Eating
Disorder Diagnoses: As for the DSM-IV-TR, the characteristics of these
disorders are disturbances of eating behavior, such as eating too little, too
much, or in an unhealthy manner that is extreme (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013). Biological components include hormonal deficiencies and
excesses, as well as neural activity, which is abnormal. Individuals suffering
from bulimia or anorexia have low levels of serotonin and abnormal brain
structures. As for emotional components, disordered eating is a complex reaction
to societal expectations or beliefs concerning one’s self-image. As for cognitive
components, focus is on starvation or eating experiences and behavior after
eating which reinforce one’s distorted thoughts about body images. Individuals
with distorted self-images have a need of losing weight, or have a fear of
gaining weight. As for behavioral components, these include binge eating and compensatory
behaviors to prevent one from gaining weight. Eating disorders are the result
of inappropriate experiences and thoughts, which reinforce extreme eating
behaviors.
Disorder
|
Definition
|
Anorexia Nervosa
|
·
A disorder, whereas one refuses to maintain at
least a minimal normal body weight (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
·
This involves extreme thinness, achieved often
through self-starvation
|
Bulimia Nervosa
|
·
Is a disorder of binge eating and compensatory
behaviors, which are an inappropriate means to avoid gaining weight
|
Eating Disorder NOS
|
·
This is a disorder with disordered eating,
which fails in meeting the diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa or
anorexia (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
|
Sexual Disorders: As
for the DSM-IV-TR, these disorders involve sexual symptoms. As for biological
components, medical illnesses (such as heart conditions and diabetes), aging,
poor dieting, substance use, and several medications can contribute to these
disorders. As for emotional components, research emphasizes deficient or
deviant or deficient relationships. As for cognitive components, included are
cognitive deficits, fantasies and related interpersonal schemas. Cognitive
deficits occur in areas such as social skills, empathy, coping strategies, and
impulse control. As for behavioral components, learned deviant sexual behavior
occurs by observing, participating in, or experiencing such behavior. Rewards
and punishments for sexual behavior, which are inappropriate, can lead to other
sexual behaviors.
Disorder
|
Definition
|
Sexual Dysfunctions
|
·
These are disorders, which involve continual
problems as for with orgasm, sexual response, or sexual interest
|
Sexual Desire Disorders
|
·
Hypoactive sexual desire, continual sex
fantasies and desires in regards to sexual activity, which are deficient and cause
interpersonal difficulty or distress (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
·
Hansell
and Damour (2008), “persistent extreme aversion to, and avoidance of, genital
sexual contact with a sexual partner, causing distress or interpersonal
difficulty” (p. 374).
|
Sexual Arousal
Disorders
|
·
Female sexual arousal disorder, the continual
inability of maintaining or attaining, enough lubrication-swelling response
of sexual excitement, which causes interpersonal difficulty or distress (Hansell
& Damour, 2008)
·
Male erectile disorder, the continual inability
of attaining, or maintaining, a sufficient erection; which, causes
interpersonal difficulty or distress (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
|
Orgasmic Disorders
|
·
Female orgasmic disorder, continual absence
of, or delayed orgasm that follows a sexual excitement phase that is normal; which,
causes interpersonal difficulty or distress
·
Male orgasmic disorder, continual absence of,
or delay in an orgasm that follows a sexual excitement phase that is normal;
which, causes interpersonal difficulty or distress
·
Premature ejaculation, continual ejaculation
with minimum sexual stimulation shortly after, on, or before penetration and
before the one wishes to ejaculate, which causes interpersonal difficulty or
distress (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
|
Sexual Pain Disorders
|
·
Vaginismus, continual involuntary spasms of
the musculature, the vagina’s outer third, which disrupts sexual intercourse
and causes interpersonal difficulty or distress
·
Dyspareunia, continual pain of the genitals affiliated
with sexual intercourse, which causes interpersonal difficulty or distress
|
Paraphilias
|
·
Disorders that involve aberrant sexual preferences
and relationships
|
Gender Identity
Disorders
|
·
Disorders that involve intense discomfort with
an individual’s biological sex and the desire to change his or her sex (Hansell
& Damour, 2008)
|
Personality Disorders: As
for the DSM-IV-TR, theses disorders have characteristics of rigid and extreme behavior,
which causes distress and impairments in functioning. Biological components
include abnormal structures of the brain, reduced white and gray matter volume,
abnormalities of various neurotransmitter, and low levels of serotonin. Certain
types of these disorders result from overlapping environmental and of genetic effects.
