Psychological Problems

Psychological Problems Meaning

Psychological problems is an umbrella term used to describe many aspects of mental illnesses; this ranges from the effects of mental illnesses, characteristics, theories, and interventions of mental illnesses to issues and debates raised when understanding and investigating mental illnesses.

Psychological Problem Examples

There are many ways in which mental illnesses and psychological problems can affect the quality of one's life. These problems affect individuals, their families and society.

Effects of psychological problems

How we see mental illnesses differs from person to person and is also affected by cultural differences. What one country views as a sign of mental illness may be a standard practice in another, within reason. With the modernisation of society, people have experienced more challenges, such as isolation and pressure from social media.

Young people and psychological problems

The effects of young people and psychological problems differ from those of the older generation. Some difficulties that they may face are:

• Delinquency
• Bullying/social isolation
• Difficulties expressing and receiving help

Some common mental illnesses typically affecting young people are anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Psychological problems in old age

Some examples of psychological problems in old age are:

• Feelings of increased burden
• Financial difficulties
• Social isolation
• Reduced quality of life

Some common mental illnesses more common in old age are Alzheimer's disease and depression.

Mental Illnesses

When it comes to diagnosing, understanding and treating mental illnesses, there are several factors that healthcare practitioners need to consider. For instance, two main diagnostic manuals are used, usually determined by where the patient is treated:

• The DSM is used in the US, and the ICD is used in almost every country.

In theory, this sounds great as there are resources available in many countries; however, the issue is that the two manuals differ in terms of symptoms and symptom duration of mental illnesses. So how can we determine which one if either of these are valid? And how do we create a consensus on mental illness and the best way to treat it, when one manual states a person has depression, and another states that they, in fact, have anxiety?

Consistency is key in treating and diagnosing illnesses.

Depression

Depression is an affective disorder, which means that it affects our emotional state. Depression is an umbrella term used to describe many types of depression, such as clinical depression, major depressive disorder, unipolar depression, and bipolar depression.

The term depression is probably one of the most overly-cited mental illnesses. Often people say that they feel depressed after a bad day. Although they may feel sad or upset, they are likely not dealing with depression, as the DSM and ICD report that the symptoms should for longer than a few days or weeks.

Let's take a look at a brief overview of theories, approaches and treatments for depression.

• Biological theories such as the monoamine theory of depression suggest that a reduction of monoamines, such as serotonin leads to the onset of depression. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that relay information from neuron to neuron, and serotonin is often thought of as the happy messenger. Lower levels of it have been associated with low moods, the prominent symptom of depression.
• Psychological explanations suggest that negative schemas and attributions can contribute to depression, suggesting that our experiences, the way we think, and faulty cognitive processes can cause depression.
• Cognitive behaviour therapy to treat depression has been created. These interventions aim to change maladaptive to adaptive cognitive thoughts to boost functioning and reduce symptoms. In addition, patients are taught coping strategies to prevent future relapse.
• Antidepressants are another form of popular treatment used to treat depression. These drugs typically work by blocking the serotonin reuptake, meaning a higher abundance of the neurotransmitter in the synapse.

Addiction

When someone has an accident and it results in a serious injury, the pain can be hard to manage. Doctors will often prescribe painkillers to help ease the pain. Painkillers, especially when they are strong, such as Codeine, an opioid, have addictive. Opioids include drugs such as heroin and morphine, and can often become addictive if taken for too long. The person with pain may take painkillers to ease their pain for a few weeks, but become addicted if not carefully monitored, and struggle to operate normally without the painkillers afterwards.

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the diagnostic manual used in most countries, proposes three main criteria that are required to be present for the diagnosis of an addiction.

1. An impulse to use substances/partake in activities despite knowing the consequences of doing so.
2. Difficulties in not abusing/over-using what the individual is addicted to.
3. They prioritise using substances or doing activities they are addicted to over other commitments.

Let's take a look at a brief overview of theories, approaches and treatments for addiction.

• As with many theories of psychological problems, different approaches have varying accounts for explaining addiction.
• Biological psychologists argue that addiction is hereditary, whereas social psychologists say that factors such as peer influence may be more significant contributors to addiction.
• Some common addiction interventions used are aversion therapy which applies principles of classical conditioning to treat addiction and self-management programmes which are interventions designed to make individuals responsible for their recovery.

Individuals addicted to alcohol cannot stop drinking even if they know the detrimental effects of doing so, freepik.com/vectorjuice.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that impairs thoughts, feelings and behaviour, characterised by psychosis. The symptoms of the illness are characterised into two sub-groups: positive and negative.

Let's take a look at a brief overview of theories, approaches and treatments for schizophrenia.

• Biological explanations of schizophrenia have linked mental illness to genetics, irregular dopamine levels in particular brain pathways, and irregular brain structures and activity. For instance, increased activity in the frontal lobe is responsible for higher cognitive processes such as memory, controlling impulses and motor function in schizophrenia patients.
• The psychological explanations spark some controversy as they suggest that schizophrenia may be caused by conflicting messages that we receive from important figures such as our parents. The theory is known as the double-bind theory of schizophrenia. Family dysfunctions and cognitive distortions are possible explanations for schizophrenia.
• The social drift theory, a psychological explanation, has also been proposed, which explains the effects and maintenance of the mental illness rather than focusing on the onset like many other theories.
• Common treatments of schizophrenia include the use of antipsychotics and CBT.

Research on psychological problems

Let's take a look at some research examples that have been carried out to investigate psychological problems.

Caspi et al. (2003)

Caspi et al. investigated whether different variations of the serotonin gene and stressful life events could predict the onset of depression. The study used a birth cohort register to carry out a longitudinal quasi-experiment.

The study found that participants who inherited the serotonin gene's short variation and experienced both stressful life events and childhood maltreatment were more likely to develop depression than those who inherited two long alleles of the serotonin gene.

The Caspi et al. (2003) study supports the biopsychosocial model of mental illnesses.

Therefore, the study supports both the nature and nurture aspects of the debate and can be considered holistic as it investigates how numerous factors can contribute to the onset of depression.

Young (2007)

Young (2007) investigated whether CBT could be used as an effective intervention to treat internet addiction. The study recruited 114 participants. Each participant underwent an online CBT course.

The study revealed that over time, with CBT, participants reported improvements in their condition. The pattern did not significantly reduce even six months after completing the CBT course. The study's results suggest that CBT is an effective treatment for online addictions.

Psychological problems issues and debates

There are several issues raised when investigating the nature of psychological problems, such as:

• Nature versus nurture - what's more important when investigating psychological problems, our genetic make-up or our environment? Or are these of equal importance? These are common issues that are raised and studied in psychology. Caspi et al. (2003) showed how these factors could predict depression.

• Reductionism versus holism - this debate sparks some debate about whether it is safe to assume one factor can explain psychological problems or if multiple factors should be considered. The biopsychosocial model is an example of an approach that can be regarded as holistic.

• Free will versus determinism - do we have control of ourselves and our psychological problems? If we had no control, it would be safe to assume that active interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy would be ineffective. However, this is not the case. But to what extent do we have control?

• Ethical issues - when researching psychological problems, researchers need to ensure that they are not causing harm to participants. This includes not impeding their treatment. As we mentioned at the start, there are severe effects of psychological problems, so researchers should try their hardest not to worsen this for participants.