Blog Post #12

Deciding if something is or is not a psychological disorder is a difficult task. That’s why there are trained professionals who go to school for many years to learn about diagnosing and treating disorders. Often, they get it wrong, too. However, in the short time I’ve learned about this, I can say that one has a disorder if it affects their lives in a way that is turbulent or abnormal. Losing jobs, friends, and relationships due to your behavior may be an indicator. For example, behaving in a way that scares others or causes concerns for them might be a warning sign. Another determining factor would be the length of duration of the disturbing behavior. A short down time is normal; but extensive periods of blue moods or angry thoughts are not normal and may signify a disorder. Another factor to be considered is how those close to you view your behavior. If they are affected by your behavior enough to be concerned, there may be a disorder that needs to be treated. The book says, “being different from most other people in one’s culture is part of what it takes to define a psychological disorder.” It also discussed the fact that standards for different cultures must be taken into consideration. One culture may see a behavior as normal, and another may see it as deviant. Therefore, “abnormality” is defined by cultural expectations. In my opinion, because something appears abnormal does not make it a disorder unless it affects everyday living or causes distress in their lives persistently. Variations in behavior can not alone diagnose a disorder. Distress to the affected person is also a consideration. Both deviant and distressful behaviors that lead to “harmful dysfunction” may lead to a diagnosis of a psychological disorder.

I do not know anyone with a psychological disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a condition that becomes a disorder when it affects a person’s life in a way that continually interferes with their everyday living and causes distress for the person. Often it is found in teens and young adults. People with this disorder are obsessed with thoughts and behaviors that rule their everyday lives. These senseless or obsessive thoughts do not go away. There is an abnormal preoccupation and fussiness that prevent these people from living their lives in a typical fashion. These people may need to do things over and over again. An example would be washing their hands because their thoughts tell them that their hands are filled with germs. They may wash their hands until they are raw and still not be satisfied. Some people must check the house over dozens of times before they can leave it for fear that something was left out of place. Others are afraid to touch certain items or people. The disorder appears in many different ways.

It would be very difficult to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I don’t know how anyone can go outside their homes and work with this disorder, especially if their condition left them feeling unclean and unable to touch things. I would feel like a prisoner to the disorder. It would rule my life, and I would not be able to overcome it, like not being able to not scratch a mosquito bite. Also, I don’t think other people would be able to understand how to deal with me. They also wouldn’t be able to accept that I couldn’t control it. Most would probably be thinking, “Just stop washing your hands. Don’t even think about it.” They wouldn’t understand that this disorder overtakes your thought and you obsess about things to brink of insanity. I would not want to have to deal with this disorder or any other psychological disorders. It is hard enough getting through tasks in life being normal.

The most interesting thing that I’ve learned in this chapter was about panic disorders. I never realized what is involved in this. I just thought that it dealt with people worrying about things all the time. I also believed that it was common for someone to have a panic attack every once in awhile. I was wrong. Only one in seventy-five people will get this disorder. It causes you to have an episode of intense fear that something bad is going to happen and then it just suddenly disappears. I think that this is interesting because it is weird how you will completely freak out on a matter and then go back to normal just in a snap. It surprised me that people who smoke have a greater chance of having a panic disorder. I am around smokers and almost more than half of them seem really calm to me and I have never seen them have a panic attack. It is said that the nicotine is a stimulant which causes the panic attacks. The example in the book was of a woman whose heart began to race and she began to sweat and shake. She was unaware of what was going on, so she and her husband rushed to the hospital. The attack ended in ten minutes and after that she was fine but also very tired. It shocks me that people having such an attack may not even know the cause of why they are acting in such a way. It just overcomes them. It is disturbing to me that people can have such disorders, but no one can find out the cause. We can create computers, but we cannot find a reason for someone to have a panic disorder. I wonder if people who have these disorders live as long as those who are “normal.”