Psychological Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs

Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases 1

Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases, and Drugs

Axia College of University of Phoenix

Psychiatric Disorders, Diseases 2

There are many different categories of psychiatric disorders and diseases, and there are some drugs which can help treat these issues. First this paper will summarize many of the main psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, depression, mania, anxiety disorders, and tourette syndrome. Next, the drug treatments for these disorders and diseases will be discussed, including the side effects of the drugs.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder which is difficult to diagnose because there are not specific symptoms which are always characteristic of the disease. Some of the symptoms include strange delusions, emotional instability, hallucinations, illogical thoughts, and strange behaviors. Only one of these symptoms needs to be present for at least 8 months to diagnose schizophrenia.

One of the common types of drugs used to treat schizophrenia is dopamine receptor blocking drugs. These drugs lower dopamine receptors, thus relieving some of the symptoms of schizophrenia. One problem with dopamine receptor blocking drugs is that they can cause symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Another problem with these drugs is that they are only somewhat effective in 70% of schizophrenia, so the other 30% must look to other means for treatment.

Depression is a common experience which everyone has experienced at some point. It is normal to go through periods of depressions due to grief over a loved one’s death, lowered self-esteem, loss of personal property, or the occurrence of health or financial problems (John J. Pinel, 2007). When a person is repeatedly falling into a depression throughout their lives and this prevents them from leading productive lives, they are experiencing clinical depression. Depression is known as an affective disorder, or a psychotic disorder of emotion. There...