Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Andrew Walters

Abnormal Psychology-Mental Disorders

Schizophrenia

http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-sc02.html#Head_1 Schizophrenia is a disorder that can effect anyone. It

is the greatest the greatest disorder that effects teenagers. When someone

is effected by the disorder it is not just that one person that has to learn

to deal with it, the families of the patients must also learn to deal with

it.

There are many possible causes for the disorder with many

doctors believing that there is more than one cause. What has been thought

as the main cause for many years is a chemical imbalance in the brain. This

could be an imbalance in the number of neurotransmitters and/or an imbalance

in the amount of dopamine. Stress is not thought of as directly causing

Schizophrenia, but often makes already present symptoms worse. some doctors

feel that Schizophrenia might be the result of a slow acting virus since

the symptoms can be delayed many years after the first infection. Another

possible cause for the disorder is a genetic disposition. This has yet to

be proven but it is thought of as a likely cause since children who have

a parent with the disorder have a ten times greater chance of developing

the illness than children who have abnormal parents. If both parents have

the disorder the chance of their off spring having the disorder jumps to

forty times that of of an off spring with normal parents. Some times as equally

as important as finding what causes a disease is finding what does not cause

a disease. It is said that Schizophrenia is: not caused by a domineering

mother and/or a passive father, not caused by childhood experiences, poverty,

or not caused by the feeling of guilt or failure.

People who have schizophrenia can be divided up into three

equal groups: those who only have one episode in their entire life, those

who have continual episodes but live normal lives between them, and a third

group who have never ending symptoms. The symptoms that define an episode

of schizophrenia can generally be described as deterioration from a previous

level of functioning.

The number one symptom of schizophrenia is the inability

to separate the real form the unreal. As stress starts to build and the symptoms

get worse there is often a decline in work achievements along with declining

of relations with others. Because the these symptoms might start off very

minor, it is mostly the families that notice them first. Thus it is up to

the family to insist on a professional assessment of the person in question.

Families also must play a key role in watching over the patient while there

are undergoing treatment which usually consist taking medication in different

amount until the proper amount is found.

The constant research going on leads to putting more pieces

of the puzzle together all the time. Using EEG¹s it was found that the

impulses sent by the brain to other parts of the body are not normal in people

with schizophrenia. It has also been found that there are definitely

abnormalities in the proteins of those suffering from the disease.Bipolar Disorder

http://pages.prodigy.com/bipolarcyclone/facefear.htm

http://www.mhsource.com/expert/exp1042296a.html

http://www.healthguide.com:80/Bipolar/common.stm Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the effects

who a person feels about the world around and even themselves. It makes them

feel depressed and if left untreated suicide is often the result. Around

1.5% of the population is effect by some type of the disorder. Unlike many

other disorders, bipolar effects a higher percent of those with a higher

social status.

Bipolar disorder usually comes on while the person is

in their early twenties. It is thought that the disorder is

³polygenetic² meaning dependent upon several genes. This conclusion

was reached because child who have parents with the disorder are up to twenty

times more likely to suffer from it. Though the disorder can cause serious

problems, many famous and successful people have suffered from it including

Ernest Hemingway and Vincent Van Gogh.

One of the major steps in treating some one with bipolar

disorder is diagnosing it. People often say they of symptoms similar to those

of the disorder as a result of a different disorder. These symptoms include

hearing voices, being possessed by something, and having a sleeping disorder.

In order to determine if a patient suffers from the disorder or not, family

members are often questioned to see if the patient acts the way they claims

they do. They are often asked about the patients sleeping since it is hard

to fake a sleeping disorder. A family history is often obtained to help decide

if bipolar is a lily candidate.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

http://www.ocdresource.com/helpingocd.html

http://www.psyc.memphis.edu/students/abramowitz/ocd.htm

http://www.social.com/health/cic/mental_health/obsess.html Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a anxiety disorder that

about one million people in the United States suffer from. Those suffering

from the disorder have repetitive thought, images, or ideas that they can

not get out of their head. These repetitive thoughts lead to anxiety which

causes the suffer to resort to a competitive behavior.Then in order to try

to deal with these thoughts sufferers often have rituals they preform to

try to satisfy their thoughts.

One of the more common repetitive thoughts that those

with obsessive compulsive disorder have is that they contaminated by dirty

objects. This leads to them often washing their hands constantly often taking

off layers of skin. Similar to the Glen in the movie who would go through

more than a bar of soap a day.

Obsessive compulsive disorder was once thought to be rare

but now is thought to effect around two percent of the population. Many cases

go unreported making to hard to get an exact number of those who suffer.

It effects people of all ethnic backgrounds and social classes the same.

It is thought to be a neurobiological based problem because patients respond

well to medication.

There are two major treatments for suffers of obsessive

compulsive disorder. One treatment is medication, either clomipramine, which

is usually used to fight depression, and fluvoxamine and fluoxetine which

have also been found to work. The second type of treatment is behavior therapy.

Here patients are exposed to what they fear and are encourage not to carry

out their usual compulsive response.

Unlike many mental disorders, suffers from obsessive

compulsive disorder often know they have a problem. However, this knowledge

is not enough to get them to stop what they know is a senseless activity.

Therefore, many try to hide their problem from others with a rather high

success rate. The only problem with this is that they often don¹t get

treatment until they have been dealing with it for a long time.

Depression

http://www.save.org/student.html

Depression is often used to describe someone who is feeling

low about themselves at the moment, when in reality it is a whole lot more

than that. It is a total body illness that no mater how hard a person try

to talk them selves out of it they still feel bad. It can effect a person

in every aspect of their life from home to work to their social life.

