Chapter 17 of Dennis Coon's Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior deals with psychological disorders. The theme of the chapter is judgments of normality are relative, but psychological disorders clearly exist and need to be classified, explained and treated. According to the text, psychological disorders are "complex and have multiple causes" (Coon 554). Psychological disorders damage the quality of life in varying degrees. The study of psychological disorders can be tricky. Because disorders are based, primarily, on normality, some experts will agree or disagree on a disorder based on their perception of normal. In other words, what I think is normal, you may not. Because of this, such psychologist as Sigmund Frued, whose opinions and hypothesis were slightly ahead of his time, encountered difficulties in getting their ideas across. Some of the disorders mentioned in this chapter are organic mental disorders, problems caused by brain pathology, sexual and gender identity disorders and personality disorders. Some of the more serious disorders include schizophrenia and suicide. Schizophrenia is defined as a psychosis characterized by delusions, hallucinations, apathy and a split between thought and em
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