Analyzing Psychological Disorders
Frank T. DiBona
February 14, 2011
A biopsychologist will implement the biological approach to psychology in the attempt to study psychological diseases and disorders as well as in the diagnosis and treatment of individual’s that suffer from such diseases and disorders, and this will include the analysis of the disorder known as Schizophrenia. In addition, the disorders of Anorexia Nervosa and Generalized Anxiety Disorder will also be examined. Both of these disorders will be discussed within this paper, the treatment with drug therapies, the causes, and areas of the brain that is affected. The first disorder to be discussed is Schizophrenia, one of the most complex psychiatric disorders of all time. “A disorder which name defines the “splitting of psychic functions. The term was coined in the early years of the 20th century to describe what was assumed at that time to be the primary symptom of the disorder; the breakdown of integration among emotion, thought, and action.” (Pinel, 2007, p.481). Schizophrenia presents a variety of characteristic symptoms including hallucinations, or imaginary voices, incoherent speech and thoughts or illogical thinking, odd behavior patterns. (Pinel, 2007). The causal theories and neural basis that surround the development of Schizophrenia is there is evidence that the disorder may result from genetic predisposition resulting from the Schizophrenia diagnosis in a close, first degree relative (Pinel, 2007). This predisposition, combined with experiences involving significant trauma or stress, may trigger the development of schizophrenia, and in addition, those with the genetic predisposition for schizophrenia often show evidence which suggest neurodevelopment hindrances related to early infection,...