Chapter 10. Psychological Disorders

Elisa Niunin

Nearly everyone has felt sad, anxious, or happy at some point in their life. The spectrum of human emotion is far and wide, and every individual experiences the world in a different way. When those experiences lead to significant distress and impairment, they can be considered to be parts of different psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders. While each of these groups of disorders bring together similar characteristics and put a label on them, the presentation of a disorder can differ from one person to another. In addition, these disorders and how we view them may change drastically over time. Many disorders have had changes to their descriptions and classifications from the DSM-IV to the DSM-V. That is not to say that what we know about psychological disorders is unfounded. In fact, our knowledge is growing day by day, and that knowledge allows us to refine how we see and treat these disorders. It is important to be equally critical and compassionate when learning about psychological disorders. What we knew then is different from what we know now, and what we know now will most likely be different from what we will know in the future. Regardless, it is critical to remember that each person with a psychological disorder is human and should be treated as such. After all, we are more similar than we are different.