Ch 13 Psychological Disorders

Chapter 13 blog response

11/13/14

I enjoy psychology all around, but I do have to agree that I have always found this stuff to be very interesting. I think one reason that was talked about in the book is just that psychological disorders can be hard to pinpoint and diagnose. Unlike physical problems, most mental disorders cannot be diagnosed through an x-ray or by any other machines. These diagnostics must be made through expert opinion and observation of behaviors and symptoms. It is rarely ever a straightforward diagnosis and it is difficult to diagnose something that can’t be seen, and well as something that can only be felt in someone’s mind. Causes for these illnesses can come from a variety of factors, they can come the culture and the groups a person is involved with and they can also emerge from environmental and biological factors as well. For example someone with schizophrenia might inherit their parents gene for it and never develop it, where as others, their environment will trigger the onset. Psychological disorders can be caused by any combination of these things.

The biggest way my understanding has changed in this chapter is probably just from seeing how many disorders there actually are, and what they really do. For example, I’ve heard of obsession compulsion disorder before, but I never thought about how obsession and compulsivity are such different things, and how they both affect someone with OCD equally. Another thing is that I didn’t know there was a bipolar I and bipolar II, I think when most people think of bipolar disorder they think of bipolar disorder II, rather than the more manic bipolar I. All of this contributes to our knowledge of psychological disorders and helps to differentiate between what disorders are really like and what we see on television.

What I found to be most interesting in this chapter were sections 3 and 4. In section three they talked about schizophrenia, and I guess what makes it so interesting is the idea of hallucinations and delusions. Although this is a large part of it, it probably isn’t even the most life disrupting; the other symptoms such as disorganized speech and behavior would be just as difficult to deal with. I guess why I find the delusions and hallucinations to be so interesting is because of the fact that they don’t know any different, to them it’s real life, it’s not just this made up thing, they truly “experience those things. I also found section 4 to be interesting as well because I have a special interest in serial killers and criminals and personality disorders are commonly where those types of people tend to be found.

What I found to be most memorable was the part that pertained to me which was the emotional disorders; I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and persistent depressive disorder. As being a person who has gone through this, I can definitely account for the etiology of my own situation. Both my dad and my sister have anxiety and depression and it seems to be something that runs in that side of the family, so I think there are definitely some biological factors at play. I also know that there are some stress related factors as well, I started to feel this way when I was in about 8th grade, when social pressures are very great, and finally sought treatment my junior year when my parents divorced, and recently had to be reevaluated just because my symptoms became more severe with the stresses of graduation and college. From my story, I would say that the biopsychosocial approach fits my situation.

Terms: psychological disorders, schizophrenia, obsession compulsion disorder, bipolar I, bipolar II, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, personality disorders, emotional disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, persistent depressive disorder, etiology, biopsychosocial approach.

Psychology has several parts in which make it interesting and this if by far one that interests people. I think it is because most people are not familiar with them and so they find learning more about disorders interesting and informative about what other people in society deal with on a daily basis. As we saw in the Amanda Todd story, the cause of her mental disorder, depression, was caused by bullying. An act which did not have to happen to cause her to end her life. Other factors that could cause a mental disorder is through genetics, environmental changes, and childhood trauma. One topic that I found interesting was when it talked about anxiety disorders. Some people in my family have anxiety issues so learning more about it was interesting to me. An anxiety disorder is due to excessive anxiety in the absence of true danger. People who have an anxiety disorder are tense and constantly worrying about future events. This feeling of being worried all the time can lead to some sleep problems. Some of these include stay asleep, having a hard time falling asleep, and the attention span can be impaired. In addition, anxiety disorders can cause dry mouth, sweating, rapid pulse, and shortness of breath. The next topic that was interesting and memorable to read about was the obsessive-compulsive disorder. One fact which I did not know was when it stated Howie Mandel is one that has this disorder. This disorder involves recurring intrusive thoughts and compulsive actions. This disorder is more commonly found in women than in men. Two parts make up OCD and they are disordered thoughts and behaviors. Affected people with this disorder often have compulsions and the most common ones are checking, counting, and cleaning. Another topic which was interesting to me was the depressive disorders because I have had some close people to me be diagnosed with depression. Seeing someone have to go through depression is heartbreaking. You wish you can do anything to help and sometimes there is nothing you can do to help them. Depressive disorders are type of mood disorder that shows persistent feelings of sadness. Major depressive disorder is when someone has remarkably depressed mood and lose he or she interest in activities in which he or she enjoys. People who suffer from this can also see changes in their weight or sleeping patterns. Persistent depressive disorder consists of moderate or mild depressed moods for two years or longer. Bipolar disorders can also have a major impact on people. Bipolar I consists of tremendously elevated moods lasting the course of one week. Bipolar II consists of a mixture between mildly elevated mood for four days or longer and severely depressed moods for two weeks. Another topic which was memorable and interesting to read about was personality disorders. This type of disorder contains three groups. The first group cluster A is made up of odd or eccentric behavior. In this disorder, people are paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal. These people have a difficult time making relationships due to their aloofness and awkward behavior. Cluster B are people who are dramatic and emotional. The disorders in this group are antisocial, borderline, histrionic and narcissistic. Cluster C are people who express fearful behaviors and are anxious. The type of disorders in this cluster are avoidant, dependent, and obsessive compulsive. I learned a lot from this chapter about disorders that I had previously known about in detail and I learned about disorders in which that I was not as familiar with.
Terms-Psychology, OCD, Depression, Mental Disorder, Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar disorders, personality disorders

Psychological disorders are so interesting to people because they are very different from what they are used to, and people like to learn about unique things. Psychological disorders can also be called mental disorders and are common around the world. These disorders reflect psychopathology, which is the sickness or disorder of the mind. I personally think this was my favorite chapter to read and learn about so far. It is so interesting learning about different disorders and why people do the things they do, how they developed a disorder, and how their brain works. Everyone thinks and acts differently, but the reason for thinking a certain way may be caused by a disorder. It was interesting to see how these disorders can impact someone’s life on a daily basis.
Psychologists do not completely agree about the causes of most psychological disorders. The diathesis-stress model illustrates how nature and nurture work together in the onset of mental disorders. It proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event, such as a childhood trauma. The vulnerability may not be enough to trigger a psychological disorder by itself, but a second factor, which is the addition of stressful circumstances, can tip the scales. If the stress level is more than the person can cope with, the symptoms of a psychological disorder may emerge. Another approach to psychological disorders is called biopsychosocial. According to this approach, most psychological disorders are influenced by three factors: biological processes, such as brain function and genetics; psychological processes, including how people think and feel; and sociocultural factors, such as socioeconomic status. Certain disorders, such as schizophrenia appear to be more common among the lower socioeconomic classes. The biopsychosocial approach recognizes that each of these factors alone can influence psychological disorders.
Before reading this chapter I was familiar and heard about some psychological disorders, but I didn’t know much about them. I learned how disordered thoughts and behavior could be assessed and categorized. Clinical psychologists often work like detectives; tracking down information from sources, including interviews, self-reports, observations, and psychological testing. You can learn a lot from observing a patient. For example, if a client who avoids eye contact during an examination might be experiencing social anxiety disorder (social phobia) or have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Dimensional Approach to Psychological Disorders is an alternative to categorizing a psychological disorder to describe the severity of the symptoms along a continuum from mild to severe. In the current edition, DSM-5 disorders are described in terms of observable symptoms. A patient must meet specific criteria to receive a particular diagnosis. I was curious about if there was any over lapping and how that would be assessed, but the chapter goes on and discusses the comorbidity of mental disorders. For instance, substance abuse is common across psychological disorders, and people with depression often also have anxiety disorders.
I found it very interesting how DMS-5 divides personality disorders into three groups. Cluster A, is odd or eccentric behavior. These people have difficulty forming personal relationships because of their strange behavior and aloofness. Cluster B, is dramatic, emotional, or erratic behavior. These people possess the qualities of being antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic. Finally, cluster C, is anxious or fearful behavior. These people share some characteristics of anxiety disorders such as social phobia or generalized anxiety disorder. It was interesting to see how psychologists have group personalities, and discovered certain traits linked to others.
The most memorable thing I read about was ADHD and the affects on the brain. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is characterized by excessive activity, fidgeting, inattentiveness, and impulsivity. The brain image shown in the book shows a person without ADHD and how it shows greater activation in the frontal and limbic regions. Right next to it, it showed the brain image of a person with ADHD. This image showed less overall activation, especially in the frontal and limbic regions. It was surprising to visually see the difference and the effects.

Psychological Terms: Psychological disorders, mental disorders, psychopathology, diathesis-stress model, vulnerability, biopsychosocial, biological processes, psychological processes, socioeconomic status, schizophrenia, dimensional approach to psychological disorders, ADHD

Psychological disorders are so interesting to others because some people who have the disorders could act like any other person but then has a different side to them. Anther reason people may find it so interesting is because psychopathology is found in so many people today. If a psychological problem has disrupts a person’s life and has lasted over a long period of time it is then considered a disorder. Unusual behavior is a large factor in showing how a person has a psychological disorder. The main sources of psychological dysfunction are shown in the diathesis-stress model. Both nature and nurture are found to affect a person’s life that can lead them to have a disorder. The diathesis-stress model proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event. A mixture of childhood trauma and genetic predisposition leads to diathesis, which is vulnerability to mental disorder. If there was minimal stress the chances for an individual to develop a mental disorder is low; if the stress was high the chances for getting a mental disorder is high. Anther way psychologists think people get mental disorders is by the biopsychosocial approach. This approach states that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. My understanding for psychological disorders has increased by so much. It is heartbreaking how things in life can cause a person to have a disorder. I always thought that people were just born with disorders and were figured out later in life that they were diagnosed with them.
The most interesting topic to read for me was the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder that involves frequent nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks related to an earlier trauma. Around seven percent of the population will have this some point in their lives. It’s crazy to think that women are more susceptible to have it than men are. It is interesting that words, clothing, or certain sounds can trigger back horrific experiences that can make those things very uncomfortable for them. A unique quality a person with PTSD has is to remember, vividly, those memories from those experiences.
The most memorable thing I read in this chapter was reading about the diseases. In high school I did a speech about Ted Bundy and I knew many thing about him. He was a very strange man and did horrible things. It is crazy that all of his actions stemmed from an antisocial personality disorder (APD). APD is a personality disorder marked by disregard for and violation of the rights of others and by lack of remorse. Learning more about this disorder I have realized how much this fits Ted Bundy so much. He would get girls to like him and trust him then he would kill them. He would leave there bodies somewhere where police would have a hard time looking for them while Ted was looking for another victim. He had a hard time loving girls and was very insincere. Another memorable disorder to read was dissociative identity disorder (DID). DID is the occurrence of two or more distinct identities in the same individual. Mostly women who were abused as children suffer from this disorder. The individuals that are located inside this one person can be so different from one another. Gender, age, language spoken, and interests can all differ. The most interesting difference is handwritings can change.

Key Terms: Psychopathology, diathesis-stress model, posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and dissociative identity disorder.

Jacob Clark
Mclain
November 16, 2014
Psych
Chapter 13
I feel psychological orders are naturally interesting to us, because we tend to be interested in the mysterious and the abnormal. It fascinates us to learn and know more about how our minds can be off kilter. Especially in mental disorders like schizophrenia or visual hallucinations. This i feel reveals a rather interesting peek at our human nature. In the “same boat” as this question, so to speak, would be why are we so interested in violence?
The main cause of mental illness has not been identified. This is because no one can agree whether or not it is inborn, or more about the circumstances thereafter. However, it is becoming more and more widely accepted that it is in fact a combination of both. A slight genetic predisposition coupled with an abusive childhood definitely doesn't do a child any favors. Just as well, a child with a perfectly normal childhood can still be susceptible to OCD, anxiety disorders, and other potentially disabling mental illnesses. However, one of the theories i enjoyed was the biopsychosocial approach. This states that in addition to genetic inheritance and environment, how people think as well as socio cultural factors play a role in mental illness to.
The biggest opinion change on mental illness i experienced in this chapter was its connection to violence. Before this chapter i figured that most violent crimes are committed by people that are less than mentally stable. But, as it turns out, more often than not, the mentally ill are the ones being victimized. A rather startling realization though this may be, i am glad this has been cleared up for me.
To be perfectly honest, i found most of this chapter interesting. After all, we are inherently interested in mental disorders. However, i find it interesting because i've always had a slight fear that i have a tid bit of OCD. Not only am i fanatically clean, but i find it hard to focus on anything else if my room is not in perfect order. Even as i am writing this, i noticed a pencil was sideways on my desk. I could not write another word until i got up and set it straight. SO, this chapter has revealed a few suspicions i've had for a long time, unfortunately.
As i mentioned in a paragraph earlier, what stuck with me is the lack of connection mental illness has to violence. But what this beckons me to think about, is why we make this connection? I personally believe that movies and tv as well as our culture itself has wrongfully connected these dots with lines that don't exist. Thus perpetuating our suspicion that most violent crimes are carried out by the mentally ill.

Terms: biopsychosocial, OCD, Schizophrenia, anxiety disorders,

The reason why psychological disorders are so interesting to people is because the people suffering from these disorders typically do not realize they have something wrong with them until it is a personal crisis such as harming themselves. Once an individual is diagnosed with a disorder professionals can use those observations made on the person and can help find a reason for the disorder and how to treat it.
Since the disorders reflect psychopathology and they account for the greatest amount of disability in developed countries it is important to figure out what is the source or cause of these dysfunctions. There are many causes to disorders, yet psychologists do not completely agree with all of these causes. However, there are different approaches to what causes these disorders and they are the diathesis-stress model, and the biopsychosocial approach are the two main things the book talks about. The diathesis-stress model explains how nature and nurture work together in the onset of mental disorders. In a different manner, the biopsychosocial approach states that most disorders are influenced by biological processes, psychological processes, and sociocultural factors.
Since reading this chapter it has helped me get a better understanding as to why some of the disorders that my family goes through due to close relatives, extended family,etc. As well as getting me to think what caused those disorders.
The topic that interested me the most is how seasonal affective disorder affects different parts of the U.S.A, Canada, and Mexico due to short days and reduced sunlight in the winter.
The most surprising thing I read was on how the Bipolar disorder actually has two different types. It was new information to me and it just blew my mind. The symptoms were slightly different, but had stronger effects.
Terms: psychological, disorders, psychopathology, disability, diathesis-stress model, biopsychosocial approach, nature, nurture, seasonal affective disorder, bipolar disorder.

