Psychology

Categories of Disorders

Categories of disorders in psychology refer to the classification of mental health conditions based on their symptoms and characteristics. These categories help professionals diagnose and treat individuals by providing a framework for understanding and addressing specific issues. Common categories include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders.

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10 Key excerpts on "Categories of Disorders"

  • Book cover image for: Poor Health Indicators
    Stigma and discrimination add to the suffering associated with the disorders, and have led to various social movements attempting to increase acceptance. Classifications The definition and classification of mental disorders is a key issue for mental health and for users and providers of mental health services. Most international clinical documents use the term mental disorder. There are currently two widely established systems that classify mental disorders— ICD-10 Chapter V: Mental and behavioural disorders , part of the International Classification of Diseases produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Both list categories of disorder and provide standardized criteria for diagnosis. They have deliberately converged their codes in recent revisions so that the manuals are often broadly comparable, although significant differences remain. Other classification schemes may be used in non-western cultures (see, for example, the Chinese Cla-ssification of Mental Disorders ), and other manuals may be used by those of alternative theoretical persuasions, for example the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual . In general, mental disorders are classified separately to neurological disorders, learning disabilities or mental retardation. Unlike most of the above systems, some approaches to classification do not employ distinct categories of disorder or dichotomous cut-offs intended to separate the abnormal from the normal. There is significant scientific debate about the different kinds of categorization and the relative merits of categorical versus non-categorical (or hybrid) schemes, with the latter including spectrum, continuum or dimensional systems. Disorders There are many different categories of mental disorder, and many different facets of human behavior and personality that can become disordered.
  • Book cover image for: Psychology 2e
    eBook - PDF
    • Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett(Authors)
    • 2020(Publication Date)
    • Openstax
      (Publisher)
    How do mental health professionals ascertain whether or not a person’s inner states and behaviors truly represent a psychological disorder? Arriving at a proper diagnosis—that is, appropriately identifying and labeling a set of defined symptoms—is absolutely crucial. This process enables professionals to use a common language with others in the field and aids in communication about the disorder with the patient, colleagues and the public. A proper diagnosis is an essential element to guide proper and successful treatment. For these reasons, classification systems that organize psychological disorders systematically are necessary. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Although a number of classification systems have been developed over time, the one that is used by most mental health professionals in the United States is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association (2013). (Note that the American Psychiatric Association differs from the American Psychological Association; both are abbreviated APA.) The first edition of the DSM, published in 1952, classified psychological disorders according to a format developed by the U.S. Army during World War II (Clegg, 2012). In the years since, the DSM has undergone numerous revisions and editions. The most recent edition, published in 2013, is the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). The DSM-5 includes many Categories of Disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and dissociative disorders). Each disorder is described in detail, including an overview of the disorder (diagnostic features), specific symptoms required for diagnosis (diagnostic criteria), prevalence information (what percent of the population is thought to be afflicted with the disorder), and risk factors associated with the disorder.
  • Book cover image for: Psychology Around Us
    • Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Evelyn Field, Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
    • 2021(Publication Date)
    • Wiley
      (Publisher)
    624 CHAPTER 15 Psychological Disorders Group Description Some Disorders Listed in This Group Depressive disorders The presence of sad, empty, or irritable mood that typically goes along with physical or cognitive changes • major depressive disorder • premenstrual dysphoric disorder • disruptive mood dysregulation disorder Bipolar and related disorders Alternating bouts of intense positive affect that are followed or preceded by prolonged periods of sadness and other symptoms of depression; seen as a bridge between depressive disorders and disorders representing the schizophrenia spectrum • bipolar I disorder • bipolar II disorder • cyclothymic disorder Anxiety disorders Disorders that share features of excessive fear or anxiety and related behavioural disturbances • specific phobia • social anxiety disorder • generalized anxiety disorder • panic disorder Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders Disorders characterized by repetitive thoughts or behavioural rituals • obsessive-compulsive disorder • body dysmorphic disorder • hoarding disorder Trauma and stressor-related disorders Disorders that reflect exposure to a distressing event or events • posttraumatic stress disorder • acute stress disorder • reactive attachment disorder Somatic symptoms and related disorders Disorders with prominent somatic symptoms associated with impairment and distress • somatic symptom disorder • conversion disorder • factitious disorder Dissociative disorders Disruption or discontinuity in the typical integration of consciousness, perception, memory, emotion, identity, or body representation • dissociative amnesia • depersonalization/derealization disorder • dissociative identity disorder Feeding and eating disorders Disturbance in eating or eating-related behaviour that impairs physical health and/or psychosocial functioning • avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder • anorexia
  • Book cover image for: Discovering Psychology
    eBook - PDF

