LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Define “psychological disorder” and summarize the general causes of disorder.
- Explain why it is so difficult to define disorder, and how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM) is used to make diagnoses.
- Describe the stigma of psychological disorders and their impact on those who suffer from them.
The focus of the next two chapters is to many people the heart of psychology. This emphasis on abnormal psychology—the application of psychological science to understanding and treating mental disorders—is appropriate, as more psychologists are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorder than in any other endeavor, and these are probably the most important tasks psychologists face. About 1 in every 4 Americans (or over 78 million people) are affected by a psychological disorder during any one year (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, & Walters, 2005), 1 and at least a half billion people are affected worldwide. The impact of mental illness is particularly strong on people who are poorer, of lower socioeconomic class, and from disadvantaged ethnic groups.
People with psychological disorders are also stigmatized by the people around them, resulting in shame a nd embarrassment, as well as prejudice and discrimination against them. Thus the understanding and treatment of psychological disorder has broad implications for the everyday life of many people. Table 12.1 shows the prevalence (i.e., the frequency of occurrence of a given condition in a populationat a given time) of some of the major psychological disorders in the United States.
|
Disease |
Percentageaffected |
Numberaffected |
|
Any mental disorder |
26.2 |
81,744,000 |
|
Any anxiety disorder |
18.1 |
56,472,000 |
|
Specific phobia |
8.7 |
27,144,000 |
|
Social phobia |
6.8 |
21,216,000 |
|
Agoraphobia |
0.8 |
2,496,000 |
|
Generalized anxiety disorder |
3.1 |
9,672,000 |
|
Panic disorder |
2.7 |
8,424,000 |
|
Obsessive-compulsive disorder |
1.0 |
3,120,000 |
|
Posttraumatic stress disorder |
3.5 |
10,920,000 |
|
Any mood disorder |
9.5 |
29,640,000 |
|
Major depressive disorder |
6.7 |
20,904,000 |
|
Bipolar disorder |
2.6 |
8,112,000 |
|
Schizophrenia |
1.0 |
3,120,000 |
|
Personality disorders |
||
|
Antisocial personality disorder |
1.5 |
4,680,000 |
|
Borderline personality disorder |
1.5 |
4,680,000 |
|
Anorexia nervosa |
0.1 |
312,000 |
|
Any substance abuse disorder |
3.8 |
11,856,000 |
|
Alcohol use disorder |
4.4 |
13,728,000 |
|
Drug use disorder |
1.8 |
5,616,000 |
|
All cancers* |
5.4 |
16,848,000 |
|
Diabetes* |
10.7 |
33,348,000 |
|
* These nonpsychological conditions areincluded for comparison. |
||
In this chapter our focus is on the disorders themselves. We will review the major psychological disorders and consider their causes and their impact on the people who suffer from them. Then in Treating Psychological Disorders , we will turn to consider the treatment of these disorders through psychotherapy and drug therapy.
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