• TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Mental Health Descriptions of psychotic and emotional disorders

I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. It's been a long neverending journey. I can't seem to get any better. I feel okay for a day or two at the most and then it hits...bad.
 
Personality Disorders

How 'bout adding personality disorders? I'm sure there's quite a few Darksiders who suffer from those. I'm diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and it makes life extremely hard. I also remember reading somewhere that up to 75% of people diagnosed with BPD have drug or alcohol problems, which I found interesting.


Antisocial Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD or APD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." The individual must be age 18 or older, as well as have a documented history of a conduct disorder before the age of 15. People having antisocial personality disorder are sometimes referred to as "sociopaths" and "psychopaths", although some researchers believe that these terms are not synonymous with ASPD."


Avoidant Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) (or anxious personality disorder) is a personality disorder recognized in the DSM-IV TR handbook in a person over the age of eighteen years as characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.

People with AvPD often consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing, and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected, or disliked.

AvPD is usually first noticed in early adulthood, and is associated with perceived or actual rejection by parents or peers during childhood. Whether the feeling of rejection is due to the extreme interpersonal monitoring attributed to people with the disorder is still disputed."


Borderline Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder described as a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person over the age of eighteen years, characterized by depth and variability of moods. The disorder typically involves unusual levels of instability in mood; "black and white" thinking, or splitting; chaotic and unstable interpersonal relationships, self-image, identity, and behavior; as well as a disturbance in the individual's sense of self. In extreme cases, this disturbance in the sense of self can lead to periods of dissociation.

These disturbances can have a pervasive negative impact on many or all of the psychosocial facets of life. This includes difficulties maintaining relationships in work, home and social settings. Attempted suicide and completed suicide are possible outcomes, especially without proper care and effective therapy.

Because the term no longer reflects current thinking, there is an ongoing debate concerning whether this disorder should be renamed. There is related concern that the diagnosis stigmatizes people, usually women, and supports pejorative and discriminatory practices."


Dependent Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Dependent personality disorder (DPD), formerly known as asthenic personality disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a pervasive psychological dependence on other people. The difference between a 'dependent personality' and a 'dependent personality disorder' is somewhat subjective, which makes diagnosis sensitive to cultural influences such as gender role expectations."


Histrionic Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriate seductiveness, usually beginning in early adulthood. These individuals are lively, dramatic, enthusiastic, and flirtatious.

They may be inappropriately sexually provocative, express strong emotions with an impressionistic style, and be easily influenced by others. Associated features may include egocentricity, self-indulgence, continuous longing for appreciation, feelings that are easily hurt, and persistent manipulative behaviour to achieve their own needs."


Narcissistic Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy."

The narcissist is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige. Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness."


Paranoid Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Paranoid personality disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis characterized by paranoia and a pervasive, long-standing suspiciousness and generalized mistrust of others.

Those with the condition are hypersensitive, are easily slighted, and habitually relate to the world by vigilant scanning of the environment for clues or suggestions to validate their prejudicial ideas or biases. They tend to be guarded and suspicious and have quite constricted emotional lives. Their incapacity for meaningful emotional involvement and the general pattern of isolated withdrawal often lend a quality of schizoid isolation to their life experience."


Schizoid Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, and emotional coldness. SPD can be a precursor to schizophrenia, or delusional disorder. There is increased prevalence of the disorder in families with schizophrenia. SPD is not the same as schizophrenia, although they share some similar characteristics such as detachment or flattened affect."


Schizotypal Personality Disorder
From Wikipedia

"Schizotypal personality disorder, or simply schizotypal disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a need for social isolation, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs."
 
Out of that list I could probably say I have at least 1 symptom for every illness,,,,,, no bullsh1t

I wouldnt tell a doctor how I really feel for fear of being put in a mental home pumped full of drugs and ending up worse than I am now... Or should I say complete and utter zombified from prescription drugs.

As I have seen it happen to a friend of a friend he was just really depressed before he got put in a mental home, came out and has never been the same.
Cant have a conversation with him anymore as he has no personality, and is basically like a robot.

I'd rather just take my anti depressants and feel like sh1t everyday and at least have emotions rather than basically be a vegetable.
 
^ As far as personality disorders go, most people will display one or more symptoms of any given disorder at some stage in their lives. It's only when the symptoms start to seriously interfere with your life that it becomes a "disorder".
 
I just reread that & would like to say - well done - nice job :)
 
disorders are only disorders if you enjoy order... Looking at problems in such a way only keeps you in it. Create your own lives, fuck these fascist doctors. When you give doubt to your powers you give powers to your doubt.
 
^ Disorders can actually cause a lot of pain and suffering. It has nothing to do with enjoying order (whatever that's meant to mean). I've been trying to create my own life for as long as I can remember, and it hasn't exactly been a resounding success. :\
 
Don't forget ADHD and its subtype Adult ADHD, as controversial as the latter subject may be - they are classified as Axis I.