In this chapter, a psychological disorder does not have a broad definition because there are many different kinds. However, the disorders all reflect psychopathology, which is a sickness or a disorder of the mind. To me, psychological disorders are interesting to people because they are so common everywhere around the globe, these disabilities have surpassed cancer and heart disease with 1 and 4 Americans over 18 years old having one and even 1 in 2 people having one at some point. The two causes shown in this book are seen to be the Diathesis-stress model and the biopsychosocial approach. The diathesis-stress model is based on two factors, one being genetic predisposition, which causes an individual to be more vulnerable to a certain disorder. Genetic predisposition seems to be biological and the other factor being environmental, like a childhood trauma. These two factors working together along with the individuals’ stress levels can affect the probability of developing a mental disorder. The biopsychosocial approach involves many factors involving the individuals’ biological, environmental, and their sociocultural factors. The biological factors come from brain functions and genetics and the psychological factors come from the thoughts, emotions, and personality of that person similar to the diathesis-stress model. In addition to those, the biopsychosocial approach involves the individual’s sociocultural factors like relationships and economic status. Psychological disorders are determined based on a person’s etiology, which involve the factors that contribute to the development of a disorder. But before you can determine if their behavior is psychopathology, you need to consider these 4 questions: Does it deviate from cultural norms for what is acceptable? Is it maladaptive? Is it self-destructive, does it cause the individual personal distress, or does it threaten others in the community? Does it cause discomfort and concern to others? After this chapter I have a better understanding of how to diagnose a person who you think is really struggling. Everybody has struggles in their lives but it is how a person reacts, whether positive or negative, that is important when looking at psychological disorders.
What was interesting to me was the topic involving anxiety disorders. I always associated anxiety disorders with a general definition of having constant anxiety over anything that happens in everyday life. But there are actually four different types including: phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. I had obviously known about having common phobias and having panic attacks over things but I never categorized that with an anxiety disorder, although it does make sense to me now. In all of these situations something is causing a person stress and anxiety, no matter what the cause is.
Along with that, something very memorable and surprising to me was that there is an actual diagnosed phobia called pentheraphobia, which is a fear of mother-in-laws. Another memorable topic would be dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is where one individual has two or more different identities. It comes mostly from children trying to cope with abuse by pretending it is happening to someone else instead of them. No matter how many times I hear about this disease, I don’t know if I will ever be able to wrap my head around the idea because of how ridiculous it would be to watch someone with this disorder.
Psychological terms: psychological disorder, psychopathology, diathesis-stress model, biopsychosocial approach, genetics, biological and environmental factors, sociocultural factors, personality, etiology, cultural-norms, anxiety disorders, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, stress, pentheraphobia, dissociative identity disorder

The reason as to why psychological disorders are so interesting to people is different for everyone. I think the reason that I find it so interesting is because I wonder why certain people have a disorder and why other doesn’t. Or, why and how some psychological disorders develop and whether there was a more prominent nature or nurture influence. I find them so interesting because there is so much we still don’t know about the brain and how psychological disorders are due to a “glitch” in the brain. I think they’re interesting because sometimes I wonder if I will ever be affected by a psychological disorder sometime in my future. After reading this chapter I have learned that biological factors play a key role in many psychological disorders. This was something that I had previously known but now I know that it goes much deeper than that. For example, if one twin has a psychological disorder the chance of the other twin developing the same disorder is significantly higher than normal. I also understand that many people, especially with anxiety and depression, may have symptoms every now and then but fewer are actually diagnosed with the disorder. For example, a lot of the time teenagers and people in the early to mid twenties might say that they have anxiety or depression but a lot of the time they may just be having a difficult day or something went off from their normal routine. I’m not saying that these people don’t have that specific disorder but there are cases when they’re just having an off day and blaming it on something.
After reading this chapter there was many things that I found to be very interesting. On section that I had learned a lot from and found to be interesting was the section about schizophrenia, which means the splitting of the mind between thought and emotion. And with schizophrenia come the positive and negative symptoms. With positive symptoms there is an excess and with that excess comes delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and disorganized behavior. Those come with false sensory perceptions that are experienced without an external source, false beliefs about reality, speaking incoherently, and acting in strange or unusual ways. These may seem like negative things but sometimes it opens up your mind to connections that may have not been made without these effects of schizophrenia. Take the movie/book, A Beautiful Mind, for example. The man was a genius and made so much progress In his field of study because his mind was able to make connections that would have been more difficult for others who didn’t see the way that he did. On the other hand though, there are the negatives to schizophrenia. They avoid eye contact and seem apathetic, they don’t express emotions and their speech and movement may be slowed.
Another section that I enjoyed learning about was that on the development of depressive disorders. The four main factors are biological, psychological, cultural, and gender. When it comes to biological factors there shows to be a connection between genes and how certain disorders are passed down through generations. When looking at the psychological factors, depression can occur because of the cognitive triad, which is the future, self, and situational effects of perception. And then when you look at the culture and gender there are certain things that are pressured onto society and many fall short of society thinks what determines “perfect.”
Terms: anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, hallucinations, delusions, cognitive triad

Psychological disorders, which are sometimes called mental disorders, are common around the globe, in all countries, and all societies. These disorders Psychological disorders are so interesting to people because they make people different from the ‘normal’ and psychologists like to learn about unique and different things. People are also interested in psychological disorders because they are interested in the different categories that are covered. Our book gives a great example, which is psychological disorders range from depression to phobias. There are several causes of these disorders but psychologists do not completely agree about the causes of most of them. Psychologists know that both nature and nurture matter with these so they don’t identify either biology or environment as responsible for a given disorder. One of the sources of psychological dysfunction is the diathesis-stress model, which explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illness based on two factors. The first factor is that the individual may have an underlying vulnerability to a mental disorder; this vulnerability may not be enough to trigger a psychological disorder by itself, but a second factor, which in addition of stressful circumstances, can tip the scales. If the stress level is more than the person can cope with, the symptoms of a psychological disorder may emerge. Another source of psychological dysfunction is the biopsychosocial approach. The biological aspect of this focuses on how physiological factors, such as brain function and genetics, all contribute to psychological disorders. The psychological aspect of this considers that thoughts, emotions, personality, and learned experiences all influence the development of psychological disorders. The sociocultural factors such as family relationships and the cultural context in which a person is born and raised are all related to the development of psychological disorders. Certain disorders, such as schizophrenia, appear to be more common among the lower socioeconomic classes. My understanding of psychological disorders changed since reading this because I didn’t understand all the things that can be considered a psychological disorder and what can cause them. I also learned how psychological disorders are categorized and learned a bit about disorders.
From this reading one of the topics that were interesting to me was the topic of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is an example of the biopsychosocial approach. Psychologists have good evidence that the etiology of OCD is in part of the biological-specifically, genetic-in nature. I thought it was interesting that OCD runs in families.
Another topic that was interesting to me was the topic of bipolar disorder. I did not realize that bipolar disorder was categorized into two categories; bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. Bipolar I disorder is characterized by extremely elevated moods during manic episodes. Bipolar II disorder is characterized by alternating periods of extremely depressed and mildly elevated moods.
The most surprising thing I learned in this reading was the section on schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as a psychological disorder characterized by a split between thought and emotion where a person has difficulty distinguishing whether altered thoughts, perceptions, and conscious experiences are real versus what are imagined. I thought this was interesting because I learned that less than 1% of the population has schizophrenia but the rates for men and women are similar.
The psychological terms I used were psychological disorders, psychologists, depression, phobias, nature and nurture, diathesis-stress model, OCD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

There are many factors of psychological disorders that affect individuals each day. But there are two methods that others can study in order to simplify how others feel. The diathesis-stress model and the bio psychosocial approach. The diathesis-stress model, according to the book, explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illness based on two factors. What the individual may have an underlying vulnerability or predisposition to a mental disorder or it can relate back to childhood trauma, something environmental. Both of these are crucial because if the mind as a slight problem, or a different view point of thinking that what is really true, it can lead to misrepresentation. If someone misrepresents everything they see or do daily, it would lead into the environmental side of things. This is true because usually if you think something, you will act on it, affecting the environment around you.
Something I found interesting in this chapter is the four types of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are very common in today’s world because of how much the world has changed and advanced. Advances in technology, changes in social viewpoints, etc. One of the four types of disorders is phobias. Phobias are the fear lf something that isn’t necessarily a threat to that individual. There are many different types of fears, some being a little stranger than others. Table 13.3 gives some examples of unusual phobias. One that stood out to me is panophobia, the fear of everything. It doesn’t make sense to me how someone could be scared of everything because if they were what would they do in life? Unless they got over the fear it would be a very difficult life. Another disorder is generalized anxiety disorder. This is when an individual is always fearing something. An example of this is when you are worried for something to happen in the future, it never happens, but you keep worrying about it. The third disorder is panic. This is the concept of a sudden attack of terror. A distant example would be going in haunted houses during Halloween. You feel as if something is going to jump out, it does and you are in fear, but then you worry throughout the rest of the journey that other things will keep coming out for you. The final disorder listed is agoraphobia. This is when you fear of being in a situation that you cannot escape from. Being in the dorms and a sudden fire breaks out I would fear of not getting down six flights of stairs fast enough, depending on the location of the fire, in order to survive. This is an example of agoraphobia.
Terms: diathesis-stress model, bio psychological approach, misrepresentation, anxiety disorders, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia.

Psychological disorders are also known as mental disorders. They can be described as sickness or disorders of the mind. There are so many different disorders, and some of the more known being depression, phobias, anorexia, childhood ADHD, etc. I think people are extremely interested in it, because they are so kind of mysterious. We cannot see the disorder like with physical problems. It is something that is different for everyone, which makes it harder to diagnose. I also think there is so much interest in it because it is hard to explain, and people like to know more about the unknown. There are several ideas on how mental disorders develop. One is the diathesis stress model. In this, it is described that mental disorders develop from genetics and/or childhood trauma. If these requirements are met, then they are vulnerable to the disorder, and stress raises the probability of having the disorder. I find it shocking that these disorders are so influenced by outside forces. We can get psychological dysfunction from numerous things. We can have psychological disorders passed down through genetics. It is believed that susceptibility is passed down through genes, and with this they are more likely to get the disease depending on various outside factors. Among other main causes or sources are abuse (such as child abuse or drug abuse), poor nutrition or toxin exposure (such as lead), brain defects or injuries to the brain.
I used to think that psychological disorders were that the person was basically crazy. However, after reading this, I understand that there is so much more to that. Even depression can fall under this category. It is amazing how widespread this is. I find it very interesting. I have suffered with depression before, and it is amazing how hopeless one can feel. There is no motivation to do anything, and you virtually care about nothing. It is not uncommon for someone to have experience depressive disorders. There are two main types of depressive disorders. There is the classic major depressive disorder which which is characterized by either a very depressed/irritable mood or loss of interest in pleasurable activities for more than 2 weeks. I found it shocking that women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The other one is persistent depressive disorder, which is not as common, is like major depressive disorder, but the symptoms are not as noticeable and last much longer (more than 2 years).
I found the depression section most interesting, because it applies to me. I was in depression for about 3 months, and I am out of it now. It really sucks going though, but after experiencing it, I feel like I am stronger as an individual and more confident. I wouldn’t say that I am glad I went through it, but i definitely do not think it was a bad experience in the long run.
There was not one specific instance that was most memorable. I believe I will remember the whole thing and the overall message that psychological disorders are much more common than we think, and span a wide range of disorders. So many factors influence the development of them, and what the symptoms are. I would find it very stressful to be a doctor in charge of diagnosing people, because it seems really difficult to pin-point someones problem based on various symptoms. Nonetheless, it is important to know about them, and be informed on the topic.
terms: psychological disorders, anorexia, depression, disorder, phobias, diathesis stress model, genetics/genes, dysfunction, drug abuse, disease, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, symptoms, ADHD

Psychology disorders are often the most interesting psychological topic for people for it helps explain a topic that is scary, different, and unknown. People with psychopathologies are sick in the mind and behave in ways the go against the social norms. They can be overly aggressive or inhumanly distant, unpredictable, and threatening. People fear what they cannot understand, so by studying such disorders they can understand, overcome their fear, and possibly help these victims. Also, such studies can help to draw the line between what is sane and insane, and after studying (and according to the book I read for class, Girl, Interrupted) realize that the line is a lot more blurred than people thought. Everyone is a little crazy and everyone suffers from some sort of anxiety and depression throughout their life. There is no such thing as a normal person. The main causes of psychological dysfunction are underlying vulnerability coupled with a precipitating event due to nature and nurture, as described in the diathesis-stress model. This factor, though not a disorder itself, can add onto a mentally sick person’s problems or lead one to developing a disorder. According to the biopsychological approach, a person’s disorder is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. These factors interact and disorder a person’s thoughts and behaviors. Another key player, often a result from these interacting factors in the mind and body, is anxiety. Anxiety is excessive worrying that consumes a person’s entire being, inhibiting them from functioning normally on a day to day basis. They come in the form of disproportionate phobias, generalized anxiety, panic, and the agoraphobic fear of not being able to escape. After reading this chapter, I have come to understand how and why disorders affect different people the way they do. I learned about the many categories (anxiety, PTS, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and personality disorders) and how they each target and affect different parts of the body and mind. It is very interesting, but is sad that people have to live with such sicknesses for the rest of their lives.

The most interesting part for me was the borderline personality disorder section. After reading Girl, Interrupted I have found this particular disorder to be very interesting. I even used this section of the text book to help write my report. This disorder can be hard to detect because it is very similar to how a normal person behaves, thus being dubbed “borderline”. A patient suffers from disturbances in emotional states and impulse control, sometimes skewing their identity and how they view the world. The victim struggles with their self-identity and basis their importance off of the people they are with. They need human contact and depend on others. They experience episodes of depression, anxiety, anger, irritability, and mood swings that can last anywhere from an hour to several days, then quickly seem to revert back to normal. Their impulsive behavior often leads to sexual promiscuity, fighting, binge eating, and purging, all of which are caused by the constant need to be with others. They have a high risk of suicide for they view themselves as insignificant, especially if they do not have social attachments. Ultimately if they feel rejected by others they will reject themselves.

The most memorable part for me was the delusions and hallucinations section. Delusions are excesses in function associated with schizophrenia. They are false beliefs that break reality that the patient believes to be true, no matter how bizarre. These delusions can come from “head voices” or cultural factors that increase or create false feelings of persecution, special messages, superpower, identity, guilt, and control. A person suffering from delusions can forget who they are, think others are after them, or believe they have supernatural abilities. Hallucinations are also an excess function associated with schizophrenia. They are false sensory perceptions that are experienced without an external force. Victims believe they see and hear things, such as voices in their head whispering discouraging messages into their ears or commands to do evil. The cause of hallucinations is not quite clear, but is supposed to be the result of overacting brain cells that send false messages of sound or sight, often associated with what the person fears most. Victims have to learn how to distinguish between what is real or not real, and the process is very tiring.

Psychological disorder, psychopathology, diathesis-stress model, biopsychological approach, anxiety, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, PTSD, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, personality disorders, delusions, hallucinations, borderline personality disorder section

Psychological disorders have been a major part of the public for the last few decades and how it affects all of the people who live with it. All of those who have psychological disorders live their lives as much as they can and try to make sure that they are not to affected by their problems and how it can affect others that they frequent with. Many psychological disorders that affects people can range anywhere from small annoyances to life and relationship damaging problems that have no real solution but to let them run their course. One example of a psychological disorder having differencing levels of effect would be Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD, many times people only have small instances of their disorder showing, an example would be the usual locking of the door there times before leaving or going to sleep, there is also times where it can be a major problem with everyday life and it can takes minutes for small things or it has to be done as specific times of the day or they just shut down. This is majorly important because it shows that while some do have psychological disorders they have smaller instances of their problems and they are easily rectified at the time. The main reason behind the interest in psychological disorders is the fact that many may never know that they have it and if they do they are not aware of the symptoms that they possess and they never seek help from others when told about their problems. With those who never go and try to find help acting out when their disorder gets worse without either medication or ways to cope there are always people who say that they never had problems when they were younger, or it never showed when they were together.
What I found interesting are some of the facts that are about schizophrenia and how it can add and subtract emotions, feelings, and even ways of acting from a person. Since the term schizophrenia is the separation between thought and emotion it can cause large shifts between our thinking and acting. Since it can affect our motor, cognitive, behavioral and perceptual skills it can cause massive disruptions in a person’s life and how they view the world it has become a major point for those trying to cure psychological diseases even if schizophrenia itself only affects 1% of the population. What I found really interesting are the explanations of why people have so many problems with this disease, when someone is experiencing positive symptoms they have more abnormal behavior that they are experiencing and those around them also take note of the problem; with negative symptoms they have skills and processes lost like slower speech and lack of emotions. These are interesting because the media today has somewhat skewed how we look at schizophrenia and those afflicted with it, when younger many would believe it would cause duel personalities like Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde when really it is just gaining of new abnormalities and sometimes loss of the same things. Another major problem with schizophrenia is the delusions it can cause and make those afflicted with it lose sense of reality and how they see the world. Overall psychological disorders are a major study subject for many people in the world and not only are trying to cure them we are still trying to figure out what all of them even mean and what they can fully do to a person that if affected.
Terms Used: Psychological Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Positive Symptoms, Negative Symptoms, Delusions

I think that there are a couple of reasons why people always seemed to be so interested in psychological disorders. I believe that the biggest reason why people are so interested is because they can relate to them. A lot of people have these disorders and if they don’t have one they most likely know someone who does have one. I personally know several people who have psychological disorders. I think that the other reason why so many people are so interested in psychological disorders is because of the mystery of knowing if someone has a disorder. It is a lot harder to identify if someone has a psychological disorder than any other one. Parents especially are probably interested in these disorders to specifically find out if their kids might show symptoms of these disorders.
The two main sources of psychological disorders is genetics and environment. Almost all of the disorders have a connection with both of these sources. ADHD is a really good example of this. They relate a person who has a slower metabolism in brain regions involved in the self-regulation of motor functions and of attentional systems often show signs of ADHD. The reduced metabolism most likely comes as genetic problem. ADHD can also be related to environmental issues like poor parenting or social disadvantages.
I now have a much better understanding of psychological disorders, but I really learned a lot about how difficult it is to discover a disorder like this. Most people don’t even realize that they have a disorder like this themselves. They often get told by someone close to them that they should see someone about a disorder. Psychologist use several ways to find out if someone actually has a disorder. They usually start with an interview. They use this to get self-reports from a person about their symptoms and things going on in their life. They also might use observations of the patient. They will use cues like not being able to look them in the eye or being really fidgety to discover a disorder. The third thing they might do is perform a psychological test. These tests can help to indicate problems with certain regions of the brain that could be related to a disorder.
The most interesting topic to me was bipolar disorder. I didn’t realize that there were two types of bipolar disorder. Type one is when a person has extreme manic episodes. During these episodes the person gets a lot of energy and has in general increased activity. During these episodes they usually do a lot of things that give them pleasure like buying sprees, risky business or sexual indiscretions. The things this person does during an episode is usually regretted after the episode is over. The second type of bipolar disorder is not quite as severe. The person often has a heightened mood, creativity and productivity. The difference is to be diagnosed with type two you have to have had at least on major depression episode. This could cause significant impairment.
The most memorable thing from the reading is the hallucinations that schizophrenic people have. They are disturbances that people diagnosed with this disorder have. They are often auditory, but they could also be visual. They are often a voice being accusatory or telling them to do something that is terrible. It is also sometimes several voices saying different things causing discomfort.
Key terms: psychological disorders, genetics, environment, ADHD, social disadvantages, self-reports, observations, bipolar disorder, hallucinations, and schizophrenia.

