Abnormal Psychology Project: Analyzing Mental Health Disorders

This project analyzes two mental health disorders: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The assignment begins by describing the diagnostic criteria for each disorder, outlining the key characteristics used for identification. It then details interview questions used to gather information about the patient's experiences, providing the rationale behind each question and summarizing the responses. The project explores the childhood experiences, obsessive thoughts, and family history related to OCD, and the childhood experiences, current life challenges, and friendship issues associated with BPD. Finally, it discusses the treatments employed for each disorder, including education, psychotherapy, medication for OCD, and medication and dialectical behavior therapy for BPD, highlighting their roles in managing symptoms and improving the patient's quality of life. The project concludes with a bibliography of relevant sources.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS
MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS
Obsessive compulsory disorder:
Diagnostic criteria:
 these mainly include preoccupation of the patient with details as well as rules, lists,
organization, schedules and order towards an extent where the major point of the
activities get lost;
 also presence of perfection that interfere with task completion;
 high level of devotion towards work as well as productivity that extends towards the
exclusion of leisure activities and even friendships;
 exhibition of attributes like, scrupulousness, and inflexibility about different types of
matters of morality, ethics, or values, over-conscientiousness
 people might also show symptoms of inability towards discarding different worthless
objects as well as worn-out materials although they have no values of sentiments
 Persons may also show reluctance in delegation of tasks to others until the individuals
accept and submit to the ways of doing things of the affected person in exactly the same
manner.
Interview questions, reasons they were asked; summary of the responses:
First question (youth): the first question that was asked was whether the patient had obsessive
thoughts as a child. This question was asked as researchers notice that huge number of
individuals develop OCD in their childhood years that not only worsen their childhood but when
untreated might result in intense situations affecting their adulthood. Therefore, this question
helps researchers to know whether the symptoms continued from childhood or have developed in
adulthood. The patient stated that around 8 years of age, she was unnecessarily scared of

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darkrooms although she used to calm herself feeling there was no one in the dark. However, it
affected huge part of her childhood as it was implanted in her brain and affected her functioning
and life
Second question (Family): the second question that was asked was that whether any of the
family members had OCD or not. Studies have shown that chances of suffering from OCD in
individuals are higher when they have their parents or siblings suffering from the same disorder.
Professionals can therefore want to know the whether this risk factor can be one of the reason of
the individual being affected by OCD. In the video, the affected individual had stated that his
family trees has numbers of people suffering from OCD in both paternal and maternal sides
along with many others having other mental illness as well.
Third question (obsessive thoughts): the third question that was asked was whether the patient
experiences any obsessive thoughts. Often the thinking procedures of affected individuals
becomes so intense and disrupted, that they fail to take part in any prospective events and hence
might feel anxious or depressed about their situations. Therefore, in order to develop effective
interventions tat align with the issues faced by the patient, asking the question becomes
important. The patient had stated that she suffered from obsessive thinking so much that it took
most of the time when she could have contributed to important productive thinking and attributes
and this affected her mentally largely.
Treatments used for the disorder:
The three important components of the intervention of OCD are education,
psychotherapy and medication. Education is said t play an important role as it had been found
that when individuals are given through knowledge about the causes of the disorder, along with

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the triggers and the different coping techniques, patients are able to manage their symptoms of
OCD in better ways. Secondly, medications like anti-depressions as well as anti-anxiety help in
inhibition of the serotonin re-uptake significantly and this becomes responsible for the reduction
of obsessions and compulsions. Cognitive behavioral therapy also shows considerable reduction
of the symptoms of OCD and helps individuals to develop and lead a better quality life.

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MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS
Borderline personality disorder:
Diagnostic criteria:
 Different types of frantic efforts for avoiding real as well as imagined abandonment
 Having identity disturbance which have unstable self-image and even sense of self
persistently
 Presence of a particular pattern of unstable and even intense interpersonal relationships
that are mainly characterized by alternating between different extremes of devaluation
and idealization.
 The patient should be also showing impulsivity in at least two of the arenas that are
potentially self-damaging like that of reckless driving, substance Abuse, binge eating,
spending, sex,
 The patient might also show harmful behaviors like recurrent suicidal behaviors, threats,
gestures, self-mutilating behaviors and many others.
Interview questions, reasons they were asked; summary of the responses:
First question (childhood): the first question that was asked to the patient was that whether the
patient thought considered anything odd about her childhood. Often healthcare professionals
need to learn about the history of the disorder in the patient and want to understand the
timeframe from when the individuals are suffering from the disorder/ this helps them to gain an
understanding about the intensity of the issues and also the governing factor that contribute to the
disorder. It had been found that the patient sowed symptoms of the disorder from childhood only
where she tried her best to gain her mother’s attention through various lies and made-up stories.

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She tried to gain sympathy and care from the her mother and for that she was determined to go to
any extent like even making stories of sexual assaults.
Second question (current life): the second question she was asked was about whether she
believes that she has mental health problem. Researchers suggest that affected individuals often
face rapid changes in self-identity and self-image that include shifting goals and values and see
themselves as wrong or bad person. These have negative impact on health with wide mood
swings, shame, anxiety and irritability. Therefore, developing health literacy about their problem
helps them to be careful and do not fall for preys to such feelings. In this patient, ot was seen that
she was well-aware that she had mental health issues for which she cannot cope successfully.
She takes medications for them although she is not sure about how the medications work for
them. Therefore, her health literacy is not complete although she states that medications help her
in balancing her chemicals in her brain successfully.
Third question (friendship problems): the question that was asked was how the patient makes
friends and how long the relationships last. Studies show that patients suffering from BPD are
quick to make decisions without making any specific clarifications or thinking critically on their
actions and this affects their relationships with others. It was seen that the patient often sets up
typical barriers where a person has to match with her chosen criterion to become a friend. When
this was achieved, she quickly accepts them in her life. However, she also loses interests from
friends quickly and then onwards she just discards them even when her friends try to know the
issues and work on them.

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Treatments used for the disorder:
Two different types of interventions are found to be fruitful for helping the patients to
cope with the disorders. The first one is the medication use that helps in effective management of
behavioral and emotional issues. Dialectical behavioral therapy is also found to be useful for
treating the disorder that help to develop healthier patterns of thinking and functioning along
with the reduction of the black and white thinking about people around them and develop more
positive self-image

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Bibliography:
Czajkowski, N., Aggen, S. H., Krueger, R. F., Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Knudsen, G. P., ... &
Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2018). A Twin Study of Normative Personality and DSM-IV
Personality Disorder Criterion Counts: Evidence for Separate Genetic
Influences. American Journal of Psychiatry, appi-ajp.
Diedrich, A., & Voderholzer, U. (2015). Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder: a current
review. Current psychiatry reports, 17(2), 2.
Linehan, M. M. (2018). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder.
Guilford Publications.
Scherrer, J. F., Xian, H., Slutske, W. S., Eisen, S. A., & Potenza, M. N. (2015). Associations
between obsessive-compulsive classes and pathological gambling in a national cohort of
male twins. JAMA psychiatry, 72(4), 342-349.