Paraphrasing here, I have read cases of the Bipolar Spectrum encompassing not just moods ranging from depression to mania, but also more specifically detailed to include anxiety (as it seems to have strong comorbidity within all categories of spectrum mood) and psychosis in the cases of extreme depression and mania. A wide variety of afflictions can fall in this category: Bipolar I or II, clinical depression, anxiety, schizoaffective disorder.

Make your own conclusions, but I have read Bipolar II is proposed to be an abnormal form of depression, that is, a form of agitated depression. It is therefore not suited to be classed in the same category as Bipolar I given the psychotic tendencies of this disorder.

I view mania as inherently psychotic (full-blown mania is very very likely to include traditional psychosis), as I do with depression (where there are also cases of traditional psychosis in severe circumstances). For hypomania and depression, the psychosis is just a neutered form. The hallucinations are gone. That's about it, some extent of delusional thought and thought disorder is still present in my personal opinion. Shades of gray.

disorders are only disorders if you enjoy order... Looking at problems in such a way only keeps you in it. Create your own lives, fuck these fascist doctors. When you give doubt to your powers you give powers to your doubt.
In some circumstances, and I must stress some circumstances, I would agree that this is a somewhat productive way of looking at things. Yet, doesn't everyone seek order? That's human nature and does not imply a flaw. We all wish to pursue order, even if it is aberrantly manifested in disorder. Right on about creating your own life and not doubting your powers, but society and culture can interfere to a great extent for those who follow this principle to such an extreme that it (in their eyes) mandates discipline, punishment, social/occupational rejection, and/or isolation amongst other things. I'm not saying this is right, but simply the reality we live in.

In the case of severe mental illnesses, I would have to strongly disagree with your statement. I'd rather not spend time justifying that because I don't see how that statement alone does not explain my point adequately, as simple as it is.
 
Hope no one minds the bump, but i feel pretty strongly that mental illness is a metaphor for the behaviors and "symptoms" a select demographic experiences in our world. That is to say, instead of treating depression or bipolar or shizophrenia as brain diseases (which would require a molecular or cellular pathology), behavior should be thought of as falling somewhere along a continuum, and not so black and white like psychiatry would have you think. There are people like Ghandi and mother Theresea and Jimmy Carter who are persistently friendly, compassionate and empathetic towards all of humankind. Then there are people like Andrea Yates, Charles Manson, and Hitler, who, I think it goes without saying, are psychologically imbalanced to say the least. However, there is literally nothing physical whatsoever that differentiates them from us.

The stigma of these so called "disorders" is the most authentic and, consequently dangerous aspect of mental illness. For one to be diagnosed with HIV, there must be a measurable abnormality in one's immune system. Someone with bipolar disorder is not diseased in any sense of the word. He or she is merely labeled. And whether or not one agrees with the label, it sticks. And when it sticks, the disposition of the "affected" individual is compromised.

Thomas Szasz' "The myth of mental illness" is a thought-provoking read. He asserts that those suffering from personality disorders, mood disorders, etc are not unlike you or me. The idea that our behavior can be placed on a continuum is something Szasz has written about. Social constructs such as the economy, race, homosexuality are not measurable in anyway. They are concepts, and our cultures have evolved past the point of acknowledging this. We all suffer at times in our lives, we all question our subjective reality, and we all experience bouts of extreme euphoria/happiness. It is the degree in which this behavior is accepted (or not accepted) by a society that allows psychiatry to label someone. I do not wish to downplay anyone's diagnosis of a mental disorder as it can be obtrusive to one's daily living. However, I wonder if I am alone in my perspective, or there are any other BLers out there that can relate.
 
^
this is all good info, but the "disorders" are in fact illnesses of the mind.

i do have a misfire in the synapsis or hypo/hyper stimulation of a receptor or receptor pathway. i also have an irregular immune system, which causes a chain-reaction that along with other diagnoses , this is worse then the damn 'schizo-disorder'.

some mental problems can not be treated with meds in all honesty, those, along with any stresses take methods of cope, and awareness.

bi-polar disorder is a "pin-pointable" and treated with a specific medication, in most cases lithium is used, and successful if given and taken properly.
in my case i tried all sorts of meds, except MAOx type medications, then five years ago(?) i tried it, because my life and thought routine did fit the bill. it changed my life, couldn't imagine not having it, the klonopin im weaning off of. i have been through much counseling, but when psychosis comes, as with schizo-effective, and the anti-psychotics are having, um, adverse effects, it was a miracle.
the agoraphobia was intense, klonopin again helped me help my self and work through the situations/thoughts/fear.

i believe that if undiagnosed, by multiple doctors, or obvious rapid cycling or psychosis, that therapy of all sorts should be the first step. through out the therapy a good diagnosis could be suggested, but the tools to work through anxiety, or external or clinical depression and feel good about doing so is important.

these diseases are a problem with a tiney functioning part of our minds, and there are specific meds that are designed to help. still a persons diet, bottled up or suppressed stress, a more obvious physical problem can cause irrational, depressed, stressed behavior.

we wanted to give clear definitions to the more common psychological/behavior problems discussed here.
there wasnt one, and it was a fun challenge. another poster had done something similar before, but rather about psych meds.
thanks for your response
i :( miss sushii ;)
 
Great thread, thanx for taking time to put it all together....so important to be informed on these issues(while trying not to type-cast people). :)
 
order...disorder?

disorders are only disorders if you enjoy order... Looking at problems in such a way only keeps you in it. Create your own lives, fuck these fascist doctors. When you give doubt to your powers you give powers to your doubt.

