Psychological Disorders

 Psychological disorders are patterns of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple areas of like and are known as mental disorders. Here are a list of psychological disorders.

Adjustment Disorders

These mental disorders causes emotional and behavioral symptoms. The criteria for  (DSM-IV) diagnostic includes distress that is usually excessive for what would expected from the stressor and usually creates impairment in school, work or social environments. These symptoms must occur within three months of the trauma and the symptoms must last longer than six months. 

Anxiety Disorders

These disorders are usually know for having excessive and abnormal fear, worry and anxiety. The types of anxiety disorders are generalized, Agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, Phobias, panic disorders, PTSD- Post traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety. 

Cognitive Disorders

These disorders involve memory, problem solving and perception. Anxiety disorders, mood disorders and some psychotic disorders are sometimes classified as cognitive disorders. Cognitive disorders include, Alzheimer's disorder, delirium, dementia and amnesia.

Developmental Disorders

Childhood disorders are also known as developmental disorders and are usually typically diagnosed during infancy, childhood or adolescence. Some developmental disorders include, mental retardation, learning disabilities, communication disorders, autism, ADHD, conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. 

Dissociative Disorders

These disorders include identity and memory, they also involve a dissociation or interruption in consciousness. Some the dissociative disorders include, multiple personality disorder, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity and depersonalization.

Eating Disorders

People with eating disorders are normally concerned with weight and disruptive eating patterns that affect their lives negatively, physically and mentally. The types of eating disorders are, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and rumination disorder.

Factitious Disorders

The people with this psychological disorder usually acts as if he/she are sick, usually faking or exaggerating symptoms or self inflicting damage to their bodies. The types of this disorder are, Munchausen syndrome, munchausen syndrome by proxy, gander syndrome.

Impulse-Control Disorders

These disorders are the inability to control impulses, usually resulting in harm to oneself or to others. The types of these disorders are stealing, fire starting, hair pulling, gambling, intermittent explosive disorder, skin picking.

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Developmental Milestone

Most people want to know what a Developmental Milestone is. This is an ability that is achieved by most children by a certain age. These milestones can involve, physical, social, emotional, cognitive and communication skills, walking, sharing with others, expressing emotions, recognizing familiar sounds and talking.

The four major categories for these developmental milestones are…

Physical
These include large motor skills and fine motor skills. The large motor skills include sitting up, standing, crawling and walking are are usually the first to develop. Fine motor skills include grasping at a spoon, holding objects, drawing shapes and picking up small objects.

Cognitive
Cognitive is centered around the child's ability to think, learn and solve problems. When an infant responds to someone's facial expressions this is a sign of cognitive milestone.

Social and emotional
When a child understands their own emotions and other people's emotions, and can learn how to interact with other people, this is called social and emotional milestones

Communication
Language and nonverbal communication is involved in this milestone.

Every parent must remember that each child is unique and that each child's milestone will develop on it's own time, even though these milestones typically take place during a certain time in the child's life. These developmental abilities tend to build on each other and will come more easily to the child if it is practiced.

A child generally begins to walk anytime between the ages of 9 and 15 months, just because the child is walking at 11 months doesn't mean that another child is behind if he/she is not walking at 12 months. So, anytime between 9-15 months is normal. On the other hand, if a child is over 15 months and still cannot walk, the parents might consider consulting their child's primary care provider or a developmental specialist to determine if some type of developmental issue is present.

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Developmental Psychology and Issues

Nature vs. Nuture


One of the oldest issues in both philosophy and psychology is the debate over the relative contributions of inheritance and the environment. But some philosophers, such as, Plato and Descartes support the idea that some are inborn. Some other philosophers, such as John Locke argued a belief that the mind is a blank slate at birth, with experience determining our knowledge- also know as the concept of tabula rosa.


It is an interaction between these two forces that causes development. Some of the aspects of development are biological, such as puberty. But, puberty can be affected by environmental factors such as diet and nutrition.


Early Experience vs. Later Experience


Another important consideration in developmental psychology involves the relative importance of early experiences versus those that occur later in life.


By the age of five a child's personality is completely established, according to Freud. Those who have experiences deprived or abusive childhoods might never adjust or develop normally, if this is the case. Researchers have said that influence of childhood events does not necessarily have an affect over behavior throughout the life.


Continutiy vs Discontinuity


Does change occur smoothly over time or through a series of predetermined steps? This is a third major issue in developmental psychology.


As children grow older they display more of a certain skill also known as quantity. Most theories of development fall under these three areas:


1. Sigmund Freud believed in the importance of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences, this is called Psychoanalytic theories.


2. Classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning are called Learning theories. These learning theories focus on how the environment impacts behavior. The individual and the environment shapes behavior. 


3.The development of mental processes, skills and abilities is called cognitive theories. 

Abnormal Behavior and Individual Differences

Are you worried that your child is not developing normally? The focus on individual differences in development is becoming normal. There are many guidelines for ages at which certain skills are supposed to emerge, but these guidelines can make you concerned if your child falls slightly behind the norm.  

Development theories describe deficits in behavior and these are called psychoanalytic theories. Those who rely more on the environment's unique impact on the individual are called learning theories. When describing child development, psychologists look at both norms and individual differences. 

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