So right about now you are asking yourself what exactly is a psychological disorder and who gets them? Well, in the following text you will find all the answers to your questions about mental/psychological disorders, plus information about whether or not you are susceptible to certain disorders. Read on my children and learn why most people are agliophobics and very few alliumphobics. Plus, do you know anyone who always seems down and sad? Well, maybe they have just had some bad luck, or could they be clinically depressed? We’ll explain the difference between depression and normal mood cycles so that you can dazzle your friends with an informed diagnosis about your dreary chemistry teacher. Did she break up with her boyfriend or is she a manic depressive? And lots of info on a dozen more psychological disorders from dissociative amnesia and multiple personalities to psychosexual disorders and schizophrenia.

In the field of psychology there are what are called schools of thought. Each school has its own theory on why humans become mentally ill, but there is not one theory that has been proven absolutely correct. The biomedical model suggests that all mental disorders are traceable to some physical abnormality, like brain biochemistry or a genetic abnormality. The cognitive model proposes that disorders arise from unusual ways of thinking, such as inappropriate belief systems. Freud founded the psychoanalytic model which states that psychological disorders stem from internal conflicts that are in the unconscious, often having to do with a childhood trauma. Then there is the behavioral model which endorses the theory that psychological disorders are a result of faulty contingencies of reinforcement. Finally, the sociological model considers variables such as social class and gender to be instrumental in the development of disorders. All of the above are viable theories, but most psychologists believe that it is a combination of all the factors in each school of thought that essentially cause psychological disorders in a person.

We have divided the many types of psychological disorders into 6 categories: anxiety, dissociative, mood, psychosexual, developmental, and personality disorders.

An individual is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder when the symptoms include a heightened level of apprehension or uneasiness.

Phobias are one type of anxiety disorders. A phobia is an irrational fear of objects or situations. Often times the phobic knows that the fear is irrational, but they can’t get over it without the help of a professional psychologist. Phobias can be broken down into three main categories: specific phobias, agoraphobias, and social phobias. A specific phobia is the fear of an object or a particular situation. Agliophobia (fear of pain), alliumphobia (fear of garlic), arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to roof of mouth), cyberphobia (fear of computers), lockiophobia (fear of childbirth), philophobia (fear of falling in love), and triskadekaphobia (fear of the number 13) are examples of specific phobias. Although some these phobias sound incredibly funny, they can be extremely debilitating to a phobic’s life. Imagine having cyberphobia, where the mere sight of a computer in a department store or at work could launch you into a panic attack, making it hard for you to breathe and frightening you to the point where you can no longer move. The two other categories of phobias are agoraphobia, or the fear of public places, and social phobia, or the fears of situations which might lead to embarrassment, such as public speaking.

The most common phobias include:

In addition to phobias, there are many more anxiety disorders. Panic disorder consists of frequent panic attacks for no reason while post-traumatic- stress disorder is caused by traumatic experiences, such as a plane crash, and is relieved through flashbacks or dreams. Obsessive-compulsive disorder occurs when a patient has recurring thoughts or behavior that they feel compelled to perform. The obsession is the involuntary thought and the compulsion is the need to repeat the behavior. For example, a woman obsessed with cleanliness may frequently wash her hands.

Somatoform disorders are considered anxiety disorders because the person feels high levels of apprenhension. Somatoform disorders are classified as such when the person displays physical symptoms that have no known organic or physiological pathology. Conversion disorder is the transfer of emotional problems into physical symptoms. Hypochondriasis is the unrealistic belief that one is suffering from a serious disease.

Dissociative disorders involve a break in conscious experience, identity, or memory.

It is not uncommon for a person who has recently been exposed to an extremely stressful situation or who has been involved in a traumatic event to suddenly lose their memory. This is called dissociative amnesia and happens because the victim can not deal with what has happened, so their mind erases it from their memory, often erasing the rest of the person’s memory as well. Usually the patient regains their memory after some time. Multiple personality disorder is the presence of 2 or more distinct personalities in one person. This is frequently the result of childhood abuse, be it physical or emotional, where the child escaped the pain by "going away" inside their own mind. It is a defense mechanism the person uses to protect themselves by distancing themself from the situation. Multiple personalities develop to handle different stressful situations for the person, and can be as numerous as twenty-five in one person. Through psychotherapy, or talk therapy, the patient can work through the disorder and lead a normal life.

Unipolar depression is often referred to as major depression because the victim’s mood remains at one bleak extreme of sadness. Persons with this type of depression are always sad, continually have negative thoughts, feelings of helplessness, and always blame themselves. This state is also called clinical depression and may involve sleep disorders, eating disorders, and despair as well.

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is characterized by drastic mood swings that coincide with particular seasons. In many cases patients are severely depressed in winter, but happy in the spring and summer. Psychologists attribute this to the "grayness" of winter and "colorfulness" of spring and summer. Most people react to colors in their surroundings by fluctuating their moods. This is why you may feel sort of slow and nonchalant on a rainy day and full of energy on a sunny day.