Going in to this chapter I guess I hadn’t ever really thought about what caused psychological disorders. I had just always assumed it was 90% a biological thing. After reading this chapter I learned that biology is not as much as 90% of the factors but a combination with psychological factors and sociocultural factors. I guess this makes sense since not everyone who has had a parent have a psychological disorder has one too. It is a combination of the outside factors along with the biological standings. Psychological disorders interest people because they are so hard to diagnosis. There is no one clear cut way for a diagnosis in many cases due to the variances in everyone’s brains. This is why so many people like the challenge of psychopathology. Another thing that contributes to psychological dysfunctions would be if a person is anxious or apprehensive too often. When this happens they often are super aware of their environment and after a long period of time this tends to become paranoia. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is another thing that can be an effect of a healthy brain after the person has had a traumatizing event. You often see this in war veterans who are constantly shaking because they’re senses were always going off over in war and they got used to this and the brain still fires those neurons making them tense up. From the reading the most surprising thing that I remember was the point about ADHD. I found it very unlikely how they still do not know where it comes from. Like many of the other psychological disorders; there is no clear cut causes that lead to it. Being we are in the 21st century I figured we would have known the cause of this disorder by now. However, the most interesting that that I read about was about the types of schizophrenia. I found it interesting how there were six main things that all people with this disorder have in common. These things all cause a false sense of anxiety or a false sense of power. Those six delusions just interested me in the fact that they all seemed like bad nightmares or dreams that we have all had (being spied on; or being a king).
The psychological terms I used were; biological, sociocultural factors, psychopathology, PTSD, ADHD, schizophrenia.

Psychological disorder interested to many people because disorders interfere with our lives on daily basis. We all have heard of psychological disorders or mental disorders, it is common around the globe, in all countries and societies. For example, most of us have felt really sad on occasion or anxious when facing some difficult challenge. Drawing the line between normal emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and a psychological disorder can be difficult at the time. This is just an example, because it is difficult to measure the level of personal suffering is hard to measure objectively. There are several causes of disorders involve diathesis-stress model and biopsychosocial approach. Diathesis-stress model explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illness. And according this model, the onset of mental disorders occurs due to both vulnerability for the disorder and the presence of stressful events. The biopsychosocial approach notes that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. The biopsychosocial approach recognizes that each of these factors alone can influence psychological disorders. My understanding for psychological disorder has changed vastly. Before reading this chapter, I viewed psychological disorders as simple as someone who has mental problems and can’t think straight.
Throughout the chapter, the most interesting topic to me was how people experience disorders of thoughts. As we learned in previous chapters, impairments in people’s emotions that influence how people think. Same with psychological disorders, people who are experiencing these disorders have extreme difficulty functioning in everyday life. We can refer these splitting the mind to the term schizophrenia, characterized by a split between thought and emotion. Even though less than 1 percent of the population has schizophrenia, but it is the most devastating mental disorder.To be dianosed with schizophrenia a person has to have shown continous signs of disturbances for at least six months. A person has to show two or more symptoms of delusion, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms and one of the two has to be from among the first three. There are two categories of symptoms, positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include any symptoms that adding abnormal behavioral, negative symptoms include apathy, lack of emotion, slowed speech, etc.
Development of schizophrenia is also interesting in terms of complexity. Both biological and environmental can affect the development of schizophrenia. Biological factors can result in families. For instance, if one of the twins develops schizophrenia, there is 50% chance of developing schizophrenia if the twins are identical, if the twins are fraternal there is only 14%. If of of the parents has schizophrenia, risk of the child’s developing the disorder is 13%, if both parent diagnoses the disorder, the risk jump to 50%. It is just shocking how these risks work. And for environmental factor contribute to schizophrenia’s development by stress. The increased stress f the environment can trigger the onset of the disorder, because being born and raised in different environment will have different risks of developing schizophrenia. For instance, being born and raised in an urban area will double the risk of developing schizophrenia.

terms: biopsychosocial, psychological disorders, schizophrenia, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, negative symptoms, positive symptoms, biological factors, environmental factors, fraternal.

I think psychological disorders are so interesting to people because of how someone acquires a psychological disorder, and just the name psychopathology, sickness or disorder of the mind, is interesting. I personally like learning about the psychological disorders because of how many different kinds there are, and how they all affect a person’s personality. I also think that there are all these disorders but they are very hard to diagnose, and can be hard to treat because some of the patients don’t take their medicines. My best friend goes to Kentucky and just recently found out that one of her roommates had paranoid schizophrenia. The voices she was hearing in her head were telling her to hurt my friend and their other roommates. She was taken out of school and is now in a hospital getting help. One time when she was in the car she had to call my friend to distract her from the voices because they were telling her to take control of the car and kill her mom and her. It amazing to me how these people can go their whole lives without having any problems like this, and then soon enough it starts to take over their lives.

A psychologist first has to determine etiology, that contribute to the development of the disorder, then identify and assess the symptoms, and then they must group the symptoms into categories to then make a diagnosis. There is not one specific cause of psychological dysfunction, there are a lot of different possibilities. Nature vs. Nurture both play a part in the cause, but no one more than the other. There are many different approaches as to pinpointing how someone developed a disorder if that is even possible. The diathesis-stress model proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event whether it be a biological factor or a traumatic event from childhood. Most psychologists use the biopsychosocial approach. This approach focuses on the biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. These are influenced by brain function and genetics, how people think and feel, and socioeconomic status.

I took a psychology class in high school and a lot of the information was the same. My teacher went really in depth on this topic because she had a sister who had schizophrenia. I was also really shocked that the bar graph on the sex differences in mental disorders said that posttraumatic stress disorder is way more common in women than it is in men. The main example always given when talking about PTSD is men who come back from combat. So it was interesting to see that women suffer more, and not all of them are in the service so i wonder what the most common traumatic event was. When I got to the PTSD section of this book I also thought it was really cool that Northern Illinois University was mentioned because I live ten minutes from there and I remember how crazy it was when the shooting happened. I can totally understand why students would suffer from PTSD after an event like that.

The most interesting part of this chapter was by far the section on dissociative identity disorder. It was interesting to see that women who were abused as kids are the ones who most likely suffer from DID. The picture of the handwriting samples was just simply amazing to me. It’s hard to believe that our brain’s are capable of doing that. The section on dissociative amnesia was interesting too. The fact someone could shoot her husband 6 times and not remember a thing freaks me out, I don’t think she should have been let off the hook because what would happen if she does it again? Something else that was interesting to me was that psychological disorders account for the greatest amount of disability in developed countries passing even cancer but yet it is still very hard to determine if someone has a disability or not.

The most memorable thing I read was about children with autism. It was amazing to me that the people could figure out if a child had autism just by how many times they looked at a person in a home video. I never really fully understood autism and what happens, and this section was really interesting to me. I was also shocked at how when a child was watching Barney how they weren’t at all focused on the moving purple dinosaur, but were focused on a purple shelf in the background. The picture of the child’s eye makes it look like he is really into the show, when he’s not focusing on the main thing all. Reading this part just made me more excited to declare my special education minor because I think it would be really interesting working with children with these disorders, and others too.

Terms: Psychopathology, Schizophrenia, Etiology, Diathesis-Stress Model, Biopsychosocial Approach, PTSD, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, Autism.

I think people have a general interest in psychological disorders because it opens a window of consciousness that can be so different from their daily experience. I think it is the same reason why people like drugs, and that their normal state of mind becomes boring. That is just human nature. For instance it fascinates me that some people have multiple voices in their heads, and the is the reality of someone who is living with multiple personality disorder. Another reason I think people are fascinated with psychological disorders is because they are scary. A lot of times disorders cannot be exactly diagnosed which leaves some ambiguity. Ambiguity leads to things being creepy and creepy things grab human attention.
There are two views in the psychological community that try to explain mental disorders and they are the diathesis-stress model and the biopsychosocial approach. It is agreed that both of them are influenced by nature and nurture but there are differences in the views. The diathesis–stress model has two important parts. The diathesis is either a predisposition or an environmental factor that increases the likely hood of getting a psychological disorder. That is not always enough and sometimes stress actually causes the onset of a disorder. In the present most psychologist agree on the second method. The biopsychosocial approach includes three main factors which are biological, psychological, and sociocultural.
My knowledge of psychological disorders has expanded vastly. I had absolutely no idea just how many disorders there are out there and the number of people that they effect. The most interesting thing to me was the part about phobias. Phobias are described in the text as fear of something that is disproportionate to the threat. Basically that meant that a phobia is being sacred of something that there is no need to be scared of. These interest me just because of how weird and odd some peoples are. I had a friend in high school who was a completely normal guy. That was until a banana got within eye sight. He always freaked out when he saw them and used to have very bad nightmares about bananas.
The section of this chapter that was most memorable to me was the part about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In humanities class we just talked about how Martin Luther had extreme anxiety about sinning. This caused him to compulsively pray in order to make it into heaven. My mother also suffers with the disorder so I had lots of stuff to relate to as I read it.
Psychological terms: OCD, phobia, biopsychosocial, biological, psychological, socioculture, nature, nurture, diathesis-stress model, multiple personality disorder, consciousness

Cassandra Rutledge
Chapter 13
11/17/2014

The most inherently interesting psychological disorder is phobias, which is the fear of something that is disproportionate to the threat. In fact I have a foot phobia and anrachnophobia. I absolutely hate feet and spiders, they both gross me out to an extreme hatred for them. There are several causes of disorders, like the diathesis-stress model and the biopsychosocial approach. The diathesis-stress model starts with a genetic predispostion or a childhood trauma, then there is a diathesis. Depending on the stressful circumstances whethter the diathesis has a lower or a higher porbability of a mental disorder. By the biopsychosocial approach there are three factors: biological processes, psychological processes, and sociocultural factors. There are so many different causes and effects of psychological disorders that it completely blew my mind how much there is.
The most interesting and memorable topic in this chapter is the disorders of emotion. Phobias are fears of being negatively evaluated by others in a social setting. Both my sisters and I have the phobia of spiders. This phobia is so bad that I freeze, and I am freaking out on the inside with my heart punding like a drum. I also have a phobia of clowns, even writing this sentence made my heart pound, and my breathing faulter.
Generalized anxiety disorder is nearly constant anxiety not associated with a specific thing. My cousin actually has to take pills for this. His anxiety got so bed that he started having attacks at random times. His pills that he has to take made him gain a ton of weight and has really destroyed his self-image. His anxiety was cause by my aunt and unle's divorce.
Panic Disorder is the sudden attacks of overwhelming terror. I believe that my sister and I have this because both of can just start to freak out about little things, or get terrified at random times. My sister actually started having a panic attack because she could not find me after school, I almost had to do cpr on her because she was so close to passing out from not being able to breathe.
The last on is Agoraphobia which is the fear of being in a situation from which one cannot escape. This disorder is like claustrophobia. My mother and I both have claustrophobia, we both hate being in crowds, and if possible avoid being in the center of a crowd. When I am in a crowd and cannot see my way out, which happens a lot because I am short, I begin to feel dizzy and begin to breathe heavily. It gets scary especially when there is no one I know around me.
Terms: Phobia, psychological disorder, cause, diathesis-stress model, biopsychosocial approach, diathesis, genetic predispostion, childhood trauma, mental disorder, biological factors, psychological processes, sociocultural factors, Generalized anxiety disorder, self-image, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, claustrophobia.

This chapter to me is the best. I can relate the most to it with my personal life and also i think other people can too. In the chapter it talked about how psychological disorders can be hard to pinpoint and sometimes they can be difficult to diagnose. Mental disorders are diagnosed through talking to people, observing, symptoms they exhibit, and sometimes experiments. The psychological disorders are unique to each person and are different than the everyday illness and i think that has to with why people find them so interesting. Different researchers will tell you different things on what they think the cause or source of psychological disfunction is. The biopsychsocial approach suggests that they are influences by biology, psychological, and sociocultural factors. In the diathesis- stress model is suggests that vulnerability rather than destiny is the cause. It also says that the onset of mental disorders occurs due to both vulnerability for the disorder and the presence of stressful events. I think that both of these combined make up a great explanation, or comes close, to expelling why you can get disorders. I was interested to learn that there are four different types of anxiety disorders. There is phobias which is the fear of a specific object or situation that is out of proportion with any actual threat. The second in generalized anxiety disorder which is nearly constant anxiety not associated with a specific thing. The third is panic disorder which is the sudden attacks of overwhelming terror. The forth, and final one, is agoraphobia which is the fear of being in a situation from which one cannot escape. Personally i have panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. So this hit close to home for me and i was able to understand what they were talking about a little more in depth than some. Something was very surprising to me and stood out what the picture graph of major disorders that people have, and if its more common in men or women. I was not surprised to see thank anorexia and major depression are more common in women. Also in men i was not surprised to find out that alcohol dependence and drug dependence were more common. In men i was surprised to see that antisocial personality disorder and childhood ADHD are more common in men. Then for women i was surprised to see that Post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias are more common then men. I wasn't surprised yet i didn’t know that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Obsessive compulsive disorder are equally found in men and women.

TERMS: psychological, disorders, mental, illness, biopsychsocial, biology, psychological, sociocultural, diathesis- stress mode, anorexia, depression, drug dependence, alcohol dependence, PTSD, ADHD, antisocial personality disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia

People are interested in psychological disorders because they make people act differently. They want to know why people act differently. A person who has obsessive-compulsive disorder will do something and keep doing it. People want to know why they do this. Another reason that people are interested in it is because they want to help people. If you had someone you knew who was acting differently and it could be hurting them then you would want to help them.

One place where psychological disorders come from is your genes. This makes sense because a lot of whom we are comes from our genes. Some disorders that can come from genes are bipolar disorder. Another one is obsessive-compulsive disorder. The other way that you can get a disorder is from your environment. I think all the disorders that the book talked about either came from your genes or your environment. Some of them can be from genes or your environment.

I understand the psychological disorders better. I knew what obsessive-compulsive disorder was, but I did not know a lot about any other disorders. I now know that there are two different kinds of bipolar disorder. The difference is that with one you are happy for a time and you do thing you would not normally do. When you do these things that is called a manic. The other one you do not have manics you can be depressed. I also know that there are two different kinds of depression. There is a major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder. The difference is that the major depressive disorder is more serious than the persistent depressive disorder. I know that there are a lot of anxiety disorders. There are some that you have a phobia. There is also one that is generalized anxiety. With the phobia you are scared of something. When you have the generalized anxiety you are scared of a lot of things.

The most interesting thing to me was the obsessive-compulsive disorder. I already knew information about and when I read about it just helped me remember it better.

The thing that was surprising to me was when the book talks about this person who was hurt by her husband and she shot him. Then she called the police and did not know that she did it. It said that she had dissociative amnesia. It is kind of like when you do not know what you are doing. This was surprising that she did not know what she did.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, manic, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, dissociative amnesia

Psychological disorders are so interesting to people, because it about other peoples lives. Other people are always interested in other peoples lives and with physiological disorders always comes the words mental disorder and I think people are interested in those words; mental and disorder. I also think that people are very interested in this subject but psychological disorders are hard to pinpoint and understand. People like things that they do not understand. I also think people are interested in physiological disorders because there are so many different types and kinds of disorders, many of them tie into each other, and people like to know what they are and what is going on in the mind of people with disorders.
There are many different causes to psychological disorders. One is genetic predisposition, some people are just born with psychological disorders, many times the disorder runs in people’s families and it handed down through out generations. Another reason is childhood trauma some people have very bad childhoods, neglected and abused which later in life leads to a psychological disorder. Some people just have a higher probability to getting a psychological disorder; they are more likely to get a psychological disorder than someone with lower probability. There is also the Biopsychosocial approach, this is where doctors take biological factors, psychological factors, and social factors and which one or two maybe even three causes the psychological disorder.
This chapter made me understands psychological disorders better; I always had an interest in them, because people around me work with people who have these disorders. I have also been diagnosed with a disorder myself, generalized anxiety disorder, so all psychological disorders as a whole really interest me, and reading about it just gives me more information about it.
The most interesting thing it me is generalized anxiety disorder, just because I have this disorder and I love reading more about it. The symptoms with this disorder are people are always anxious, and sense the anxiety is focused on one thing, anything little thing can spark the anxiety in a person. People with this disorder are always looking for something to worry about, and always looking for something to be wrong. Another disorder that is very interesting to me is all the phobias. It is very interesting to me on the kinds of things that people can be afraid of like; Geliphobia is the fear of laughter and Gnomophobia is the fear on garden gnomes. Being afraid of things like that is very interesting and strange to me because those are everyday occurrences in my life.
The most surprising or memorable thing I learned was the development of anxiety disorders. Many people are anxious about many different things, but with anxiety disorders it is developed through Biopsychosocial. People inherit anxiety from their parents and also obtain is from being anxious of everyday tasks, and constantly being worried about little things. People with anxiety disorder can also have their fears learned from the outside world.
Terms: Genetic Predisposition, Childhood Trauma, Lower Probability, High Probability, Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Anxiety, Biopsychosocial, Geliphobia, and Gnomophobia

This is probably my most anticipated chapter for the class. I have been waiting to learn more about psychological disorders and how people react so negatively to their personal experiences. This tends to be one of the most interesting fields for me to learn about because I have always wanted to know why people commit suicide, why they kill or rape other people, and things like that. What really interests me and makes me want to learn even more is that most of these disorders are very difficult to diagnose and to actually discover among people, contrary to that of physical problems. This is why finding the sources of these can be difficult because I want to understand the ideology and motives for doing the things that they do. I hope to, at one point, figure out how to help any future actions. Amanda Todd’s story of how she experience cyberbullying and eventually taking her own life intrigues because of how unfortunate her experience was. Bullying is a very large problem in school and many young people experience the harm of oppression, whether it be in person or online. Amanda Todd experienced this to an extreme level, suffering from depression and anxiety.

