Abnormal Psychology Mental Disorders Essay Example For Students

Abnormal Psychology: Mental Disorders Essay Abnormal Psychology: Mental Disorders Essay Andrew Walters 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 EEGs 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. Many People Believe Abortion Is A Moral Issue, But It Is Also Essay 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 .