Depression is thought to be caused by a combination of

factors including genetic, psychological, and environmental ones. It can

be caused by living a stressful life or just living a bad life, but it

doesn¹t have to be. It also occurs in all economic classes with about

the same consistency. There are often times now clues as to what triggered

the onset of the depression. About fifteen million Americans a year are faced

with the illness.

Depression effects the thinking of the person who has

it so they are often not aware that they are suffering from it. Thus the

family is often forced to acted upon it before they sufferer even knows they

have a problem. It is important that the family does act one in because the

number one cause of suicide is depression that went untreated.

The signs of depression that one should be on the look

out for in a suspected sufferer include: hopelessness, sadness, inability

to make decisions, inability to concentrate, sudden weight changes, constant

complaining, and many others. The treatment for such sufferers often include

³talk therapy² and a prescription for antidepressants.

The most important think that can be done for some one

facing a depression is for their friends and family to be there for them.

80- 90% of those faced with depression can be helped but they can¹t

beat it alone.Multiple Personality Disorder

http://wchat.on.ca/web/asarc/mpd.html Multiple personality disorder is the existence of more

than one dominate personality within an individual. Each personality having

its own behavior and social relationships. The disorder is most commonly

associated with physical and/or sexual abuse of the sufferer at a young age.

The abuse they go through is often prolonged and done by a family member.

Diagnosing someone with multiple personality disorder

is often hard for many reasons. Patients often withhold important information

that would be used to diagnose the disorder because they do not want to be

labeled crazy. Doctors¹ ignorance about the disorder is another reason

it is often misdiagnosed. Multiple personality disorder was originally thought

of as being extremely rare, so must professionals thought they would never

see a case. It was not even in he DSM until 1980.

In treating someone with multiple personality disorder

their trust must first be gained so they then are willing to participate

in the treatment. The patient must then be told what their problem is, which

needs to be done very gentle in adults so that they do not get offended.

The third stage in treatment is to learn all the personalities, their names,

origins, problems, and relationships to the other personalities. The original

personality must then be taught to deal with all the impulses that the other

personalities would deal with such as anger, sexuality, and depression. The

final stage is fusing all the personalities back into one. The patient must

then practice dealing with all kinds of emotions to prevent a renewed

dissociation.Electroconvulsive Therapy

http://www.i1.net:80/~juli/ect/brain/brain.html Electroconvulsive therapy is the process of passing an

electrical current through the brain causing unconsciousness and convulsions.

In this procedure electrodes are placed on both temples, or just one temple

in unilateral treatment, and electricity is passed between them. This proceeder

is usually used for patients suffering from severe depression after all other

treatments have failed. The treatment is very controversial because many

believe that there are side effects from passing electricity through the

brain. Five major areas are looked at to see if there are side effects: the

brains of epileptics, animal brains, psychological test findings with history

of many ECTs, spontaneous seizures, and human brain reports.

In study brains of epileptics it was concluded that ECT

cause lasting effects, much in the same way that grand mal seizures did.

When studying animal brain both reversible and irreversible damage was found

to brain cells after multiple ECTs. The results from studying psychological

test were inconclusive because of the experimenters inability to set up a

controlled experiment. There were always too many variables that could not

be accounted for. Patients who have received ECTs have been known to have

post-ECT spontaneous seizures. Though some had them prior to the numerous

had not who afterwards did. It is unsure if the seizures last forever because

often the patient i s put on medication to prevent them. However the studies

have concluded that in at least some cases after people received ECT they

started to have seizures. In studying human autopsies it was found that some

patients of ECT had irreversible damage done to their brain while others

damage was reversible. The explanation for the different was that if the

patient was in good health prior to the ECTs they had a much better chance

of not receiving irreversible

damage. The conclusion from

looking at all the different areas mentioned is that there are many factors

that at least partially determine whether or not the patient of ECts will

receive permanent damage from them or not.

Eating Disorders

http://www.vicnet.net.au:80/vicnet/community/anorexia/abnc_tot.htm#1c Eating disorders occur when a person becomes preoccupied

with their body weight and food. The two major kinds of eating disorders

anorexia and bulimia. Bulimics feel as though they can not control the amount

of food they eat leading to binging and then either purging or self-induced

vomiting. Anorexics keep their body weight low by usually either self-induced

vomiting or by eating very small amounts of food and exercising heavily.

It is not uncommon for a person to switch back in forth between the two

types.

The typical anorexic or bulimic person if a female,in

their teenage years, from the middle class, all though people from all

backgrounds can suffer from it. Males make up about 5% of all reported cases.

The cause of the disorders is not clearly, but many experts blame the media

for emphasizing the ideal shape. The relationship that the child has with

their parents is considered a major factor as well.

The side effects of the disorders can range from malnutrition

to death. Girls often menstrual cycles often become irregular or even stop.

If self-induced vomiting is occurring, that can cause a sore throat and gullet

and even destroy dental enamel. These disorders but a great emotional strain

on those with it, having many side effects of it¹s own.

The first thing that must be done to help a person wit

a eating disorder is to talk to them about it. It is not uncommon for them

to get mad at first because their secret is out, but they must be forced

to seek professional help.

Though there are many different mental disorders and illnesses

it seems as though they all have a few things in common. The uncertainty

of the cause seems to be the case with many disorders. Some doctors feel

strongly one way while others think that there is a totally different cause.

Over time what is thought to be the causes of a disorders often change because

of new research that is being done everyday.

Until the causes of disorders are found it will always

be a guess on how to best treat patients suffering from any certain disorder.

It even varies as far as one doctor saying a certain kind of treatment helps

and another doctor saying that the exact same treatment is useless or even

harmful, as the case is with ECT. Until researchers better understand the

brain the treatment for disorders that are found in it will always be up

for discussion.