Part 2: Detailed Explanation of the Main Manifestations and Classifications of Mental Disorders

mental disorders

Mental disorders refer to situations where psychological and behavioral manifestations deviate from the norm.

1. Main manifestations of psychological disorders

General maladaptive reactions and behavioral and personality deviations

This includes psychological problems and disturbances that commonly occur in daily life, such as psychological contradictions and conflicts, emotional distress, and psychological imbalance, as well as fetishes like exhibitionism.

Special state of consciousness

(1) Temporary abnormal psychological changes during hypnosis or dream states. These abnormal psychological states will disappear on their own after the hypnosis or dream state ends, and the individual will return to normal.

(2) Social and sensory deprivation. Symptoms include inattention, memory loss, severely weakened willpower and self-control, confused thinking, emotional instability, and anxiety or depression.

(3) The state of enlightenment of believers. Such as the "going into a state of demonic possession" of Qigong practitioners;

(4) Abnormal psychological and behavioral manifestations caused by certain drugs, such as hallucinogens.

Neurosis

These include neurasthenia, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive neurosis, anxiety neurosis, depressive neurosis, and psychogenic reactions.

Psychosomatic disorders or psychophysiological disorders

This refers to physical illnesses or functional disorders caused by psychological factors, resulting in abnormalities in physical and psychological behavior. Examples of such psychosomatic illnesses include essential hypertension, coronary heart disease, duodenal ulcers, bronchial asthma, hyperthyroidism, tension headaches, obesity, and psychogenic fever.

Psychological and behavioral abnormalities manifested by brain or physical diseases

(1) Mental retardation or brain maldevelopment resulting in psychological defects or intellectual disability.

(2) Abnormalities that occur when there is organic lesion of the brain, such as psychological abnormalities caused by brain trauma, viral infection, poisoning or metabolic disorders of the mother during pregnancy, brain lesions, etc.

(3) Psychological abnormalities caused by physical disabilities, defects, or injuries.

mental illness

It is a severe mental disorder. In this type of illness, both mental and physical adaptive functions are severely impaired, leading to phenomena such as hallucinations, delusions, confused thinking, bizarre behavior, and abnormal emotional consciousness. Normal speech and rational behavioral responses are lost, making normal participation in social activities impossible, and significant personality changes occur. Individuals completely lose awareness of their situation, are unable to actively seek treatment, and exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

2. Distinguishing between normal and abnormal psychology

The difference between normal and abnormal psychological activity is relative, and it's difficult to find a clear-cut dividing line. Abnormal psychological manifestations are influenced by many factors, including objective environmental conditions, subjective experiences, the prevailing psychological state, and different socio-cultural backgrounds. Therefore, it's difficult to find a unified, universally accepted standard for judgment. Of course, abnormal psychological phenomena are not fundamentally unrecognizable and uncontrollable; it is entirely possible to find some principles and methods for identifying abnormalities.

In fact, many scholars are exploring indicators of normal and abnormal psychological (behavioral) states from different perspectives. Below are specific indicators that experts use to identify psychological (behavioral) abnormalities.

Statistical indicators

The most common way to determine whether a person is psychologically normal is to compare and contrast their psychological activities with those of the majority to see if they are different from others. If they are inconsistent, it may indicate a psychological abnormality. This method uses the normal distribution curve in statistics to distinguish between normality and abnormality. The basic assumption of this method is that the majority of people are psychologically healthy and are located in the middle of the normal distribution curve, close to the mean; only a small number of people tend to be at either extreme.

Of course, statistical indicators are not always entirely applicable. First, there is no absolute boundary for what constitutes "different from the majority." Therefore, a slight discrepancy cannot automatically classify someone as abnormal; moreover, at the extremes of the normal distribution, often only one end may be abnormal, while the other, though exceeding the normal range, may not be considered abnormal. For example, in terms of intelligence, an IQ below 70 is undoubtedly abnormal; however, an IQ above 140 is considered gifted but not abnormal. This is because gifted individuals may become enviable geniuses in the future.

Social Adaptation Indicators

If a person's value system, ethical standards, and behavior are incompatible with, or even contradict, the objective needs and requirements of the social environment, then harmony is impossible. In this situation, they cannot communicate and interact well with others, cannot be understood by others, cannot understand others, cannot be accepted by the group or others, becoming an untrusted and unwelcome superfluous member of the group, and unable to correctly understand and handle various interpersonal relationships. In this case, it should be considered whether their psychology (behavior) is abnormal.

However, indicators for evaluating a person's social adaptability are often influenced by different socio-cultural backgrounds and historical conditions, and therefore such indicators are not absolute. For example, in Chinese history before the Republic of my country, bound feet were called "three-inch golden lotuses" and were considered a sign of beauty. But if women still bound their feet today, it would be a truly perverse practice.

Using personal experience as an indicator

People use their own experiences and perceptions of normal psychology as a starting point or reference point to judge whether various psychological activities are normal or abnormal. Ideally, all aspects of human psychological activity, such as cognitive activity, emotional activity, and volitional behavior, should be unified, complete, and coordinated. If these three are not in harmony, one can rely on personal experience to determine whether the psychological activity is normal. Psychiatrists possess far richer and more precise personal experience in this regard, which they frequently utilize in their clinical work.