Psychological Diseases Referred to as ‘invisible illnesses,’ psychological diseases can sometimes be the most taxing illness for a person. Whether ignored, misdiagnosed, or frowned upon by society, psychological disorders are difficult to assess and care for. With many other diseases, there are visible physical symptoms, blood tests, and other ways of determining if a patient is affected by something. It is because no such tests exist for the diagnosis of psychological diseases, that this difficulty is established. Much like neurological diseases, the organ that is affected by psychological diseases is the brain. As explained by many researchers and scientists, what differentiates a psychological disease is the irregular activity patterns in …show more content…
Although biological components are important to any disease, psychological disease diagnosis must also include the influence of external factors, which often are the causing agents. In the less physiologic diseases in this category such as anxiety and depression (Weir, 2012), a correct and appropriate diagnosis is less likely attainable. Another element of difficulty for these diseases is the variability of symptoms. “[Psychological diseases] have always been described by their outward symptoms, both out of necessity and convenience. But just as cancer patients are a wildly diverse group marked by many different disease pathways, a depression diagnosis is likely to encompass people with many unique underlying problems (Weir, 2012).” Psychological diseases can be a result of substance abuse, life events, genetics, or chronic stress among the many causes (National Alliance on Mental Illness). People of all ages are at risk of developing a psychological disease. More recently recognized in popular media, is the hidden number of people that harbor a psychological disease, and more specifically a mental illness. Mental illness has become more of an open topic because of this media push and one of the more outstanding diseases, …show more content…
Medication can take up to 5 weeks to have effect on the patient (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Medications are often experimented with and rotated in order to find effective and correct dosages (National Alliance on Mental Illness). There can also be a number of other negative side effects such as “tremor[s], change[s] of muscle tone, and nervousness (Koch, Morlinghaus & Fuchs, 2007).” Another treatment method is psychotherapy that is individualized or in the form of a support group (National Alliance on Mental Illness). In the most severe cases of depression, when medication and psychotherapy are not advancing improvement, electroconvulsive therapy is used, but at a cost. This type of therapy often results in memory problems and in some cases partial memory loss occurs (National Alliance on Mental
The DSM-5 lists approximately 400 mental disorders, each one explains the criteria for diagnosing the disorder and key clinical features, and sometimes describes features that are often times not related to the disorder. The classification is further explained by the background information such as: research findings, age, culture, gender trends, and each disorder’s prevalence, risk, course, complications, predisposing factors, and family patterns (Comer, 2013, pp.100).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Efficacy of continuation ECT and antidepressant drugs compared to long-term antidepressants alone in depressed patients. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1960-1965. Guttmacher, L. B. (1994). Concise Guide to Psychopharmacology and Electroconvulsive Therapy.
Currently, there is a lack of studies in regards to whether or not this therapy causes significant damage to the brain. Correspondingly, there is little research done in regards to how great relapse rates are and how long the treatment can truly last. Consequently, many people have abstained from receiving treatment to avoid any possibility of impairment or reversion. However, it has not been denied nor confirmed that ECT directly causes the aforementioned results. Moreover, many theories created to downplay electroconvulsive therapy’s effectiveness are being brought back into the spotlight, including one that attributes ECT’s success to brain damage. Breggin states, “More recently [Harold] Sackeim and Sackeim with a team of colleagues have covertly revived the principle that a therapeutic response depends upon the degree of brain damage and dysfunction” (par. 17). Although this theory was made to discredit ECT, there has been no research done to disprove its accuracy. Furthermore, because of a lack of research, when a new study such as this comes out, many people believe it right away no matter how erroneous it may actually be. More research on ECT is desperately needed to see if these theories are factual or not. As a result of these truths or fallacies, the therapy can be improved upon
Society's understanding of mental health has been revolutionized in recent decades. There has been increased research directed towards mental health, greater support for those who are affected, and a better understanding of it by the general public. In this current generation, mental illnesses are now viewed as serious conditions that need to be properly treated. Mental health is a vital component of an individual's well-being and how he or she is able to cope with the difficulties of life. When challenges arise, mental state is critical to overcoming those challenges.
