What Is a Psychological Impairment?

Psychological disorder refers to the abnormal behavior of a person's various psychological processes and abnormal personality characteristics due to physical, psychological or social reasons. It is the consequence of a person's inability to act in a socially acceptable and appropriate manner, resulting in his behavior Not suitable for myself and society.

Basic Information

English name: mentaldisorder
Visiting department: Psychiatry

Common causes: Psychological dysfunction, personal suffering, atypical, non-cultural expectations
Contagious: no

Causes of mental disorders

Generally speaking, "psychological disorder" has a more general definition, which refers to the inability to act in a way that society considers appropriate, so that the consequences of its actions are not suitable for the person or the society. This "inability" may be the result of organic or functional damage, or both. It can be summarized as: psychological dysfunction refers to the impairment of cognitive emotions or behavioral functions; personal suffering; the illness causes suffering to individuals; atypical or non-cultural expectations are not typical of cultural behavior in the region.

Clinical manifestations of mental disorders

Human spiritual activities are organic, coordinated, and unified. From receiving external stimuli to responding, it is a series of interconnected and indivisible activities. Mental activities include feelings, perception, memory, thinking, emotions, attention, will, intelligence, personality, consciousness, etc. Changes in any of these aspects can be manifested as mental activity disorders, that is, inconsistent or mental activities in various aspects of mental activity Disharmony with the environment can manifest as mental disorders.

The most common mental disorders are anxiety, horror, hallucinations, delusions, excitement, depression, mental retardation, conduct disorders, and inability to adapt to the social environment.

Psychological abnormalities can be severe or mild.

The manifestations of psychological abnormalities are diverse. At present, they are generally classified according to the following system.

Severe psychological abnormality

Including schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, paranoid psychosis, reactive psychosis, pathological personality and sexual abnormalities.

2. Mild psychological abnormalities

Neurosis includes neurasthenia, rickets, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobia, suspected disorder, and depression.

3. Psychosomatic disorders

Mental disorders associated with physical diseases include visceral diseases such as liver, lung, heart, kidney, blood, etc., endocrine diseases, collagen diseases, metabolic nutrition diseases, postpartum mental disorders and periodic mental illness. Psychological abnormalities caused by various psychosomatic diseases (such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, ulcer, bronchial asthma, etc.).

4. Psychological abnormalities in brain disorders and physical defects

Including toxic psychosis, infectious psychosis, cerebral organic psychosis, mental disorders associated with intracranial infection, mental disorders associated with intracranial tumors, mental disorders associated with cerebrovascular disease, and brain injury associated with Mental disorders, mental disorders associated with epilepsy, mental disorders of extrapyramidal system and demyelinating diseases, senile psychiatry, mental retardation, deafness, dumbness, blindness, sickness and other physical defects.

5. Psychological abnormalities under special conditions

For example, psychological abnormalities caused by certain drugs and hallucinogens; psychological abnormalities caused by special environments (aerospace, navigation, diving, high mountains, etc.); psychological abnormalities caused by hypnosis or some special consciousness.

Psychological disorder check

Comparison

Individuals can feel different from the past, such as experiencing depression, unhappiness or depression, and feel pain, and need to seek help from a doctor. Or if the observer observes that the patient's behavior is different from the past based on his own experience, it can be considered abnormal.

2. Changes in the nature of psychological activity

If obvious qualitative changes in the patient's mental activity are observed, such as hallucinations, delusions, obvious language disturbances or behavioral abnormalities, it is suggestive of a psychological disorder.

3. Social adaptation barriers

Human behavior is always in harmony with the environment. If an individual is suffering from social maladjustment, it may reflect that his psychological activity may be abnormal. However, people's social adaptation behavior and ability are affected by factors such as time, place, culture, customs, etc. Therefore, social adaptation standards must be determined according to specific circumstances.

4. Statistical standards

According to statistical standards, people's psychometric results are normally distributed, and most people in the middle belong to the normal psychological range. This is regarded as "abnormal" at both ends. Therefore, to determine whether a person is psychologically normal or not depends on the average level of deviation from the normal person's psychological characteristics. That is to say, a psychological activity is normal if it is owned by most people under the same conditions; it is abnormal if it deviates from the general level of most people. Different psychometric techniques have been devised to determine different psychological characteristics. According to the comparison between the measurement results of an individual and the measurement results of the normal population, normal and abnormal Hu critical states can be distinguished, such as IQ: below 70 is considered abnormal; 70-90 is considered critical; above 90 is normal. In addition, some scales used in the clinic are also designed using similar principles, and the results can be used for clinical reference.

5. Symptoms and etiological criteria

Symptoms and etiological criteria treat mental disorders as physical illnesses. If a person exhibits a certain psychological phenomenon or behavior and can find pathological anatomy or pathophysiological changes, it is considered that the person has a mental disorder or a net disease. If a drug has a toxic psychological disorder, it can be judged based on the existence of a certain drug. At this time, physical, chemical inspection and psychophysiological measurement are of great significance.

Diagnosis of mental disorders

According to the cause, clinical manifestations and related examinations can be diagnosed.

Differential diagnosis of psychological disorders

It is often difficult to correctly distinguish between normal and abnormal psychological activities for four reasons:

1. A person's psychological activity is invisible, and the process of his psychological activity can only be inferred from the individual's speech and behavior.

2. Psychological activities are affected by a variety of factors such as environment, interpersonal and socio-cultural relationships, as well as speaking and behavior.

3. Individual differences in psychological activity are large.

4. There is no clear demarcation between normal and abnormal mental activity.

Therefore, there is only one aspect of abnormal mental activity that is not necessarily a psychological disorder; the diagnosis of psychological disorders needs to meet certain standards, and the individual feels pain or significantly affects his social interaction or professional function.