The Ever-Changing Realm of Mental Health Disorders

In today’s modern world, the field of mental health has become a core part of our society.  While mental health may seem like a newly-minted field, it has been around for thousands of years.  Going back as far as 5000BC, there is evidence of trepanning – drilling of holes in the skull – in ancient cultures.  Our ancestors believed that mental health disorders were caused by demonic spirits and that the only cure would be to release them through the skull.

Thousands of years later, people still believed that mental health disorders were caused by evil spirits, the devil, or magic. In ancient Egypt, ritual dances were held in order to cure mental health disorders.  In ancient Greece, the disorder hysteria, which we now know as conversion disorder, was believed to be caused by a wandering uterus.  To cure the hysteria, the Greeks would fumigate the vagina in attempt to bring the uterus back in place.  The Greek physician Hippocrates in the 3^rd century BC was one of the first to attribute mental health disorders to environmental and emotional causes rather than curses from the gods.  Still, our misunderstanding of mental health disorders continued well into modern times.  One classic example of how people with mental health disorders were stigmatized is the Salem Witch trials, where many people were executed for their unusual behaviors.

While we would like to believe that we are advanced when it comes to treating mental health disorders, one cannot ignore the fact that patients in the not-so-distant past were severely mistreated in misguided attempts to cure their afflictions.  As near back as the 1960s, mental health patients were subjected to lobotomies, electro shock treatments, and being locked up in asylums without proper care.  Yes, the treatment of mental health patients has improved in today’s world but the stigma around many mental health disorders remains.

In 1952, the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was released and has been updated four times since.  This manual is still the core tool that physicians use when diagnosing mental health disorders in patients. Here at Disorders.org, we also use the DSM to help define the many mental health disorders which afflict us.  However, we recognize that the DSM is not all-inclusive and that many of its entries are debatable. By looking at how the DSM has been changed over the years, we can get clues into the changing nature of our psyches and how we understand them.  For example, the DSM used to include homosexuality as a mental health disorder.  In today’s world, homosexuality is largely not considered a mental health disorder and the DSM has been revised to reflect this social change.

Changes to society and our ways of life are certainly affecting mental health. New mental health disorders are constantly being uncovered – like orthorexia, a condition in which one is obsessed with eating healthy foods.  Before our society was flooded with unnatural foods, this condition did not – and could not – exist.  As our social ideals of beauty veer towards the ultra thin, we have seen an increase in eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia nervosa.  By analyzing mental health disorders, we are not just looking at afflictions of individuals.  Rather, we get insight to our ever-changing society and environment and our relationship with them.

Your Experience is Unique to you Alone in Regard to your Mental Health Disorders

Our goal is not to give you concrete definitions of mental health disorders nor prescribe solutions for fixing them.  We realize that mental health is an ever-changing field and all cases must be assessed individually but still in context of the larger picture.  Thus, our goal is to present you with the most up-to-date knowledge available about mental health disorders and their treatment options.

By better understanding disorders and treatment, people will be more empowered in their own recovery and experience a faster progress. However, you don’t need to have a psychological disorder to be interested in how the human mind works.  By learning the principle ideas of psychology, you can improve your relationships, increase your self esteem, and live a more fulfilling life.

Personality

It can be difficult to pinpoint a person’s “personality”, becuase it comprises so many different traits. However, we can generally sum up one’s personality as all of the emotional and behavior qualities which, in the course of our daily regular lives, make us unique. Personality traits are usually stable and quite predictable.

Steps to Choosing a Therapist

Have you made the decision to seek therapy? Choosing a therapist are important for successful treatment. You do not want to share your personal problems with a person with a less than stellar track record or an inexperienced practitioner. Your goal should be to find a therapist with whom you feel comfortable and can create a relationship.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(IV) defines obsessions as “recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.”