Clinical Psychology
The stimuli we receive, our psyche and behavior all interact in a constant and dynamic manner with the biological processes of our body. This means that they are in continuous dynamic interaction with the production of enzymes and hormonal fluctuations. This perpetual biological process involves stimuli received from the present and stimuli / memories / experiences recalled from the past, which may also be projected to the future through our imagination and learning from past experience.
For example, if, in the past, stimulus A had either repeatedly caused or was repeatedly accompanied by something negative, a negative development or a negative emotion, then it is likely that the same stimulus A, or a stimulus similar to A, continue reading
The symptoms of depression differ from usual sadness or mood changes that people experience in their everyday lives.
People with Major Depression Disorder experience depressed mood for almost all day or all day and everyday or almost everyday, or experience severely diminished interest/pleasure in all or almost all activities
Anxiety Disorders are characterized by abnormal worry, anxiety, hyperarousal and excessive fear and are strongly related to subsequent onset of Major Depression, if remained untreated (Kessler & Greenberg, 2002).
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Manic and hypomanic episodes are periods of time during which the individual experiences an extraordinary abnormal elevated energy – not necessarily “joy” – along with symptoms such as pervasive distractibility, extremely racing thoughts, abnormal reduced need of sleep or incapability to sleep. Patients may also experience psychotic symptoms. Symptoms pertaining at least four consecutive days, for most of the day, are considered as of an hypomanic episode, while symptoms persisting at least one week are considered as of a manic episode (DSM-5).
Obsessions are thoughts, urges or images that are felt as intrusive and unwanted, which cause the individual marked anxiety and distress. The individual respond with devoting considerable time on compulsions, such as repetitive acts.
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Patients with PTSD have experienced or witnessed serious life-threatening event(s) or death, severe injury or sexual violence and suffer from intrusion symptoms re-experiencing the trauma traumatic event as well as from persistent avoidance of memories, avoidance of emotions and stimuli associated to the traumatic event.
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Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are characterized by the presence of the namely “positive” (delusions or/and hallucinations) and “negative” symptoms. The “positive symptoms” of psychosis are called “positive” because these can be conceptualized as being exerted levels of normal functions.
Accordingly, the “negative symptoms” can be considered as diminution of normal functioning (anhedonia: inability to feel pleasure; avolition: diminished volition; alogia: diminished speech; and flattened affect).
Negative symptoms are also present in other psychopathological conditions, such as in Major Depression Disorder and plenty others (Hovington & Lepage, 2012).
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