Understanding Mental Disorders

This essay delves into the intricacies of mental illness, defining it according to the American Psychiatric Association and highlighting its multifaceted impact. It discusses early warning signs, the pervasive effects on social interactions, and the difficulties individuals face in accepting and implementing change due to their condition. A particular focus is placed on schizophrenia, exploring its characteristic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behavior.

Running head: ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Abnormal psychology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Mental illness as defined by American Psychiatric Association is heath condition that
includes alterations in thinking, behavior or emotion or can be a blend of all three of these
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, mental illnesses are mainly related to
distress along with issues in functioning the activities related to social, work as well as
family. Mental disorders involve a variety of issues that may be anxiety disorders, depression,
mood disorders, personality as well as psychotic disorders. However, it has been found that
there are many causes of mental disorder among which the major role is played by genes as
well as family history. There are also some other factors that contribute to mental disorders in
an individual and they are as daily life experiences, biological factors and traumatic injury in
the brain. Moreover, at time of pregnancy if the mother is exposed to viruses or any kind of
toxic chemical then that can increase the risk of the baby. Use of drugs as well as having a
severe medical condition can also contribute in causing mental disorders. However, this essay
is about how it is to experience mental disorders, about the internal experience one has
dealing with mental disorder and how it affects interaction with others along with finding out
the reason that why bringing any kind of changes it hard with those with mental disorders.
Lastly, the feeling of experiencing Schizophrenia is also discussed.
It is often seen that major mental disorders seldom appear unexpectedly. It is often
seen that family, friends, teachers, close associates or the individual himself began to realize
small changes in them or surrounded by a feeling that something is wrong in their thinking,
feeling as well as behavior (Cuthbert & Insel, 2013). There can be signs of early warnings in
individuals where they can experience the following signs and symptoms-
 People lose interest in others and thus, socially withdraw themselves
 Difficulty in performing daily functioning at school, work or family tasks
 Difficulty in concentrating, memory, logical thinking and speech
 Hyper sensitivity

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 Loss of interest or desire in participating in any activity
 There is always a sense of being disconnected from people around as well as from
oneself
 Unexplained fear or suspiciousness of others
 Disturbed sleep and changes in the appetite or there may be decrease in the personal
care
 Unexpected drastic mood swings
Therefore, an individual suffering with any mental disorder may feel more than two of
these symptoms for a continuous period of time for which their ability to do their personal,
profession or daily tasks are getting affected then it is time that they must consult a mental
illness professional (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Mental disorder highly disturbs interactions with others and has huge implications in the
society. People suffering with any kind of mental disorders face social isolation, which is
very popular for a very long time to have triggered the mental illnesses. People suffering with
mental disorders are found to have isolated themselves from the society and maximum of the
time are found to avoid any kind of public gatherings. However, in mental disorders support
from friends, family and neighbors are very much beneficial for both the individual and the
population. It is difficult for people to interact with others while suffering a mental disorder,
like for instance if one is suffering from depression then that person might not feel like
interacting with others neither in family nor in work (Lin, Dean & Ensel, 2013). Then if a
person is suffering from anxiety disorder then the worry and stress all the time will limit his
interactions as well as will hamper their work. People with mental disorders mainly want to
stay alone as they find it very difficult to being along with others as they feel they will judge
them for their illness. To run away from the stigmatization people with mental disorders
mainly withdraw themselves from their family members as well as colleagues.

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It is usually hard for people who are suffering from mental disorders to accept or bring
any kind of change. These people mainly have a disturbance being conscious thus, they are
less aware of their surroundings and depending on their severity of their disorder; they might
be agitated, drowsy or sluggish. Thus, at that time it is not possible for them to bring any
change or accept any changes in their environment. Mental illness also affects the thinking
processes and thus people may have delays in registering what is being told to them or they
their thinking might get illogical and meaningless (Regier, Kuhl & Kupfer, 2013). People
with mental illnesses may act in an unusual manner or might face difficulty behaving
normally thus, for them accepting any change or being quick in bringing any kind of changes
is indeed difficult. Mental illness as defined is in itself changes individual’s thought process
as well as behavior for which they faces difficulty in their daily functioning therefore it
definitely affects the brain and so accepting or bringing any kind of changes becomes
difficult as compared to any other person.
However, person suffering with Schizophrenia, which is one of the major mental
disorders people face are found to have experiencing hallucinations, delusions, disorganized
speech as well as behaviors, neurocognitive deficits, mood swings, decreased emotional rage
as well as los of interest or desire to do anything or initiating interaction (Mamah, Barch &
Repovš, 2013). People with schizophrenia are always demotivated as well as they make no
sense when they are having a conversation. They may feel depressed or at the next moment
feel extremely happy with no valid cause (Maat et al., 2012).
Thus, from the above essay it can be concluded that mental disorder affects the thought,
emotional and behavioral processes in an individual and thus, making it difficult for them to
lead a normal life. These changes in their thinking, behavior and emotions often make it
complicated for them to perform appropriately their daily tasks as well as professional works.
Their social interactions also are hampered, as these people prefer to withdraw themselves

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from others because they are unable to accept or bring in kind of changes in their
surroundings or in themselves. Lastly, schizophrenia is a kind of mental disorder where
people experience hallucination, delusion, disorganized speech as well as behavior and some
negative symptoms as well.
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References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
Cuthbert, B. N., & Insel, T. R. (2013). Toward the future of psychiatric diagnosis: the seven
pillars of RDoC. BMC medicine, 11(1), 126.
Lin, N., Dean, A., & Ensel, W. M. (Eds.). (2013). Social support, life events, and depression.
Academic Press.
Maat, A., Fett, A. K., Derks, E., & Group Investigators. (2012). Social cognition and quality
of life in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia research, 137(1), 212-218.
Mamah, D., Barch, D. M., & Repovš, G. (2013). Resting state functional connectivity of five
neural networks in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Journal of affective
disorders, 150(2), 601-609.
Regier, D. A., Kuhl, E. A., & Kupfer, D. J. (2013). The DSM‐5: Classification and criteria
changes. World Psychiatry, 12(2), 92-98.