Blog Post #12 Psychological Disorders

Hello,



If someone is acting abnormally, it does not mean they actually have a physcological disorder. A psychological disorder is decided when there are ongoing patterns, thoughts, feelings, and actions that are deviant, distressful, or dysfuntional. These disorders are thought to cause disabilities or distress that is not normal to the culture.



I personally do not know anyone who has a psychological disorder. I chose obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and or actions. The thoughts are known as the obsessions and the actions are known as the compulsions. Some people do not realize they have it and others think of it as unwanted. Constantly washing hands, hoarding, arranging, fear, agressive thoughts, and images are symptoms. Some try to deny and ignore their disorder but it makes the distress and anxiety worse. The cause of OCD has not been defined yet by doctors or scientists. Some think that genetics and a low level of serotonin, a chemical messenger, could cause OCD. Family histories and stressful environments are risk factors. Some complications include suicide, alcohol abuse, trouble with relationships, depression, and other anxiety disorders. There are two basic types of treatment; psychotherapy and medications. OCD is chronic disorder, so the person may have to cope and deal with it their whole life. I think life would be a lot harder, because personally I would try to ignore it. Eventually I would probably become more distressed and have more anxiety, which could intentionally cause more disorders. I think that with the help of my family and friends I would be able to cope with it and make it through every day. I would never give up on myself because I would want to be a role model.



The most interesting thing i learned in this section is that about 16 percent of U.S. jail and prison inmates had severe mental disorders. This is about 100,000 more than the 183,ooo psychiatric inpatients in all types of U.S. hospitals. Even though most people with psychological disorders are not violent some are and they commit serious crimes. Many of the disorders include depression, schizophrenia, and other anxiety disorders. How do we know these people are tellings the truth? Should we hold these people responsible for their actions? I also thought it was very interesting that about 1 out of every 100 children have obsessive compulsive disorder. I did not realize that some of these disorders were not very rare.