Mental health studies
 |
| Mental health studies , burnout and depression |
Neurosis:
Definition:
The word Neurosis can be defined as emotional maladjustments which damage the individual’s ability to think and make proper judgments but which cause minimal loss of contact with reality. The behaviour of such a person is termed neurotic behaviour.
For a person exhibiting neurotic behaviour, the usual ways of coping with daily living are proving inadequate, and the person is relying more and more on extreme defensive reactions.
These defense reactions may help temporarily, but in the long run they are unsatisfactory.
Types of Neurotic and Psychotic Behavior
Types of neuroses covered in this lesson include the following:
- Anxiety Neurosis
- Hysterical Neurosis
- PhobicPhobic Neurosis
- Depressive Neurosis
- Psychotic Behaviour
- Alcoholic Psychosis
- Acute Alcoholic Hallucinosis
- Pathological Intoxication
- Delirium Tremens
- Depressive Neurosis
- Acute Fear
- Drugs and Poison Intoxication
- Fever and Infection
- Cerebral Infections
Anxiety Neurosis
An individual suffering from anxiety neurosis has exaggerated uncontrollable anxiety and apprehension.
Anxiety disorders are fairly common in our society. Roughly two to four percent of the population has been diagnosed, at one time or another, as having some type of anxiety disorder.
Signs and symptoms of anxiety neurosis include a rather constant state of tension, worry, and general uneasiness.
Such individuals are often oversensitive in people-to- people relationships and frequently have feelings of inadequacy and depression.
Emotional Tension
Obsessive Compulsive Behavior
Emotional tension
Emotional Tension frequently leads to physical tensions which cause neck and upper shoulder muscular pain and sleep disturbances of insomnia and nightmares.
Decision making is difficult, and after the decision is made, the individual may worry excessively over possible disasters that may occur.
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorders are examples of anxiety neuroses.
An Obsessive-Compulsive person feels he must do something even though he does not want to do the thing.
For example, a compulsion to wash his hands, though there is no logical reason to do so, is typical of a person exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviour.
Hysterical Neurosis:
In this type of neurosis, the individual loses emotional control, or develops some physical symptoms, when there seems to be no underlying cause for either.
For example, student aviators have been found to develop vision problems and hearing problems as well as partial numbness of the tongue although there was no physical reason for such symptoms.
The symptoms, examples of hysterical neurosis, were unwittingly developed by the students as a defense mechanism to a stressful situation.
Physical illness gave the students an acceptable way to stop flying.
Just leaving the flight training program was obviously not acceptable to these students.
Phobic Neurosis:
 |
| Phobic Neurosis: |
A phobic neurosis is a persistent fear of some object or situation that is no real danger to the person or a situation in which the person magnifies a danger out of all proportion to reality.
Phobic Neuroses should not be confused with normal fears.
Phobic Suffers
Phobia Sufferers often admit they have no real reason to be afraid of an object or situation, but they say they cannot help themselves. Most people have minor, irrational fears from time to time, but phobic fears are intense and interfere with everyday activities.
For example, people with phobic fears may go to great lengths to avoid going into a small room or passageway even when it is necessary for them to do so.
There are a wide range of symptoms of phobic fears. Included are the following: tension headaches, back pains, stomach upsets, and dizzy spells. Acute feelings of panic and feelings of unreality or strangeness often occur.
Depressive Neurosis:
It is difficult to distinguish between “normal depression” and “abnormal depression” which could be termed depressive neurosis. From time to time, very well adjusted people feel sad, discouraged, pessimistic, and a sense of hopelessness. When these feelings all come together, we say we have the “blues.” Such feelings usually go away on their own and we get on with our lives.
A state of neurotic depression is different in that this type of depression is more severe and lasts longer.
Additionally, a person suffering from a depressive neurosis does not bounce back to normal after a reasonable period of time.
Usually, a traumatic event led to the depression, an event the person can relate.
A patient may exhibit the following signs and symptoms:
• A high level of anxiety.
• Apprehensiveness.
• Much less activity.
• Loss of self-confidence.
• Fewer interests.
• General loss of initiative.
Psychotic Behaviour
Just as there is no real line between “normal” and “neurotic” behaviour, there is no definite line between “neurotic” and “psychotic” behaviour.
A person suffering from psychosis has a severe mental illness marked by loss of contact with reality.
On the other hand, the person suffering from a neurosis has only a minimal loss of contact with reality but has emotional problems that may impair his thinking and judgment.
