Psychological Disorders

• Persistent feelings of tension, distress, nervousness or fear a lot of the time for no apparent reason
• Anxiety is severe enough to interfere with their functioning and makes it difficult to cope with the normal demands of everyday life 

Panic Disorder

• Reoccuring, unexpected panic attacks involving a surge of fear or anxiety
• Panic attacks may last a few minutes but repeated incidents may occur
• Panic attacks occur suddenly for no reason in situations where people shouldn't be afraid (e.g. when relaxing, gardening, shopping etc)

Generalised Anxiety Disorder

• Persisent, excessive or unrealistic anxiety and worry
• Adults tend to worry about everyday life circumstances such as:
  • Health
  • Finances
  • Job 
  • Child's security
  • Minor matters (e.g. chores)
• Children tend to worry about their abilities and how well they can do things
• People find it difficult to prevent worrisome thoughts from coming to mind which distracts them or interferes with their life

Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

• Excessive, persistent, unreasonable fear of social situations or performance situations
• Usually due to the fear of being negatively judged by others and the fear of behaving in a way that is embarassing 

Specific Phobia 

• Excessive, persistent, unreasonable fear of a specific object or situation (e.g. flying, heights, spiders, seeing blood etc)
• Phobic object or situation triggers fear or anxiety and is avoided intentionally (or endured with intense anxiety if avoidance is impossible)
• Level of anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed and causes significant distress

Agoraphobia

• Excessive, persistent, unreasonable fear of a situation where something bad may happpen and escape is difficult or no one is there to help
• Situations may include
  • Using public transport
  • Being in an open space (e.g. a car park)
  • Being in an enclosed space (e.g. a lift)
  • Being outside of the home
• Situations are avoided or endured with a friend or with fear/anxiety if avoidance is impossible

Schizophrenia

• Brain disorder where there are persisten symptoms of psychosis (disturbances or disorganisation of thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviour) 
• People who have an altered perception of reality may:
  • Hear or see things that don't exist
  • Hold beliefs that are odd or not true
  • Speak in strange or confusing ways
  • Believe others are trying to hurt them or are watching them 

Delusional Disorder

• Persisten delusions (either one or more) such as:
  • Persecutions (being cheated or spied on etc)
  • Believing a partner is unfaithful
  • Believing a loved one has a serious medical condition (e.g. cancer)

Brief Psychotic Disorder

• Experiences of one or more psychotic symptoms for at least a day and less than 1 month then symptoms disappear

Schizoaffective Disorder

• A mixture of symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorders

Substance or Medication-induced Psychotic Disorder

• Persisten hallucinations or delusions due to physiological effects of excessie substance use or withdrawal from the use of drugs or sniffing
• These drugs include alcohol and medication
• Symtoms may be temporary in some and permanent in others and may persist 
• The drug triggers the onset of recurrent, lifelong and more serious psychotic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia)

• The term mood disorder is used to describe a mental disorder involving a disabling disturbance in emotional state
• The disturbace in emotional state can result in extreme sadness of depression to extreme elation of mania
• Mood is sometimes referred to as a non-specific emotional state because we hae no idea what has caused a mood

Major Depressive Disorder

• A depressed mood for t least 2 weeks during which the person feels sad or miserable most of the time or has lost interest/pleasure in most of the usual activities nearly everyday
• Four or more symptoms occur nearly everyday:
  • Tiredness
  • Feeling irritable
  • Loss/change of appetite
  • Weight loss/gain etc
• There may be recurrent thoughts of death or suicide as well as feelings of worthlessness and excessive guilt

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder 

• Depressive and other mood or physical symptoms before the onset of the menstrual cycle
• These symptoms include: 
  • Mood swings
  • Decreased interest in usual activities
  • Increased irritability 
  • Increased feelings of anger
  • Sleep problems etc
• These symptoms improve when menstruation starts and gradually decreases

Bipolar I Disorder

• Characterised by episodes of major depression and mania

Bipolar II Disorder 

• Characterised between fluctuations between episodes of major depression and hypomania (a milder form of mania)

Cyclothymia (Cyclothymic Disorder)

• Experience periods of manic symptoms and depressive symptoms over at least 2 years
• Involves recurring mood changes without experiencing a manic or depressive episode
• The duration of these symproms are shorter, less severe and not as regular as major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder
• Often described as a mild form of bipolar disorder