My understanding of psychological disorders has changed in different ways, starting with the fact that I never knew that there was such a vast number of different types and forms of disorders that can be developed. Starting with anxiety, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different phobias that can range from simple fears of water (aquaphobia) to as unique as the fear of chewing gum (chiclephobia) or fear of mothers-in-law (pentheraphobia). Generalized anxiety disorder is the fear of being negatively evaluated by others. Many teenagers deal with this in school, leading to large numbers in low self-esteem and depression. They tend to worry more about what others think rather than what they think of themselves. Amanda Todd could have had a form of this disorder, leading to her eventually committing suicide. These disorders are under only the criteria of anxiety. There are many other disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, etc.

The most interesting thing that I learned in the chapter was learning about depression and how there are different levels of depression, starting with the least intense to more major forms of depression. I read this section and began to think about the late and great Robin Williams. He committed suicide after living a long life full of depression. What surprised me the most about his story was that he seemed like a great person, always a smile on his face and being a great parent and husband to his family, from what I read of course. It discussed in the book about Buzz Aldrin and how he also experience depression during his life. He spend many years going through treatment and sobriety and finally overcame his problems. Robin Williams kept his feelings to himself and created somewhat of a mask to hide how he really felt in order for people to not worry. I understand now more than ever that even with great success, life isn’t perfect. Anyone can develop disorders or emotional and mental issues that can create conflict within their lives.

Terminology: Psychological disorders, depression, anxiety, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder depressive disorder, major depressive disorder

I think psychological disorders are inherently interesting to people because of all the different types, and all of the different effects they can have on a person. Another reason why I believe people like to study them is because they are very difficult to detect and interpret. For example, you could run in to someone one day and your first impression would lead you to believe they are just a normal person. Little could you know, that person suffers from some psychological illness that you know nothing about. People study these types of diseases because there are so many different types. For example, phobias. There are tons of types of phobias; almost one for everything you could think of. Some common phobias include ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes; claustrophobia, the fear of enclosed spaces; and aviophobia, the fear of flying. There are also uncommon, ridiculous phobias such as gnomophobia, the fear of garden gnomes and geliophobia, the fear of laughter. Even though psychological diseases are no laughing matter, they are still very popular to study and learn about in today’s society. Doctors and psychologists are still not sure to about what exactly causes psychological disorders, however; there are many factors used to try and answer this question. One main, common method used is looking at the diathesis-stress model. The diathesis-stress model explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illnesses based on two factors. First, this method works to determine whether or not the individual is vulnerable to attract a disorder. The vulnerability could be genetic, biological or traumatic, for example, something disturbing from your childhood. If this is not enough to determine whether or not the person does indeed have a psychological disorder, a second factor is added. This factor determines whether or not some type of stress is added on the person. Another mechanism used to determine psychological disorders is the biopsychosocial approach. The biopsychological approach states that most psychological disorders are caused by biological, psychological or sociocultural factors. This approach takes into account all three of those factors in determining whether or not someone has a psychological illness. My understanding of psychological disorders has definitely changed after reading this chapter. I was aware of the common illnesses, such as OCD, PTSD and depression; however, I didn’t know there were multiple ways depression disorders could develop. There are biological factors, psychological factors, and culture and gender disorders. The most memorable thing I learned while reading this chapter was definitely learning about the development of the borderline personality disorder. People with borderline personality disorder usually lack a strong sense of self, they struggle being alone and are terrified of abandonment. The most interesting thing I learned while reading chapter thirteen was the section over schizophrenia. I’ve always heard about this illness but never really looked any further into it. I was unaware of all of the aspects that went into it, such as the delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior that goes into it. Terms: hallucinations, delusions, phobias, claustrophobia, diathesis-stress model, biopsychosocial approach, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder,

People may experience psychological disorders like anxiety and depression at least once in their life. Recently, I am also experiencing psychological disorders after I broke up with my boyfriend. I am experiencing extremely depression and I can’t sleep well as every night I cry. As well as, I don’t want to do anything even eating, that is, I feel to lose the will to do something and to live. Like this, psychological disorders impair good daily functioning and make people become lethargic and even feel suicidal urge. And the psychopathology is common around the globe, in all countries and all societies. Therefore, people are inherently interesting to psychological disorders to know the cause of their thoughts, emotions and behaviors, symptoms and way of solution about problems. In psychological dysfunction, there are there main causes. Biopsychosocial approach states that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. At first, the biological aspect of this approach focuses on how physiological factors, such as brain function, neurotransmitter imbalances, and genetics, all contribute to psychological disorders. And psychological aspect of this approach considers that thoughts, emotions, personality and learned experiences all influence the development of psychological disorders. Finally, sociocultural factors such as family relationships, socioeconomic status, and cultural context are all related to the development of psychological disorders. After reading this chapter, I can understand now my emotional state well and realize dangerousness of persistent psychological disorders. From now on, I will try to find methods for me to recover my depression and live positively and lively.
The most interesting topic for me in this chapter is about a phobia. A phobia is fear of a specific object or situation that is out of proportion with any actual threat. Phobias can be classified specific phobia and social phobia. Specific phobia states fear of something that is disproportionate to the threat and social phobia is fear of being negatively evaluated by others in a social setting. In my case, I have fear of enclosed spaces, therefore when I was in tiny space like elevator or airplane I feel a pressure on my chest and uncomfortable. Also, I have social phobia. When I am in front of many people or make presentation in class, I feel fear and am willing to avoid this situation because I am afraid of being wrong. While reading this content, I can sympathize with this psychopathology well.
The most memorable thing that I learned about in this reading is seasonal affective disorder because now the severe winter is coming in Iowa and I feel depressed often. Seasonal affective disorder is that people are depressed enough to impair daily functioning because of winter’s short days and reduced sunlight in winter. I am so worried that I am depressed during long winter of Iowa and suffer from homesickness. I can easily be affected by external factor like season. I have to find ways to recover my depression to stay in Iowa during winter.
Terms: psychological disorders, anxiety, depression, psychopathology, psychological dysfunction, Biopsychosocial approach, phobia, Specific phobia, social phobia, seasonal affective disorder

There are a wide variety of different psychological disorders, and many you can have at the same time. A psychological disorder reflects psychopathology, which is sickness or disorder of the mind. This disorder accounts for most of the disabilities in developed countries. It even passes up heart disease, and even cancer.
The book talks about The Case of Amanda Todd, and I remember hearing about this is school. It was really sad hearing about a girl that was bullied into taking her life. It’s pathetic that people would actually do that to someone, and not feel bad about it. I know a girl that I went to school with and she got bullied everyday, and almost took her life because of it. I can only imagine how Amanda’s friends and family felt after this. It’s also very sad that it caused Amanda deep psychological harm.
The main causes or sources of psychological dysfunction are discussed in Diathesis-stress model and Biopsychosocial approach. The Diathesisstress model illustrates how nature and nurture work together in the onset of mental disorders. Diathesis is when an individual may have an underlying vulnerability or predisposition to a mental disorder. The second is the Biopsychosocial approach, which is most psychological disorders are influenced by three factors: biological processes, such as brain function and genetics; psychological process, including how people think and feel; and socioculture factors, such as socioeconomic status. This model recognizes that each of these factors alone can influence psychological disorders. My understanding of psychological disorders changed since reading this chapter by making my knowledge of all these different disorders more in depth.
The most interesting topic that I found in this text was reading about anxiety disorders make people anxious, tense, and apprehensive. It says that anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive anxiety in the absence of true danger. It talks about people that are tense and anxious are worried about the future, and find it hard to fall asleep at night and staying asleep. Their attention span and concentration can be impaired.
The most surprising or memorable thing that I learned in this reading would have to be about how unwanted thoughts create fear in obsessive-compulsive disorder. It talked about a game show host that gave his guests fist bumps, instead of shaking their hands, and his viewers had no idea or even realized it. He did this because he had a serious psychological reason for doing it, and that was because he was obsessed with germs. Howie, the game show host, told everyone about his compulsive disorder in 2009. Many psychological disorders involve emotional and cognitive impairments.

Terms Used: cognitive impairments, biopsychosocial approach, diathesisstress model, socioculture factors, obsessive-compulsive disorder,

Psychological disorder are also known as mental disorders. These disorders are known around the world. They reflect psychopathology illnesses or disorders of the mind. Because of the high interests in theses disorders, they account for most of the disabilities. They are even higher than heart disease and cancers. It is hard to make a diagnosis for mental disorders. Unlike other illnesses, the doctors are not able to detect them through x-rays or any technology like that. The patient has to undergo through numerous physiological tests, observations, and self-reports.
Nature and nurture can have an impact on these disorders. There are also two different approaches that explain the developing of mental disorders. They are the diathesis stress model and the biopsychological approach. The diathesis stress model explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illnesses based on two factors. First, an individual may have an underlying vulnerability or predisposition to the mental disorder. The vulnerability can be biological or it can be environmental. The biopsychological approach states that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. The biological aspect focuses on how physiological factors such as brain function, neurotransmitter imbalances, and genetics, all contribute to psychological disorders. The psychological aspect considers that thoughts, emotions, personality, and learned experiences all influence the development of psychological disorders. The sociocultural factors are family relationships, socioeconomic status, and where the person is born and raised. The three factors all interact with each other in disordered thoughts and behaviors.
I did not know a whole lot of psychological disorders before reading this chapter. After reading the chapter, I am blown away. Who would have thought that there is so much to these disorders. Not only do they disrupt the lives of innocent people, but they are so difficult in the diagnosing process. The symptoms are first tracked, then they have to be categorized.
It is interesting to read how many psychological disorders that can be found. Certain disorders , such as schizophrenia, appear to be more common among the lower socioeconomic classes. This may be due to the difference in lifestyles, expectations, and in opportunities between the different classes.
There are many memorable things that I took away from this chapter. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categories symptoms into one or more of the 19 major psychological disorders, which allows for diagnosis and treatment. Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive anxiety in the absence of danger. OCD involves repeated intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that temporarily relieve anxiety. PTSD is characterized by unwanted, recurring thoughts about trauma, nightmares, and flashbacks. Bipolar disorder includes episodes of severe mania (bipolar I) or mild to moderate mania (bipolar II). In bipolar II, people also experience major depression.
Psychological terms: Schizophrenia, psychological disorders, mental disorders, diathesis-stress model, biopsychosocial approach, psychological testing, self-reports, observation, nature, nurture, bipolar, PTSD, OCD, anxiety.

Psychological disorders are so interesting to people for multiple reasons. They are becoming more and more common as the time goes on. They also have such a wide variety and such a wide spectrum of severity of them, it tends to interest people. And a lot of people tend to assume (falsely assume) that mental illnesses went hand in hand with the most violent crimes in today’s society, which also drives people to become informed about them. The causes of psychological dysfunction that I think came up most commonly while reading chapter 13 was first the upbringing of the child. So if a child has bad parents then they are more likely to develop any type of all the different kinds of disorders that was talked about in chapter 13. For example, dissociative identity disorder is usually the result of a child (most often girls) being severely abused throughout her childhood because she endured that abuse by convincing herself that it was happening to someone that was not her, and that second identity stuck around for longer than planned. Parents also have an effect on less severe disorders like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Genetics also play a big role in certain disorders, such as schizophrenia. There was a chart proving that the more closely related you were to someone with schizophrenia, the more likely you were to develop it yourself. So identical twins and the offspring of two parents diagnosed were the two at highest risk of this disorder. My understanding of psychological disorders has improved greatly from reading this chapter. I find this stuff really interesting so reading this was actually enjoyable. I know of the most common signs in certain disorders now, like in major depressive disorder the patient much either be severely depressed and/or irritable, or loss of interest in things that they used to enjoy for at least two weeks or more. They went very in depth about schizophrenia too which was interesting because I knew what the disorder was, but I did not know nearly enough about it to really recognize or even talk about it if I had to. It was also interesting because a lot of these disorders’ signs and symptoms are not that crazy weird of things. Obsessive compulsive disorder sticks out to me because I and finding more and more how big of a clean freak I am. It drives me crazy when things are messy, or dishes are in the sink dirty, or laundry is everywhere. And I definitely feel a sense of relief when I am finished cleaning. But the difference is that it isn’t causing a harm, or big huge distraction in my everyday life so I know that I do not have OCD.
The topic that I found the most interesting was the last section about the autism spectrum disorder because my job is involved with autistic individuals so it is always interesting to read about the disorder. It is also really interesting because as I read through most of the symptoms, I can easily identify a consumer that I have worked with who fits the descriptions. I also want to make a career out of working with autistic children so this topic always grabs my attention.
The thing that shocked me the most when reading this chapter was the example used to explain dissociative fugue. A women who had been abused for several years by her husband finally snapped and shot him 6 times one night. He survived the shooting and described her behavior that night as very calm and detached. She had no memory of shooting her husband, she even called the police after she found him shot multiple times. She was found not guilty because of the most extreme form of dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue. This involves a very short term loss of identity, which is usually not remembered afterwards. I have seen this on movies before and I had no idea it was an actual things that has happened.
Terms: mental illnesses, violent crimes, dissociative identity disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, dissociative fugue, dissociative amnesia.

This chapter was very interesting and I learned a lot. In this chapter it helped me to understand the most common psychological disorders, and their symptoms and causes. Also I learned about some way the professionals can treat these disorders to help people recover and improve their lives. Psychological disorders are so inherently interesting to people because it is all around them. Psychological disorders are common around the globe in all countries and societies. How do you know if someone has a Psychological disorder? This is a question many interested people and professionals ask often. Unusual Behavior may be a factor as well as emotions, and thoughts in some cases; but a psychological disorder professional goes deeper into questions one has to consider. There are four questions to determine if one has a psychological disorder. (1) Does it deviate from the cultural norm for what is appropriate or acceptable? (2) Is it maladaptive? That means does the feeling, though, or behavior interfere with the person ability to respond? (3) Is it self-destructive, does it cause the individual personal distress or does it threaten other in the community? (4) Does it cause discomfort to others? All these are question one might want to ask themselves when witnessing or concern about a person and the wellbeing. The main causes and/or source of psychological dysfunctions are Biological, Psychological and Sociocultural. To explain these Biological can be a cause of a psychological dysfunction due to brain function and genetics, Psychological by the example of twins or individuals who have been adopted revealed the importance of genetic factors, and Sociocultural being the family relationships, status and cultural context. My understanding about Psychosocial Disorders and expanded much. I found out way to determine disorders, all the things it can cause and how it affect a lot of people of different race, gender and age. So many interesting things were shown in this chapter; the one I will discuss is the idea that winter can cause sadness which can be as severe as impairing ones daily functions. People normally feel this way in the winter because of the reduced sunlight that comes with winter time so more places further north experience this more than people further south and people that have SAD (which is the disorder linked to this particular disorder) don’t need to wait for the winter to pass because there are treatments available to help. The most surprising thing I noticed was that anxiety can often be a good thing. Some of the example that the book gave were that being anxious for a test reminds one to keep up with homework and study, another was being anxious when meeting a new person can help us to avoid doing things to make a bad first impression. What I found memorable is what psychological disorders cause. Psychological disorders cause so many things that I would not have even though connected from OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) to Autism. Throughout this Chapter I can now say that I have probably been in contact with one of the many disorders.
Terms: OCD, SAD, Psychological, Psychological Disorders, Race, Gender, Age, Sociocultural, Biological, Behavior

Morgan Sowers

Psychological disorders are interesting to people because you can’t tell if someone has a psychological disorder by looking at them and even if you know them personally and something seems off, their symptoms have to be analyzed by a psychologist—simply put, it’s not as easy to understand as a broken limb. The main sources of psychological dysfunction can be explained with the biopsychological approach as well as the diathesis-stress model; the biopsychological approach addresses the biological, psychological and sociocultural aspects of mental disorders such as brain function and imbalances; thoughts, emotions, personalities and experiences; and family relationships as well as socioeconomic status—this approach recognizes the ways in which all of the above factors interact with one another and influence disorders. To look deeper into the onset of psychological issues, the diathesis-stress model examines the predisposition to psychological disorders as well as the circumstances that trigger it. In fact, what I found to be most interesting in the reading was the diathesis-stress model because I have had a tendency to think of psychological disorders as severe cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that has been constantly apparent in the life of the inflicted. This model is fascinating because it made me think about what I didn’t realize I already knew, which is that psychological disorders can also be triggered later in life due to high stress situations, which explains why I developed (or triggered) anxiety when I moved five hours away from home to attend university.

