Assignment Code: BPCC-133/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPCC-133

Assignment Name: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

NOTE: All questions are compulsory.

PART A

Assignment One

2 x 20 = 40

Answer the following questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks.

1. Define psychological disorder. Trace the history of psychological disorders.

Ans) Barlow and Durand (2008) say that a psychological disorder is a problem with a person's mind that causes distress or makes it hard for them to function and causes them to act in a way that is not typical or culturally expected. In the definition, "psychological dysfunction" means problems with how your mind, emotions, or actions work. For example, you go to the market to shop, but instead of enjoying it, you feel terrible fear the whole time and just want to get back home, even though there is nothing to be afraid of. This happens every time you go to the market. But if there was a bomb scare or a riot in that market not too long ago, it wouldn't be wrong for you to be afraid and stay away from that market for a while. Many people may have a mild fear response that doesn't meet the criteria for a disorder. It is often hard to tell the difference between normal dysfunction and dysfunction that isn't normal.

History

Ancient views of psychological disorders

People have tried many different things over the years to explain strange behaviour, including demonology, magic, theology, physiology, and psychology. Egyptian papyri from the 16th century BCE show that people knew the brain was where mental functions happened. This is the earliest evidence that tries to explain strange behaviour. Cantations and magic were used to treat diseases whose causes were unknown. In China, Greece, and Egypt in the past, strange behaviour was thought to be caused by God or demons, depending on the symptoms. If the behaviour was religious, people thought that God had taken over the person. If the behaviour was aggressive, strange, or overly excited, people thought that demons had taken over the person.

Psychological disorders in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, which lasted from about 500 to 1500 CE, Europe was in the dark, and the scientific knowledge that Greek philosophers had developed was lost. However, the Islamic countries of West Asia kept Greek medicine alive and helped research and learn more about it. Avicenna, who lived from 980 to 1037 CE and was known as the "Prince of Physicians," wrote "The Canon of Medicine" in Persia. It is the book that is most often cited around the world. In 792, the first mental hospital was opened in Baghdad. Europe, on the other hand, didn't do any scientific research or treat people with mental illnesses in a kind way. Strange behaviour was often blamed on the devil or witchcraft, and people who were mentally ill were often burned at the stake, drowned, or had their heads cut off as punishment.

Contemporary Views about psychological disorders

After the mental hygiene movement took off in the US, both the US and Europe made technical advances that changed how people thought about mental disorders, what caused them, and how to treat them in the late 1800s. These ideas came from the fields of biology, psychology, and experimentation. The biological field showed that brain pathology and mental disorders are related. Emil Kraepelin, who lived from 1856 to 1926, helped develop the biological point of view by pointing out how important brain pathology and mental disorders are. He also came up with a way to group things together that became the basis for modern systems like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

2. Discuss the symptoms and causes of Cluster A Personality Disorders.

Ans) A personality disorder is a mental health condition that involves long-lasting, all-encompassing, disruptive patterns of thinking, acting, feeling, and relating to others. These patterns cause a lot of stress and/or make it hard for a person to do their job. Personality is an important part of who we are as people. It is a unique mix of attitudes, thoughts, and actions, as well as how we show these traits in our interactions with other people and the world around us. Personality disorders can make people see the world in a different way, act in strange ways, and cause stress in many areas of their lives, like work, relationships, and social functioning. Also, people with personality disorders may not realise how their bad behaviours hurt others or how they hurt themselves.

Most personality disorders start when you're in your teens, when your personality is still changing and growing. Because of this, almost everyone with a personality disorder is over the age of 18. Antisocial personality disorder is an exception to this rule. About 80% of people with this disorder will have started to show symptoms by age 11.

Causes

Personality disorders are one of the mental health conditions that are least understood. Scientists still don't know what makes them happen. So far, they think that the following things may lead to personality disorders:

Genetics

Scientists have found a gene that may be a cause of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder because it doesn't work right. Researchers are also looking into how aggression, anxiety, and fear, which can be signs of personality disorders, are linked to genes.

Brain Changes

Researchers have found small differences in the brains of some people with personality disorders. For example, research on paranoid personality disorder shows that the amygdala isn't working as it should. The amygdala is the part of your brain that helps you react to scary or dangerous things. In a study on people with schizotypal personality disorder, researchers found that the frontal lobe of their brains were smaller than normal.