Alcoholic Psychosis:
- Acute Alcoholic Hallucinosis
- Pathological Intoxication
- Delirium Tremens
- Acute Fear
- Drugs or Poison Intoxication
- Fever and/or Infection
- Cerebral Conditions
- Alcoholic Psychosis
There are several alcoholic psychoses.
They are pathological intoxication, delirium tremens, and acute alcoholic hallucinosis.
These conditions are classified as psychoses because there is a temporary loss of contact with reality.
Individuals who experience these conditions may have reactions which last only a short period of time.
During such time, these individuals are confused, excited, and delirious.
Acute Alcoholic Hallucinosis
In this condition, the patient appears normal, but he hears a voice.
Initially, there is one voice making simple statements. Eventually, there are several voices issuing statements which are criticizing or reproaching the person.
These voices attack the person’s most private thoughts, list and discuss the thoughts, and propose punishments.
This condition may last several days or several weeks during which time the patient is depressed but otherwise relatively normal. The psychotic symptoms experienced by the person seem to be triggered by alcohol, but he may have a broad range of inappropriate behavior not part of the acute alcoholic hallucinosis.
Pathological Intoxication:
This condition is an acute reaction that occurs in people with a low alcohol tolerance.
The condition can also occur in someone whose alcohol tolerance is low at the moment from such causes as exhaustion, emotional stress, or other conditions.
For these individuals, consuming even moderate amounts of alcohol can cause the person to suddenly become disoriented and go into a homicidal rage.
Following the confused, disoriented state, the person usually falls into a deep sleep after which he may not remember anything that happened during the time he was confused.
Delirium Tremens:
Otherwise known as the DTs, delirium tremens is an acute mental illness, a psychotic reaction sometimes caused by withdrawal from alcohol. A prolonged alcoholic binge, a head injury, or an infection may also trigger delirium tremens.
Today, complications from delirium tremens can be treated with drugs, but half a century ago the death rate from DTs was approximately 10%.
Signs and symptoms of this condition include the following:
• Feeling of disorientation of time and place.
• Patient may believe he is in a church or jail, will not recognize old friends, but will believe hospital attendants are old friends.
• Vivid hallucinations. An individual may think he sees small, fast- moving animals like snakes, rats, and roaches.
Acute Fear:
A person may see these small animals change in form, size, or color in terrifying ways.
Tremors. Marked tremors of hands, tongue, and lips. Hands, tongue, and lips shake uncontrollably and strongly.
Drugs or Poison Intoxication:
Both drugs and poison can act as intoxicating agents (intoxicants) causing psychosis (loss of contact with reality). For example, bromides were introduced in the 1850s, quickly became popular as sedatives, and were used (sometimes abused) by millions of people.
It was discovered that those who used bromides too much reacted psychotically. These users had delusions, hallucinations, and a wide variety of neurological disturbances.
Users of a modern day drug, LSD, behave psychotically. LSD users have set themselves on fire, jumped from high places, and one person drilled a hole in his head with a dental drill—all psychotic acts.
Cocaine laced with rat poison has been reported to intoxicate psychotically and sometimes fatally.
Fever and/or Infection:
Both a high fever and/or a severe infection can cause behavioral changes which can be psychotic in nature.
Syphilis, encephalitis, and meningitis are such diseases.
An individual with an untreated case of syphilis undergoes both physical and psychological (personality) changes. These changes range from becoming careless and inattentive in the disease’s initial stages to spending money on impossible schemes as well as performing antisocial acts publicly in later stages of the disease.
Cerebral Conditions:
 |
| Cerebral Conditions: |
A Cerebrovascular accident, brain trauma, brain tumor, or cerebral arteriosclerosis can result in psychotic behavior.
Damage or even small pressure in the brain may cause marked pressure and cause impairment of the normal functioning of the brain.
Damage may cause hallucinations and a general impairment in the individual’s intellectual processes with the result that he loses touch with reality, behaving psychotically.
Schizophrenia
Definition of Schizophrenia:
This is a term used for a group of psychotic disorders whose chief characteristics include gross distortions of reality; withdrawal from dealing with other people (social interaction); and disorganization of perception, thought, and emotion.
In other words, the schizophrenic has disturbances in thinking, mood and behavior.
Meaning of Schizophrenia
The word schizophrenia means “split mind” and was initially given to this group of disorders because it was thought that these mental disorders were caused by a conflict between the mind and the emotions.