    Discovering Psychology

    The Science of Mind

    Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 536 Learning Objectives 1. Analyze the general definition of psychological disorder and discuss its application in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). 2. Debate the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, considering ways to distinguish symptoms of these disorders from normal childhood behavior. 3. Summarize the symptoms of schizophrenia and their biological and environmental correlates. 4. Discuss the role of bipolar disorder as a bridge between schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. 5. Identify common and differentiating symptoms of the anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and dissociative and somatic symptom disorders. 6. Assess the psychological mechanisms that may support behavioral symptoms of antisocial and borderline personality disorders. We refer to “people with autism spectrum disorder” instead of “autistic person” because there is so much more to people than their disorders. What Does It Mean to Have a Psychological Disorder? Mental health experts define a psychological disorder as “a syndrome characterized by clini-cally significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or development processes underlying even farther out, we can investigate the effects of ASD on the social connectedness this child experiences as he ventures out into the world. In this chapter, you will discover a number of types of psychological disorders, each with a unique history and set of characteristics.
  • Book cover image for: Epidemiology and Demography in Public Health
    • Japhet Killewo, Kristian Heggenhougen, Stella R. Quah(Authors)
    • 2010(Publication Date)
    • Academic Press
      (Publisher)
    Definition and Classification of Disorders Until now the official classification systems (American Psychiatric Association, 1994; World Health Organization Division of Mental Health, 1990) have relied exclusively on binary definitions of disorders (Brugha, 2002): either the person has or does not have the disorder. This has been an enormously important and successful development in helping mental disorders to be considered and included in general health policy debates. However, critics have ques-tioned the large number of categories of mental disorder, most of which would not register in surveys of public mental health in the general population anyway. Further-more, the underlying nature of common mental disorder is likely to be dimensional without obvious cut points repre-senting a diagnostic threshold ( Figure 1 ). Dimensional approaches are, however, promised in future revisions of the classification system. Even within the ICD-10 system, depression is described in terms of levels of severity. Sub-threshold levels are likely to be given greater prominence in the future in much the same way that clinical medicine increasingly recognizes the significance of lower levels of blood pressure or of serum lipids in terms of prediction of future morbidity. A stepped-care approach to the manage-ment of depression that uses these different levels of severity is already officially recommended in Great Britain by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. This is important for policymakers to consider because it implies that most (but not all) published prevalence tables for depressive disorder do not take into account such clinically significant distinctions.
  • Book cover image for: Psychology, 6th Australian and New Zealand Edition
    • Lorelle J. Burton, Drew Westen, Robin M. Kowalski(Authors)
    • 2022(Publication Date)
    • Wiley
      (Publisher)
    For example, in a depressive syndrome, depressed mood is often accompanied by loss of interest in pleasurable activities, insomnia, loss of appetite, poor concentration and decreased self-esteem. Pdf_Folio:930 930 Psychology Until the early 1950s, psychologists and psychiatrists lacked a standard set of diagnoses. Psychologists from each school of thought used their own preferred terms, and systematic empirical investigation of most psychiatric disorders was impossible (see Nathan, 1998). That changed when the American Psychiatric Association (1994) published the manual of clinical syndromes that researchers and clinicians use to make diagnoses, called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), now in its fifth edition. Released in 2013, DSM-5 has brought with it major changes to diagnostic categories. DSM-5 has three sections. The first section offers instructions on how to use the manual; the second offers classifications for mental disorders (including those listed in table 18.1); and the third section is based on other disorders for which there is preliminary scientific evidence but more research is required before formal classification (see also Cook, 2017; Pelling & Burton, 2017).
  • Book cover image for: Fish's Clinical Psychopathology
    eBook - PDF

