Psychology Study Material: Major Categories of Disorders in DSM-IV-TR

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Major Categories of Disorders in DSM-IV-TR

  • Anxiety disorders
  • Somatoform disorders
  • Dissociative disorders
  • Mood disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • Personality disorders
  • Sexual disorders
  • Substance-related disorders
  • Delirium, dementia, amnesia, and other cognitive disorders.

Anxiety Disorders

Illustration: Anxiety Disorders
  • Disorders in which anxiety becomes an impediment in a person՚s routine functioning.
  • Anxiety is a reaction to real or imagined threat that may hamper the daily functioning and results in uneasiness, worry, and apprehension.
  • In anxiety disorders, anxiety occurs without an obvious external cause, to an extent that it affects routine functioning of the person.
  • Stress is the part of daily routine in a person՚s life but the reactions to stress vary from individual to individual.
  • Anxiety is one of the various reactions to stress.
  • Whether or not one will develop anxiety, and to what extent, will depend on the nature of stress faced, family history, and fatigue or over work, and the person՚s coping strategies.

Major symptoms of stress include:

  • Sleeplessness
  • Headaches
  • Twitching and trembling
  • Dry mouth
  • Memory problems
  • Nightmares
  • Irritability
  • Fatigue
  • Sweating
  • Muscle tension
  • Insomnia

Common causes are

  • Imagined threat
  • Grief
  • Physical or emotional stress
  • Use of drugs
  • Withdrawal from drugs.

Subcategories of Anxiety Disorders

  • Generalized anxiety disorder
  • Panic disorder
  • Phobic disorder
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Post- traumatic stress disorder

Treatment can be done through

  • Finding the actual cause of anxiety.
  • Avoid becoming dependent on mood altering drugs.
  • Avoid stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol etc.
  • Biofeedback and relaxation therapy.
  • Aerobic exercises.
  • Avoid the effects that have been produced due to anxiety, if anxiety is cured, the other symptoms will be resolved automatically.

Generalized Anxiety Disorders

  • The disorder marked by long-term, persistent, anxiety and worry.
  • It refers to the long- term anxiety in which there is continual and exaggerated state within the person due to which he/she is continually tense, apprehensive and in automatic nervous system arousal.
  • Chronic form of anxiety disorders.

Causes include

  • Hereditary causes,
  • Or this disorder begins at very early age and the revealing of the symptoms is gradual not burst.

Treatment Involves

  • Medications and use of psychotherapy,
  • Exposure therapy,
  • Behavioural therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Symptoms Involve

  • People with this disorder are unable to relax,
  • Insomnia
  • Trembling,
  • Muscle tension,
  • Headaches, sweating,
  • Twitching,
  • Trembling,
  • Feel tiredness,
  • Depression etc.