Mental disorders.

OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

This mental disorder is shown when a person acts or worries about something obsessively and does things to remedy them excessively. 

In OCD, the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and just can't let go. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder causes the person with it to urealistically focus on something to the point of upset. It could be a need to keep every item in the house in a perfect spot, perfectly clean and not allowing anyone to touch the item. 

OCD is generally treated with physchotherapy, medication or both. 

Psychotherapy. A type of psychotherapy called cognitive behavior therapy is especially useful for treating OCD. It teaches a person different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to situations that help him or her feel less anxious or fearful without having obsessive thoughts or acting compulsively.

Medication. Doctors also may prescribe medication to help treat OCD. The most commonly prescribed medications for OCD are anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants. 

DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), is an illness that is characterized by the presence of at least two clear personality states, called alters, which may have different reactions, emotions, and body functioning.

Signs and symptoms of DID include memory lapses, blackouts, being often accused of lying, finding apparently strange items among one's possessions, having apparent strangers recognize them as someone else, feeling unreal, and feeling like more than one person.

Treatment for DID consists primarily of psychotherapy with hypnosis. The therapist seeks to make contact with as many alters as possible and to understand their roles and functions in the patient's life. In particular, the therapist seeks to form an effective relationship with any personalities and achieve breakdown of the patient's separate identities and their unification into a single identity.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder causes serious shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior–from the highs of mania on one extreme, to the lows of depression on the other. More than just a fleeting good or bad mood, the cycles of bipolar disorder last for days, weeks, or months. And unlike ordinary mood swings, the mood changes of bipolar disorder are so intense that they interfere with the ability to function.

The causes of bipolar disorder aren’t completely understood, but it often runs in families. The symptoms can be subtle and confusing, so many people with bipolar disorder are overlooked or misdiagnosed–resulting in unnecessary suffering. But with proper treatment and support, you can lead a rich and fulfilling life.

Bipolar disorder has no single cause. It appears that certain people are genetically predisposed to bipolar disorder. Yet not everyone with an inherited vulnerability develops the illness, indicating that genes are not the only cause. 

Bipolar disorder is a treatable illness. Everyone with this illness should be under the care of a physician, preferably a psychiatrist. Because manic-depression starts in the brain, regulating brain hormones and neurotransmitters with medications is the first line of therapy. Some form of counseling is also recommended. Alternative therapies exist as well, some controversial, some experimental, some fairly well established.

Daniela E.

Mental Disorders ._.

-Nowadays many people all over have mental disease, writing honestly and true, I’m not very good at that kind of physiological topics, maybe I barely know this topic but I think I can handle it so here we go, there are many mental disorders but I would like to focus in just four for making a long story short, I will begin writing about Obsessive-compulsive disorder, many of us we already have heard about this one that is one of the most common mental disorders the human being can have; this mental disorder is characterized of being an anxiety disorder in the most of the cases, that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors. You may indentify many of the symptoms just by sight, excessive cleaning or washing, fear to the germs, repeated checking, anxiety for many violent or sexual thoughts, aversion to certain numbers etc. These symptoms are time-consuming and are categorized to be paranoid and potentially psychotic. Despite the irrational behavior, this Obsessive compulsive disorder is also catalogued as a symptom or associated with above-average intelligence, commonly traits such as high attention to detail, avoidance of risk, careful planning, exaggerated sense of responsibility and a tendency to take time in making decisions.    

The next mental disorder, is known as multiply personality disorder, (actually it’s called Dissociative identity disorder nowadays), this mental disorder is characterized by at least two different personalities (identities) alternately control the person’s behavior and usually accompanied by lost of memory of the original identity (that is in charge of the body initially) while the others are in charge of it. Diagnosing this can be kind of difficult because it might be confused with other mental disorders; it’s not just something you can actually recognize in the person. This mental disorder is catalogue as trauma-based and stress-related disorders.

Continuing with the topic, the mental disorder known as bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, is characterized as a mood disorder, because there are many stages in this special mental disorder, commonly is divided into two common episodes, the energy-full-boost one and the depressive one, mostly of the time, the dominant one is the depressive one, in time line it’s more probable to being depressed two months and later then just one month of positive attitude, these events are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood; but, in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, which is known as rapid cycling. Severe manic episodes can sometimes lead to such psychotic symptoms as delusions and hallucinations.