I can't disagree if your main source for that statement is a Chambers, Oxford, Collins or Websters.
However I sure CAN if everyday speech and understanding is its root. The word 'disorder' as used in psychomedical speak amongst prob 99% of folks is one of the most negative concepts imaginable and I can't see most folk checking all that they see as being 'orderly' before they use 'disorder' in that context whenever, and that's a lot, it crops up.
I agree that a lot of work has gone into this thread. I have suffered GAD with panic disorder (two 'disorders' in just a few words) but can't imagine any situation where a sufferer would even consider the possibility that constant anxiety and panics which cause thanatophobia, for more on that phobia see many of my other posts which I am currently catching up on, of seeing the opposite as being an accepted form of order under any circumstances at all.
Many family doctors IME freak out when presented with several types of mental disorders and one has even confessed to me that she felt uncomfortable and unqualified, despite the compulsory year of Psych in (certainly UK) med schools. My sis plumped for Pathology, prob on the grounds that she doesn't like her patients to be walking, talking or even thinking. My father conversely had a very large single handed practice as a GP and I am forever being told locally that there has never been such a good and effective doctor in living memory *puffs chest out with pride*; his reputation as a doc who understood and properly treated psychiatric probs, esp addiction, its causes and its treatment. Such treatment, since being 'farmed out' to other agencies both private and NHS, is now considered to be the worst in the country. I mean if somebody presents with an opioid addiction, far from uncommon in this former mining and multi-industrial town of 20,000, to me that is a priority. I hear that the current wait for Opiate Replacement Therapy is as long as 9 months, and the contract you are expected to sign is one of total abstinence from all mood altering substances. God willing, I will never again need such a service, but these folk are presenting for opiate problems. Why should they be denied benzos, stimulants and other meds? I would automatically be denied the help I obviously need since it is MYSELF asking for it, since I am prescribed Xanax 1mg three daily and Rivotril (for our American friends, clonazepam, Klonopin) 2mg four times daily. These are scripted for nothing to do with addiction issues and I could not forego them. It specifically states on clonazepam boxes that it must never be stopped unless on doc's orders which normally means it's causing problems or interactions with other prescribed drugs.
So I've said my bit. The explanations given here are exemplary. The problem is that doctors are generally quite bad in dealing with them in every aspect from diagnosis -PTSD is often misdiagnosed - to treatment. Without referral to a consultant, a GP often appears to me to be skimming the BNF for something close to the presenting symptoms and desired pharmaceutical solution... in other words taking an educated guess, which is the way this once proud, once best National Health Service. Before his premature passing, my old man told me the principal reason, and this was 1989, for his early retirement was not the exhaustion he had ckaimed, but disgust at the direction of the NHS and his certainty that the concentration on costcutting had compromised his professional judgement esp re prescribing practices.
Keep up the good work, I have bookmarked this page as a truly excellent concise reference resource. =D
Zaborav
 
Hi I have Borderline Personality Disorder co-morbid with bipolar disorder. Also have a crack problem that I am trying to rid myself of. Anyone have any experience with BPD. I would like to share thoughts, ideas. If you have it I know what your going through.
 
Good description of schizophrenia.

People who haven't had their brain degenerated by schizophrenia like to think it's some creativity in the unconscious 'bubbling up' and other trendy, stupid metaphors. It's a degenerative cellular disease. It has nothing to do with being a shaman or reaching some higher level.

The most prominent and constant symptom of schizophrenia is that EVERYTHING FUCKING SUCKS. Then you get extreme anxiety for no reason, a sickly, forboding paranoia, inability to use and understand logic, depression usually comes about or so it appears since YOU CANNOT FEEL ANYTHING except physical pain and only the most overwhelming pleasures like an orgasm really get through. You can't make sense of anything and constantly you are being persecuted.

Your IQ drops to retard level.

It's brain damage, that's it.
 
^Scientists and laymen alike are still unsure whether the quantitative changes in brain matter/density as revealed in those with schizo- type diseases are indicative of the effects of medication or the disease.

There are types of schizo- disorders which don't include negative symptoms. Some people don't experience positive symptoms. The disease exists on a multidimensional spectrum.
 
Top