Several strides have been made in the medical field in regards to electroconvulsive therapy. The treatment is defined as “a medical procedure in which a brief electrical stimulus is used to induce a cerebral seizure under controlled conditions” (Enns, Reiss & Chan, 2010). It is used for a handful of mental illnesses, such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, but when it was introduced in 1938 by Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bin, its main use was to treat schizophrenia (Enns, Reiss & Chan, 2010). ECT can indeed be effective for schizophrenia, but the best results are when the “… duration of [the] illness is relatively brief or when catatonic or affective symptoms are prominent” (Enns, Reiss & Chan, 2010). Unlike schizophrenia, the best results from ECT have come from treatments with patients who have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and alternative methods are no longer working...
Many people believe that mental illness affects certain ages, religions, races, genders, or income levels more than others do but that is not the case ("NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness | Mental Illnesses"). There are many forms of mental illnesses that affect people, such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder. These illnesses come from a variety of different factors and conclude in ...
Depression is a psychological disease. It is one of the most common mental illnesses (Blais, et al., 2013). Depression was known since antiquity. Hippocrates diagnosed it in fourth century BC (McNamara and Horan, 1986). After World War II, depression was described as “aggression turned inward” (McNamara & Horan, 1986). Now there is Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, which is designed to evaluate how severe is depression (Gibbons et al., 2012).
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Rector, N. A. (2011). Abnormal psychology. (2 ed., p. 297, 321, 322,
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the comprehensive guide to diagnosing psychological disorders. This manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is currently in its fifth revision. Moreover, the manual is utilized by a multitude of mental health care professionals around the world in the process of identifying individuals with disorders and provides a comprehensive list of the various disorders that have been identified. The DSM serves as the essential resource for diagnosis of mental disorders based off of the various signs and symptoms displayed by individuals while also providing a basic reference point for the treatment of the different disorders. The manual attempts to remain scientific in its approach to identifying the underlying symptoms of each disorder while meeting the needs of the different psychological perspectives and the various mental health fields. The DSM has recently gone through a major revision from the DSM-IV-TR to the DSM-5 and contains many significant changes in both the diagnosis of mental disorders and their classifications.
There’s a myriad of mental illnesses out there; in fact over 200 classified forms. The most common being anxiety, stress, depression, bipolar and schizophrenia,
Mental health is just as important as physical health in a person’s life. Mental health is critical to a person’s well-being, their ability to live a productive life and to keep a healthy family and interpersonal relationships. Mental health does not just affect the mind it also affects people’s physical health. Some physical health diseases can cause a mental health disorder and vice versa. Mental health disorders are associated with the occurrence, development, and outcome of some of the today’s most chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. When people go untreated from a mental health disorder are at a higher risk for many unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, violent behavior, and suicide.
In the past, mental illness was taboo to discuss and there was fear surrounding the topic. However, remarkable strides have been made in figuring out the causes of the disease and weighing the most effective treatments specialized for each specific disease. According to the American Psychotic Association, “A mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.”
Davison, G. D., Neale, J. M., & Kring, A. M. (2004) Abnormal Psychology (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Mental and behavioural disorders (expressed in disability adjusted life years, or DALY'S) represented 11% of the total disease burden in 1990, and this is likely to rise to 15% by 2020. Five of the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide in 1990 were mental or behavioural disorders. Depression was the fourth largest contributor to the disease burden in 1990 and is expected to rank second after ischaemic heart disease by 2020. It is estimated that one in four people will develop one or more mental or behavioural disorders in their life-time and that one in four families has one member suffering from a mental or behavioural disorder (Murray et al., 1996; WHO,
Mental illness is the condition that significantly impede with an individual’s emotional, cognitive or social abilities (Savy and Sawyer, 2009). According to (Savy and Sawyer, 2009) neurological, metabolic, genetic and psychological causes are contributing factors for various types of mental illness like depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse and progression of condition. An elaborate system known as DSM-IV-TR gives a classification system that acts to separate mental illness into diagnostic categories based on the description of symptoms of illness (Savy and Sawyer, 2009). The exact primarily causes of mental illness are complicated, however, it seems to occur in a psychologically and biologically prone individual, in the trigger of environmental and social stress (Elder, Evans and Nizette, 2007).