Understanding Mental Disorders: Types, Causes, and Impact

Understanding Mental Disorders

Significant impairments in psychological functioning are called mental disorders. These psychological or behavioral syndromes occur in response to the distress or disability that a particular event provokes (SHAPSE, 2008) and affect diverse features of someone’s behavior or personality depending on the brain area damaged or the environment the patient is surrounded by (Garety, Kuipers, Fowler, Freeman & Bebbington, 2001). Mental illnesses are caused by maladaptive or dysfunctional traits or by the presence of psychological stressors (APA, 2013).

The World Health Organization (2001) announced that a high percentage of people worldwide will suffer from some mental disorders or brain conditions at some point in their lifespan; concretely, one in four people. This is the reason why most of the disorders are collected in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which divides them all into different types: psychotic, mood, anxiety, somatoform, dissociative, personality, and sexual and gender disorders; to classify and diagnose precisely every mental disorder.

However, they are not always manifested in the same way in each individual, and they usually present levels of comorbidity (Vollebergh et al., 2001). This means that when suffering from one disorder, the possibilities of suffering from another are higher, which makes it more difficult to be correctly diagnosed.

Psychopathology, psychosis, and anxiety are some of the main disorders that are affecting society nowadays; especially anxiety. Anxiety has increased more and more in the last two decades, so it is now seen as a dominant fact in modern life disorders (Spielberger, 2013). This is mainly because people experience higher levels of distress than before. In the same way, there are also more cases of psychosis diagnosed today. However, this is not just because of the environment people are surrounded by today, but because there is a higher level of knowledge among psychologists, as it has been deeper studied. It is one of the most dramatic and serious mental illnesses, as the person who suffers from hallucinations and delusions experiences disturbed thoughts and emotions and personality disorganisation. This is sometimes confused with Schizophrenia, as it is also characterised by these features.