The most memorable thing I read in this chapter was about dissociative identity disorder; I have always found this disorder interesting and my fascination piqued when I watched the series “United States of Tara” a couple years ago. What really sticks in my mind about this illness is the fact that some psychologists don’t even believe that it exists. I find it troubling that people who suffer from this disorder are invalidated due to lack of belief. My understanding of psychological disorders has been more realized than changed—before reading this chapter I never thought much about anxiety and depression being psychological disorders (which is strange considering I have seen therapists for these symptoms). It may be my own way of deflecting the idea of me being affected by a disorder but reading the book this week has really enlightened me and helped me to cope with my own disorders. The psychological terms that I used in my post are: diathesis-stress model, biopsychological approach, and dissociative identity disorder.

Chapter 13 opened up a new area that gave me an idea of why people are interested in psychological disorders. For a person who does not have a disorder, it may be hard for them to know whether a person has a disorder. Our books describes psychopathology as a sickness or a disorder of the mind. I believe that people are especially interested in these disorders because you can’t physically see them. If a person had a different disorder like cleft lip, you would be able to tell right away. Not being able to see this disorder fascinates me because you do not know what is going on in the person’s mind. You may see the symptoms of the disorder or causes of it, but you can not actually see it. Psychologists who are especially interested in mental disorders have to investigate from four different perspectives in order to understand a disorder. Some disorders may have symptoms in common, making it hard to know what disorder it is from the start. The four perspectives psychologists investigate are 1) determine etiology, (the book defines this as factors that contribute to the development of a disorder) 2) identity and assess symptoms of the disorder 3) group symptoms into categories to make diagnosis and 4) identify possible treatments. I also think that people are interested in these disorders because some people who have disorders can can be extremely intelligent. I think that people are interested because its interesting to understand how the minds work.

The chapter mentions that these disorders can be influenced by biological, psychological and sociocultural factors. Biological factors focus on how physiological factors contribute to the disorder. The psychological aspect is how thoughts, emotions and personality can influence the behavior. The last aspect is the sociocultural aspect. This deals with where the person was born and raised. I believe that genetics play a major part in having a disorder. If a person has parents who have a disorder, the offspring may have a chance of having a disorder. In the book section 3 is about schizophrenia and how it develops. A child who has a genetic risk of schizophrenia might have a high risk of developing it if the family environment is dysfunctional. However, if the family environment is healthy, the child is at low risk from developing schizophrenia. I believe this is really important because if a child does not want to develop this disorder, it is important that the family environment is healthy.

After reading the chapter I understand how disorders are very different and that it is not easy to deal with them. One disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, is characterized by frequent and intrusive thoughts that create and anxiety and compulsive actions that temporarily reduce the anxiety. People who have this disorder may do something that reduces the anxiety for a little bit. If a person has anxiety, they may wash their hands frequently to reduce the anxiety. They could also bake or clean. Most people who have this disorder are not able to overcome the anxiety. Also after reading the chapter, I was able to understand posttraumatic stress disorder better. I learned a little about this disorder last year. This disorder, as defined by the book is a disorder that involves frequent nightmares, intrusive thoughts and flashbacks related to an earlier trauma. People can develop this disorder long after the damage has happened. In order for people to deal with this, they may have to get help from a therapist.

One topic that I found most interesting was on ADHD.ADHD is attention/deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which is defined as the book, is a disorder characterized by excessive activity or fidgeting, inattentiveness and impulsivity. I found this interesting because the causes for ADHD are not known because with each child who has this disorder has different behaviors. I did not know that poor parenting and social disadvantage could contribute to the onset of the symptoms. This is probably one of the most memorable things I learned from the chapter. It is interesting that each child displays different behaviors and that it is hard to find out what the causes are.

Terms that I used: psychopathology, etiology, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder

I think that psychological disorders are interesting to people because it causes people to act and think differently. There are many misconceptions about psychological disorders, which can cause a stigma to be attached to someone who does suffer from psychopathology, or a sickness or disorder of the mind. For example, there are many jokes on the internet about bipolar disorder, where people make fun of the extreme changes in attitude. I think that the other factor is the treatment of psychological disorders. Sometimes it isn’t as simple as taking a pill every morning. It can involve intense therapy, as well as medication.
One of the causes of psychological dysfunction comes from the diathesis-stress model, which suggests that the disorders arise from stressful circumstances paired with vulnerability. However, the etiology, or factors that contribute to the development of a disorder can come from a lot of places. They can arise from problems in childhood, or very traumatic events in a person’s life. Posttraumatic stress disorder arises from unwanted and recurring thoughts about a trauma. In rare cases, some people develop dissociative identity disorder to help cope with severe trauma.
My understanding of psychological disorders has greatly changed since reading this chapter. I found it ironic, that I have a panic disorder but it didn’t know much about it. In fact, I struggled with it for years before my mom finally asked the doctor about it when I was a junior in high school. It almost came as a relief when I learned that my fear wasn’t just me being weird. With some counseling and medication, I’m doing a lot better. I wish that everyone could understand psychological disorders a lot more. Instead of being labelled “crazy”, most people with psychological disorder just need support. I still struggle with the stigma of having psychological disorder. For example, I learned that one of my triggers for panic attacks came from watching scary or gory movies. When people would want to watch one of those movies, I always made an excuse to watch something else or leave. People would tease me or call me a baby, but eventually I learned to shrug it off. The first few times I actually told people that I have a panic disorder and I always got the same question, “So are you, like, crazy then?” I think if people has a better understanding of psychological disorders, then there wouldn’t be such a stigma for them.
I found the section about disorders of emotion to be the most interesting. I could relate a lot of my experiences to the chapter. I remember when I talked to my counselor about my panic attacks, she asked me what I when I fear that there is one coming on. I told her my routine and she said it sounds like a little bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I was confused because I told her that my routine doesn’t cause me anxiety, it relieves it. That’s when I first learned that OCD is a coping mechanism. I know a lot of people use the term OCD loosely, but I have always found my ways relaxing, since it doesn’t interfere with my daily tasks at all.
I think the most surprising thing about his chapter was the section about schizophrenia. I always it was just people who hear voices. I never realized how much was involved with the disorder. The terms, positive and negative symptoms, were misleading since the positive symptoms were actually “good.” They included delusions, hallucinations and disorganized speech and behavior. I think that these symptoms are the ones that other people might actually notice, while the negative symptoms are usually ignored or misinterpreted.

Psychological Terms: schizophrenia, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, diathesis-stress model, etiology, psychopathology, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder.

I think that everyone finds psychological disorders so interesting because we all have the same feelings to a certain degree. Even if you do not have a psychological disorder, chances are you struggle with some of the same things people that have these disorders do. I know that I am guilty of this. When you are diagnosed with a psychological disorder it means that your symptoms are just more severe than those of others. If we are blatantly honest with ourselves, we care about psychological disorders because we want to make sure that we do not have one. There are different ideas to what it is that causes psychological disorders because neither nature nor nurture is fully responsible for the cause of these disorders. One explanation for what causes psychological disorders is the diathesis-stress model. This model states that you have a genetic disposition for a disorder; however, you may never actually experience it because this model also says that it takes a stressful situation to trigger it. The vulnerability and excessive stress can cause the disorder to surface depending on different life circumstances. Another idea to answer the ageless question is the biopsychosocial approach. This approach says that disorders are equally influenced by biological, psychological, and socioculture factors. It is all about how the three things interact with each other more than the factors themselves. I understand psychological disorders much better after reading this chapter. Prior to this reading I had very little background on disorders. I think that many people throw around disorder names without really knowing what they are saying. I have heard countless people say that they have ADD or OCD, but really they are just experiencing feelings that correlate with these disorders. Personally, I was really interested in how the mental disorders overlapped. I did not realize how closely related all the disorders were. For example, obsessive compulsive disorder overlaps with five other disorders. I also thought that reading about all the anxiety disorders was interesting. I did not realize that there were so many sub-categories of this disorder. Anxiety is also really common between people. Specifically going along with anxiety, I thought phobias were interesting. There are so many different phobias that people can have. Our book said that one in eight Americans suffer with a phobia of a specific object, situation, or person. The most memorable thing in the chapter was reading about Amanda Todd. I think that this was memorable because it was a real life situation. I cannot imagine what she must have gone through. Not only was she bullied, but she also suffered with anxiety and depression. I do not understand why people bullied her because I think it is obvious that everything that happened to her was not at all her fault. Reading about situations like this make me really sad because this could happen to anyone at any time; we do not know what other people are struggling with, so the fact that people could push her off the edge disgusts me. After reading this chapter, it has become clear to me that we are not taught enough about disorders soon enough in life.

Terms: Psychological Disorder, Feelings, Nature, Nurture, Diathesis-Stress Model, Genetic Disposition, Stress, Vulnerability, Biopsychosocial Approach, Biological, Psychological, Socioculture, ADD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety, Phobias, Depression

Psychological disorders are very interesting to people because many people suffer from these kinds of disorders all the time. There is more types of psychological disorders than just one specific one. If someone had a psychological disorder, it can be in variations. Someone can have it worse than someone else. Psychological disorders can be cause by biological, other psychological, and environmental factors. My psychological understanding of the disorders has changed since reading this chapter. I have gained a better understanding of the topic as a whole and the topic more in-depth. Psychological disorders is a very interesting topic to learn about.
The most interesting topic in this chapter is the section on Disorders Interfere With Our Lives. Mental disorders are also known as psychological disorders. All these disorders will reflect psychopathology. Psychopathology is sickness or disorder of the mind. 1 in 4 Americans will be diagnosed with some type of a psychological disorder. It is difficult to draw a line between normal emotions, thought and behaviors. Psychological disorders can be difficult to determine. When disorders disrupt a person’s life daily, it can cause distress over a long period of time. You can tell if someone has a psychological disorder by just their behavior. Their behavior says it all. Things in other cultures that they think is good and shows honor is not necessarily a good thing in our culture. For example, Native Americans and East Asian cultures consider in an honor to hear voices. Americans would see this as a form of auditory hallucinations. You have to ask yourself questions to determine if someone has a psychological disorder. To determine a psychological disorder, psychologists have to investigate from four perspectives. The first is etiology. Etiology is the factors that contribute to the development of a disorder. The second is identifying the symptoms of the disorder to understand what is occurring. The third is grouping symptoms into categories for diagnosis. The last is identifying possible treatments.
The most memorable topic was the section on Development of Depressive Disorders: Biological Factors. Depression has a genetic component. A study was done with twins, families, and adoptive children to help support that statement. Biopsychosocial factors play an important role in the etiology of depression. According to the study, identical twins are more likely to be diagnosed with depression than both fraternal twins. Biological factors are in fact involved with depression. Studies of the brain have show that a certain structure might be involved in mood disorders. This structure is the neural structure. Damage to the left prefrontal cortex can lead to depression. Patients of depression enter REM sleep quicker and have more of it.
terms: psychopathology, etiology, symptoms, categories, treatments

It's my personal belief that people tend to be innately curious about the various afflictions of the mind for a number of reasons. It could be that they're eager to find out if they or perhaps a loved one might possess some sort of disorder and are simply unaware of it. Perhaps it's because they want to gain some insight into what it might be like to not feel remorse or empathy, or experience hallucinations that tear them from their present reality. Of course, that's simply in the case of the more extreme disorders like Antisocial Personality Disorder, or Schizophrenia. Most if not all of us have already experienced depression of some severity over the course of our lives, though probably not to the scope and severity of those diagnosed with major or persistent depressive disorder.

According to the Biopsychosocial approach to diagnosing mental disorders, the underlying causes of such afflictions are divided into biological, psychological and sociocultural factors, each contributing to the disorder in it's own way. The biological factors include brain function and the role of genetics, psychological factors governing emotions and thoughts, and sociocultural factors cover social status, relationships, and cultural pressures. My knowledge on the subject of mental disorders has broadened considerably since reading the chapter, especially on subjects such as Schizophrenia as it's symptoms hadn't been made abundantly clear to me before the reading.

The topic that had most interested me in this reading was the discussion on Attention-Deficit-Hyperactive-Disorder and other disorders of it's kind. I won't lie, I've never really bought into that. I've never really considered ADHD to really be a disorder as much as it is an excuse to pay a pharmacist give your child medication to make them docile and easier to manage. I know I'm typically alone in this but I still hold the opinion that this disorder is only on paper to excuse parents who don't quite know how to manage children who are typically loud, obnoxious, jumpy, and easily distracted by nature. Instead of taking proactive steps to teach these kids how to behave, they'd sooner dope them up on some Riddlin.

A topic that also stuck out to me was the mention of Ted Bundy, and his diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. I was always interested (read: morbidly curious) about the lives and activities of serial killers and what made them tick. A common theme always seemed to be their potent charm, and their complete lack of empathy or remorse. They also seem to be consistent in high motivation and self-esteem to the point of narcissism. I always found it delightfully ironic that two of the qualities that this country tries to instill so fiercely in its youth are ones that are seen in abundance by some of it's most despicable denizens. Now that's insane.

The keywords are: disorder, hallucinations, reality, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, Biopsychosocial approach, genetics, Attention-Deficit-Hyperactive-Disorder, motivation, self-esteem, and narcissism.

So many people find psychological disorders so interesting. This is because it is difference and a sort of unknown world that we are not able to experience. Interest in psychological disorders is kind of like liking mystery. It is interesting because it is unknown. Even if you are familiar with one disorder there is such a wide range of them that there is bound to be several of which are completely unknown to you. There are many different causes to these disorders and many different theories to describe these causes. The Diathesis-Stress Model predicts psychological disorders from a your age taking trauma and genetics into account. The biopsychosocial approach says biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors can lead to psychological disorders. I was really interested about what the chapter had to say about many people showing symptoms of a disorder but not actually being clinically diagnosed with it. Some people show symptoms for just a short period in their life but do not actually have the disorder. I read that to be diagnosed with ADHD you have to show symptoms before the age of 12. Thats why I think a lot of teens that say they have it really don't. Everyone has at least a little trouble really focusing on school.That doesn't mean you have ADHD. Them some people tell me I don't really have it for that reason when in fact I was diagnosed when I was 8. I was surprised to read about how the seasons affected some psychological disorders. After reading about it it completely makes sense. Less daylight during the day can affect people's mood especially when they are prone to depression

I am interested in psychological disorders because that persons mind is different from mine and everyone else I know. I am also interested because it gives that person a different way of thinking; it’s very out of the box compared to my kind of thinking. Some causes of the disorders could be vulnerability to genetics or the environment you’re in; it also said in the book that a childhood trauma could have an affect on it. Your stress level can make you have a disorder; this is all from the diathesis-stress model. The other model is biopsychosocial approach. This approach says that the main cause of disorders comes from biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Biological is how your brain is functioning and the balance of your brain. Psychological is your thoughts, emotions, and your personality those things from my understanding could possible lead to depression. Sociocultural family relationships or the cultural you were born into, being raised in a certain culture may cause so much stress to a person that it may trigger something in your brain and you snap. It has changed a lot because I knew there some factors into going into have disorders are caused but I didn’t know that they were so many different causes.

What I thought was most interesting and memorable was the section on Schizophrenia. I learned in the book that the word Schizophrenia means “splitting of the mind” which I thought was something fun and new to learn. I didn’t know that it was a spilt between your thought and emotion. I thought this was just a disorder that you heard voices and that’s it. Saying that I just thought it affected your mind that’s it but it affects motor, cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual behaviors. This section in the chapter was very eye opening for me. I also was really interested in Louis Wain’s art. They said when his art drastically changed he was having an episode (he had Schizophrenia). I really liked how the pictures looked.