Thinking today is that there may be several kinds of schizophrenias with many different causes.
There may be biological causes of schizophrenia, and there may be environmental causes of schizophrenia.
General Symptoms of Schizophrenia
General symptoms regardless of the type of schizophrenia, the basic experience is one of disorganization in perception, thought, and emotion.
There are specific symptoms which may develop over a period of time and which vary in seriousness from person to person.
General symptoms of Schizophrenia include the following:
Disorganization
Disorganization in an area of previous functioning.
The person has been able to work, carry on social relations, and take care of himself in general. He becomes unable to get organized to do any of these.
• Language and Communication Disturbance
• Sense of self
• Perception
1.Language and Communication Disturbance
This symptom is sometimes called the “formal thought disorder.”
The individual does not lack education or ability but seems to put words together in an illogical order. For example, “I’m growing my father’s hair.” He meant something different obviously.
2.Sense of self
The individual is usually confused about his identity, even whether he is male or female.
He may believe that he is being controlled by “cosmic” or “oceanic” powers.
3.Perception
The individual seems unable to sort out all the information which comes to him through the senses.
Typical reactions are that he feels too alert, everything seems to be pouring in at once, his nerves are supersensitive, objects seem brighter, noises are louder.
Specific symptoms of Schizophrenia may vary for each individual and include the following:
Disturbances of thought, speech, activity
This reflects the confusion in the person's thought processes.
Words may be in the wrong order, and thoughts may be composed of sentence fragments.
Inappropriate emotional responses
Withdrawal
Regression
Delusions
Hallucinations
Inappropriate emotional responses
The person can appear emotionally cold; happy news does not bring forth joy in the schizophrenic person.
Sometimes the schizophrenic makes inappropriate responses. For example, the person is told of the death of a loved one and laughs.
Withdrawal
The individual physically and/or psychologically may pull back from interaction with other people and/or from his environment.
Withdrawal is a coping mechanism and is an individual’s way of coping with the stress he sees in his world.
Regression
Those who cope by regressing revert to an earlier type of behavior in order to deal with the situation at hand. The earlier behavior is characteristic of an earlier level of development.
For example, an adult might resort to behavior typical of his teenage years.
Delusions:
A delusion may be defined as a fixed false belief.
Types of delusions include:
• Paranoid delusions – delusions in which the individual believes someone is out to get him (although this is not true).
• Delusions of poverty – a person is convinced that he is penniless and responsible for the downfall of his familty (although this is not true).
• Somatic delusions – an individual focuses on his body and is convinced that he is the victim of a frightening disease.
• Grandiose delusions – a person with delusions of grandeur may believe he is a sports hero, a famous political leader, or somone all-powerful like God.
Hallucinations:
The schizophrenic person may hear, taste, see, smell, feel things that are not there.
Personality Disorders:
Throughout their lives, people continually develop and change as required by the changing demands, opportunities, and limitations which accompany different stages of life.
As an individual grows, however, certain broad traits, coping styles, and ways of behaving socially tend to emerge.
By the time a person has completed the teen years, he has developed his own unique ways of dealing with life situations.
These ways or patterns are his personality.
Personality Development and the Adult
An adult personality is usually able to deal effectively with the society in which he lives.
In contrast, there are some individuals whose personality development has been warped. These individuals cannot live comfortably in any society. Such individuals have a personality disorder.
Typical personality disorders are not caused by stress or anxiety but rather by immature and distorted personality development.
1. Paranoid Personality
The person who is paranoid feels singled out and taken advantage of, mistreated, plotted against, stolen from, spied upon, ignored, or otherwise mistreated by “enemies.” These feelings are delusions. In truth, no one is “out to get” the person.
Characteristics of the paranoid personality include the following:
- Hypersensitive
- Rigid
- Suspicious
- Jealous
- Envious
- Exaggerated sense of own importance
- Tendency to blame others
Paranoia does not seem to interfere with the rest of the individual’s personality.
Aside from the area of paranoia, an individual may be able to function very well in a highly organized manner.
2.Cyclothymic Personality
This mild personality disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings from elation to depression.
The mood swings, however, are not disabling to the individual.
The individual may feel exhilarated and outgoing with a high energy level—hypomanic behavior.
On the other hand, he may feel melancholy with a mild, depressive-like state.
He feels lonely, sympathetic, kind, quiet, and a little sorry for himself.
