#5: Psychological Disorders

One of the most fascinating fields in psychology is psychological disorders.  What had once befuddled humans of past civilizations is now being unraveled that has both astounded and disgusted all walks of life.  A psychological disorder is one characterized by abnormal patterns or behaviors (due to stress) that are not common in typical society.   Currently there are two major manuals of classification to help diagnosis illness: the DSM-IV, created by the American Psychiatric Association, and the ICD-10 Chapter V: Mental and Behavioral Disorders, created by the World Health Organization. 

The main categories to which psychological disorders are divided among are mental retardation, neurological disorders, and learning disabilities.  Disorders can come in many different forms due to multiple variety of stress.  For example, one type of disorder is to due anxiety and typically leads to irrational phobias that causes and individual’s lifestyle to be severely limited.  Such disorders generally lead to social isolation and paranoia that can often lead to self destruction and mental inability to cope with life itself.  The purpose of diagnosing psychological disorders is not to stigmatize people but rather to find fault in their mental schema in hopes of helping them to adjust to their stress and “integrate” with society.  Some of the most interesting individuals who have ever live have themselves been diagnosed with symptoms of psychological disorders and can be considered great works of marvel.  While many might think that having a mental disorder is a curse, in some rare cases it has been a gift (such as several cases with savants) or that having a mental disorder has led individuals to reach enlightenment both mentally and spiritually.  Unlocking some of the more intriguing psychological disorders such as schizophrenia has been challenging, but understanding the disorder from both the psychiatrist and the individual can help us discover that mental disorders are typically dystopias encased in the mind that many people often struggle to pull themselves out of.  After all, most psychological disorders arise from a person's inability to cope with life as most people diagnosed will create for themselves these mental environments that in most cases leads them to live a life of fear of persectution and depression and could ultimately lead to death. 

The following clip talks a little more about the history of psychological disorders and how they were viewed in society.

Works Cited

Insel, T. R., and P. S. Wang. "Rethinking Mental Illness." JAMA 303 (2010). Print.