Tamara Thomas
February 17, 2014
PSY 240
Lowell brubaker
Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs
Psychiatric disorders and diseases impacting mental health are similar to physical ailments with certain facts that they can be mild or sever in nature. Psychiatric disorders are treated by psychiatrists or clinical psychologists the same as a medical doctor would treat a physical condition. As defined by ask, psychiatric disorders is any pattern of psychological or behavioral symptoms that causes an individual significant distress, impairs their ability to function in life, or significantly increase their risk of pain, disability or loss of freedom. In order for the disease to be categorized as a psychiatric disorder the symptoms must be more than an expected response to a particular even, for example; grief after losing a loved one.
Schizophrenia also means “the splitting of physic functions.” Schizophrenia is considered a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder that has affected people throughout history. Anybody diagnosed with this disorder may hear voices that nobody else will hear. They also believe that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts or plotting to harm them. This will then terrify people with the illness and make them extremely agitated or withdrawn from society. People with this disorder makes no sense at times when they talk, they also sit for hours without moving or talking. If you have ever noticed someone with schizophrenia they may seem very fine until they start to talk about what they are thinking about.
When it comes to theories a number of theories have been put out there about schizophrenia. Some of these theories state that there is a genetic component to the disease that may be triggered by stress or trauma. There are other theories that states that individuals who suffer from schizophrenia have very increased levels of the brain chemical dopamine. This theory was developed during the Parkinson’s disease research; this was when the drug chlorpromazine was shown to be a receptor blocker. The dopamine theory was advanced when the D2 receptors were found to be reactive to phenothiazines and butyrophenones. It was revealed that hyperactivity at the D2 receptor site and not all dopamine receptor sites was evident in schizophrenia.
When it comes to brain imaging, brain imaging studies show that the disease is correlated with brain damage, which upholds the concept that early neurodevelopment impairment, may contribute to the disease.
When it comes to other disorder that include affective disorders, the involve mania, depression and the combination of the two. This disorder is termed bipolar affective disorder; these disorders are psychiatric disorders of a group that evidence a dramatic effect on an individual’s mood. A variety of of theories try to account for affective disorders, two of these are the monoamine theory and the diathesis-stress theory.
When it comes to depression the monoamine theory tries to explain depression. It states that depression is correlated with the serotonergic and noradrenergic synapsis which is not working at a less than optimal level. When it comes to treatment that has been beneficial in helping people with depression the re-uptake of monoamine treatment has been shown to help. The success rate of this remains as low as about twenty five percent.
When it comes to the diathesis-stress model, depression is also seen as having a strong genetic component. These are grouped with early life stressors that can cause permanent sensitization in the brain. This theory holds that early stressors can lead to overreaction habits in the presence of mild stressors and that these habits last for a lifetime. When it comes to anxiety disorders there are five main classes of anxiety disorder which include generalized anxiety disorder, phobic anxiety disorder panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.