Terms: Schizophrenia, Louis Wain, Psychological Disorder, Vulnerability, Genetics, Environment, Stress, Diathesis-Stress Model, Biopsychosoical, Biological, Psychological, Sociocultural, Depression, Trigger,

The reason why psychological disorders are so intriguing to people is because these disorders account for the greatest amount of disability in developed countries, surpassing even cancer and heart disease. In the text book it even states that every 1 in 4 Americans by the age of 18 have a psychological disorder. The fact that this disorder is so widely spread, it causes individuals to ask questions and become interested.
There are several causes of psychological disorders that not all psychologists completely agree about but still some factors are generally thought to be important. The diathesis-stress model done by Monroe and Simons in 1991 explains the mechanism that leads to the onset of psychological illness based on two factors. The first factor is vulnerability can be biological or environmental such as a childhood trauma. Although the vulnerability may not be enough to trigger a disorder by itself, the second factor, which is the addition of stressful circumstances, can tip the scales. However, if the stress level is too much for one person to cope with, psychological disorder symptoms may come to the surface.
The bio psychosocial approach is another theory that most psychologists today approach this model by recognizing that several factors can contribute to psychological disorders. The bio psychosocial approach states that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. The biological aspect of this approach focuses on how physiological factors, such as brain function, neurotransmitter imbalances, and genetics all contribute to psychological disorders.
The fact that disordered thoughts and behaviors can be assessed was the most interesting me. To receive a particular diagnosis the patient must meet specific criteria. You could fall into any category ranging from feeding and eating disorder and be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or be in the sleep-wake disorder and be diagnosed with narcolepsy. There is such a variety of categories and diagnosis that there are many different tests that one individual must take. Before reading this chapter I had no idea how complex diagnosing for psychological disorders were. I also did not know that your childhood or a stressor could trigger a psychological disorder; I thought that for the most part you were born with the disorder. I really enjoyed reading this chapter and getting a better understanding of psychological disorders.
Terms: psychological disorders, narcolepsy, anorexia nervosa, diathesis-stress model, Monroe, Simons, trigger, symptoms, bio psychosocial

The reading describes a psychological disorder as that which reflects psychopathology, sickness or disorder of the mind. A psychological disorder can be distinguished between normal human behavior by looking at the context of the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that a person experiences and exhibits. Symptoms include, but certainly are not limited to, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and disorganized behavior. There are both positive (as in, additive) symptoms and negative (as in, causing a deficit) symptoms. The book gives possible criteria for identifying a psychological disorder:

“(1) Does it deviate from cultural norms for what is acceptable? In other words, does it vary form how a person is expected to think, feel, or act in a given situation? (2) Is it maladaptive? That is, does the thought, feeling, or behavior interfere with the person’s ability to respond appropriately? (3) Is it self-destructive, does it cause the individual personal distress, or does it threaten other people in the community? (4) Does it cause discomfort and concern to others?” (457-458)

A person may come to think or behave in this described way, or come develop a mental disorder, from one or multiple of a variety of causes. The diathesis-stress model explains that there are two primary factors to the development of a psychological disorder: their diathesis (“an underlying vulnerability or predisposition…to a mental disorder”) and stress (459). A diathesis can be biological predisposition or it can be a vulnerability acquired in result to a trauma. Stressful circumstances can then cause the symptoms of a psychological disorder to emerge. The biopsychosocial approach states that the development of a mental disorder is impacted by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors (that is, by physiological factors like genetics, psychological factors like personality and emotions, and social/cultural factors like family relationships and economic status, respectively).

According to the reading, psychological disorders don’t appear to have always been interesting to people: “Throughout most of human history, people showing signs of what we now consider psychological disorders were viewed as suffering form madness” (461). So, back in the day, it appears that people reacted more with fear than with interest. I think that in the present-day, this fear still exists. However, among the public, this fear tends to be present in the form of people worrying that they or their family members have or may develop a mental disorder. The worry sparks a want to understand mental disorders and how or why they develop. Another potential source of interest for psychological disorders may be simply the desire to understand a person with a psychological disorder. Psychologists are likely interested in the etiology of mental disorders because of what they can tell us about the human mind. Because psychological disorders are so heavily affected by a variety of factors (biological, psychological, and sociocultural), changes in the brain that result in a mental disorder can tell us what causes the brain to change, how much is too much from an individual to handle, how our brains perceive our environment, and potentially why our brains react in this way, even under normal conditions.

Before reading this chapter, I thought of mental disorders as being virtually completely genetic: if the illness is present within your family history, you have a certain percent chance of developing it yourself – whether you do or not is all up to chance. However, the reading explained that “a family history of psychological disorder suggests vulnerability rather than destiny” (459).

I was most interested by antisocial personality disorder. For someone to be described as both charming and evil blows my mind, and even makes me want to watch a documentary or two on the illness.

The most memorable part of the reading for me was the section on obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. It stood out to me because my dad always claims that he has it (which he definitely does not), due to his perfectionism and tendency to micromanage. I gained a different perspective on OCD when the book described its relation to anxiety, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning.

psychopathology, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, diathesis-stress model, diathesis, stress, biopsychosocial approach, etiology, antisocial personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder

I think that the reason that psychological disorders are so interesting to people is because they ca have many different causes, and there are also a big variety and severity of the types of disorders. Psychopathology can also be very difficult to define because social norms can change from place to place making diagnosis harder. Another reason this topic might be interesting to people is because of the etiology, or the factors that contribute to the development of a disorder. There is just so much that goes into what a psychological disorder is, such as symptoms, causes, categories, and treatments of all the disorders.
The causes of of psychological disorders deal with a topic we have covered quite a bit which is nature and nurture. If a child has a genetic predisposition they will obviously have a higher likelihood of developing a disorder. Trauma experienced as a child as well as stress are the other factors that contribute to the development of a disorder. The diathesis-stress model shows how all the factors put together can either create a high or low probability of developing a disorder.
My understanding of disorders has changed after reading this because I didn't know how many different types of disorders there were, and i also didn't know that phobias were considered to be a psychological disorder.
The most interesting topic in this chapter to me was about schizophrenia. I have seen the movie Beautiful Mind in my high school Psych class, but we never learned about the positive and negative symptoms. We covered that there were excess in functioning like having hallucinations and delusions, but not about the deficits like lack of emotion and slowed speech so i thought that was interesting to find out.
The most memorable thing I learned in this chapter were the many different types of disorders that were talked about and being able to put them into categories.
Psych Terms: Psychopathology, etiology, nature/nurture, diathesis-stress model, phobias, schizophrenia, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, hallucinations, delusions.

I think that psychological disorders interest people because we want to know how they think. We can only really know our own minds. We can study and understands what makes other people have psychological disorders or why they do certain things, but we can’t really experience or live it. So when someone else does something that we or society deems completely irrational or just generally odd, we want to know why. We assume that the person engaging in irrational behaviors must have somehow rationalized the actions in their own mind. This fascinates people because we want to help the individual not make irrational choices, or at least understand why they did it. Psychological disorders are really the driving factor behind the rationalizations, so we need to be able to understand them to understand the people affected by them. To make it easier for us, we try and group the disorders into categories that are related. The book divides them by the area affected, these being emotional, thought, and identity/self disorders. By studying the similarities in background, genetics, actions, and thoughts of these people, we get a better idea of what makes them tick a little differently from the “norm”.
I had no idea that psychological disorders were so widespread. I figured it was a very small minority that had psychological disorders, but it turns out that it is about 25%, and that throughout our lives, 50% of us are likely to experience a disorder of some sort. I’ve been conditioned to dismiss a lot of the more common disorders, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD/ADD because I have met and am good friends with plenty of people who take medication for these. When I read the title to the chapter, the disorders that came to mind were, schizophrenia and OCD. I realized I stopped considering the more common ones disorders because I didn’t see them as serious, which is a flawed way to look at it. The most interesting part of the chapter for me, I guess, was really realizing throughout the readings that I looked at the disorders wrong, and that lots of people around me are thinking differently and it affects their daily lives. I also thought the part about Howie having OCD was interesting. He doesn’t fit my stereotypical view of how OCD people are. I always picture Adrian Monk from the TV series Monk. Wow. My view of a disorder is based off of a TV show. Well, I have some more self-evaluating to do now.

Terms: schizophrenia, OCD, Psychological disorder, thoughts, irrational, rationalize, emotional disorders, self/identity disorders, genetics, ADHD, depression, anxiety.

I believe psychological disorders are so interesting to people because its something we develop them over time due to repetition or a horrifying event of something so irregular in our daily routine that interfere in our lives in which is very hard to control and surpass. Many of the disorders in the book are hereditary and are developed easy if on of your family members you see day-to-day has one. The topic I found most interesting to me was disorders interfere with our lives. In life to find maximum happy ness and overall a successful well being there needs to be no worries in the world the only thing that can stop us from that worriless feeling is disorders. Many people don’t know if they have a disorder or not there is a criteria to find out so. First off does it very from how a person is suppose to feel? Is it maladaptive? Is it self-destructive? Does it discomfort your self and others? These are the was to find out if your disorder is psychological. The thing I found was most memorable while reading about psychological disorders was the topic on depressive disorders are common. Its found that in the winter time people are most commonly depressed. Depressive disorders are ones that change your mood from a normal state as in being happy to a not normal state of being sad. The reasoning why winter makes us more depressed is because the days are much shorter due to the lack of sunlight and also colder weather. The closer you live to Canada the more sad your likely to be due to the temperature change. I find this study to be true because I do have a personal experience with this as well. My experience happened during wrestling season every year cutting weight and working out, not being able to see sunlight at all because I would go into school very early and leave school very late just missing the sun. While I was in this state of depression I found my self to have a huge amount of anxiety built up over my girlfriend at the time. I became unsure about things in this case I found out I had a generalized anxiety disorder. My mind was unsure about everything even when I didn’t need to be. To this day I still have theses problems it’s hard to cope with and it has a huge part in my life.

Terms: depressive disorders, depression, anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, hereditary, psychological disorders.

Psychological disorders are probably so intriguing because they cause people to act out in ways that are abnormal. I think because normal people are so used to sticking to the social norms that it throws them off when someone has thrown the social norm down the toilet. We also seem to have a great love of conformity, but trying to make someone conform makes sense when that someone is hurting himself or is greatly troubled with imaginary voices. It may also be because we as people want to make sure we don’t show or have any of the symptoms of having a psychological disorder.
It seems that a majority of the cause of such disorders is due to biological and environmental factors. It was interesting to read that kids with the genetic risk of schizophrenia can end up having a low risk of it developing later in life due to how the child was raised. Where the environment can help lower the risk of a psychological disorder certain environments can increase it. For instance depression, OCD, and posttraumatic stress have the commonality that something happens in a person’s environment to make them OCD or depressed. PTSD is a disorder that impairs a person’s ability to forget traumatic moments resulting in constant nightmares, flashbacks, and unwelcome thoughts. Along with the environment of a person the genetics that she gets from her parents can also impact her risk of getting a psychological disorder. People with any family history of having a disorder is more likely to get the disorder than someone who doesn’t have it in his family.
One thing that I never thought about before was that most criminals are not mentally ill. Psychopaths are criminals but there is such a small population of them that it doesn’t match up to the rest of the “sane” criminals. What I found most interesting and memorable about the chapter is that some psychological disorders can be developed over time regardless of genetics. I never thought of someone with OCD as someone who developed the impulse to wash their hands over and over again because they are afraid of getting germs and washing their hands is a way to relieve some of the anxiety of germs.

I feel that psychological disorders are extremely interesting especially to people because we all want to know information, and when it affects so many people, we are bound to know someone with a disorder like this. Because of that we want to understand it. They are quite common, and we can all somewhat relate to what they are because many of the symptoms can be felt in a normal human at a much less potent level. I think that the main sources of psychological dysfunction come from experiences in childhood or early development that traumatize us, or that affect our brains in such a way that we develop a phobia or disorder that helps us stay away from such a stressful situation, or to avoid the things that we are either afraid of or do not like. Another cause can be stress. Extensive amounts of stress can cause psychological disorders such as PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Following such a disorder can come others, such as depressive disorders. There is also a link to depressive disorders coming from genetics. In Fraternal Twins, it is much more likely that if there is a disorder that both twins will have it. Damage to certain parts of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, can also lead to disorders such as depression. Outside influence can also cause or provoke disorders. Bullying is a key example, because it has caused many people to become depressed or anxious, and sadly sometimes commit suicide. After reading the chapter, I realized how much more common these disorders were than I had originally thought. Personally, I understand the affects and how it can change your life. I also know that 3 out of 4 of my brothers suffer from some sort of psychological disorder, so I knew that it wasn’t necessarily rare, but it was really interesting to see the piece on the NFL player that had anxiety. The most interesting thing I read about was how bullying affects people. Currently in another class I am writing a research paper on cyberbullying. I knew of some of the stories talked about in the chapter, and it really interested me because of how sad and nonproductive this heartless act is.
Terms: PTSD, Depression, Anxiety

I think this topic of abnormal psychology is interesting to so many people is because many people cannot readily relate to the topics that are being discussed. For example, there may be many students in our class who have or who are facing depression, but many of the students may have not experienced schizophrenia. Since mental disorders are not widely experienced throughout the world, I believe people find it interesting when they don’t fully understand something. I also thought dissociative identity disorder was very interesting and I am not quite sure why. I have never experienced DID and want to know more about the multiple identities that a person may have. There are many cases in which women who were severely abused as children develop multiple identities to cope with their past. I personally cannot relate to how they feel, or how the trance that they go under takes place. In the book it shows how different identities may write and I think that is so interesting. This doesn’t show the complete validity of DID, but I think it may count for something. Many researches are still skeptical about DID, but I think that if someone can differentiate different people in their head regardless in they are transitioning into different identities or not has some validity to it.
One of the main causes of psychological dysfunction seems to be someone’s environment and or past. For example depression is so common because of the way someone may experience adversity. Biology does play a big role in psychological dysfunction but psychological factors also have a big impact. Life stressors may lead to depression. I think weather it be major depressive disorder or persistent depressive disorder trauma can definitely impact ones life that made lead to some sort of depression. Environment is another factor that plays into psychological dysfunctions. Biology does play into this factor as well in regards to schizophrenia. If a child has genetic risk of having schizophrenia and has a healthy environment, they will have a low risk of developing schizophrenia, but if a child has genetic risk and an unhealthy environment they have a higher chance of developing schizophrenia. Even though a child that has no genetic risk for schizophrenia will not likely develop schizophrenia, if they grow up in an unhealthy environment, they could develop a different type of psychological disorder.
My understanding of psychological disorders is always changing, but this chapter was really insightful. My family has a vast history of mental illnesses and it’s always interesting to relate the things that I am learning back to my own life. I personally do not know much about the autism spectrum disorder and this chapter has given me some insight to what I want to know more about. Ever since I have learned about autism, I thought that the only factor that was relevant in this disorder was the biological factors. I had no clue that environmental factors play a role as well. Parental and early childhood events could also cause brain dysfunction and this was new to me. I would really like to learn about the developmental process and what specific things in the brain are hardwired incorrectly. There is also a whole spectrum of autism that I know nothing about and I would like to learn more about that. I never really thought about disorders that effect children more directly rather than adults and I think that how my perspective has changed the most.
I have always really been interested in abnormal psychology so the whole chapter was very interesting to me. The thing that I found the most interesting was the section over schizophrenia. I am sure a lot of people are very interested by this section, but I think that is because there are so many facets of psychotic disorders and especially schizophrenia. I am pretty fascinated with the idea of positive and negative symptoms. Usually I here the word symptoms and automatically assume that all symptoms are negative, but I think the utilization of positive and negative symptoms is very helpful. Positive symptoms consist of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech. Negative symptoms include apathy, lack of emotion, slowed speech. I thought the section about schizophrenia was so interesting and I hope to learn more about it.
The most memorable thing to me about this chapter is the beginning when the book talked about how it is hard to distinguish between feeling sad and overwhelmed or actually facing a mental illness. This can easily be tied into depression and anxiety. These two mental illnesses are something that many people face and are very common. I think when the book talked about anxiety and the different types of disorders that it includes will be very memorable. This is because I faced this in my own life and it is easy to relate too. Depression is also called the common cold of mental illnesses because it is so common. I am sure these topics will come up again, and a lot of people associate psychology with depression and anxiety and I think it will be easy to recall some of this information because it is readily available and many people experience it.

Terms: abnormal psychology, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, mental illness, psychological disorder, biology, dissociative identity disorder, autism spectrum disorder.

