Essay on Mental Defect: Why Does the Behavior Constitute Abnormality?

Mental defect is a condition that brings about distress and impairment or loss of ability to get in touch with reality. We can also say that certain behavior constitutes to a mental disorder if it is so severe to the point that it causes the victims to be incapable of complying with social standards or manage their affairs. In this case, Santana`s behavior amounts to mental illness because it has interfered specifically with her mind. She has severe mood swings that have caused her to lose touch with everyone around and only feels like sleeping all the time. She fantasizes on ambiguous things, feels stressed most of the time of what she is, and what she will become. Moreover, she finds it hard to cook, and her class work is deteriorating. This behavior can be perceived as abnormal from the real nature by which human beings are expected to be (Leigh, 2010).

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Identify and justify the diagnosis or diagnoses.

Most diseases may produce the same symptoms as those in the case study. However, we can determine the nature of a cause of the disorder by ruling out other disorders. I would recommend Santana to undergo a therapeutic approach and medical treatment as forms of diagnosis for her condition.

Modeling well studies social training skills offered by a therapist to help change on a peculiar behavior. It aids one avoid loneliness and boost their desire to talk to others. A change in behavior during training indicates a positive move towards a likely cause of the disorder. Therapy on speech-language may also help to explore Santana`s level of communication skills. For example, after the training, she will learn on how to keep up a two-way conversation and understand social prompts like eye contact and gestures. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) will aid in determining whether she can change the way she thinks, or if she can better manage her repetitive behavior of sleeping and emotions. After this, she may be capable of handling depression and mood swings. The therapist may perhaps employ positive reinforcement, for instance, praises to encourage positive social and communication skills in her. Besides, through Psychological rehabilitation programs, we will be able to find out whether she can regain skills such as cooking, stress management, solving problems and socializing.

Some forms of medications can be useful to related symptoms like anxiety and depression. A doctor should administer antipsychotic drugs, stimulants, and Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to Santana to help reduce the risk of future psychotic episodes. Antipsychotics function by lowering the biochemical imbalances that lead to mental problems thus reducing the possibility of degeneration. However, a mental health professional should administer these drugs under high supervision since the patient has a tendency of forgetting. With the right treatment, we can determine whether Santana has learned to control her communication and social challenges and whether she will start improving in her academics.

Some of the core symptoms that the patient does not meet include; catatonic features where one demonstrates motor immobility, and melancholic features such as moods that are regularly worse in the morning. To confirm a diagnosis of Santana`s disorder, it was necessary to have specifiers or precise repetitive information about the pattern of behavior, interests, and activities of Santana since childhood to the present day. The condition may have been a short term too but first identifying whether the situation is prolonged can help a psychopathologist rule out other disorders. A clear application of diagnostic specifiers such as chronic is useful in determining the correct treatment.

Factors in the case study that lends support to the diagnosis

Some factors in the case study present support to the type of diagnosis I have chosen. Many infections bear part of the symptoms displayed in the case. However, two probable causes take a substantial reason for one to think that they may be the likely cause of the disorder. They include Autism and Schizophrenia. Looking at schizophrenia, we can see that the symptom Santana is experiencing matches this type of disease (Tsuang et al., 2000). It is affecting how she reasons out, feels and acts. She is obsessed with distressing thoughts, imagery, or urges of being a brain surgeon, which is uncontrollable. Santana has no ability to distinguish wrong from right, feels withdrawn and finds difficulty in expressing herself socially. Moreover, autism being another factor displays itself clearly. According to De Reeis et al. (2014), Autism is a developmental disability that affects how people interact with others and their perception of the world. Santana shares certain difficulties such as learning disabilities, communication problem, and mental health issues. Her motor and sensory perceptions have been interfered with making her feel sleepy all the time and unable to cook for herself.

What factors could have contributed to the person experiencing the difficulties they are experiencing

The likely cause of the disorder may range from biological factors to cultural factors. Looking at the biological factors, we will center our argument on the effects of genetic disorder on a persons development and behavior. In this factor, scientist says that most psychological illnesses run in families and a victim may have acquired the disease because somebody in that family at some given point had the same disorder. Transmission or susceptibility is mostly passed from the parents to the children through genes. Scientists believe that interaction of abnormal genes and other factors such as stress causes mental illness. In this case, Santana says that her paternal grandfather had also suffered from severe mood swings and died after he committed suicide. She further describes her mother as depressing and self-absorbed. Looking at her explanation, we can deduce that there is a link in the transfer of genes causing her disorder. She has acquired the genes of her grandfather hence that could be the foundation for her immediate change in behavior.

Gender can be another cause. According to Sigmund Freud, women are more prone to neurosis since they experienced self-aggression that stem from issues concerning development. Societal gender tasks have adverse effects on one's psychological perception. Gender violence and roles leave most women and girls suffering from chronic depression due to the beliefs that the society holds concerning them. In this incidence, characters are set to be specific to a particular gender whereby the women are told not to engage in a particular task as it is viewed as a men's thing. Considering that they feel more miserable faster, it leaves them feeling isolated. Santana may have been abused at some point in her life leaving her depressed, and the condition interfered with her mental ability with time. Her grandfathers death by suicide could also have contributed to the stress build up in her mind (Reevy & Freud, n.d).

Reference

De Rubeis, S., He, X., Goldberg, A. P., Poultney, C. S., Samocha, K., Cicek, A. E., & Singh, T. (2014). Synaptic, transcriptional and chromatin genes disrupted in autism. Nature, 515(7526), 209-215.

Leigh, H. (2010). What Is Mental Illness? Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness, 155-161. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5671-2_13

Reevy, G. M. & Freud, S. (n.d). Cultural Sociology of Mental Illness: An A-to-Z Guide. doi:10.4135/9781483346342.n117

Singer, E. (2012). Diagnosis: redefining autism. Nature, 491(7422), S12-S13.

Tsuang, M. T., Stone, W. S., & Faraone, S. V. (2000). Towards reformulating the diagnosis of Schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157(7), 1041-1050.