Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases and Drugs Essay Example for Free

Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases and Drugs Essay Determining psychiatric disorders are best identified through their manifesting symptoms. Key to understanding this somehow lie in how one successfully determines the intensity or degree of symptomatic tendencies. In order to address these psychiatric disorders, some thinkers believe that there are good reasons to rely on the â€Å"practical signs† of a person’s behavioral abnormalities. It has to be mentioned that, while symptomatic disorders are not strictly to be regarded as diseases, â€Å"the clinical approach to abnormal behavior† can still be compared to â€Å"the medical approach to disease† (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, p. 85). That being said, identifying symptoms still belong to one of the most fundamental steps that can help psychiatrists figure a helpful diagnosis for any mental illness. In this paper, five specific examples of psychiatric illnesses shall be concisely described through their symptoms: anxiety disorder, depression, mania, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome. Some Examples of Psychiatric Disorders First, anxiety is a psychological state marked by purposeless restlessness, occasional experiences of muscle tensions and a feeling of panic or emotional discomfort (Illman, 2004, p. 3). The symptoms are themselves telling signs of abnormalities. Normal experiences of anxiety, if one may compare, may involve a feeling of considerable fear or worry. But a person suffering from an anxiety disorder experiences more than a feeling of emotional stress; as in most cases, this stress translates into psycho-somatic reactions such as prolonged apprehension or bodily discomfort as well (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, 391). Closely related to anxiety is the psychiatric illness called depression. A person suffering from severe depression may also manifest certain psycho-emotional and somatic reactions, which, if carefully diagnosed, is seriously beyond normal experiences of poignant moments. Clinical depression may be said to occur to persons suffering from a prolonged feeling of â€Å"worthlessness† and an unwarranted guilt; and these feelings in turn are amplified by a need to â€Å"deject† from societal functions (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, p. 394; Schacter, 2006, 49-65). Mania is a severe psychiatric condition characterized by compulsive behaviors such as anger, irrational actions or irritability. Persons suffering from mania put on an excessive amount of drive or passion to their behaviors on just about everything or anything to which they take interest (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, p. 393). Instances of manic behaviors, many psychiatrists believe, are also closely associated with depression. Schizophrenia meanwhile is a mental disorder suffered by persons who, even without a given objective stimulus, are subjectively experiencing â€Å"vivid sensory experiences† – i. . , hearing voices, seeing visions, among others (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, p. 393). Hallucination is almost often the commonplace word to describe such a mental condition. And last but not least, Tourette Syndrome is a mental illness characterized by a random, repetitive – and sudden – motor movement or creation of phonic sounds such as coughing, clearing of throat, among others; it is a peculiar symptom – called tic – already exhibited by patients early on in their childhood (National Institutes of Health). Diagnosis and Treatments To Help Explain and Cure the Disorders The basic diagnosis for these disorders fall into either two determining factors – genetics and environment. Under usual circumstances, psychiatrists are more inclined to consider the development of a person’s unique behavioral traits as explainable through an array of experiential traumas ensuing from factors within a person’s environment (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, p. 384. Finding an appropriate cure is indeed a cause worth pursuing. Unfortunately for Tourette Syndrome, there are no known cure that is proven to deliver promising results. Except for some clinical trials involving â€Å"neuroleptics† (e. g. haloperidol and pimozide) – drugs used to suppress tic syndromes rather than cure it, and are known for side effects including sedation and weight gain – there are no approved medicine available in the market for now (National Institutes of Health). Anxiety and depression have been addressed through an array of anti-depressant choices, depending on which drugs respond well to the patients. The National Institutes for Health for example used â€Å"citalopram† (Celexa), among others, to conduct research to patients suffering from clinical depression, in the hope that the drug may act as serotonin inhibitors. Side effects, as in the case for most antidepressants, have reportedly been mild but serious, ranging from sedation, sleepiness and some headache (Depression Learning Fact). Other severe mental health maladies, or those that needs to be addressed via â€Å"integration of personality† (such as schizophrenia or severe mania) may need serious clinical psychotherapy, somatherapy or even psychosurgery (Moskowitz Orgel, 1969, 426).