Psychological Disorders

Introduction

Major criteria for psychological disorders are deviance, personal distress and impaired functioning.

Nature of psychological disorders

• According to the Mental Health Continuum Model (Keyes, 2002) they are two opposite poles of the same continuum sequence in which two adjacent points are not clearly different from each other.

• An individual can be on any point at one particular time and we keep shifting our position on it as our situations improve or deteriorate.

STAGE 1

These individuals are positive and are functioning well.

They show stable mood.

They are calm, peaceful and satisfied with life.

They feel motivated and energetic.

They are physically as well as psychologically healthy.

They are satisfied with their life.

STAGE 2

These individuals are neutral but reactive.

They do feel nervous and worried at times and get affected by the stressors of life.

Sometimes they may doubt them selves which will cause anxiety and this can affect their performance.

They may feel tired soon and may lack energy.

But in this stage if the individuals becomes more realistic and accepts their limitations or constraints placed by the environment, they can manage to reduce the stress.

At the same time following a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle, with adequate rest and by engaging in more social activities, it is possible to push themselves back more towards positive healthy functioning.

STAGE 3

When the individuals are at the point of Stage 3, they show signs of psychological damage and they are moderately ill.

They may experience negative feelings like sadness, fear, inadequacy, restlessness or irritability.

They may lack motivation to take up new challenges.

Sometimes they feel overall apathy and feel tired even while completing their daily routine or work.

Their relationships may get strained and they may even turn towards drug abuse or alcohol.

Though they show clear signs of mental illness, they may still be productive and functioning properly, but may find difficult to do it.

But this point is also not irreversible.

By consciously trying to find the realistic root cause of the stress and with the help of emotional support such individuals can fight with the moderate illness they are facing.

They can get emotional support either from family and friends or at times they may need professional help.

STAGE 4

Individuals show clear signs of major psychological disorder.

They show extreme distress and impairment in all three areas of functioning, i.e. mental, emotional and social.

They need professional care and treatment.

Criteria for Psychological Disorders (IMP)

An individual keeps shifting from one stage to another depending on his/her life circumstances.According to the present DSM-5, there are five criteria for psychological disorders.

Clinically significant syndrome:

• In psychological disorders there should be certain patterns of important behavioural or psychological syndrome that occurs in an individual.

• There are certain symptoms that occur together in a particular disorder. These clusters of symptoms together is called a syndrome.

• Psychologists rely on these syndromes to diagnose the disorder.

Distress and Impairment

• There should be presence of distress and/or impairment.

• . Distress is the psychological pain.

• The pain may arise due to negative feelings like sadness, fear, inadequacy, restlessness or irritability. It may also be due to stress. Impairment is inability or difficulty to perform appropriate duties and roles in personal, social and work related situations.

Dysfunction

If the symptoms lead to an underlying psychological, biological or developmental dysfunctions, then it leads to the diagnosis of mental disorder, e.g. inability to remember, inability to learn, inability to concentrate, etc.

If any response given to stressors or losses are accepted as a response to that situation, it is not considered as a sign of mental disorder:

• It should not be a response that is normally given to common stressors and losses.

• Or it should not be a culturally sanctioned response to a particular event.

Any behaviour which is just deviant or conflicting with society but not producing dysfunction or distress or disability, then it does not become a sign of mental disorder

• Behaviour should not solely be a result of social or cultural deviance or conflicts with society or conflicts with political system.

In short Psychological disorder or mental illness is a condition or clinical syndrome which involves changes in emotions, thinking and behaviour or combination of these, such that it leads to distress, dysfunction and/or impairment.

Mental Wellness

World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental wellness as, "A state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope up with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make contribution to his or her community."

(TIP- Remember ACPC)

Identifying few important aspects of mental wellness.

Emotional aspect

Sense of well being, feeling of overall happiness and contentment (satisfaction)

Psychological aspect

Sense of being worthy i.e. high self esteem, high self confidence and tendency of self actualization (i.e. tendency to develop one's abilities fully), ability to take the right decision, the ability to influence the environment, to satisfy one's needs and the tendency to contribute towards society or community.

Life philosophy

Having a purpose in life, having clear life goals and a direction in life.

In short, mental wellness is a state of successful performance of psychological functions, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with people, ability to cope up with stress and ability to change and adapt.

Illness Wellness Continuum model

Wellness continuum can be better understood using the following diagram which is based on Illness Wellness Continuum Model given by John Travis in 1972.

Illness Wellness Continuum Model given by John Travis in 1972.

• The horizontal line (A) denotes illness continuum while vertical line (B) denotes wellness continuum.

• So we get four compartments or quadrants.

• The individual in Quadrant 1 has no mental illness. He experiences happiness and feels confident to face difficulties. This is the ideal state of functioning.

• In Quadrant 2 also the individual has no mental illness. But he experiences subjective feeling of grief or unhappiness and sees no goals in life.

• Individual belonging to Quadrant 3 is suffering from mental illness. But in spite of illness he experiences high sense of subjective well being, has good self-esteem and is hopeful.

• While in Quadrant 4 we find the individual having two fold problems. He has mental illness and at the same time he experiences distress and sees no goal in life. At times personality disintegration is also observed. This is the lowest level of functioning.

Mental Disorders - Its classification

All disorders, be it psychological or physical, need to be classified because the treatment is directly dependent on its type and the causes.For proper diagnosis and treatment plan, one needs to know which type or category of disorder it is.

Read the rest of the part from the text book