Understanding Depression And Anxiety, Addiction, And Dementia

The medical model focuses on the molecular structure of drugs and indicators of mental or emotional disorders. However, the medical model is not effective treating mental and emotional disorders. The medical model indicts the notion that abnormal behavior is the product of physical problems and be treated medically. The medical model depends upon independent tests to demonstrate or contradict if a patient is ill. The psychological model uses tests to demonstrate or contradict whether a patient is ill. It is at this point of agreement that the two models separate. A restriction to the psychological model is if a patient that is unconscious, or their communication ability is compromised to the degree that they are

The biological explanation for the acquisition of phobic disorders establishes that phobias are caused by genetics, innate influences and the principles of biochemistry. This theory recognizes that an oversensitive fear response may be inherited, causing abnormal levels of anxiety. This is illustrated in the basis of inheritance, particularly the adrenergic theory that convicts that those who have an acquisition to phobic disorders consequently show high levels of arousal in the automatic nervous system, which leads to increased amounts of adrenaline, thus causing high levels of anxiety.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was once considered a rare disease, but today, it is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders present among society. OCD is described as “intrusive thoughts or images (obsessions), which increase anxiety, and by repetitive or ritualistic actions (compulsions), which decrease anxiety” (Stein, 2002). In the DSM-IV, Obsessive compulsive disorder can be diagnosed through observable behaviours or repetitive mental habits. Symptoms include; the constant washing of hands, and/or fears concerning danger to others or to self – resulting in frequent paranoia. OCD has been linked with lesions in various neurological circuits of the brain due to the consumption of dopamine agonists (for example, cocaine). In order for obsessive compulsive disorder to take clinical significance, dysfunction and distress must follow symptoms. The treatment of OCD was initially developed in the Freudian era, as psychoanalytical treatment was seen as the most effective treatment at the time for mind management. Conversely, recent empirical evidence proved otherwise. Pharmacological therapy and cognitive-behavioural therapy, also known as systematic desensitization are nowadays the most prominent remedies used in treating obsessive compulsive disorder.

The cause of Clinical depression has long been a mystery to physicians and researchers. Many different theories have been proposed, but no conclusive evidence has been put forth. However, most of what we know about depression stems from the results of certain drugs which have been successful in treating the clinically depressed. These anti--depressants have led to the assumption that depression is most likely due to a chemical imbalance (of neurotransmitters) which somehow leads to the symptoms of depression. To try and write a paper on all the theories of depression would be endless, as would be a study on all the different types of

People with OCD show differences in brain activity compared to other people. They also have less white matter in the brain than normal people. These results have been obtained using brain-imaging machines.

One biological explanation for OCD is that it is inherited, that some or a specific gene is responsible for OCD occurrence. The 1.6% prevalence across the world shows that this may be a specific gene or set of genes causing OCD. With a concordance rate of between 65% and 80% MZ twins (Rasmussen 1986), their must be a genetic link in OCD. This explanation with the empirical evidences strongly suggested and support that the cause of the OCD is a reductionist disorder. However, from the behavioural and cognitive perspective have suggested that the cause of the OCD is not only biological factor as it must have a ‘trigger’ for an individual to activate and perform such behaviour. Such as irrational thoughts

The title of my paper is ‘’Phobias in Evolutionary Psychology.’’ The purpose of my essay is to answer the question of ‘’Why do I have this phobia?’’ and ‘’Can I conquer and face my worst fears?’’ I explain what a phobia is in detail using psychology expert Kendra Cherry and Science Daily newspaper as sources. My conclusions were not theoretical as they were all based on fact and respectable research from reliable

The main cause of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has been linked to both psychological and biological factors in a person’s body that lead to the development of the disease (Tucci et al, 2014). Nonetheless, these factors will differ from one individual to the next depending on the degree of emphasis on either one of the two factors. The psychological cause of OCD is brought about by overly obsessive behaviors that make a person to become pre-occupied with a certain habit or activity (Gordon et al, 2013). For example, the constant washing of hands as a way of affirming hygiene, hoarding of personal belongings, even if they are no longer useful or even making the bed after every five minutes even if no one has laid on it. On the other hand, the biological cause of OCD is linked to abnormal functioning of certain neurotransmitters in the brain (Dittrich and Johansen, 2013).

