Abnormal Psychology – Mental Disorders Essay, Research Paper

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 EEG?s 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 ?polygenetic? 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 don?t 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 doesn?t 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 ?talk therapy? 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 can?t 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. Doctors? 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 it?s 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.