Psychological Disorders and Illness, Essay Example

Mental disorder and mental illness are behavioral or psychological patterns that occur in individual. They cause distress or disability that is not normal in the psychological functioning of the person. There has been a change in the understanding of the various mental disorders and illness overtime. This essay will discuss Schizophrenia, alcoholism, depression and Bipolar disorder. These are some of mental illnesses and disorders that many people suffer. The essays will then look at the similarities and differences among the therapies for each school of thought in psychology for treating mental disorders.

Schizophrenia is a psychological illness which is characterized by auditory hallucinations and severe disturbance in moods, behaviours and thoughts. Different researches conducted have not been able to study what exactly causes the illness. There are those who show one characteristic and move on well in normal life, while other expose combined characteristics and are not able to function independently. They struggle with auditory and visual hallucinations. The major symptoms of the illness are odd or slightly bizarre and change in thinking, talking. The affected individual has social isolation or withdrawal. There is a feeling of anxiety and confusion and distorted perception of reality. Its therapy involves reducing the symptoms and reduction of chances of relapse. It also involves psychological treatments, lobotomies and antipsychotic medications (Segrin, 2001)

Alcoholism is another psychological illness that affects individuals. This is a mental illness that arises when an individual cannot function normally without taking alcohol. It is caused as a result of addiction or due to psychological stress. Most alcoholics suffer from psychological problems and find alcohol as the only option to run away from their problems. One of the major symptoms of alcoholism is a malfunction of the body if one does not take alcohol. One becomes totally alcohol dependant. Therapies for this illness include use of drugs e.g. antabuse which is the most commonly used for alcohol treatment. Other ways of preventing alcoholism include counseling or group therapies.

Depression is another disorder which affects people psychologically. It is a state of low mood and aversion to activity. An individual suffering from this problem experiences state of sadness, helplessness and hopelessness. Depression is caused by lack of social support, stressful life, marital or relationship problem, early childhood trauma or abuse and other psychological problems. The psychological functioning of an individual is affected. This is a treatable mood disorder. It can be treated by use of antidepressants, talk therapy, counseling etc. Therapy for depression depends on the cause (Segrin, 2001)

Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that cause unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity level and also the performance of the day to day activities. The symptoms that arise out of the problem can cause damaged relationships poor school or job performance and can also cause suicide. The disorder can start during childhood on at later stages of life. This is a psychological problem that can be treated. The physician can conduct examination, therapies and also use of tablets. Family history is very necessary during therapies so that the correct diagnosis is carried out.

Psychology is not a unified science. It has many schools of thought which have explained various ways of addressing psychological problems. Thus, the schools of thought have different therapeutic approach in handling these problems. Here the essay will look at the differences and similarities that exist between these schools of thoughts.

Psychodynamic therapy holds that most of the psychological problems are caused out tension between the conscious and unconscious forces. Most of these problems are created during childhood. This school of thought uses depth psychology as its primary focus to understand the unconscious content of an individual’s psyche in order to prevent the psychic tension. This therapy is tends to be briefer and it is also less intensive as compared to other therapies. It uses different interventions in its techniques. (Antony & Barlow, 2004)

Cognitive –Behavioral therapy focuses on a current person’s life. It only focuses of the current and the conscious patterns and behaviors. It is a long process unlike the psychodynamic therapy as it focuses on how to bring change in behavior of an individual. It involves assignments which the client is supposed to perform before the next therapy.

Cognitive therapy holds that problematic or the distorted cognitions are the cause of psychological problems. Unlike the psychodynamic therapy and the cognitive behavioral therapy the underlying thoughts which cause the disorders are treated as automatic. It focuses on altering these automatic thoughts. According to this school of thought therapy is a process of altering the problematic thinking patterns to bring about resolution of the psychological problem (Antony & Barlow, 2004)

In humanistic therapy focuses on the qualities that make individuals unique. In this school of thought therapeutic therapy is a process of becoming aware of one’s values, meanings and motivations in order to bring conscious change. It concentrates on the relationship between the client and a therapist in order to have a sense of acceptance (Antony & Barlow, 2004)

Despite the differences that exist among the schools of thought in their focus, they are similar in that they all have the same objective. They have the objective of making the client change his or her patterns of thought to solve the disorder. They also use the therapeutic match where the client and the therapist come to an agreement on the origin of the problem. All of them also rely on the motivation because effectiveness of the therapy will depend on the motivation and dedication of the client in the therapy session.

References

Antony, M. & Barlow, D. (2004). Handbook of Assessment and Treatment Planning for Psychological Disorders, North Devon: Guildford press.

Segrin, C. (2001). Interpersonal processes in psychological problems.  North Devon: Guildford press.