Blog Post #12

Often times it is hard to tell whether someone is just sad or has a psychological disorder, but their are some warning signs. The book says a psychological disorder is ongoing patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional. Deviant behavior is behavior that is different and not normal. Standards for deviant bhavior vary by contet and culture. There are examples of varying culture and normality in the text on page 594. Men of the West African Wodaabe triebe put on elaborate makeup and costumes to attract women. In Western society, the same behavior would break behavioral norms and might be judged abnormal. There are different types of deviant behavior, so in order for it to be considered disordered, deviant behavior must cause distress. Deviant behaviors are often times considered disordered when they cause dysfunction. Most of the time, deviant and distressful behaviors along with dysfunction are a clear sign of a psychological disorder. If someone is acting abnormally, it does not always mean they have a psychological disorder. Their abnormal behavior may be caused from a certain event, the environment, or stress. They will get over it and it will not cause them dysfunction. An intense fear of spiders may be deviant, but if it doesn't impair your life it is not a disorder.

I may have had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when I was younger. I was not dysfunctional because of my deviant behavior, but I did have many of the compulsive behaviors that people with OCD have. Obsessive-compulsive diorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and actions (compulsions). Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors cross the line between normal and disorder behaviors when they persistently interfere with everyday living and cause the person distress. An example from the book is washing your hands. Washing your hands is normal; washing so often that your skin becomes raw is not. OCD is a common disorder for teens and young adults. A study indicated that obsessions and compulsions of people with the disorder gradually lessen over time. I think I may have had OCD because when I was little I had to do everything a certain number of times. I couldn't just do or say something once. I had to do or say it over and over again or I thought it wouldn't count. I also had to do or say something and even number of times. Another thing I had to do is check my entire house before I could go to sleep. I'm not sure if i had OCD or not but either way the deviant behavior is annoying. It interferes with getting things done in a timely fashion, if you can even get them done at all. Living with the disorder would obstruct a person's living. They would constantly be thinking obsessive thoughts and it would get in the way of carrying out simple tasks.

Schizophrenia was the most interesting thing I learned about in this chapter. It is a group of severe diorders characterized by diorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions, and it means split mind. It is interesting because it affects many people and is a cluster of disorders. Delusions, or false beliefs; hallucinations; and inappropriate emotions and actions are common symptoms. The emotions of schizophrenia are often inappropriate and split off from reality. Schizophrenia typically strikes as young people are maturing into adulthood. It affects both genders, but males are often times struck earlier and more severely. It is a scary disorder because it knows no boundaries and people with schizophrenia often end up in lower socioeconomic levels, or even homeless.