And for concluding these text, the last mental disorder Schizophrenia, this one is characterized by a breakdown of thought and poor emotional responsiveness, the most common symptoms of this mental disorder are easily identified like auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking including by social and occupational dysfunction.

Sandra Matuk 

Mental Disorders

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder is a mental disorder characterized by two or more distinct personalities states that control a person’s behavior, and is one of the most controversial disorders.

We saw a video about a woman called Tracy, she suffers DID and she has 5 personalities:

·         Susie, a 10 years old girl

·         Miss Anne, the caretaker

·         Emily, a 5 years old girl, that always need his mom

·         Samantha, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

·         Becky, the aggressive

Tracy said that Becky is the dominant and more frequently personality, and this alter hurts Tracy’s body, because she (Becky) said that Tracy deserves the punishment, because she´s ignoring the other alters. In Dr. Phil’s Show, he interviewed Tracy and she explained everything. The Dr. Phil asked Tracy if he could take with Becky, she closed her eyes, and suddenly, Dr. Phil was talking with Becky (This seems fake for me). The Doctor talked with Becky about why she hurts Tracy, etc. But then, suddenly Becky (or Tracy) started to cry and Dr. Phil asked her name and she answered “Susie”, that means that he was talking with the 10 years old girl. Then Dr. Phil was talking again with Tracy. I think that Tracy‘s sudden change of personalities are false, but I know that DID exist and there are a lot of cases like this.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by thoughts that produce uneasiness, fear or worry. One of the most common symptoms of OCD is fear of contamination, which is why they wash their hands constantly. Also, they open and close the doors before entering or leaving a room and repeat things over and over again. This disorder is characterized by Obsessions, that are recurring ideas or impulses that are experienced as thoughts that invade consciousness are experienced as exaggerated or meaningless; and Compulsions, that are repetitive behaviors whose main function is to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession.

We saw a video about a woman called Stephanie, she has OCD. She washed his hands over and over again with hot water. When she was drying her hands with a paper tower, she must be careful of not to touch the trash can, because if she does, she had to wash her hands again with hot water. She didn´t carry her baby in her arms, she dragged him around the house with a blanket, for not having dirty hands.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder is a severe mental disorder. People who suffer, shows dramatic changes in their mood. They can be very aggressive, euphoric or irritable and then, they can be sad, hopeless, and then they started the cycle again. Some symptoms are: talking much more than what is necessary, getting distracted very easily, increased activity (in work or studies) and feelings of hopeless and pessimism.

The video we saw about Bipolar Disorder was about a guy called Percy, he is a great mathematician, but suddenly suffers some drastic changes of mind.

By: Ana Karenϟ

Mental illnesses

OCD

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms of the disorder include excessive washing or cleaning; repeated checking; extreme hoarding; preoccupation with sexual, violent or religious thoughts; relationship-related obsessions; aversion to particular numbers; and nervous rituals, such as opening and closing a door a certain number of times before entering or leaving a room.

In the video that we saw there was a woman that was afraid of germs and she was also paranoiac those were symptoms of the OCD.

DID

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder is a mental disorder characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that alternately control a person's behavior, and is accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness. These symptoms are not accounted for by substance abuse, seizures, other medical conditions or imaginative play in children. Diagnosis is often difficult as there is considerable comorbidity with other mental disorders. Malingering should be considered if there is possible financial or forensic gain, as well as factitious disorder if help-seeking behavior is prominent.

In another video that we saw there was a woman called Tracey she said she had 5 personalities and they were:

ü  Becky: The carrier of anger

ü  Emily: a 5 year old girl

ü  Susie: a 10 year old girl

ü  Samantha: The “CEO”

ü  Miss Anne: The caretaker

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic-depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or more depressive episodes.

The third video we saw it was about a guy called Percy he was a mathematician and he was bipolar because first he was in some sort of happiness and suddenly he was depressed, that was a bipolar disorder.

by: Emiliano Ruiz

 

 

   

An obsesive, multiple essay (OME) xD

There was a case in the TV show Dr. Phil, about a problem called: Multiple Personality Disorder.