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is considered a neuropsychiatric disorder with a lifelong predominance somewhere around 2% and 4% which happens at a 1:1 male-to-female ratio (Olbrich et al, 2013). It is portrayed by intermittent and frequently incapacitating obsessions or compulsions that are perceived by the person as absurd. Obsessions are nervous-inciting, intrusive thoughts, normally concerning contamination, question, guilt, animosity and sex. Compulsions are exceptional practices that lessen nervousness, generally hand-washing, sorting out, checking, and praying. The etiology might be connected with anomalies of serotonin metabolism and also there are confirmations of heritability (Pogarell et al, 2006).

Heredity as we all know are things that we inherit from our parents. They are genetically engrained in us as we grow. The study that was done showed that many people that have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobics, or social anxiety disorder have suggested excessive conditioning and exaggerated responses. Thus, when looking at photos of a spider, the amygdala was more stimulated. This stimuli that would normally show minimal fear related responses to people without any of these disorders were heightened (Ciccarelli & White,

Many cognitive theorists believe that individuals with OCD have faulty or dysfunctional beliefs, and that it is their misinterpretation of intrusive thoughts that leads to the creation of obsessions and compulsions. Salkovskis (1996, see A2 Level Psychology page 532) explains the compulsions are based on cognitive errors. He draws from the behavioral approach, in saying that compulsions are rewarded or reinforced by immediate reduction of distress or anxiety. The carrying out of the compulsive rituals mean that OCD patients never get to test out their faulty thinking and realise there is not a dire consequence if they make a mistake. This resembles the behavioural explanation but more emphasis is given to the cognitive processes involved.

For this experiment, Müller el al. (2011) recruited two hundred and twenty students from the University of Basel. The participants were asked to complete the German-language Spider Anxiety Screening (SAS) questionnaire. In the questionnaire, participants rated their fear of four items presented to them on a scale from zero (least disturbing) to six (very disturbing). Results were scored on a scale from zero to twenty-four, with a cut off score being greater than fourteen “for being spider fearful” (Müller, Kull, Wilhelm, & Michael, 2011, p. 180).

The precise cause of OCD is still unidentified. Different psychological perceptions have projected theories which attempt to describe how OCD might progress. Psychoanalytic theory views obsessive ideation to be the consequence of repression (Emmelkamp, 1982). As the defense mechanism fails, repressed material is remembered, but it is altered before reaching consciousness and emerges in the form of obsessive thoughts. The classical conditioning of fear happens after a traumatic event, yet most OCD patients report that they cannot relate such an experience to the onset of OCD symptoms. If there was a trauma, it usually occurs at a time much earlier than the onset of OCD, which is not consistent with the operation of classical conditioning (Emmelkamp,

Learning is the essential factor in the aetiology of anxiety, specifically fears and phobias. Brought forward by Watson & Rayner (1920) and Pavlov (1927), one learning theory that seeks to explain the origin of an individual’s anxiety is classical conditioning. Continued by Rachman (1977), conditioning is where a neutral stimulus is strongly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US). The US causes an automatic physiological response, called an unconditioned response (UR). When the link between the stimuli occurs, the neutral stimulus, now the conditioned stimulus (CS), will bring about a conditioned response (CR), which is very similar to the UR. In the context of arachnophobia, an image, presence or thought of a spider (CS) will be linked to disgust, being bitten or a traumatic experience (US). The UR of the stimulus is fear and therefore the resulting CR will also be fear leading to the CS always eliciting the emotion of fear. Continuing Rachman’s (1977) ideas, fear acquisition can also occur through vicarious and didactic learning, where fear is observed and learnt rather

The severity of depression has been supported through scientific evidence that indicates that depression has a biological basis in the brain of a depressed person along with psychological and social implications. Whilst there are many catalysts in a person’s life that can be identified as a possible root cause of depression, such as stressful life events or the death of a loved one, the issue is far more complex, as the biological triggers of depression are not as easily expressed, such as faulty mood regulation in the brain, vulnerable genetics in the DNA, and other medical problems. Many things are altered in the brain of the depressed person. Firstly, what most understand to be an imbalance in the levels of chemicals that regulate emotions, is in reality far more elaborate. The true issue surrounding the many chemicals involved inside and outside of the nerve cells that undergo numerous chemical reaction which make up the dynamic system that is responsible for mood, perceptions, and the way one experiences life you experiences life can be altered in different ways that affect how one lives. Along with the brains chemicals, the connections between nerve cells called neurons decrease and deteriorate, meaning the