Chapter 13:
This was my favorite chapter to read because of the disorders and understanding the ways of people with disorders. Psychopathology is a sickness or disorder of the mind. I came of interest in disorders by doing research on serial killers and trying to understand why they kill. Disorders interfere with our lives by not letting us do “normal” daily duties or have a social life. There are challenges that are need to be faced and negative outlooks on who we are when we do not have control over actions that come with consequences. The biological approach to psychological disorders are: biological, sociocultural, and psychological. The biological aspect of the approach focuses on how physiological factors, like: brain functions, neurotransmitters, and imbalances. Sociocultural factors in by the family relationships and the cultural context by how the person was born and raised and the development of psychological disorder. A phobia is a fear of a specific object or situation that is out of proportion with any actual threat. An example of that is Ricky William, a football player who is diagnosed with social phobia. Phobia are different with everyone and can lead to people being confused by the actual understanding of what a phobia really is. There are four types of anxiety disorders: phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. A panic disorder is an anxiety disorder that consists of sudden, overwhelming attacks of terror. Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder marked by fear of being in situations from which escape may be difficult or impossible.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a mental disorder that involves frequent nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks related to an earlier trauma. In Section 2, there is a cycle of obsession and compulsion that made me understand the aspects and the continuous cycle people can go through. The cycle starts off with anxiety which gives off a warning of not wanting to be sick. Then compulsion comes through and tells them to wash their hands until they are clean. Third, is having a relief of having their hands finally clean. And finally the obsession comes back and the fear of contamination continues in a cycle. Bipolar I disorder is a mood disorder characterized by extremely elevated moods during manic episodes. Bipolar disorder reminds me of my aunt who has it and would be happy at one moment, but then the next she would want to die because of not having the abilities to do what she wanted, for example flying. Bipolar II disorder mood disorder characterized by alternating periods of extremely depressed and mildly elevated moods. Hallucinations are false sensory perceptions that are experienced without an external source. Disorganized speech is speaking in an incoherent way that involves frequently changing topics and saying strange or inappropriate things. I could go on for days talking about this wonderful chapter, which really sparked my interest in disorders that everyone needs to know and understand. My favorite section 3, because it walked about the ways people experience disorders of the thought. There was so much information in this chapter and can not wait to talk about it in class. Psychology has so much variety of information and careers that teach and explain different understanding of the mind.

Terms: Psychopathology, biological approach, biological, sociocultural, psychological, biological, sociocultural, psychological, brain functions, neurotransmitters, imbalances, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, Bipolar disorder, Hallucinations, and disorganized speech,

I think we find psychological disorders so interesting because we as humans like to learn about the things others do that we find out of the ordinary. There are many different causes of psychological dysfunction, and one would be stress. This can be shown by the diathesis-stress model. The diathesis-stress model starts out with factors which cause this dress such as any trauma you had to face throughout your childhood or genetic predisposition. This then moves to diathesis, which the book defines as “vulnerability to mental disorder”. Depending on the amount of stress you deal with in your life, you will have either a low or high probability to have a mental disorder. Another source of psychological dysfunction you can see is the biopsychosocial approach. This approach focuses on three factors such as psychological, biological, and sociocultural factors. All of these factors including the way your brain functions, your thoughts and emotions, and your family life contribute to having a psychological dysfunction. My understanding of psychological disorders has changed because when I used to think about psychological disorders I thought of stuff like schizophrenia. I didn’t put into consideration that depression and anxiety disorders. The most interesting part to me was about the phobias. Phobias are defined in the textbook as “a fear of a specific object or situation that is exaggerated and out of proportion to the actual danger”. I think phobias are so interesting because they are usually so crazy and don’t make any sense at all. One surprising thing I learned was how common depressive disorders are. It makes you wonder how many people around us that we don’t know about have depression.

Psychological terms: psychological disorders, psychological dysfunction, diathesis-stress model, mental disorders, biopsychosocial approach, phobias, depressive disorders

I think that psychological disorder are so inherently interesting to people because most people know or have known someone who is or has been affected by a psychological disorder in their life. I also think that they are so interesting because people all have their own unique way of displaying these disorders. A good example of this I would say was Robin Williams, his suicide death seemed to have shocked the country because people thought because he was so funny and seemed to be so full of life how could someone life that actually be found to be depressed? But the truth is that Robin Williams had been battling addiction and depression for years, which just goes to show someone can display a very different persona than how they are actually feeling inside, and it also goes to show that psychological disorders can come in many forms and can burden even the least expecting people.

I would say that some of the main causes ot sources of psychological disorder is typically a unbalance or traumatic event that has happened in someone's life to trigger reactions. For instance Anorexia is a disorder that is all about control, someone might develop and eating disorder when they feel as though everything else in the life in unmanageable or out of their control, by restricting their food intake they get the sensation and satisfaction of controlling that aspect in the their life. Sometimes these sources can be from outside people or they can come from one's own experience that will trigger these disorders to occur. After reading this chapter I have learned how much more these disorders can affect our everyday lives. When someone has a psychological disorder, their disorder must always be taken into context and must always be considered when they are doing every day activities. For instance, someone who has anorexia has a much different experience when going out to a restaurant to eat than someone who is not suffering from anorexia, in fact eating a full meal can be considered a traumatic and very guilt trip experience for someone with an eating disorder.

One of the things that I found most memorable about this chapter was the very sad story of Amanda Todd. Amanda Todd had fell victim to bullying, both online and in person. It was so sad to see how she was relentlessly tortured. It was also very unfortunate that people participated in the bullying to the point that Amanda developed multiple psychological disorders and even attempted suicide. Thankfully her parents were able to seek help through counseling, but one of the more unfortunate details of this story is that Amanda's story is no isolated and this kind of bullying is a very large and serious issue today.

The most interesting this that I took from this chapter was the concept of Anxiety Disorder. The reason that this topic was so interesting to me was because I myself am diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder so I know first hand the impact is has on someone's day to day life. Anxiety disorder is the feeling of being anxious and stressed in situation where one should not. I have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder for years and although I know I get over worried or over react really easy to situations, there is still a need to do so for really no apparent reason. I have learned to deal with my Anxiety Disorder through therapy and faith. the positive thing is that most psychological disorders can be monitored and tolerated through counseling and medication.

Psychological Terms: Anxiety, Depression, Suicide, Psychological Disorders, Stress, anxious

I believe that psychological disorders are so interesting to people because, it opens up the world of the unknown. Many psychological disorders are shown through mixed emotions and confusion. They are also a direct deviate from our cultural norms, interfere with how the person interacts with others, can cause self-destructive attitudes and stress and it can cause discomfort to others. Psychopathology is prominent in our society and is constantly being studied. Etiology is was is mainly studied in order to learn what exactly causes these mental disorders.
Some of the main causes of psychological disorders are presented in models. The first model is the diathesis-stress model. This model shows how nature and nurture work together to create the mental disorder. The second model is the biopsychosocial approach. This approach says that most psychological disorders are influenced by three factors; biological processes (brain function and genetics), psychological processes (how people think and feel), and sociocultural factors (things like one’s socioeconmical status).
When assessing the symptoms of a patient, it goes in a series of steps. It starts with interviews, self-reports, observations and psychological testing. From there it leads to assessment of the problem, to the diagnosis, to the treatment, and to the ongoing assessment. The ongoing assessment can lead back to treatment as well if changes in the disease occur.
When assessing the situation, it is very important that you realize that each of these disorders normally has a spectrum that someone could land on. This is beneficial when addressing how serious the situation is. For example, phobias, panic disorders, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders are very prominent in our society. Each of these has a spectrum to the kinds of reactions people get from interacting with these things as well.
The book dives into depression as well. They cover major depressive disorder (a depressed mood that shows a lack of interest in normal pleasurable activities that show up for at least two weeks or more) and persistent depressive disorder (mood disorder that is characterized by mildly or moderately depressed moods that persists for at least two years). I feel as if depression is associated with almost every human and all of the other psychological disorders. For example, bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorders have a high connection with depression as well.
One of the most memorable parts of this chapter to me was reading about schizophrenia, its positive and negative symptoms and the delusions and hallucinations. I really thought that the chart with the different delusions and associated beliefs were very interesting. I feel like I thought that this was one of the most memorable parts for me is because my cousin is schizophrenic. I felt like I could somewhat understand to a certain degree what is going on in his mind.

One thing that I thought was very interesting was the table that had some unusual phobias listed on it. I couldn’t imagine living my life being afraid of these everyday things! Some of them were pretty out there. For example, dextrophobia is the fear of objects that are at the right side of your body. To me, I’m thinking ‘How is this a fear?’ and then I think about how everyone is different and their perception sees these different things as threats.

Psychopathology, psychological disorders, diathesis-stress model, nature vs. nurture, biopsychosocial diathesis-stress model, biological processes, phobias, anxiety disorders, dextrophobia, panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, schizophrenia, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, bipolar I, bipolar II, persistent depressive disorder, depression, and major depressive disorder.

To me, I also find psychological disorders to be one of the most fascinating aspects of psychology. I feel it is so interesting because it explains what is happening in the brain. Everyone can relate to this, as long as they have a brain, so it automatically becomes more important because it is about the reader in a way too. Whether they have a psychological or social disorder, or not, they are bound to know someone who is affected, so information is easier to absorb.

Psychological disorders account for a wide variety of mental diseases and disorders. There are too many to count, yet there are sufferers everywhere. These can range from obsessions, and phobias, to PTSD and depression. Luckily, in the last 50 years or so, we have made great improvements in the psychological field, and illnesses are being recognized and treated at much better rates. The origins of psychological disorders varies. For many, childhood experiences, temperaments, or behaviors can be great indicators of one’s susceptibility to specific diseases. Behaviors such as staying in, or being antisocial could be indicators of later social anxiety disorders.

Depression is the most common psychological disorder. It can be divided into two subcategories: Major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder. Major depressive disorder affects 7% of Americans and is described as having one of two symptoms: very depressed, or loss of interest in pleasurable activities for two weeks or more. persistent depressive disorder is a mild or moderate severity, but the length of it goes on for 2 or more years. If you think you have persistent depressive disorder, get diagnosed because it can go on for upwards of 20 years, much too long to be feeling the blues.

My understandings of psychological disorders improved during this chapter. Although I had a foundation for this chapter, I was able to pile on to that. I learned a lot of interesting things about how the brain works with disorders, and what may cause them. I found the bipolar section to be the most interesting though. I never had a clear understanding of what it is all about, since movies and shows give inaccurate twisted interpretations. I was surprised by how normal it seemed. There are several famous people with the disorder who are able to live a successful life. I thought that was cool.

Psychological Terms: Psychology, Disorder, Brain, Social, Mental Disease, Obsession, Phobia, PTSD, depression, Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar, symptoms

Humans are quite interesting creatures. We all have stuff we like and what we dislike. We are all formed to who we are by the environment and how we are raised. This is known as the Diatheses-stress model. This model represents how we are affected and how we are shaped: by the biological, psychological, and sociocultural. Now how we are raised shapes how we react to other stimuli. Some reactions are called phobias, where we have a fear of specific object or situation. An example of this is could be that when we are little children we have a horrible encounter with spiders, then after that day, we could have arachnophobia. It is interesting to dig deeper into the mind of a person because then we can see how they view the world. Some people have anxiety or disorders. A common anxiety is social anxiety. This is when someone has the fear of interacting with other humans. A common disorder could be the obsessive-compulsive disorder where the person has thoughts and compulsive actions that have them align or straighten objects. Melody Hensley, an outspoken atheist and feminist, claims that she has a disorder called posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which is an illness that is usually suffered from war veterans from abuse from cyberbullying. This is outrageous use to the fact that military vets have much more traumatic experiences than she would have. It is interesting to see that people would say that they have an illness that they do not have only to gain attention.

Terms: Posttraumatic stress disorder, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobia, diathesis-stress model

Psychological Disorders: ch13
November 18, 2014
I believe that part of the reason that psychological disorders are so interesting to people is because of hoe common they really are. The statistics of it is astounding in that 1 in 4 Americans over the age of 18 have some sort of psychological disorder. Or that 1 in 2 Americans will have a type of psychological disorder at some time in their life. Some of the most t common disorders are ADHD, depression, anxiety, or substance abuse. Disorders like these show psychopathology. Psychopathology is the sickness or disorder of the mind.
It is very difficult to understand disorders, but when using the four perspectives, psychologists can better understand them. These steps include, concluding factors, finding and assessing symptoms, grouping symptoms, and identifying treatments.
Determining causes of disorders can be a little controversial. Many psychologists do not agree on certain causes for most disorders. Some would say that sources of these disorders could be explained with the diathesis model or by taking the biophysical approach. The diathesis model shows how nature and nurture work together in the inception of disorders. While the biopsychosocial approach shows how most psychological disorders are made by biological processes, psychological processes, and sociocultural factors.
The most interesting thing I have learned about was the phobias. I thought this was incredibly interesting because of the different types of phobias; such as specific phobias and social phobias. Specific phobias are when a person has a fear of something that is not equal to the threat they fear. An example of this would be geliophobia which is the fear of laughter. The social phobias, or social anxiety disorder, is the fear of being negatively viewed by other people.
A memorable part of this reading was the part about schizophrenia. This disorder is characterized by a divide in emotion and thought where the person cannot tell if thoughts, perceptions, and experiences are real or not. The five major DSM-5 symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms. In order to diagnose someone with schizophrenia, a person has to have at least two of these symptoms. Two different symptoms that researchers group into categories would be positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are when the person adds abnormal behaviors to how they are and the negative symptoms are shortages in apathy, emotion, and slowed speech and movement.
My understanding about psychological disorders has definitely increased since reading this chapter. I had no idea about the causes and what it actually takes to have a deeper understanding of the types of disorders and how they work.

Key Terms: psychological disorders, ADHD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, disorders, psychopathology, diathesis model, biopsychosocial, psychologist, sociocultural, specific phobia, social phobia,

I think mental disorders are so fascinating to people for a variety of reasons. Psychological disorders can effect one in two people which is a very large portion of the population. Everyone seems to know someone who has a mental disorder of varying degree or is suffering from one themselves, so it makes the topic relatable to a lot of people and can really hit home for a lot of people. Psychological disorders also have effect on policy changes in the law and government such as cases of extreme schizophrenia that causes people to hear voices and sometimes follow the orders of the voices in which cause them to commit violent acts. Should they be charged with the same crime as a sane person?

There are many factors that can attribute to a person attaining a mental disorder. Childhood trauma and genetic predisposition are two of the greatest causes. A person can take a Diathesis-Stress Model test to predict if they are more susceptible to getting a mental disorder. My understanding of mental disorders has remained similar to what it was before. I have always been widely interested in learning about mental disorders and why they cause people to do what they do.

The most interesting of all disorders for me is Dissociative Identity Disorder. In high school, I chose the disease based on its uniqueness from all other mental disorders. When I first heard of it, I never understood how that could ever happen to someone. Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, is the occurrence of 2 or more personalities in an individual. A person creates these identities as a means of combating usually childhood trauma. They try to use projection and place the bad incidents on a separate person or personality. Certain smells, sounds, etc. might cause the person to switch from one personality to another depending on a situation. This disease can effect a person for the rest of their life. It just amazes and saddens me that a person could have the rest of their life damaged at such a young age. It really helps me realize that going into Student Guidance Counseling is what I really am wanting to pursue for a career.

Psychological terms: Diathesis-Stress Model, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Schizophrenia

Why are psychological disorders so inherently interesting to people? What are the main causes or sources of psychological dysfunction? How has your understanding of psychological disorders changed since reading this chapter?

From your reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?

What was the most surprising or memorable thing you learned about in this reading?

I think that people are intrigued with psychological disorders for two main reasons. One is because they simply don't understand them and want to find out more. Another reason is because they have a personal experience, whether it be a friend, acquaintance, family member, or themselves, who suffer from a disorder. I used to be in the first group of people; interested just because it was the unknown and I wondered how psychological disorders came to be. Was it mostly nature or biology? Was some of it nurture, or environmental factors?

The answer actually is a balance of biological, psychological, sociocultural factors. An offset of any one of these can influence psychological disorders, but the three do interact with each other in disordered thoughts and behavior. But how does one find out if they have a disorder?

Most psychological problems develop over a period of time and don't show up over night. There are three ways to help assess symptoms. There might be an interview, where the psychologist or doctor simply asks questions. They can also use observations. The patient's body language can reveal a lot. Then there is psychological testing, which can use personality tests or have the client perform actions to gauge if they have impairments in the brain.

And when there is one disorder present, there can easily be another. The Comorbidity of Mental Disorders diagram shows that many disorders can overlap.

