Characteristics of mental disorders

Question 1

What is a phobia?

Answer 1

-It is an irrational fear of an object or situation. It is characterised by excessive fear and anxiety.

Question 2

What are the behavioural characteristics of a phobia?

Answer 2

• Avoidance - A person with a phobia will put a lot of effort into avoiding a situation where the phobia inducing stimulus will be present. This can interfere with daily activities and led to an impairment in functioning
• Endurance - A person with a phobia if unable to avoid the phobia inducing stimulus will endure high anxiety levels when they are near the phobia inducing stimulus.
• Panic - People with phobias will show high levels of stress and anxiety when the phobia inducing stimulus is present and near them they will display behaviours such as running away and screaming.

Question 3

What are emotional characteristics of a phobia?

Answer 3

• High levels of anxiety - They will feel a state of high arousal levels, This prevents a person from relaxing and it makes it difficult to feel any positive emotions.
• Unreasonable emotions - The fear experienced is disproportionate to what the actual threat of the phobia inducing stimulus poses.

Question 4

What are cognitive characteristics of a phobia?

Answer 4

• Selective attention to the stimulus- A person with a phobia will only be able to focus on the phobia inducing stimulus when it is present and will find it hard to look away from it.
• Irrational beliefs - a person with a phobia will have irrational beliefs of a phobia inducing stimulus
• Cognitive distortions - A person with a phobia will have distorted perception of a phobic stimulus.

Question 5

What is depression?

Answer 5

-A mental disorder characterised by prolonged periods of low mood and energy levels

Question 6

What are behavioural characteristics of depression?

Answer 6

• Activity levels- they are reduced as energy levels decreases which results in feeling lethargic. This will interfere with daily life as it prevents them from having normal performance in daily activities which can be shown through individuals withdrawing from work and staying in bed.
• Disruption in eating and sleeping behaviour - it can make an individual have reduced sleep (insomnia) or increased sleep (hypersomnia) . It can also lead to an increase or decrease in appetite.
• Aggression and self harm- Depressed individuals can be irritable which can lead to them being physically or verbally aggressive this will affect different areas of life and relationships. It can also lead to aggression to themselves this can lead to self harm and suicide attempts

Question 7

What are emotional characteristics of depression?

Answer 7

• Lowered mood- There is a severe decrease in mood and they will feel empty and worthless and will not view anything positively.
• Anger- They will experience anger which can be directed at others or themselves
• Lowered self esteem- They will view themselves as worthless and and have low self esteem.

Question 8

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

Answer 8

• Poor concentration- It will make decision making difficult and will find it hard to focus on a task that should be straight forward.
• Attending to and dwelling on the negative- sufferers will only focus on the negative aspects of life and their environment and not any of the positive ones. they will have a bias towards recalling unhappy events instead of happy ones.
• Absolutist thinking- Depressed people will think about negative things as a disaster and will take it out of proportion.

Question 9

What is obsessive compulsive disorder?

Answer 9

-A mental disorder characterised by obsessive recurring thoughts and compulsive repetitive behaviour.

Question 10

what are the behavioural characteristics for OCD

Answer 10

• Compulsions- they are repetitive behaviours as they feel like they have to perform a certain behaviour in order to reduce anxiety.
• Avoidance- they will avoid settings or situations where there could be a trigger that could cause an increase in anxiety and them having feel the need to produce repetitive behaviours. This could interfere with life as they will avoid situations which could cause an impairment in functioning.

Question 11

What are emotional characteristics of OCD

Answer 11

• High anxiety and distress- Obsessive thoughts can become very frightening and cause an increase in anxiety and the urge to produce repetitive behaviour can also be overwhelming and cause and increase in anxiety
• Accompanying depression- OCD is often accompanied by depression so the anxiety can be accompanied by low mood and energy levels.
• Guilt and disgust- People with OCD will have negative irrational feelings towards themselves and will feel guilty over minor issues.

Question 12

What are cognitive characteristics of OCD

Answer 12

• Obsessive thoughts- They will have recurring obsessive thoughts that are unpleasant and can cause an increase in anxiety
• Cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions- patients or individuals with OCD will adopt strategies to cope with the obsessive thoughts that increase anxiety, however this can seem abnormal to someone else
• Insight into excessive anxiety- People suffering from OCD are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational but will still suffer from high anxiety levels