Analyzing disorders helps to put them into a perspective that
makes them less intimidating and fearful.
Thus when they can be broken down into their individual components there
is even a greater understanding of eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual disorders,
and personality disorders.
Analyzing Eating Disorders
Biological
Components
Eating disorders have a tenancy to co-occur with two other genetic
disorders: depression and obsessive compulsive anxiety disorder as well as low
levels of leptin and serotonin (Hansell & Damour, 2008). The latter two hormones are more likely because
of the starvation factor because both return to normal levels upon
remission.
Emotional
Components
Fueled by complex, yet unconscious feelings (e.g., unresolved
sexual trauma), eating disorders are often an expression of self-control. Often because eating disorders, such as
anorexia and bulimia, are rooted in the family dynamic system therapists’
strive to understand how that dynamic could be the result not the cause of the
disorder.
Cognitive
Components
Dysfunctional thoughts about weight and body shape trigger
negative triad creating emotional reinforcement of maladaptive eating behaviors. The constant starvation has been known to
create cognitive issues, thus illustrating evidence in the mind body connection
between nutrition to the body and the brain.
Behavioral
Components
Other than the constant starvation associated with anorexia, and
the vomiting associated with bulimia, the emotional relief felt is quickly
followed by guilt and depression, thus reinforcing the cycle of distorted
behaviors.
Analyzing Substance Abuse
Biological
Components
People have been self-medicating to soothe unpleasant emotional
states since the beginning of time. Alcoholism
itself was at one time considered an incurable disease, which led to the
discovery of naturally occurring endogenous opiates within the body, which
creates a strong compulsion for some people to misuse psychoactive substances
as a form of self-medication when lacking (Harvard Medical Letter, 2003; as
restated by Hansell & Damour, 2008).
In addition to the draw for endorphin compensation there is evidence
that indicates any psychoactive substance stimulates dopamine release into the
brain activating the reward pathways providing its user with pleasure, which is
a powerful reinforcer to continue using the substance but can also cause
misuse.
Emotional
Components
Psychodynamic approaches of the past emphasized the need for
“comfort, dependency, and devotion to pleasure seeking;” however, recent theories
regarding self-medication and abuse consider it a coping mechanism to avoid
painful emotional trauma known as alexithymia (Hansell & Damour, 2008, 352). That numbing the pain is a way of refusing to
acknowledge there is an issue or a problem, thus compounding the condition and
the addiction.
Cognitive
Components
Expectations provide an initial emotional relief for the pleasant
feelings is the general cognitive schema behind the self-fulfilling prophecy
use of the substance. However, according
to researchers negative automatic thoughts can contribute to patterns of
relapse making it difficult for some people to abstain because negative
thoughts generate negative schemas.
Behavioral
Components
Substance abuse is conditioned or reinforced through pleasurable
physical and emotional states.
Eventually it becomes an automatic mental association (e.g., specific
environments, friends, etc.) creating cues that predict drug seeking behaviors;
therefore it is wise for recovering addicts to avoid people, places, and
situations once associated with drinking or user behaviors. Observational learning is extremely
influential because it begins at infancy and is reinforced throughout one’s
life; people emulate what they see others doing.
Sex/Gender/Sexual Disorders
Biological
Components
Although there are many psychological factors that explain
paraphilias, biological factors (e.g., degenerative diseases) can also cause
such disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Researchers are working on the connection between congenital
abnormalities in the hormonal systems of developing fetuses to see if there is
a link to gender identity disorders (GID).
Emotional
Components
Freud explains sexual disorders as perversions developed during
childhood, later theories explained that this perversion was a defense
mechanism for some “underlying emotional conflict” (Hansell & Damour, 2008,
p. 390). Contemporary psychodynamic
theorists suggest; however, that men with paraphilias express traumatic
childhood experiences of masculine humiliation by turning passive into active;
they feel the need to humiliate others.
As for GID, research suggests that devoid and deviant parent child relationships
may be a key factor in producing gender confusion.
Cognitive
Components
Conditioning to inappropriate stimuli to produce sexual arousal is
one form of cognitive deviance and can produce not only fetishes but also various
forms of paraphilias (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Once identified cognitive restructuring
treatments challenge maladaptive interpersonal schemas and cognitive deficits
such as victim empathy, social skills, impulse control, and healthy coping
strategies.
Behavioral
Components
Observational learning is one of the predominate thoughts behind
paraphilias. Children who observe other
people behaving in sexually deviant ways, children who lack social or sexually
cognitive skills, or children rewarded for inappropriate sexual behavior, for
example, can all develop a tendency toward paraphilic behaviors (Nichols, 1998;
and Pithers et. al., 1998; as restated by Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Personality Disorders
Biological
Components
Low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin have been associated with
impulsive behaviors associated with borderline personality disorders and are
one of the major implications of depression (Paris et. al., 2004; as restated
by Hansell & Damour, 2008). It has
also been demonstrated that prenatal substance exposure is a contributing
factor to the multiple causality in personality disorders.
Emotional
Components
There are two types of emotion components that attribute to
personality disorders, they are problematic childhood experiences (e.g.,
humiliation), and maladaptive defense mechanisms. It is not uncommon for people with
personality disorders to find it difficult to trust others, including his or
her therapist. Furthermore, many people
with antisocial personality style disorders lack “empathic ability to imagine
how others feel, presumably due to the disrupted parent-child relationship”
(Gabbard, 2000; as restated by Hansell & Damour, 2008, p. 422)
Cognitive
Components
Psychodynamic perspectives suggest that childhood experiences
establish cognitive schemas that shape interpersonal behavioral strategies and
influence how people perceive and interpret subsequent experiences, thus when
maladaptive schemas are formed
personality disorders are developed (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Behavioral
Components
People who believe that his or her actions are a product of his or
her “disorder” tend to act in accordance to their beliefs, in essence, their
behavior becomes self-perpetuating. Parents
also influence personality development through modeling and instruction,
therefore it becomes important to establish interpersonal strategies, and
influence the patterns of perception and behavior that become personality
traits at an early age, thus altering maladaptive beliefs and behaviors.
Conclusion
By addressing the biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral
components of the different disorders it becomes easier to understand the
influences that allow the diagnosis and treatment of the different personality
disorders.
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