Disorders
The Anxiety Disorders
SchizophreniaAlthough the term "schizophrenia means "split mind," it does not refer to the splitting of the personality into several functioning personality subtypes as in dissociative identity disorder. Rather, the term was intended to convey a splitting of the normally integrated cognitive/behavioral/emotional functioning of the brain. For example, a person may suddenly become emotionally agitated even though there is no apparent objective reason for this change.Symptoms of SchizophreniaSchizophrenia includes a variety of symptoms, not all of which will necessarily be present at any one time.
- Specific Phobia -- The term "phobia" means "fear." A specific phobia is an irrational fear of some specific thing or situation. The fear is "irrational" in the sense that it is all out of proportion to the actual danger presented. For example, some people are terrified when they see a spider, even though it is on a wall 20 feet away and could not possibly do the person any harm from that distance. A common phobia is agoraphobia (literally, "fear of the marketplace"), in which a person develops a fear of being amongst crowds of people.
- Panic Disorder -- This is a disorder characterized by unforewarned attacks of extreme dread, as if some terrible thing is about to befall the person, generally lasting only a couple of minutes and leaving the person physically exhausted because of the extreme activation of the physiological mechanisms aroused by terror. These attacks do not appear to be caused by any particular situation or thing, but if they occur several times within a given context, the person may develop agoraphobia as a secondary effect.
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder -- In World War I, soldiers who came down with this were said to be "shell shocked," the idea being that the symptoms must have resulted from being exposed to too many concussions from exploting artillary shells. Actually, the disorder arises when people are exposed to servely stressful, life-threatening situations in which they perceive that they have no control over the outcome. Those affected have flashbacks about the situation in which they were helpless, nightmares, difficulty sleeping, and and find it impossible to put the situation behind them and get on with their lives. Situations inducing the disorder include military combat, natural disasters (e.g., being caught in an earthquake), accidents (e.g., a plane crash or train wreck) and being taken hostage, among others.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder -- The name comes from two related symptoms: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are thoughts, usually of a distressing nature, that constantly intrude into awareness, over and over again. Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors the person feels to perform over and over again, because not to perform them means experiencing rapidly increasing levels of anxiety. Certain drugs and behavior modification techniques have been used to treat the disorder.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder -- This gets its name from the theoretical notion that what started as specific phobias has spread though generalization to almost all situations. The person suffering from this disorder experiences continuous, high levels of "free-floating" anxiety that does not seem to have been triggered by any specific thing or situation. The symptoms of anxiety are often treated by prescribing minor tranquilizers as an initial step; this is followed by psychological therapy aimed and uncovering and eliminating the source of the anxiety.
- Hypochondriasis -- You are probably more familiar with the label for the person: "hypochondriac." This is someone who is perpetually convinced that he or she has some dread disease which, if not treated promptly, is going to lead to their demise. If their own diagnosis is not confirmed by the doctor, hypochontriacs are likely to ask for a second opinion or to decide that, well, if it's not THIS, then surely it must be THAT. The disorder may be maintained by a strong fear of death, although being the center of attention and concern of physicians, friends, and others can provide its own source of motivation.
- Conversion Disorder (old name: Hysteria) -- The old name comes from the Greek for "womb," suggesting that it is a disorder restricted to females. For reasons unknown it is much more common in women, but men have occasionally been known to develop it. The person with this diagnosis has suffered a loss of sensory experience (sight, hearing, feelings in some part of the body) or a paralysis of some part (e.g., arms, legs), but medical examination reveals no abnormalities. Another symptom is that the person appears to be surprisingly unconcerned about developing the problem and does not wish to seek help to get it cured (indifference toward the disorder). Sigmund Freud suggested that the symptoms appear because they allow the person unconsciously to resolve a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" conflict.
- Dissociative Amnesia -- Loss of memory due to psychological factors as opposed to physical trauma to the brain.
- Dissociative Fugue -- The person disappears, forgets their true identity and past, replaceing them with an imaginary identity and past, and begins a new life in some other place, but is not conscious of having done these things.
- Dissociative Identity Disorder (old name: "Multiple Personality) -- the person develops several alternate personalities, each of which seems like a normal person. The currently "active" personality may or may not have any awareness of what was happening when other personalities were active.
SchizophreniaAlthough the term "schizophrenia means "split mind," it does not refer to the splitting of the personality into several functioning personality subtypes as in dissociative identity disorder. Rather, the term was intended to convey a splitting of the normally integrated cognitive/behavioral/emotional functioning of the brain. For example, a person may suddenly become emotionally agitated even though there is no apparent objective reason for this change.Symptoms of SchizophreniaSchizophrenia includes a variety of symptoms, not all of which will necessarily be present at any one time.
- Hallucinations -- a hallmark of Schizophrenia. Usually, these take the form of hearing voices. These voices may be critical of the person, and in some cases may tell the person to do certain things. Visual Hallucinations are less common, but do occur in some cases.
- Disordered Thought -- Thinking is irrational and disorganized.
- Attentional Difficulties -- The person is easily distracted and has a difficult time focusing attention on one line of thought for long.
- "Word Salad" -- In severe cases, the individual may exhibit such disordered thinking that sentences are almost completely disconnected, except perhaps by a chain of loose associations. Occasionally the person uses stange words ("neologisms") which seem to have a private meaning for the person and yet the person seems to believe that others know their meaning.
- Delusions -- false beliefs that are firmly held regardless of evidence to the contrary. Paranoid delusions involve (a) delusions of grandeur -- an irrational belief that one is someone of elevated position or abilities, e.g., Christ; and (b) delusions of persecution -- an irrational belief that "they" are out to get you.
- Catatonia -- the person "freezes" into a position of "waxy flexibility": you can reposition their arms etc. as if the person were a doll, and they will hold the new position (even a very uncomfortable one) for long periods of time. The person seems to be in a trance-like state, but upon emerging from the catatonia can report what had been happening.
- Reactive Schizophrenia
- Symptoms develop over a period of days or weeks, usually in adulthood.
- Good prognosis: the person is likely to recover from the disorder.
- Process Schizophrenia
- Symptoms develop gradually, over a period of months and years, usually beginning in the teens or early twenties.
- Poor prognosis: the person is unlikely to recover from the disorder.
Is This Important? Do I Really Have to Know?
This topic is not as urgent as the others but it still holds it's importance due to the fact that psychological disorders can happen to anyone. If you do not develop a psychological disorder, it is quite possible that someone you know will develop one. It would, at the very least, be good to have background knowledge on so you can notice the signs if someone you know starts to develop a psychological disorder.
Link to Article
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/05/21/over-4-million-working-americans-suffer-from-anxiety-disorders
http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/PsychDisorders.html
http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/PsychDisorders.html