Analysis of Chapter 13 Psychological Disorders Essay

A Beautiful Mind illustrates many of the topics relating to psychological disorders. The main character of the film, John Nash, is a brilliant mathematician who suffers from symptoms of Schizophrenia. His symptoms include paranoid delusions, grandiosity, and disturbed perceptions. The disease disrupts his social relationships, his studies, and his work. The more stressful his life becomes the more his mind is not able to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

Exposure to the object or situation brings about an immediate reaction, causing the person to endure intense anxiety (nervousness) or to avoid the object or situation entirely. The distress associated with the phobia and/or the need to avoid the object or situation can significantly interfere with the person's ability to function. Adults with a specific phobia recognize that the fear is excessive or unreasonable, yet are unable to overcome it.PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS:- These illnesses affect an individual’s mind and alter a person's ability to think clearly, make good judgments, communicate effectively, understand reality, behave appropriately and respond emotionally. When symptoms are severe, people with psychotic disorders often are unable to meet the ordinary demands of daily life. People with this illness have changes in behaviour and symptoms, such as delusions (a feeling of being watched or monitored in some way) and hallucinations (hearing, seeing or smelling things that aren’t there) that last a very long time.SUBSTANCE-RELATED DISORDERS:- According to the DSM, substance related disorders are separated into two types: 1. Substance use/abuse disorders. Substance use disorders include abuse and dependence of any substance. Substance dependence is characterized by continued use of any substance even after the user has experienced serious substance-related problems.

This approach has shown different ways in treating mental disorders, and in doing so have shown inadequacies and ethical implications that are both positive and negative in their therapeutic perspectives. The psychodynamic model also suggests that the individuals are not really responsible for their own mental disorders, this is because these disorders depend on unconscious processes which individuals have no control. However with both of these approaches suggesting that the individual has no responsibility may carry the

Psychological disorders are stated to be abnormalities of the mind, known as mental disorders (Klasco, 2011). Abnormalities of the mind cause persistent behaviors that affect an individual’s daily function and life (Klasco, 2011). The different types of psychological disorders include mood disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders (Klasco, 2011). The causes of these disorders are unknown, but factors that contribute to these disorders include childhood experiences, chemical imbalances in the brain, illnesses, heredity, stress, and prenatal exposures (Klasco, 2011). Psychological disorders can be serious and can be life-threatening

Nevertheless, the term “mental disorder” is applied to a set of categories and classifications of abnormal human functioning. Millon (1969) grouped perspectives on mental disorders into four different categories. First, there are biophysical theories, which assume that physiological processes are the primary determining factors of psychopathology. Second, there are intrapsychic theories which assume that psychological factors determine abnormal psychological behavior. Third, there is phenomenological theory which talks about the unique experience and perception of each individual, and how that perception is lived out. Lastly, behavioral theories assume that the process of learning through reinforcement shapes pathology in the individual.

Personality disorders are very defined and recognized in today’s society. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association provides common language and standards classifying mental disorders. The DSM is used by many people in varying disciplines in the USA as well as many other countries. In times past, people with disorders may have been outcast from a community or even persecuted. However, in our current culture the pendulum has swung in the other direction. It almost seems that there is a trend to explain all behavior by a mental disorder. This results in needing to disprove that certain people are not displaying a disorder, rather acting within a normal human emotion or

According to Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock (2015) There are three different forms of phobic disorders; specific phobia, social phobia, and agoraphobia. Specific phobia is when someone is afraid of something like an animal, or heights

Agoraphobia is the fear of going outside and being exposed to unfamiliar places or being exposed to a place where the person had a bad experience previously. This type of phobia is more common in adults and can result in a very restrictive lifestyle, some people do not leave their houses unless going to familiar places and experience extreme fear if they go anywhere else. This type of phobia can go hand in hand with panic disorder since the fear of public spaces can be a result from previous panic attacks, creating fear and aversion to the places that reminds them of how they felt. But having agoraphobia goes beyond the fear of leaving the house, it creates stress and anxiousness regarding situations that are out of their control, fear of socializing

There are times when people are plagued with thoughts, behaviors or emotions that will inhibit them from normal behavior. These are known as psychological disorders. These disorders come in many forms but all will have large effects on a person’s life.

disorder it is not just that one person that has to learn to deal with it, the

Known as a mental disorder a phobia is a persistent fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to compelling desire to avoid it. Phobias tend to affect the way people live their lives, for example, their working and social environments, considering that they last for a very long time and are capable to cause intense psychological physical stress. It is considered today the most common mental and anxiety disorder in the United States (Matig Mavissakalian & David H. Barlow 1981 pp 2). There are many phobias such as: the fear of aging, fear of changing, fear of clowns, fear of getting fat, fear of being in closed spaces, etc.

According to the American Psychological Association psychologists help aid people in learning how to cope more effectively with life situations and mental health disorders. There are many different models of psychology, which affect the view of the disorder and treatment of the disorder. Just like there are many different styles to solving crime, there are different styles of psychology. The different models of psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and lastly socio-cultural. Briefly, each model will be examined to see which way the individual would be viewed and what the cause of the disorder may

Agoraphobia could be a result of previously repressed emotional problems, such as a death of a loved-one or any type of abuse. The fear of some situations is learned. After feeling uneasy in one situation someone might think they will get the same feeling next time. this is classified on the DSM-IV it is an excessive or unrealistic worry about life circumstances.

     All of the information on the different types of therapies has helped me to more fully understand psychology. This chapter is dedicated to explaining the current methods of treating people with psychological disorders in order to help them through a rough time in life. This chapter on therapy shows the side of psychology that is the result of the hard work of a multitude of psychologists and doctors.

One in every seventeen people in America suffers from a mental disorder. These disorders inhibit the afflicted person from functioning properly and coping normally with daily life. Many afflicted with a psychological disorder do not exhibit obvious symptoms, as medical advancements have made it possible for these disorders to be suppressed or even nonexistent. Today, however, harsh stigmas exist that unfairly categorize those with a mental illness as violent, unfriendly, and abnormal. The media and federal government are culprits in fabricating the unrealistic depictions of mental disability that define the portrayal of those who are mentally or psychologically disadvantaged.