There was a woman called Tracy, that had that problem, she is married and has 2 kids; she had 5 alternate personalities:
1. Becky; She was the most agressive
2. Miss Anne; She was the care taker
3. Sam; She defined herself as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
4. Susie; A 10 years old girl
5. Emily; A 5 years old girl, she was a crybaby
In the program, they showed images and videos about her problem, but mostly about Becky, the most recurrent personality.
Becky tried to hurt herself because she thought she was getting a punishment, once she tried to commit suicide, but her husband stopped her.
Then Dr. Phil asked Tracy if she could bring Becky to the program, Tracy acepted and started to concentrate then, suddenly, Becky showed up, but unfortunately, I didn't see more, so that's the end of the first part. :)

The second video talks about a woman who had an obssesive compulsive disorder, which is a disease of making all perfect, like lining up everything, cleaning all, etc.
The woman washed her hands every time he touched something that she considered dirty, so i think she washed her hands like 15 times.
Then she showed us a process of washing her hands, that she washed in the middle, between the fingers, trough the nails, etc. After that, she dried her hands and cautionausly deposited it in the garbage can... But she touched the can a little, and had to wash again xD
And then we watched a video about OCD, its syptoms, how to recognize it, etc.
But I considered it a little bit boring xD
Then we watched a movie called "A Beautiful Mind" but I didn't understand it well because Mr. Sousa was advancing an delaying it so, you know, xD I understood that there was a mathematician called John, that was schizophrenic, I think; he had imaginary friends because of the mental illness.
Then he and his wife had a baby, later the mom went to the former office of his husband, and saw very interesting things. After that, she heard the baby crying and started to run.
When she arrived to her house, she saw the baby drowning in the tub.
But fortunately she saved him, and started shouting at John about the baby; he said that someone was taking care of him, but he was refering to his imaginary friend, he didn't know he was imaginary.
But that's all we saw Dx
Made by: Jorge C.

A beautiful mind/paranoid schizophrenia

Originally a biographical book written by Sylvia Nasar, about the life of John Forbes Nash brilliant mathematician, born on June 13, 1928.
The film focuses on Jonh Nash and his success as a teacher at the prestigious Princeton University and its subsequent decline to be diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
According to the film precisely because of schizophrenia, hallucinating with a little girl and a grown man. If we observe carefully detemos from a purely psychological point of view and we subject to analysis. We can come to the conclusion that the visions were meaningful.
She: It represents the desire of John Nash for being able to take care of another living creature.
The adult man: Represent John Nash desire to be accepted in a society that feels alien to him.
For the visions were completely certain, and he had the ability to interact with them as if they were real people and not mere products of his mind and imagination.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis in a group of people with chronic and severe mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. Schizophrenia also causes a mutation sustained various aspects of mental functioning of the individual, mainly awareness of reality, and neuropsychological disorganization rather complex, especially executive functions, leading to difficulty maintaining behaviors motivated and directed to goals, and significant social dysfunction.

Symptoms of schizophrenia usually start in young adults and approximately 0.4-0.6% of the population is affected. A person with schizophrenia, usually shows a language and disorganized thinking, delusions, hallucinations, mood disorders and misconduct. The diagnosis is based on the experiences reported by the patient and the behavior observed by the examiner. There are currently no laboratory tests for the diagnosis of schizophrenia and none of the symptoms is pathognomonic of this condition, which makes the diagnosis

The first-line drug treatment is antipsychotic medication, which primarily work by suppressing dopamine activity. The doses of antipsychotics used are generally lower than in the early decades of use. Psychotherapy and vocational and social rehabilitation are also important. In more serious cases, where there is risk for the same patient and to others around them, may be indicated involuntary hospitalization, although hospital stays are less frequent and for shorter periods than in the past. Generally, cognition disorders contribute to persistent problems of behavior. Schizophrenic patients often have other health problems, including drug addiction, depression and anxiety disorder, and social problems such as unemployment, poverty and low quality of life. Life expectancy of patients with schizophrenia is 10 to 12 years less than those without the disease, because of health problems and a higher suicide rate.