Childhood Trauma

One study found a link between traumatic events in childhood and the growth of personality disorders. People with borderline personality disorder, for example, were more likely to have experienced sexual trauma as a child than other people. People with borderline and antisocial personality disorders have trouble getting close to others and trusting them. This could be because they were abused or hurt as children. Verbal abuse: In one study, people who were verbally abused as children were three times more likely to have borderline, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, or paranoid personality disorders as adults.

Cultural Factors

The fact that the rates of personality disorders vary from country to country shows that cultural factors may also play a role in their development. For example, the number of people with antisocial personality disorders is very low in Taiwan, China, and Japan, while the number of people with cluster C personality disorders is much higher.

Symptoms

Identity and a sense of self

People with personality disorders usually don't have a clear or stable image of themselves, and how they see themselves often changes depending on the situation or the people they're with. Their sense of themselves may be too high or too low.

Relationships

Because of their bad thoughts and actions, people with personality disorders find it hard to form close, stable relationships with other people. They may not care about or respect other people, be emotionally distant, or be too needy of care and attention.

Assignment Two

6 x 5 = 30

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 5 marks.

3. Types of Specific Phobias

Ans)

Animal Type

These include fears of animals such as dogs, cats, spiders, bugs, mice, rats, birds, fish, and snakes.

Natural Environment Type

These include fears of heights, storms, and being near water.

Blood-Injection-Injury Type

These include fears of seeing blood, receiving a blood test or injection, watching medical procedures on television, and for some individuals, even just talking about medical procedures.

Situational Type

These include fears of situations such as driving, flying, elevators, and enclosed places.

Other Type

These include other specific fears, including fears of choking or vomiting after eating certain foods, fears of balloons breaking or other loud sounds, or fears of clowns.

4. Psychoanalytical perspective on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Ans) Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy uses both behavioural techniques, like progressive muscle relaxation exercises, and mental techniques, like cognitive restructuring, to help people deal with their problems (for dealing with the psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, cognitive distortions, catastrophizing, etc), Even though GAD is known to be one of the hardest anxiety disorders to treat, a review of the research has shown that CBT can help relieve the symptoms of GAD. People with GAD often go to their general practitioner for physical problems like muscle pain, tingling, numbness, shortness of breath, etc. These drugs help relieve symptoms. They are better at doing this for physical symptoms than for mental ones. But these drugs can make you feel and act like you need them.

5. Gender Dysphoria

Ans) Gender identity, which is different from gender roles, is a person's deep-seated sense of what it means to be male or female. Gender roles have to do with how men and women act in the open. Gender Identity Disorder is called Gender Dysphoria in the DSM-5. It is when a person doesn't feel comfortable with the way they look or act because of their gender. The diagnosis has been changed to be more descriptive and, in theory, as neutral as possible. So, people who have been told they have gender identity disorder will definitely have gender dysphoria. It has been taken into account that a person's level of dysphoria can change over time, even if it's the same person.

6. Effect of alcohol on the brain

Ans) Even though alcohol is a depressant, it has the effect of a stimulant at first because it slows down the inhibitory centres of the brain. When people's inhibitions go down and they become more outgoing, they tend to feel better. At higher levels, it slows down the way the brain works by blocking the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Higher order cognitive functions like judgement, rational thinking, self-control, inhibition, etc. are affected. For example, a person who drinks a lot may do sexual things that they wouldn't normally do. They might be wrong about how well they can drive. Pain, cold, and other kinds of discomfort are not felt as much. Alcohol gives a person a general sense of warmth, well-being, and openness. As a result, he starts to care more about his family and friends.

7. autism spectrum disorder

Ans) The word "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos," which means "self." Eugen Bleuler was the first person to use the word "autism." Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is usually found before a child is 30 months old, though it can be suspected as early as a few weeks old. Autism is a condition that makes it hard to talk to other people and leads to repeating patterns of behaviour. DSM-5 has combined four separate diagnoses into one: autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified, and childhood disintegrative disorder. This new diagnosis is called autism spectrum disorder. Recent studies suggest that all of these disorders have the same basic symptoms, which vary in how bad they are. The word "spectrum" was chosen to describe people with autism because no two children with ASD are the same.

