Psychological Disorders Research Paper

An out-of-body experience is explained by few as a sense of being detached from one’s body, and if associated with other factors like a sense that the world is not real, far away, or even foggy. This with the combination of failure to recall significant personal information, or the content of a meaningful conversation forgotten from one second to the next are signs of a psychological disorder known as Dissociative Disorder. Considered as a rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosity, Dissociative Disorders will be the psychological disorder that will be discussed in this paper.

“It is common that the media will associate mental illnesses with fear…The explanation may lie in negative stereotypes of people with mental illnesses as dangerous and unpredictably violent, thus making them ‘scary.’ Our brain’s natural tendency to confirm negative stereotypes ingrains this myth in our minds.”

The public has programmed many to perceive those with mental illnesses as more dangerous. According to the New Yorker, a study done in 2013 showcased that forty-six percent of respondents believe that people suffering from a mental illness pose a greater danger to society than those without. Furthermore, two recent Gallup polls, from 2011 and 2013, demonstrated that more people believe that mass shootings transpire because of a failure in the mental health system, not due to the easy access of guns. In the cases of Sandy Hook, Marysville-Pilchuck, Virginia Tech, and more, teachers, students, parents, and most importantly, the public, automatically assumed only insanity could cause the performance of those acts. Of course, mental illness can play an immense factor in a person’s likelihood to commit violent acts, but pinpointing it as the paramount reason for them should not happen. After lengthy analyses of data that discusses the correlation of gun violence and mental disorders, Jeffrey Swanson, a medical sociologist and professor of psychiatry at Duke University concluded that mental illness became a risk factor for gun violence in four percent of cases. Although the presented facts disclose the almost non-existent connection between mental illness and gun violence, many continue believing the opposite.

In addition, “The perceived link between mental illness and violence could lie in television and films that sensationalize murders committed by mentally ill persons…” (Callahan). The problem with people with mental illness being categorized as being violent is with popular TV shows showing people crimes such as murder being committed by people with mental illnesses. The media also plays a huge role in the reason why people with mental health issues are thought of as violent because they talk more about crimes such as murder being done where mental illness played a

Although the stereotype towards the mentally ill is very current in society, it is not to say that all of the public agree with it. For example, there are many stereotypes of different ethnic groups but not everybody would agree with them. In contrast, prejudiced people will endorse these negative stereotypes, an example of this being that ‘those who are mentally ill are violent’, as a consequence this then

We want to emphasize that the actual number of people who belong to this group is extremely small, particularly When compared to the overall number of people who are coping with mental illness.Unfortunately, the media spotlights this small group of individuals, unfairly painting all people with Mental illness as potentially violent criminals.

Historically, society has believed that people with mental disorders tend to be more violent than normal people, creating a stigma for patients. They thought that a mentally ill person tends to cause harm and chaos which was difficult for this person to deal with. In fact, research suggests that public opinions on the relationship between mental illness and violence do not reflect reality, although some people with psychiatric disorders commit violent crimes, it was not really clear about how much mental illness or substance abuse affect violent behaviour. Media had a great effect on people by making them think that the mentally ill are violent which was proved to be a myth, as they are more likely to be victims than offenders.

The major psychological disorders fall under anxiety disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia and other disorders such as eating, personality or dissociation disorders. By classifying these disorders, scientist can then describe and predict its future course. Mental health workers view psychological disorders as patterns of thoughts, feelings, or actions that are deviant, distressful and dysfunctional. The standard for what is deviant behavior is different in different cultures and in different context.

Many people see the mentally ill as crazed individuals that commit peculiar crimes that they don’t necessarily get punished for. That is not a completely inaccurate statement. Research has been going on for decades to try to see if there is in fact a link between the mentally impaired and violence. First physicians attempted to put together an archetype that would help them guess if the mentally ill patient in question was at a high risk to be violent. But that is all they were; merely guesses as to how likely a person was to commit violent acts. The first real studies done to correlate the mentally ill and their threshold of violence was done the 1970s. These tests showed that clinicians are twice as likely to be wrong as they are right when

In many movies and television shows, mentally ill patients are portrayed as dangerous, and, as a result, are bound to the negative way they are conveyed, even outside of the media. According to the Mental Health American, “characters in prime time television portrayed as having a mental illness are depicted as the most dangerous of all demographic groups; sixty percent were shown to be involved in crime or violence.” As generations today are growing up engulfed in technology, the stereotypes demonstrated through this medium are likely to be believed, leaving the mentally ill to escape this horrible fallacy. In reality, the majority of people with mental illness are not violent. The Institute of Medicine states “the contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population.” It is also common to associate those with mental illness as being the perpetrators of a violent crime, rather than the victim; however, “people with psychiatric disabilities…are two and a half times more likely to be attacked, raped, or mugged than the general population” (Mental Health Reporting). Furthermore, with the increase in the use of technology, mentally ill patients continue to be illustrated as monsters that lack the moral of a “normal” human, which

Those with mental illnesses are violent. But, studies have proven just the opposite. People with mental illnesses are less likely to offenders of violence but more likely to be victims of it (Tartakovsky).

Dispite the correlation between mental illness and violence being modest, those suffering from mental illnesses are at an increased risk of commiting violence. Mental illness as described by Dennis Howitt (2011) is a diversity of conditions where the characteristics are impotent and afflicting impairment in the psychological functioning of a person. This definition provided by Howitt is quite broad and the focus here will be on mental illness caused by alchol/drug abuse; personality disorders such as major depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, impulse disorders; and also on schizophrenia spectrum disorders. As Monohan (1992) explains, while many people would prefer to deny that mental health disorders and violence are in assosciation

One in every seventeen people in America suffers from a mental disorder. These disorders inhibit the afflicted person from functioning properly and coping normally with daily life. Many afflicted with a psychological disorder do not exhibit obvious symptoms, as medical advancements have made it possible for these disorders to be suppressed or even nonexistent. Today, however, harsh stigmas exist that unfairly categorize those with a mental illness as violent, unfriendly, and abnormal. The media and federal government are culprits in fabricating the unrealistic depictions of mental disability that define the portrayal of those who are mentally or psychologically disadvantaged.

As mentioned by Howitt (2015), a mental illness can be defined as ‘a variety of psychological conditions in which there is a characteristic disabling and distressing impairment in some aspect of the psychological functioning of the individual.’ However, not all mental illnesses are found to be at risk of violent offending. Such illnesses as anxiety and depression are found to be less violent than mental health problems such as bipolar and schizophrenia, both of which will be included in the subset of mental health problems recognised as violent for the purpose of this essay. The relationship that has been identified between mental illness and crime has the ability to be misconceived through misclassification of violent mentally ill offenders and a variety of factors which have the ability to cloud the evidence of the

Numerous studies and surveys have been conducted, and based on those surveys, many people think that mental illness and violence go hand in hand. I’m also a part of that percentage that agrees with mental illnesses being linked to violence. In the year of 2006, a national survey was conducted and it found that 60% of Americans thought that people with schizophrenia were likely to act violently toward someone else, while 32% thought that people with major depression were likely to do so. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person's ability to think, feel, and behave clearly, and can last for the rest of that individual’s life. It’s a condition