3.Schizoid Personality
This is a personality characterized by shyness, oversensitivity, seclusiveness, and eccentricity in communication and behavior.
An example of schizoid personality is an adult who has a life pattern of social isolation (little or no interaction with other people).
He is distant and somewhat distrustful of other people, rather fearful, and sensitive.
Instead of dealing with people, he concentrates on non-people details of his life such as the meaning of “Wash before wearing” on a new pair of jeans.
Does this mean wash the jeans before wearing the first time or, for some reason, do the jeans need to be washed each time before they are worn?
He considers this question for several days.
This type of dilemma is comfortable for the individual with a schizoid personality because the problem requires no interaction with any other person.
4.Explosive Personality
The distinguishing feature of this personality is frequent, sudden outbursts of aggression.
Especially under pressure, an individual with this type of personality becomes overly excitable and overresponsive.
5.Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Obsession can be defined as a persistent preoccupation with something—an idea or a feeling. A compulsion can be defined as an irresistible impulse.
An Individual with an obsessive-compulsive personality feels compelled to think about something that he does not want to think about, or to carry out some action against his will.
People with this type of personality usually realize that their behavior is irrational, but they feel they can’t stop the behavior.
Characteristics of this type of personality include the following:
• Rigid
• Punctilious (strict observance of formalities or conduct)
• Fastidious (hard to please; much too critical and demanding)
• Very formal
• Overy conscientious
6.Hysterical Personality
An individual with this type of personality exhibits the following characteristics:
• Vain
• Self-indulgent
• Overly-dramatic
• Exhibitionistic
7.Asthemic Personality
The following characteristics are typical of this type of personality:
Easily tired
Low energy level
Lack of enthusiasm
Diminished capacity for enjoyment
Oversensitive to stress
May develop into the personality disorder neurasthenic neurosis (a neurotic disorder characterized by complaints of chronic weakness, easily tired, and lack of enthusiasm).
8.Antisocial Personality
Antisocial Personality (Psychopath—Sociopath).
The antisocial personality is characterized by a lack of ethical or moral development and an apparent inability of the person to follow approved models of behavior.
Psychopath and sociopath are both terms for an antisocial personality.
Both may be defined as a personality disorder involving a marked lack of ethical or moral development.
A Psychopath
A Psychopath exhibits characteristics such as a disregard for the rules of society, immaturity, difficulty in postponing gratification, poor control of impulses, and little ability to consider the consequences of his actions.
The individual with this type of personality could want a new car; steal a new car, shoot the security guard in the process, and feel no guilt.
This type of person would find it intolerable to work at a job, save money, and buy the new car in the future.
He wants pleasure now without considering the past or the future.
9.Passive-Aggressive Personality
Individuals with this type of personality typically express hostility in indirect and nonviolent ways; in other words, passively.
Characteristics of such an individual include procrastinating (why do today what you can put off until tomorrow); “forgetting;” deliberately keeping something from being done; inefficiency.
This type of behavior is more often present in work situations but can be present in situations with other people.
The passive-aggressive personality never really confronts a problem directly, behavior which results in no problem solving at all.
10.Inadequate Personality
Characteristics typical of this type of personality include:
• Normal intellectual endowment
• Ineffectual
• Inept
• Unconcerned with reaching set goals
11.Passive-Dependent Personality
This type of personality is extremely dependent on other people and suffers acute discomfort-- almost panic--at having to be alone.
Self-confidence is lacking, and such individuals feel helpless working by themselves even though they may be very competent and have good work skills.
A listing of characteristics typical of the passive-dependent personality includes:
- Absense of self-confidence
- Immature personality
- Overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness, fear, and indecision.
- Clings to others for support.
Therapeutic Intervention
Today, Mental Health professions are concentrating on preventing mental health problems.
In the 1960s, individuals with mental health problems were usually seen only after the problem became severe.
Typically, the person was sent far away from their home area to recover.
If treatment is necessary today, the person is treated in the area in which he lives so that not only will his life be disrupted as little as possible but also he will be able to keep in contact with his support groups—his family and his friends.
Additionally, a patient who must be placed in a hospital is returned to the community as soon as possible so that his problem will not become chronic.
Definition: The definition of psychotherapy is the treatment of mental disorders by psychological methods.
Almost everyone has had the experience of being helped by some advice from a relative or friend.
Sometimes an experience has prompted us to make a drastic change in our lives.