Emotional components include the reflection of disruptive childhoods; whereas, children
learn to depend on maladaptive defense mechanisms. As for cognitive components,
notions of experiences of one’s childhood shape certain thought patterns and
have a significant effect on patterns of the individual's behavior and
perception which subsequently becomes the personality. As for behavioral
components, these disorders are the result of maladaptive behaviors and thought
processes.
Disorder
|
Definition
|
Paranoid Personality
Disorder
|
·
This is a disorder with patterns of extreme suspiciousness
and distrust
|
Schizoid Personality
Disorder
|
·
A disorder with detachment patterns from
social interactions and a limited scope of emotional expressions (Hansell
& Damour, 2008)
|
Schizotypical
Personality Disorder
|
·
A disorder with patterns of eccentricities of
perceptual, cognitive, or behavior distortions, and severe discomfort within
close relationships
|
Antisocial Personality
Disorder
|
·
This is a disorder with patterns of violations
of, and disregards for, other individual’s rights
|
Borderline Personality
Disorder
|
·
A disorder with patterns of self-destructive
behavior, and instability in self-image, emotions, interpersonal
relationships, and impulsivity (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
|
Histrionic Personality
Disorder
|
·
A disorder with patterns of attention seeking and
emotionality, which is superficial and excessive
|
Narcissistic
Personality Disorder
|
·
This is a disorder with patterns of a lack of
empathy, the need of admiration, and grandiosity
|
Avoidant Personality Disorder
|
·
This is a disorder with patterns of emotions
of inadequacy, hypersensitivity as for negative evaluation, and social
inhibition
|
Dependent Personality
Disorder
|
·
This is a disorder with patterns of clingy and
submissive behavior related to a need, which is excessive in relation to be
taken care of by other individuals
|
Obsessive-Compulsive
Personality Disorder
|
·
A disorder with preoccupied patterns of perfectionism,
orderliness, and control at the expense of enjoyment, flexibility, and
spontaneity (Hansell & Damour, 2008)
|
Case Analysis
The case of David Reimer is one of the more so influential and
controversial cases gender identity development. Reimer, christened originally
as Bruce Reimer, born in Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, in 1965 as a pair of boys
who were identical twin. Until the age of seven months, both twins had a
healthy and blissful existence in an affectionate and caring environment. During
this particular time, Reimer’s mother noticed skin on the tip of her sons’
penises, which made urination particularly difficult and painful. A condition
referred to as phimosis. To correct this problem, the twins needed circumcisions,
a routine medical procedure. However, Reimer suffered a botched circumcision;
whereas burns occurred on his penis that rendered it lifeless and useless as
well as lifeless. Meyer, Chapman, and Weaver (2009), “eventually, Bruce’s penis
dried up and flaked away until there was no sign that he had ever had any sort
of genital appendage” (p. 148).
Instead of subjecting Reimer to several painful, and intricate
surgeries during his youth to construct an artificial penis (phalloplasty or
phallic reconstruction) his parents followed the advice of Dr. Money. This
advice included raising Reimer as a female. Therefore, his name changed to
Brenda as he underwent surgical castration, which removed both testicles and
construction of an exterior vagina occurred at 22 months of age (Meyer,
Chapman, and Weaver, 2009). Throughout
part of her life, Brenda fought the forced femininity change. At the age of 14
Brenda finally learned through her parents that she was a male and wanted to
become a male, such as she was. She even changed her name to David and went
through the surgeries necessary to become a male again anatomically. David fell
in love, married, and started living a happy life but with the trauma of his
childhood, suicide of his twin brother, unemployed, divorce from his wife,
financial difficulties, and with an onset of depression David on the fifth of May
2004, sawed off a shotgun and used it to kill himself. David Reimer suffered
from a sexual disorder, specifically, gender identity disorder.