There are also many kinds of disorders. For example, there isn't just "anxiety", there's four types of anxiety disorders. There are phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

This chapter was overall very interesting to me. I was surprised by just how many disorders are recognized. This makes me even more upset that some people do not believe in things like depression and anxiety, and jus think that our generation is a bunch of cry babies. I always think, you wouldn't tell someone with cancer to just get over it, so why would you tell someone that who has a disorder? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Terms used:
Nature, biology, nurture, interview, observations, psychological testing, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia

I think that psychological disorders are very interesting to others because at some point in someone’s life they will come across someone who has or had a psychological disorder, whether it be serious or not. I think that psychological disorders are very interesting to learn about, especially the different types and how someone got it and how it affects them throughout their life. Another reason that psychological disorders are interesting because of the different stories and television shows that come out about someone who as a disorder. This creates an urge to learn more about the different disorders and how it can affect the world. For example when I was in high school, I watched a television show about a young women who had an identity disorder and had many identities, ranging from a child to an old crazy lady. After watching this show it made me want to learn more about personality disorders and how someone can get that type of disorder.
There are two main causes of psychological dysfunction and they are based on a model and an approach. The first cause is the diathesis-stress model, which is a model that says that a disorder may develop when a vulnerability is coupled with an event. This goes back to the nature vs nurture debate. This model illustrates that a childhood trauma, which is nurture, and a genetic predisposition, which is nature, can go hand in hand with someone getting a psychological disorder. It also can explain if it will be a serious disorder or not, it all depends on the two different factors. The last cause is the biopsychosocial approach. This approach says that psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. The biological aspect is based on the brain function, the psychological aspect is based on thoughts and personality, and the sociocultural aspect relates to relationships. All three of these together can affect someone and can cause them to have a disorder. I think that both of these causes can explain how someone gets a psychological dysfunction but it depends on the person and their environment.
My understanding of psychological disorders has changed a little after reading this chapter. It has changed a little because I learned all about the different types of psychological disorders in high school but in this reading I learned more about it in depth. I learned more about the causes and reasons why someone gets a disorder and how it can affect everyone around them.
The most interesting topics that I read was about phobias, anxiety disorders, and the obsessive-compulsive disorder. Phobias and anxiety disorder is very interesting to me because phobias go hand in hand with having an anxiety disorder. An example would be social phobia, which is a social anxiety disorder, and it says that it is a fear of being negatively evaluated by others in a social setting. This is an anxiety disorder because of the phobia you are more likely to get anxiety. Another interesting topic is OCD, this topic is very interesting to me because I do have some type of OCD even if I have not been diagnosed with it. I am very OCD on the little things, like everything being clean and organized and also with germs like Howie Mandel but not as serious.
One of the surprising things that I read was about the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which is a disorder that is characterized by excessive activity of fidgeting and inattentiveness. The surprising thing that I learned was that the causes of ADHD are unknown and that someone cannot be diagnosed with it until the age of 12.
Psychological Terms: Psychological Disorder, Identity Disorder, Diathesis-stress Model, Nature vs Nurture, Biopsychosocial Approach, Personality, Phobia, Anxiety Disorder, OCD, and ADHD.

Psychological disorders are the most prevalent disabilities In many countries and for this reason generate a lot of interest and concern. Most families will be affected in some way by a psychological disorder. The main causes for a disorder of this type is genetic predisposition, a childhood trauma, and vulnerability to a mental disorder. I have an aunt or is schizophrenic and a niece who is autistic so I have been aware of these types of disorders most of my life. Even though I understood the reasons for psychological disorders, I learned more about the statistics involving the differences between men and women developing a disorder. I also realized that I have a natural understanding and compassion for people with disorders of these natures because of my family members. The most interesting topic for me was the fact that depression is so prevalent that it is sometimes called the common cold of mental disorders. It is also the leading cause of disability in the United States and worldwide. However, in developing countries there is a stigma associated with it and people do not take advantage of the treatment options and can be at greater risk for suicide. Depression leads to a million suicides around the world a year and is one of the top three causes of death of persons between 15 and 35 years of age.

Terms: psychological disorders, genetic predisposition, childhood trauma, schizophrenic, autistic, depression, stigma

Most people know a few people with psychological disorders, but we don't consider them to have psychological disorders because they seem normal to us. A lot of people consider someone to have a psychological disorder if it is a debilitating condition that makes them act drastically different from the rest of us. We don't usually consider someone with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder to have a psychological disorder, but in fact ADHD is a disorder. That is how I thought before I read the chapter but now I know that psychological disorders reflect psychopathology, meaning they are a sickness or disorder of the mind. These disorders are very interesting to people because of how much they are dramatized in our real world. We want to understand what is going through the minds of the people who are clearly thinking on a much different level than us, and we want to know what they are experiencing. Not knowing what people are actually perceiving while going through these illnesses is what makes people intersted.
Both, biological and enviromental factors are involved in developing psychological dysfunction. It has been proven through twin studies that biophysical factors are important in the development of psychological disorders; for example, there is evidence that a deficiency in neurotransmitters that regulate emotion is related to the development of depression. Ususally, genetics alone don't cause the disorder; instead, the person is given a predisposition, meaning they are more likely to contract the disease. In order for the predisposition to be problematic something has to happen enviromentally to spark a change; for example, if a person with a high genetic risk of schizophrenia is raised in a dysfunctional family they have a high risk of developoing schizophrenia. On the other hand, if a person with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia but they are raised in a healthy family enviroment they have a low risk of developing schizophrenia. Biological and enviromental factors have strong influences in the development of psychological disorders.
Previously I always thought of people with mental disorders as the people you see at the insane asylums in horror movies that are always tweaking out. Now I know that psychological disorders are much more common than those rare cases. A number of my friends have ADHD, so they have a psychological disorder and I think of them as perfectly normal. Before reading this chapter I had no clue what caused mental problems with people, but now I know that there is a combination of biological and enviromental factors that work together to cause the diseases to the mind. Finally, I learned how much of a struggle people facing these situations have in living their day to day life. For example, I feel bad about this, but I used to think that people with depression were just not trying hard enough to get over something and were sad about nothing. Now know that depression is a serious disease that the afflicted person can't fight on their own, they need someone to be there for them to support them, and because of the biological component to depression medicine can also be prescribed in the fight against it.
To me the most interesting topic was the sections about autism and schizophrenia. I found these interesting because how they talked about some of the benefits that these afflictions give people. I went to high school with a younger kid who had a case of schizophrenia, and although he was a special needs student he was also one of the most creative kids I've ever met, and he had an incredibly detailed, active imagination. I also went to school with a kid who had aspergers, and although he struggeld socially and he was lazy he was also one of the smartest kids I knew. Even though some people are afflicted with mental diseases they also have incredibly strong personalities.
The most memorable thing I learned from this chapter is how difficult it is for a person to cope with mental diseases. As I said earlier about depression, I used to think it was something a person could deal with on their own, but now I know the extreme difficulties they face and I won't ever forget about that when I am about to start judging someone ever again.
Psychological terms: Psychological disorders, ADHD, psychopathology, biological factors, enviromental factors, psychological dysfunction, neurotransmitters, emotion, depression, genetics, predispostion, schizophrenia, autism, aspergers.

According to our textbook, psychological disorders are sickness or disorder of the mind. When most people think of psychological disorders, they connect it with the word “crazy.” However, this is not the case. In fact, one in four Americans have a psychological disorder at some point in their life. Psychological disorders can range from anxiety, to multiple personality disorder. With that being said, some are far more dangerous than others, and can cause a substantial amount of damage to the individual with the disorder. Psychological disorders are interesting to most people because as humans, we like to identify what makes people tick. We are constantly asking ourselves, “why?” It is easier for us to answer this question by simply labeling someone as “crazy” or “ill.” Not only does it help us determine why people behave in certain ways, it interests us because we consider people with psychological disorders as different than us. Etiology is the factors that contribute to the development of the disordered thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. One of the main causes that are agreed to be associated with psychological disorders is having a predisposition to a mental disorder. This could happen either biologically or environmentally, which means that a person with a disorder usually was either related to someone who had the same disorder, or they could have developed the disorder through childhood trauma. Sometimes, predisposition alone is not enough, but with the addition of stressful circumstances, the disorder can worsen and start to show symptoms. That theory is known as the diathesis-stress model. Another cause of psychological disorders can be explained through the biopsychosocial approach. The biopsychosocial approach explains that most psychological disorders are influenced by biological, psychological and sociocultural factors. Hence, biopsychosocial. The biological part of this says that factors like brain function, neurotransmitter imbalances, and genetics can all contribute to psycholigcal disorders. The psychological part of this says that thoughts, emotions, personality, and learned experience all contribute to developing psycholigcal disorders. The last aspect of this approach is the sociocultural factor, which says that family relationships, socioeconomic status, and cultural context in which a person was born and rained are all reasons that a person could develop a psychological disorder. My understanding of psychological disorders has changed since reading this chapter because I was one of those people who thought of disorders as crazy. I didn’t realize that they are so common, and that most people in their lifetime will develop some type of disorder. The most surprising or memorable thing that I learned in this chapter was the section about posttraumatic stress disorder. This section was memorable to me because my grandpa, who was a war veteran, had this disorder. I knew that this stemmed from stress, but I wasn’t aware of how much damage it can cause the individual. My mom would tell me stories about how when she was younger, she was afraid to go into her mom and dad’s room because if her dad awoke suddenly, he would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. She told me a story about how she woke him up one night after having a bad dream, and he accidentally hit her because he was experiencing an episode. Along with this, one of the most interesting things that I read in this chapter was the section about obsessive-compulsive disorder. For some reason, this caught my eye. OCD is the frequent intrusive thoughts and compulsive actions. It is more common in women than men, and it usually begins in early childhood. I always used to joke around with my sister about having OCD because every time she said jinx, she would have to say it three times. There are two aspects of disordered thoughts and behaviors: obsessions, and compulsions. Obsessions are recurrent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts or urges of mental images, and compulsions are particular acts that the person feels driven to perform over and over. I think that it would be awful to have this type of disorder, because you would feel like you are obligated to do something and not quite understand why. This chapter was the most interesting chapters that we have read all semester, in my opinion. Psychology has always interested me, and I enjoy learning about how and why people behave the way that they do.
Terms: psychological disorders, sickness, anxiety, multiple personality disorder, etiology, predisposition, biologically, environmentally, diathesis stress model, biopsychosocial approach, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder

In chapter 13 they talk about psychological disorders. It’s interesting to me in a lot of different ways. One of the main reasons is that we can try and figure out how these disorders came about, and what were the main causes for this. Learning about the etiology which are the factors that contribute to the development of a disorder would be fascinating. Learning maybe how your environment, culture, or just your genes can cause a psychological disorder. People have been trying for so long to really pinpoint and discover these disorders, but it’s so hard to do that.

Not all psychologists completely agree on the causes of these disorders. Nature and nurture do work together in the onset of mental disorders. Diathesis stress model and biopsychsocial approach are the two approaches that explain the development of psychological disorders. The stress model proposes that disorders may develop when underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event. The biopsychosocial approach says that it’s influenced by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Now both of these examples have good points, and in my own opinion, I feel as if both of these are correct in some ways.

My understanding of psychological disorders has really changed after reading this chapter. Not only have I learned a lot over the first 12 chapters, but chapter 13 was probably the most I’ve learned yet. I had no idea about the 2 approaches they had of why and how psychological disorders happen. And it 13.2 I learned about the four types of anxiety disorders and their description. Learning about phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia was all very neat and exciting. I had no idea what any of them were before I started reading more about them.

The most memorable thing I read was about schizophrenia and the impact it can have on the person or family. Less than 1 percent of the population deals with schizophrenia and the rates are similar in males and females. It’s a mental disorder, which causes abnormalities that result in social, personal, and vocational impairments. On top of that, there are 5 major symptoms of schizophrenia. They are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms. For a person to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, they need to have at least two to three of these symptoms. This is to be considered one of the most devastating disorders to deal with.

The topic I was most interested in was what disorders affected children in 13.5. Reading about autism and ADHD was interesting. I have babysat a child with autism before, so I have always wondered what happened. Autism is deficits in social interaction, by impaired communication, and by repetitive behavior and habits or interests. 3-6 children out of 1000 have or show signs of autism. There has been a pretty substantial increase in autism over the years. But this is due to doctors being more aware of what to look for in the babies. Autism is a result of biological factors. It’s heritable, but environmental and other factors play an important part too.

Terms: Etiology, Psychological disorders, Diathesis stress model, biopsychsocial, Phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, schizophrenia, autism,

I believe that people find psychological disorders to be interesting because they don’t fit into this idea of perfect that us as humans have lodged in our brains. We as a society believe we should all behave the same way. We expect everyone to comply to these social norms and if they don’t then they’e different, and different is interesting to many. People with psychopathology issues are extremely different in the way they think and act, and as humans, we want to figure out why they think and act differently because we want to fix it to fit our idea of perfection.
There are many causes/sources of psychological disorders. One example would be a traumatic event. A friend of my family suffers from post traumatic stress disorder after being drafted in the Iraq war. He becomes very nervous and agile at public events. We still love him the same, but know that he doesn’t do well in public because it reminds of when he was ambushed by rebels in Iraq. He doesn’t enjoy going to anything that involves loudness. Concerts, sporting events… he refuses to go because he hates the noise because it brings back memories of guns and explosions. So traumatic events are one reason for these disorders. Another reason is genetics. For example, children with ADHD are born with the disorder. Their personality turns into a disruptive, and sometimes wild, way. They have trouble learning in school because they cannot pay attention easily. They did not develop this disorder because of outside sources. They inherited this disorder when they were born. So genetics plays a role in obtaining disorders.
Since reading this chapter, my knowledge on psychological disorders has widened tremendously. Before the reading, I had a pretty clear idea on disorders, especially because I personally suffer from major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. I have suffered from these disorders since I was in sixth grade because of many etiologies. Because of this, my emotions are easily messed up. Before I went to see a psychiatrist, I had no motivation to do anything. I was in a severe state of depression and it took the fun and enjoyment life offered me and rolled it up into a little ball of sadness. On top of the depression, before medication, my anxiety made me so anxious that I never wanted to go outside. I hated the thought of being in public and not knowing what people thought of me. So needless to say, I’ve had some experience with psychological disorders. But after reading this chapter, I was able to see in more detail other disorders that I’ve slightly heard of. I got a better insight on autism for starters. I personally know two people with this disorder and so reading about it helped me understand their condition better. I also learned more about phobias. Every person I know has some form of it. I personally have a phobia of clowns. I hate clowns so much and I am so creeped out by them! So seeing that there are many types of phobias was interesting. I was also able to learn more about bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and panic disorder.
From your reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?
The topic that was most interesting to me was the question of if mental illnesses and violent crimes are related. I have personally always wondered this. Many times on the news when a criminal commits an extremely violent crime, by the time their court case comes around their lawyer claims they’re insane. I always wonder if they really are insane, or if they’re using that excuse for less jail time. There’s a good possibility though that they do have a disorder. For example, borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder deal with people have multiple personalities that they have no control over. It was interesting to see the example of signatures written by someone who has dissociative identity disorder. This person felt as if they were six different people and so they signed with six different names in different styles. This person obviously has no control over their six different personalities, which means if they were to commit a crime, they could possibly not have control over it, which would mean they’re not guilty. I found that to be interesting.
The most memorable thing I read about was seasonal affective disorder. I know for sure that I experience it on a yearly basis. I mean, look at the weather right now. It’s so depressing! You can’t walk outside for a minute without feeling as if a limb has completely froze. This time of year is the worst because it gets you feeling gloomy. Girls especially become depressed because they want a boy to snuggle with. I know it sounds silly, but it’s true! So this “disorder” was so fascinating because it rings so true! By the time winter comes around, everyone is so sad and does nothing but bicker about the cold.
Terms: psychopathology, etiology, phobia, emotion, memory, generalized anxiety disorder, motivation, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, seasonal affective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, learning, dissociative identity disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, autism, ADHD, personality, social norms.

Ricardo Garza
While listening to this radio show episode I learned about a couple distinctions between mental illness and mental health. I learned that when we think of mental health the main thing that comes to mind is depression and other behaviors that our mind creates. Mental illness is the change in chemical balance that causes our mental health to change. With this information we get the idea that mental illness and mental health are tied together. When we take a look at mental illnesses we see the variety. We see some with issues concerning schizophrenia or bi-polar disorders. We see the big picture of mental illnesses and we usually put this label on those individuals. While I know that mental illnesses are everywhere, I am personally effected by a mental illness in my family. My aunt is a victim of bipolar-disorder and seeing this disorder with my own eyes I understand that mental health and illness are a big deal and are often big problems as well. While my aunt was being very friendly with her daughter at one point, as soon as the daughter said one wrong word that would trigger my aunt’s brain to fall into a different state of mind, her mood completely changed. She was yelling and being very aggressive towards her own daughter. Our family saw this and took immediate action and now my aunt is under medication and is doing fine and coping with her disorder.
When we separate mental illness and mental health, I do not believe that there are strict categories in which they fall into. I say this because of the way that diagnosis put a disorder into both categories such as schizophrenia and the seriousness of both mental illness and mental health is important to look at. To go with mental illnesses, there are categories within this factor, but all are extremely close. I think that people do fluctuate in their mental health status, and we see this through medication and through things such as behavior modification or aversion therapy. Where an individual is being healed or fixed or even being freed of their disorder due to the form of therapy.
Terms: Therapy, mental illness, mental health, schizophrenia, aversion therapy, behavior modification, bi-polar disorder, depression