8. Alzheimer’s Disease

Ans) DSM-5, Alzheimer's disease is often called Alzheimer's dementia. It is a "major (or mild) neurocognitive disorder associated with Alzheimer's disease." It is linked to the most common cause of dementia and starts slowly but gets worse over time, leading to delirium and death. Alzheimer's is diagnosed after all other possible causes of dementia have been ruled out. This is done by taking a medical and family history, doing lab tests, and even a physical exam. Researchers have found that when someone has Alzheimer's, the temporal lobes are usually the first parts of the brain to be damaged. The temporal lobes are home to the hippocampus, which helps make new memories.

PART B

Tutorial

2 x 15 = 30

Note: You need to complete the activities according to the given instructions. Please attempt the activities in a coherent and organized manner. The word limit for each activity is around 700 words. Each activity is of 15 marks. For the activities you may refer to relevant offline or online resources. Some useful resources are also listed at the end of each unit in the self-learning material of BPCC 133.

‘Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority’, is the theme of World Mental Health Day 2022. Write your perspective on the theme in light of the post-pandemic situation across the globe.

Note:

1. Please refer to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3. Mention reference details of the articles/books at the end of your write-up.

Ans) One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set up by the United Nations in 2015 is called "Good Health and Well-Being." "To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" is how it's written in the law. The goals of SDG 3 cover and focus on many different parts of living a healthy life. Twenty-one indicators are used to measure how well the goals are being met.

SDG 3 has 13 goals and 28 ways to measure how well those goals are being met. The first nine goals are called "outcome goals." These are: reducing maternal mortality; ending all preventable deaths of children under 5; fighting communicable diseases; reducing deaths from non-communicable diseases and promoting mental health; preventing and treating substance abuse; reducing road injuries and deaths; giving everyone access to sexual and reproductive care, family planning, and education; achieving universal health coverage; and reducing illnesses and deaths caused by dangerous chemicals and pollution. Implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; support research, development, and universal access to affordable vaccines and medicines; increase health funding and support the health workforce in developing countries; and improve early warning systems for global health risks. [3]

SDG 3 aims to reach universal health coverage, which means that all men and women should have the same access to health care. It wants to end epidemics and stop babies, toddlers, and kids under 5 from dying when they don't have to.

For sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda to work, people need to be healthy. It focuses on bigger issues like economic and social inequality, urbanisation, the climate crisis, the continued burden of HIV and other infectious diseases, and new problems like noncommunicable diseases. Because COVID-19 is a global pandemic, there is a need to pay a lot of attention to making sure people are healthy and happy all over the world.

Even though the pandemic has and will continue to hurt our mental health, World Mental Health Day 2022 will give us a chance to get back in touch and renew our efforts to protect and improve mental health. Many parts of mental health have been questioned, and one in eight people around the world were already living with a mental disorder before the pandemic in 2019. At the same time, there aren't enough mental health services, people with the right skills, or money, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global mental health crisis, adding to both short-term and long-term stress and putting millions of people's mental health at risk. During the first year of the pandemic, anxiety and depression were both thought to have increased by more than 25%. At the same time, mental health services have been severely disrupted, and the number of people who can't get treatment for mental health problems has grown.

Growing social and economic inequality, long-lasting conflicts, violence, and public health emergencies affect whole populations and threaten progress toward better health. In 2021, 84 million people around the world were forced to move because of these problems. We need to give mental health more value and care as individuals, communities, and governments, and we need to match that value with more commitment, engagement, and investment from all stakeholders in all areas. We need to improve mental health care so that all kinds of mental health needs can be met through a community-based network of services and supports that are easy to get to, affordable, and of good quality.

Stigma and discrimination continue to be a barrier to social inclusion and getting the right care. More importantly, we can all do our part to raise awareness about which preventive mental health interventions work, and World Mental Health Day is a chance to do this together. We want to live in a world where mental health is valued, promoted, and protected, where everyone has the same chance to be mentally healthy and use their human rights, and where everyone can get the mental health care they need.

Together with other groups, WHO will start a campaign called "Making Mental Health and Well-Being for All a Global Priority." This will be a chance for people with mental health problems, advocates, governments, employers, employees, and other interested parties to get together and talk about what we need to do to make sure Mental Health & Well-Being is a Global Priority for everyone.