Components of
As for the DSM-IV-TR, gender identity disorder (GID) is a sexual disorder
that involves server discomfort with an individual’s anatomical sex and the need
to change his or her sex (Hansell & Damour, 2008). GID involves a
disruption in one’s gender identity, whereas it shares a close relationship
with sexuality. The three symptoms of GID are that of an individual’s
psychological gender identity and biological sex are the exact opposite. As for
one’s biological sex, one is extremely uncomfortable with it, and one with this
disorder experiences significant impairment or distress in functioning (Hansell
& Damour, 2008). There is still an uncertainty as for gender identity
disorder’s origins and causes. However, David Reimer’s GID case is different
from the normal case because he was born a male, which is eventually the sex he
was surgically reassigned (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Biological
Biological components of GID address inborn connections between it
and temperament or behavioral tendencies. Males with GID typically have lower
activity levels, which points to the genetic basis probability of temperamental
differences. The mechanisms of genetically temperamental differences mechanism
may involve the hormonal system that is an influence of several behaviors,
which are sexual and gender-linked (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Certain experts
suspect that postpubertal, postnatal, or prenatal hormonal anomalies may contribute
to gender abnormalities that occur in GID; however, there is not any consistent
evidence. However, there is preliminary evidence that brain structure
differences in transsexual men in comparison to nontranssexual males. Hansell
and Damour (2008), “Zhou and colleagues (1997) found that an area of the
hypothalamus in six transsexual males was half the normal size of that in
nontranssexual men, making it close to its typical size in women” (p. 400).
Emotional
The emotional components of GID emphasize the role of emotional
ill relationships between mothers and sons as for the development of GID in
males. However, psychodynamic theorists disagree with the effects of the son
and mother problem (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Greenson and Stoller held the
belief that gratifying, and overly close mother and son relationships combined
with a distant father, and son relationship were the feature elements that
produce a male’s female identification. However, through the empirical studies
of GID conducted by Coates and her colleagues found that the GID male/feminine
interest and behaviors were attempts of connecting with a withdrawn, depressed
mother, instead of a symbiosis of a mother who is overly gratifying.
Cognitive
Cognitive
components of GID point to one forming a concept of him or herself as either a
male or female, which is a cognitive task. Certain theorists make the argument
that gender identity can change because of a function of normal developments in
one’s cognitive ability, specifically in logical thinking. Other cognitive
factors of influence are the progresses of gender identity, such as providing
one with accurate information in regard to how one decides gender.
Behavioral
As for behavioral components, gender behavior, such as other
behavior, is a result of the environment. Behavioral theorists have the belief
that the featured cause of GID are sets of environmental reinforcements, which are
a result of children learning cross-gender behavior that results in rewards and
gender-consistent behavior that results in punishment. Cross-gender social
reinforcement can contribute to GID.
Conclusion
David Reimer suffered from a sexual disorder,
specifically, gender identity disorder. Reimer’s gender identity disorder case
is different from a typical GID case because he was a male, and that was the
sex surgically reassigned to him. The environmental efforts of raising Reimer
as a female rather than as his biological sex were the origin of his GID. Gender
identity disorder (GID) has components of biological, emotional, cognitive, and
behavioral components, which help in explaining why this disorder occurs. These
components also overlap with one another.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and
statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American
Psychiatric Publishing.
Meyer, R., Chapman, L. K., & Weaver, C. M. (2009).
Case studies in abnormal behavior. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn &
Bacon.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.