A very common misconception in the psychological world is the belief that schizophrenia causes the victim to have multiple personalities, where it is truly an experience of delusions and hallucinations. This is just one example of many incorrect ideas about psychological disorders. Chapter 15 explores the complexities of mental illness and its many forms.
Mental illness was previously believed to be reactions to demonic presence within the body, but after scientific explanation it was revealed to be just like most physical illnesses and required medical treatment. The most important part of treating mental illness is the diagnosis. The DSM-IV is a large text that is the official system for classifying mental disorders and is used by doctors to help diagnose.
Mental illnesses fall into four main categories: anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders. Under anxiety disorders you find panic disorders, phobias, OCD, and many other illnesses connected to stress. Mood disorders are just as common as anxiety. Some common mood disorders are depression and bi-polar disorder. Suicide almost always coincides with mood disorders causing these diseases to be taken very seriously. Personality and dissociative disorders are often similar, dealing with the personality of a victim. Common illnesses include borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder, which is what is what schizophrenia is commonly thought to be.
Though many of these mental illnesses are rare, there are still ones that go on all around, everyday. Mental illness is very complicated because our minds are so complex. Years of studying, experimenting, and studying have gone into alleviating these illnesses but scientists are limited and there is still much to be learned. Psychological disorders are plaguing the people of the world and it is up to present and future psychologists to save human kind from their own minds.
- Brian Wasz