Reference

a)     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goal_3

b)     https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2022/10/10/default-calendar/world-mental-health-day-2022---make-mental-health-and-well-being-for-all-a-global-priority

2. Ensure that the content is written in one’s own words. Discuss the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Mental Health and Mental Illness.

Note: 1. Refer to the Government of India’s policy on AI. Refer to the articles that discuss the application of AI in the area of mental health and mention reference details of the articles/books, at the end of your write-up. 2. Ensure that the content is written in one’s own words.

Ans) A psychologist and an expert in machine learning might seem like an odd pair. Rosalind Picard and Paola Pedrelli of the Massachusetts General Hospital say that AI could help make mental health care easier for patients to get.

A machine can get very good at a task if it has a lot of data and examples of how to do it well (i.e., what output it should produce when it sees a particular input). It can also help find patterns that humans might not have been able to find as quickly without the help of a computer. Using wearable devices and smartphones, Picard and Pedrelli can get detailed information about the conductance and temperature of the skin, the heart rate, the level of activity, socialisation, self-assessment of depression, sleep patterns, and more from people who are taking part in the study. In the end, they want to make machine learning algorithms that can make sense of this data and figure out when and how people are having trouble and what could help them. They say that the algorithms that these researchers have made can help both doctors and patients in the long run.

Picard and Pedrelli's current work at MIT's Jameel Clinic go a step further than their previous research, which focused on finding out if machine learning could use data to figure out a participant's current emotional state. They want to find out if machine learning can predict how a disorder will progress, pick up on changes in a person's behaviour, and give researchers information they can use to make sure each patient gets the best care possible.

Researchers need to make a tool that will help and empower its users and make machine-learning algorithms that can be used in real life. Picard says, "Right now, we're trying to figure out how machine-learning algorithms can help people." The team also thinks about how machine-learning algorithms might show users what they've learned. This could be through a new device, a smartphone app, or even by telling a doctor or family member.

Imagine a technology that could track a person's heart rate, how they sleep, and what they do at home. Sometimes, these changes are so small that the person and their loved ones don't even notice. Machine-learning algorithms might be able to connect these data to the user's past experiences and the experiences of other users. People may be more likely to do things that have helped them in the past or to talk to their doctor if they use this technology.

A project that started in the 1960s at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory could be the answer for India. The first AI-based chatbot, called "ELIZA," was able to simulate a short conversation between a therapist and a patient. These kinds of systems are still used today, but they aren't as good as "ELIZA." AI-based systems have come a long way since then, and India, which is one of the leaders in AI innovations, might be able to use its growing AI ecosystem to build virtual therapists that people in even the most remote parts of the country can use. National projects on natural language processing and the popularity of smartphones, especially in rural areas, mean that mental health patients who have been shunned in the past can now easily get help from AI apps. A good place to start when looking for treatment for these diseases might be a network of chatbots connected to therapists and psychiatrists who can watch the patient's progress from afar.

The fact that virtual assistants like "Karim" have been helping Syrian refugees deal with the trauma of loss and being forced to leave their homes is a good sign. These kinds of systems are getting better at simulating human interactions. Because neural networks are getting better, they will only get more refined and complex over the next few decades. In India, too, new technologies like Wysa use artificial intelligence to help people with mental health problems.

The popularity of smartphones, the focus on Digital India, and the low cost of putting AI to use make it a cheap way to help with health care in India. Even though you could argue that chatbots can't replace human-to-human contact, it's still a good idea to try since it will take a long time to improve our mental health facilities. One could also say that the fact that chatbots are private and don't judge might encourage patients to be more honest about their symptoms. In short, AI-based therapy systems can be a good place to start addressing the problem of stigma, lack of staff, expensive treatment, and lack of support systems. In a country where mentally ill people trying to kill themselves were no longer a crime just two years ago, there needs to be an intervention to help the Mental Health Act do what it was meant to do.

Reference

a)     https://www.investindia.gov.in/team-india-blogs/artificial-intelligence-cost-effective-solution-improve-mental-health-care-india

https://indiaai.gov.in/article/using-artificial-intelligence-to-improve-mental-health