    Fish's Clinical Psychopathology

    Signs and Symptoms in Psychiatry

    Chapter 1 Classification of Psychiatric Disorders Any discussion of the classification of psychiatric disorders should begin with the frank admission that any definitive classification of disease must be based on its aetiology. Until we know the causes of the various mental illnesses, we must adopt a pragmatic approach to classification that will best enable us to care for our patients, to communicate with other health professionals and to carry out high-quality research. In physical medicine, syndromes existed long before the aetiology of these illnesses was known. Some of these syndromes have subsequently been shown to be true disease entities because they have one essential cause. Thus, smallpox and measles were carefully described and differentiated by the Arabian physician Rhazes in the tenth century AD. With each new step in the progress of medicine, such as auscultation, microscopy, immunology, electro- physiology, etc., some syndromes have been found to be true disease entities, while others have been split into discrete entities, and others still jettisoned. For example, diabetes mellitus has been shown to be a syndrome that can have several different aetiologies. On that basis, the modern approach to classification has been to establish syndromes in order to facilitate research and to assist us in extending our knowledge of them so that, ultimately, specific diseases can be identified. We must not forget that syndromes may or may not be true disease entities, and some will argue that the multifactorial aetiology of psychiatric disorder, related to both constitutional and environmental vulnerability, as well as to precipitants, may make the goal of identifying psychiatric syndromes as discrete diseases an elusive ideal. Syndromes and Diseases A syndrome is a constellation of symptoms that are unique as a group.
  • Book cover image for: Personality Disorder and Serious Offending
    eBook - PDF
    • Christopher Newrith, Clive Meux, Pamela Taylor(Authors)
    • 2006(Publication Date)
    • CRC Press
      (Publisher)
    This additional information will also shed light on which areas of a patient’s life are affected. DESCRIBING PERSONALITY DISORDER IN CLINICAL PRACTICE The psychiatric classification systems (ICD-10 and DSM-IV) divide personality disorders into various discrete categories (see Chapter 4). Trying to pigeonhole individuals into cate-gories is useful for research purposes to ensure like is being compared with like. It may also provide a convenient shorthand for communicating in very broad terms the sorts of problems an individual is likely to have. However, the categories have been criticized for their lack of specificity, the fact that they overlap and because reliability between clin-icians is very poor in identifying the individual categories (Perry, 1992; Livesley et al., 1994). In addition, providing personality disorder category labels does not provide the accurate information about the individual’s actual dif-ficulties and circumstances that is required to plan and prioritize interventions. Everyone has to develop their own way of organizing the information they collect about personality disorders. Allnutt and Links (1996) have suggested that clinicians be aware of the factors that raise suspicion that there might be a personality disorder and then ask a few brief screening questions to establish whether the individual has any features suggestive of each type of personality disorder. However, research has confirmed that clin-icians do not find a checklist of direct ques-tions about particular traits very useful in the clinical setting (Westen, 1997). For practical purposes, it has been suggested that it is more useful to undertake a functional assessment of personality. This is essentially a case for-mulation addressing the relevant areas of abnormal functioning (Gunn, 1993; Westen and Arkowitz-Westen, 1998).
  • Book cover image for: Introduction to Clinical Psychology
    • John Hunsley, Catherine M. Lee(Authors)
    • 2017(Publication Date)
    • Wiley
      (Publisher)
    The adoption of this approach has allowed clinical psychologists to draw on a vast literature about parenting, child neglect and abuse, the effects of conflict on family members, cognitive changes over the life course, and changing societal values when considering diagnostic issues. Diagnosis No diagnosis is based on a single symptom. Diagnostic criteria always include a cluster of symptoms that co-occur. Medical students often report that, in learning about different disor- ders, they recognize symptoms that they have experienced and worry that they may suffer from the serious disorder they are studying. Parents, too, hear about symptoms that are associated with childhood disorders and may be tempted to speculate that the child at the next table in a restaurant who is whooping with delight and flicking food at a friend may have a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). developmental psychopathology: a framework for understanding problem behaviour in relation to the milestones that are specific to each stage of a person’s development. Josie Elias/Getty Images Without knowing the context of a person’s behaviour, we cannot say whether that person’s behaviour is normal. 54 CHAPTER 3 Classification and Diagnosis The diagnosis of mental disorders involves challenges that are less common in the diagnosis of physical conditions (Hyman, 2010). Most medical diagnostic systems focus not only on symptoms but also on the etiology of the condition and the ways in which external agents or external causes (such as bacteria, infectious agents, or malnutrition) gave rise to symptoms. Data from laboratory tests such as X-rays, ultrasound scans, and blood tests provide markers for many physical disorders and diseases. To date, there are virtually no comparable lab tests available for mental disorders. As a result, classification systems for mental disorders rely almost entirely on the observation of symptoms.
  • Book cover image for: Psychology
    eBook - PDF
    • Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould, Adrian Furnham(Authors)
    • 2014(Publication Date)
    • Wiley
      (Publisher)
    Some explanations have tried combining concepts from differing models of disorder to form a bioso- cial theory of the disorder (Arens et al., 2011; Linehan & Dexter-Mazza, 2008). According to this view, the child will have difficulty controlling arousal levels and emotions in an environment in which the child’s emotions may be punished or disregarded. Such children may not learn how to properly recognize and regulate their emotional arousal or tolerate emotional distress. borderline personality disorder a personality disorder characterized by severe instabil- ity in emotions and self-concept and high levels of volatility. Access your interactive e-book to view a video clip for this chapter at www.wileyopenpage.com V I D E O Summary Defining, Classifying and Diagnosing Psychological Disorders LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 Identify the common features of most definitions of abnormal functioning, and describe how psychological disorders are classified and diagnosed. • The study of psychological disorders is often called abnormal psychology, psychopathology or clinical psychology. Disordered psychological functioning is a wide-ranging problem. • Definitions of psychological disorders often include the ‘four Ds’: deviance, distress, dysfunction and danger. Before You Go On What Do You Know? 19. What distinguishes a pain disorder associated with psychological factors from a conversion or somatization disorder? 20. Why have dissociative disorders been criticized? 21. Describe the interpersonal difficulties involved in two personality disorders. 22. Which disorder discussed in this section is most closely linked to adult criminal behaviour? What Do You Think? Analyse a character from a film you have seen or a book you have read that has one of the disorders described in this section. Is the information provided in the text consistent with what you know of the character? SUMMARY
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