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) - Also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is the most dramatic, least common, and most controversial dissociative disorder. Individuals with this disorder have to or more distinct personalities. each identity has its own memories, behaviors, and relationships. One identity dominates at one time, another takes over at another time. Individuals sometimes report that a wall of amnesia separates their different identities; however, research suggests that memory does transfer across these identities, even if the person believes it does not.

Schizophrenia - a sever psychological disorder characterized by highly disordered thought processes, referred to as psychotic because they are so far removed from reality. Individuals with schizophrenia may see things that are not there, hear voices inside their head, and live in a strange world of twisted logic. They may say odd things, show inappropriate emotion, and move their bodies in peculiar ways. Often, they are socially withdrawn and isolated.

Positive Symptoms: marked by a distortion or an excess of normal function.

Hallucinations - Sensory experiences in the absence of real stimuli.

Delusions - False, unusual, and sometimes magical beliefs that are not part of an individual's culture.

Thought Disorder/ referential thinking - ascribing personal meaning to completely random events.

Catatonia - State of immobility and unresponsiveness lasting for long periods of time.

Negative Symptoms: reflect social withdrawal, behavioral deficits, and loss or decrease of normal functions.

Flat Affect - the display of little or no emotion.

Personality Disorders - Chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are thoroughly integrated into an individual's personality.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) - A Psychological disorder characterized by guiltlessness, law-breaking, exploitation of others, irresponsibility, and deceit. ASPD is far more common in men than women and is related to criminal behavior, vandalism, substance abuse and alcoholism. The DSM-IV criteria for antisocial personality disorder includes:

Failure to conform to social norms or obey the law.

Deceitfulness, lying, using aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.

Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.

Irritability and aggressiveness, getting into physical fights or perpetrating assaults.

Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others.

Consistent irresposibilty, inconsistent work behavior, not paying bills.

Lack of remorse, showing indifference to the pain of others, or rationalizing, having hurt or mistreated another.

Generally, ASPD is not diagnosed unless a person has shown persistent antisocial behavior before the age of 15.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - A pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions, and of marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. BPD is related to self-harming behaviors such as cutting, which is injuring oneself with a sharp object but without suicidal intent and also to suicide. The DSM-IV specifies that BPD is indicated by the presence of five or more of the following symptoms:

Frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned.

Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by extreme shifts between idealization and devaluation.

Markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.

Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging.

Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats or self-mutilating behavior.

Unstable and extreme emotional responses.

Chronic feeling of emptiness.

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger.

Temporary stress-related paranoia ( a pattern of disturbed thought featuring delusions of grandeur or persecution) of sever dissociative symptoms.

BPD is far more common in women than men.

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Therapies

Psychotherapy - a non medical process that helps individuals with psychological disorders recognize and overcome their problems.

Biomedical Therapies - Treatments that reduce or eliminate the symptoms of psychological disorders by altering aspects of the body functioning.

Drug Therapy - drugs that alter the chemistry of the brain.

Anti anxiety Drugs - Commonly known as tranquilizers, these drugs reduce anxiety by making individuals calmer and less excitable. Benzodiazepines are the anti anxiety drugs that generally offer the greatest relief for anxiety symptoms, however, they are also potentially addictive. They work by binding to the receptor sites of neurotransmitters that become overactive during anxiety. The most frequently prescribed benzodiazepines include Xanax, Valium, and Librium.

Antidepressant Drugs - Mood regulators. The four main classes of antidepressant drugs are tricyclics, such as Elavil; tetracyclics such as Avanza; Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, such as Nardil; and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as Prozac. These antidepressants are all thought to help alleviate depressed mood through their effects on neurotransmitters in the brain.

Antipsychotic Drugs - powerful drugs that diminish agitated behavior, reduce tension, decrease hallucinations, improve social behavior, and produce better sleep patterns in individuals that have sever psychological disorders. Neuroleptics are the most extensively used class of antipsychotic drugs. A potential side effect of neuroleptic drugs is tardive dyskinesia, a neurologial disorder characterized by involuntary random movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and mouth, as well as twitching of the neck, arms, and legs. Newer drugs called atypical antipsychotic medication introduced in the 1990's, carry a much lower risk of these side effects.

Here is a list of drugs that are used and what they are used for: http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/mental-health-and-addiction/medications/

Electroconvulsive Therapy - also known as shock therapy, is to set off a seizure in the brain, much like what happens spontaneously in some forms of epilepsy. the notion that causing someone to have a seizure might help sure a psychological disorder may seem strange, but this idea has been around for quite some time.