Homework Question on Mental Disorders
Case Study: Mental Disorders
According to the text, mental disorders may be caused organically or via chemical or genetic causes. In either case, if left untreated the cost is usually dire. In this case study, you will explore a mental disorder that was not properly controlled via the case of Adam Lanza.
Read the article titled “Adam Lanza”, located at http://www.biography.com/#!/people/adam-lanza-21068899#synopsis.
Next, view the article that discusses Lanza’s psychiatric treatments titled “Lanza’s Psychiatric Treatment Revealed In Documents”, located at http://articles.courant.com/2013-12-28/news/hc-lanza-sandy-hook-report1228-20131227_1_peter-lanza-adam-lanza-nancy-lanza.
Write a three (3) page paper in which you:
- Compare and contrast three (3) key similarities and three (3) differences between mental illnesses and mental disorders. Provide one (1) example of each similarity and difference to support your response.
- Speculate whether or not Adam Lanza’s engagement with violent video games was a stressor that caused him to act out his obsession with mass murders. Next, hypothesize whether or not Adam Lanza would have been a good candidate for treatment of his mental illness if he had not committed suicide. Justify your response.
- Since Lanza was diagnosed at a young age with a mental illness, suggest one (1) action psychologists should have suggested that could have prevented the assault that occurred at Sandy Hook elementary. Support your response.
- Differentiate between the key characteristics associated with functional mental disorders, minor mental disorders (i.e., neuroses), and manic-depressive behavior. Next, support or criticize the notion that one disorder is more severe than the other. Justify your response.
- Use at least four (4) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar type Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Recommend improvements to societal stigmas associated with physical disabilities.
- Evaluate the importance of reconciling and distinguishing both physical and mental disabilities and how they are perceived by society.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues related to the criminal mind.
- Write clearly and concisely about the criminal mind topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.
Homework Answer on Mental Disorders
- Compare and contrast three (3) key similarities and three (3) differences between mental illnesses and mental disorders. Provide one (1) example of each similarity and difference to support your response.
Mental illness is a pathological condition of the brain that may result from causes like a genetic defect, infections or environmental stress and exhibits group of symptoms. An example of this condition is schizophrenia. Mental disorders are disturbances that affect the functioning of mind or body like drug abuse or an eating disorder. Mental illnesses define the situation in life when an individual is experiencing psychological symptoms that cause inability to enjoy life, cope with stress, fulfill goals and have a sense of connection to others.
A mental disorder is a change of how an individual thinks and feels interfering with his ability to perform daily activities. Mental illnesses are usually less severe like sadness and despair. Mental disorders are very severe as they completely disable the ability of an individual to live a normal life and can endanger people living around the victim. Mental illness can be easily treated by a psychiatrist through helping an individual cope with life situations while a mental disorder can be very difficult to treat as it is a severe case requiring intense medical treatment. An example is the treatment of mental illness symptoms like low self-esteem being easier than treating a mental disorder associated with mass killings.
Both mental illness and mental disorders can be detected by a psychiatrist with symptoms like depression. Both mental illness and mental disorders appear at different stages of life mostly dependent on the age of an individual. According to Brown and Harris (2012), mental illness and mental disorders candidates can both experience same physical symptoms like loss of appetitive and anxiety. They are mostly found in today’s teenagers to older adults but not the oldest adults. Both problems reduce with the successive progression of age until 70 years where it reduces or disappears afterwards.