• Common symptoms: These are the most characteristic symptoms of this disease:

2. Delusions.
3. Auditory hallucinations.
4. Disorganized speech, eg frequent derailment or incoherence.
5. Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior.
6. Negative symptoms such as affective flattening, a lack or decline in emotional response, alogia (lack or decline in speech), or avolition: lack or decline in motivation

• Life expectancy:

Life expectancy of people with the disorder is 10 to 12 years less than those who do not, probably due to increased physical health problems and a higher suicide rate.

Early Heart disease is the most common cause of death in patients with schizophrenia, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease is two to three times higher than in the general population. This risk is accelerated because their rate of smoking is 30-35% higher than the general population. People with schizophrenia also smoke more than patients with other mental disorders. Although several studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia smoke than the general population have not yet produced a definitive explanation of this difference. Suicide risk is strongly associated with postpsicótica depression, previous suicide attempts, substance abuse, agitation or motor restlessness, fear of mental disintegration, poor adherence to treatment. Overdose with treatment drugs as suicide method is not common because antipsychotics have a high therapeutic index, namely the lethal doses are much higher than the doses that produce a therapeutic effect.

By: Salma

Disorders.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Is a disorder of the brain and behavior. The people who have OCD generally have repeated thoughts or images about fear of germs or dirt, acts of violence, hurting loved ones or being overly tidy.

They do the same rituals over and over such as washing hands, locking and unlocking doors, counting, keeping unneeded items, or repeating the same steps again and again. They can’t control the unwanted thoughts and behaviors. They sometimes can even hurt themselves.

They get brief relief from the anxiety the thoughts cause when they perform the ritual or behaviors. People with OCD spend at least one hour a day on the thoughts and rituals, which cause distress and get in the way of daily life.

We saw a video of a woman who had OCD, she washed her hands over and over again, a part of the arm and the nails, she sometimes got burn because she used hot water. When she dries her hands with the paper towel she was careful about not touching the trash can because if she did she washed her hands again, with the burning water. She didn’t touch her baby, she used a bedcover to take the baby all over the house and she needed everything to be symmetric.

At the end she went to therapy where she learned to control her OCD and with time lose that disorder.

Bipolar Disorder.

I think this disorder causes serious shifts in mood and behavior. When the person have a lot of up and downs on their energy. This cycles last days, weeks and on extremely cases months. When Bipolar Disorder affects behavior is when the person whit this disorder goes from the highs of mania on one extreme, to the lows of depression on the other.

There are four types of Bipolarity: mania, hypomania, depression, and mixed episodes.

Some symptoms from mania are: Sleeping very little, but feeling extremely energetic, talking so quickly those others cannot keep up or unable to concentrate.

From depression are: Feeling hopeless, sad, or empty, Fatigue or loss of energy and thoughts of death or suicide.

From Hypomania: Hypomania is a less severe form of mania. People in a hypomanic state feel euphoric, energetic, and productive, but they are able to carry on with their day-to-day lives and they never lose touch with reality.

From Mixed episodes: A mixed episode of bipolar disorder features symptoms of both mania or hypomania and depression. Common signs of a mixed episode include depression combined with agitation, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, distractibility, and racing thoughts. This combination of high energy and low mood makes for a particularly high risk of suicide.

If you spot a symptom of one of these types of bipolarity on you or another person do not wait go to treatment!

Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)

Is a problem which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, or sense of identity.

We saw a video which is about a women who claims she suffers from DID, her name is Tracy; I did not believe her but I think this disorder does exist. She said she had five different personalities in her body:

Emily, the 5 years old girl.
Susie, the 10 years old girl.
Samantha, the CEO.
Miss Anne, the caretaker.
Becky, who, Tracy said, it was the most aggressive of them all and the one that pops out the most frequently.

She said she is afraid about Becky because when she comes out she hurt herself.
Tracy appeared on Dr. Phil show and he asked her if he could talk to Becky (that is why I did not believe her), she closed her eyes and suddenly Becky appeared, Dr. Phil got the chance to talk to her. She was angry during the entire interview but answer the entire question like: why she hurt herself, she answered that she had to be punished that Tracy had to be punished that she (Tracy) didn’t appreciate her 5 personalities and that’s why she did that kind of things. Another question was if she was planning to kill herself she answered “Yes, but I can’t kill me without killing her”.

By:Nubia