Which Will You Choose: Depression Or Progression?
There are five criteria for a psychological disorder.
#1 Clinical significance
a. Behavior of person involves a measurable degree of impairment.
b. Behavior of person must have diagnostic validity.
(predict the person's future or future responses to treatment)
#2 Behavior of person reflects a dysfunction in psychological or developmental processes.
#3 Behavior of person is usually is associated with significant distress or disability in important realms of life.
#4 The individual's behavior cannot be socially "deviant" as defined in terms of religion, politics, or sexuality.
#5 Conflicts reflect a dysfunction within the individual.
However defined, we can best conceptualize abnormal behavior from multiple perspectives that incorporate biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Biological causes
1. Genetic
2. Environmental
3. Brain damage
4. Exposure to harmful substances (allergens)
Psychological causes
1. Past learning
2. Thought patterns
3. Coping
Sociocultural causes
1. Various circles of influence ranging from close friends and family to the institutions and policies of a country or the world as a whole.
2. Discrimination, whether based on social class, income, race or ethnicity, or gender can influence the development of an abnormal behavior.
Different people have different approaches to where abnormal behavior comes from. These include the following:
Spiritual explanations
Regards psychological disorders as the product of possession by evil or demonic spirits.
Humanitarian explanations
Regards psychological disorders as the result of cruelty, stress, or poor living conditions.
Scientific explanations
Regards psychological disorders as the result of causes that we can objectively measure, such as biological alterations, faulty learning processes, or emotional stressors.
Did you know that Vincent van Gogh shot himself? Yes, on July 29, 1890 (37 yrs) he committed suicide. He suffered from hallucinations and perhaps delusions (two hallmark symptoms of a psychological disorder involving psychosis, such as schizophrenia).
Paula Deen had/has panic disorder and agoraphobia.
Ludwig van Beethoven was to believed to have bipolar disorder. He said, "At times, I was at the point of putting an end to my life- art alone restrained my hand, Oh! It seemed as if I could not quit this earth until I had produced all I felt within me..."
His friends recalled the emotionally chaotic and often volatile life he led. One of them said, "It seems unlikely that one could achieve works of emotional range and intensity comparable to those of Beethoven without such extraordinary experiences."
Beethoven was raised by an abusive father. When he was 17, his mother died. His father became an alcoholic, and Beethoven became a father figure to his siblings; he became the main caretaker of his siblings. Those close to him described Beethoven as emotionally unstable, prone to periods of both intense irritability and paranoia and lengthy periods of depression. Beethoven lost his hearing for the last ten years of his life. Like his father, he abused alcohol and died from cirrhosis of the liver in 1827 at 57 years of age.
Who remembers Robert Downey Jr.? From Iron Man? Yep; that's the one! He was six years old when his father gave him marijuana. Downey said, "When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how."
I'm shocked and pitied by that statement. I think he was so hurt and craving a fatherly love that he assumed that his father was expressing it through drugs. Oh my.
After 3 yrs of probation for using cocaine, marijuana, and in possession of other drugs, Downey went to rehab. He got help before it was too late. (He also had been in prison for 4 months).
You may think "Oh my gosh! I have some of the symptoms mentioned here. What do I do?" I completely understand how uncomfortable it can be to tell someone you think you have depression, schizophrenia, insomnia, anorexia, bulimia, a phobia, etc. It is. Nothing will thoroughly change that. However, you can pray about it. Think of the situations where you may have been paranoid, depressed, etc. Make a list. Jot down your thoughts on it, how you will tell someone, and reveal it as soon as possible. The longer you wait- the harder it gets. If you have a friend who may have some of these, ask them about it. It's uncomfortable (I've had to do it), but it's better to be safe than sorry.
I relate to how some people may want another to reach out to them and ask how they at doing. At the same time, though, you don't want someone to reach out because it is uncomfortable. You depend on someone to talk to you, but do not want to go through the uncomfortableness of that conversation. Again, pray. Reach out. Get help. Talk to a priest, teacher, parent, friend. Do something.
You never know. Yesterday's "tomorrow" may end today.
Comments
Post a Comment