Psychotherapy as a Therapeutic Intervention
Psychotherapy is very close to the advice or the experience that caused us to make a change in our lives.
A basic assumption in psychotherapy is that the individual with a personality problem can change.
He can learn more effective ways of perceiving, evaluating, and behaving so that he will be able to function in society more effectively and happily.
General goals of Psychotherapy in Mental Health intervention include these steps:
• Change in patterns of behavior which are maladaptive; that is, behavior which is detrimental to the well-being of the individual and/or group.
• Improving the individual’s ability to deal with other people.
• Resolving the person’s inner conflicts and thus reducing his personal distress.
• Changing the person’s inaccurate assumptions about himself and the world around him.
• Helping the person achieve a clear sense of who he is.
• All of these changes will help the troubled person toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
Drugs Most Commonly Used in Treatment of Mental Illness
One of the medical profession’s long term goals has been to discover drugs that can combat mental disorders effectively.
In years past, research centered on medications that would have soothing, calming, or sleep-inducing effects.
These drugs would help manage distraught, excited, and the sometimes violent patient.
Current research has focused on development of drugs that will allow the troubled person to lead a more normal life rather than just sedate him.
Major tranquillizers include the following:
Chlorpromazine (Thorazine®)
Thioridazine (Mellaril®)
Trifluoperazine (Stellazine®)
Other drugs used to treat mental disorders include: Lithium Carbonate (an antimaniac agent)
Minor tranquillizers (antianxiety agents) include the following:
Lithium ®
Valium ®
Vistaril ®
Miltown ®
The key points from this article are:
- Usually, we all cope with our situations successfully. Sometimes, however, we feel overwhelmed and we become mentally ill.
- Perhaps a physical problem—an accident or a chemical imbalance in the body—causes mental illness.
- Many people have brief periods of mental illness and then seem to recover completely. Others suffer from mental disorders for most of their lives. Regardless of the cause or the duration of the mental illness, it is important for you to be able to recognize and treat or refer for treatment any individual with mental health difficulties.
- Intense physiological processes are continually taking place in the human body. Any disturbance or change from the delicate homeostatic balances in the body will result in severe consequences for the individual.
- Correct diagnosis and correct treatment are both necessary to remedy the situation.
- Behaviour considered normal in one society may be considered totally abnormal in another society.
- Defense Mechanisms are man’s way of dealing with the stress—good or bad—of living.
- We live in a complicated world full of many pleasurable events but also full of strains and hassles.
- Life strains include chronic conditions of living that are unsatisfactory such as boredom, continuing family tension, job dissatisfaction, and loneliness.
- Hassles include irritating, frustrating, or distressing incidents that occur in everyday life such as disagreements with fellow workers, unpleasant surprises such as traffic tickets, and losing a wallet with all your credit cards.
- Defense mechanisms are mental maneuvers, conscious or subconscious, performed by the ego (one’s self) in order to decrease feelings of anxiety or stress. Defense mechanisms begin to operate spontaneously and unconsciously when the self is threatened.
- If there are too many emergencies for the self, the self may overuse defense mechanisms with the result that the person does not really see reality.
- We all rationalize occasionally, and that is a good thing because rationalization can reduce stress.
- It is not a good thing to base all our judgments consistently on rationalizations; that would be overuse.
- The word schizophrenia means “split mind” and was initially given to this group of disorders because it was thought that these mental disorders were caused by a conflict between the mind and the emotions.
- Thinking today is that there may be several kinds of schizophrenias with many different causes.
- There may be biological causes of schizophrenia, and there may be environmental causes of schizophrenia.
- General symptoms regardless of the type of schizophrenia, the basic experience is one of disorganization in perception, thought, and emotion.
- There are specific symptoms which may develop over a period of time and which vary in seriousness from person to person.
- An adult personality is usually able to deal effectively with the society in which he lives.
- In contrast, there are some individuals whose personality development has been warped.
- These individuals cannot live comfortably in any society, such individuals have a personality disorder.
- Typical personality disorders are not caused by stress or anxiety but rather by immature and distorted personality development.
- The definition of psychotherapy is the treatment of mental disorders by psychological methods.
- Psychotherapy is very close to the advice or the experience that caused us to make a change in our lives.
- A basic assumption in psychotherapy is that the individual with a personality problem can change.
- He can learn more effective ways of perceiving, evaluating, and behaving so that he will be able to function in society more effectively and happily.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you need more articles related to psychology or sociology please comment us.