When a person’s mood fluctuates between extremes of elation and depression they are said to have bipolar disorder. The manic episodes where the patient is cheerful and euphoric are short-lived and tend to end abruptly.

Depression is treatable with certain medications and can be managed if the medicine is properly used. Studies have shown that women are more likely to be the victims of major depression and SAD, but men are at an equal risk with women to fall into bipolar depression. Genetics and biochemistry have proven to be influential in whether or not a person becomes depressed.

Disorders in this category are usually termed paraphilia. Paraphiliacs are sexually aroused to objects or activities not usually considered erotic.

One of the most common psychosexual disorders is sexual arousal to nonhuman objects. Fetishism is sexual arousal to inanimate objects, such as bras or shoes. Zoophilia is sexual interaction with animals and commonly referred to as bestiality.

Next there are those persons who become sexually aroused because of suffering or humiliation. Sadism is the practice of inflicting pain, injury or humiliation on another person for sexual gratification. Masochism is receiving sexual gratification by being hurt or humiliated. And exhibitionism is the act of exposing one’s genitals to unwilling others to receive sexual gratification.

In general, most paraphilias are much more common in men, especially exhibitionism. The only paraphilia more commonly found in women is masochism.

The final class of sexual disorders is the arousal to nonconsenting persons. Pedophiliacs are those people who seek out a child to have as a sexual partner. A voyeur, or "peeping Tom", gets aroused by watching another person undress. In our society it is not an unacceptable practice unless the person being watched does not know that they are being watched.

In these types of disorders the schizophrenic has a distorted perception of reality.

Many schizophrenics have delusions, or false beliefs not based on reality. For example, a woman whose husband is killed in a train wreck and believes that her husband is not really dead and that the funeral was a plot to mislead her is suffering from a delusion. Hallucinations, or perceptions in the absence of sensory stimulation, are also common among people with these disorders.

Schizophrenia accounts for over one half of all patients in psychiatric hospitals today. Those patients suffering from schizophrenia usually show signs of disordered thought, where their forms of thinking become "loose" and consequently their speech becomes incoherent. The content of thinking is also affected, most frequently by delusions of persecution and delusions of reference. Delusions of persecution are the false beliefs that others wish to harm you in some way. Delusions of reference are false beliefs that others are controlling one’s behavior.

There are four subtypes of schizophrenia:

1) Disorganized schizophrenia- Symptoms include severely disordered thinking, incoherent language, unusual emotional expressions (silly, giggling, grimacing, depression,and peculiar mannerisms), fragmented delusions, and concern with bodily processes.

2) Catatonic schizophrenia- Symptoms include rigid postures, wild excitement, waxy flexibility in which the patient holds a posture for a long time and can be passively remolded to a new posture that is then held, and inappropriate negativism, such as clenching jaw shut when asked to take a pill.

3) Paranoid schizophrenia- Symptoms include numerous delusions of persecution, arguementativeness, violence, confusion about gender and a fear of being thought of as a homosexual. This type of disorder has an onset in later life and the victim can function if he/she does not act on his/her delusions.

4) undifferentiated schizophrenia- Symptoms include disordered thinking without the other criteria for a specific subtype of schizophrenia.

The cause for schizophrenia is not known, but some psychologists speculate that it has to do with biochemical imbalances in the brain, faulty family relationships, and the socioeconomic environment. As yet there is no "cure" for schizophrenia, but many psychologists believe that a window into the mind of schizophrenics is offered by their drawings which reflect an unusual way of thinking about the world.

These are a class of disorders with a wide variety of problems that surface in infancy, childhood, or adolescence.

Autistic disorder is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication. Often autistic children do not speak and show little, if any, emotion.

Children with academic skills disorders display an impairment in specific academic skills, such as reading. One academic skills disorder is dyslexia, a disorder that makes it difficult for a person to read. If treated properly and taught in certain ways, people with academic skills can quite often get past them and lead enormously successful and regular lives. Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) causes inattention, impulsivity, and exaggerated motor activity in a child. It can be treated and controlled reasonably well with medication, such as ritalin. Usually the symptoms disappear as a child matures and the adult functions normally in society. Finally there are aging disorders, such as senile dementia, that affect the elderly.

This class of disorder consists of inflexible personal traits that cause a noticeable impairment or subjective distress.

People who view themselves as inadequate or incompetent socially and academically suffer from avoidant personality disorder. Patients tend to be afraid of ridicule for their inadequacy and so they shy away from others. However, persons who cling to others for support because they see themselves as helpless and incompetent may suffer from dependent personality disorder. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is found in perfectionists. This is less serious than obsessive-compulsive disorder, as the patient merely views others as incompetent or irresponsible. Schizoid personality disorder is found in "loners" and the person is often suspicious of others. People who feel above the rules and as though they have a special status may suffer from narcissistic personality disorder. Last but not least is anti-social personality disorder. These people feel that they can break the rules to get what they want because it is a "dog eat dog world" and their actions are justified.