- [Voiceover] In this video I want to talk briefly
about the different types of mental disorders.
There is an enormous number of mental disorders,
many of which may have overlapping features.
For most categories of mental disorders
there is usually a stipulation
that the mental abnormalities are not due
to the use of medications, substances,
or another medical condition,
in which case the mental abnormalities
are considered to be symptoms
of that underlying cause
rather than a mental disorder in and of itself.
Also, because features of mental disorders
often overlap with mental and behavioral aspects
of some people considered to be within the bounds
of what is normal for a person's culture,
another general consideration
is that the mental abnormalities
cause distress or disability.
Distress or disability.
This is a key point
because that means that a person
that's just unusual or eccentric
does not have a mental illness,
so that a person that's a little weird
is not mentally ill.
So to give a very superficial overview
of the types of mental disorders
I'll go through some of the top level categories,
and recall that there are two main systems
in use currently to categorize the mental disorders.
There is the ICD-10
from the World Health Organiazation,
and then there's the DSM-5
from the American Psychiatric Association.
I'll go through the categories of the DSM-5
just because I'm a little bit more familiar
with that system,
but there would be a lot of similarities
between the two systems.
The DSM-5 has 20 top level categories.
I'll start with the neurodevelopmental disorders.
These disorders involve distress or disability
from an abnormality in development
of the nervous system
that causes mental dysfunction.
Let me just draw a little baby here.
Let me just draw this little guy,
and we'll put some diapers on him
to represent a developing nervous system,
and particularly a developing brain.
There's all sorts of things
that can happen to the brain during its development
that can lead to abnormal, mental function.
Some of the disorders in this category
of neurodevelopmental disorders include
intellectual disability
which was previously called mental retardation.
The autism spectrum disorders are in this category,
and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders
are in this category.
Like all the other categories of mental disorders
there is also a group within
the neurodevelopmental disorders
called "other neurodevelopmental disorders"
for any that don't fit all the criteria
of one of the specific disorders in this category,
but when this category is the best fit for the disorder,
so I won't mention that again,
but just keep in mind that every one
of these big categories has
an other category at the end of it.
The next big category is called
the "neurocognitive disorders" which involve
distress or disability from the loss
of cognitive and often other functions of the brain
after the nervous system has developed.
Let me just draw a little old person
walking along, walking with a cane,
and the distinction here between these
neurocognitive disorders,
and the neurodevelopmental disorders
is that with the neurocognitive disorder
the nervous system developed,
and then lost functions as opposed
to the neurodevelopmental disorders
where usually the function
was never gained in the first place
because the abnormality of the nervous system
happens during development.
There are a couple of big categories of disorders
within the neurocognitive disorders.
One is called "delirium,"
and delirium is the name for
a reversible episode of abnormalities
of cognitive and other higher brain functions
from many potential causes
such as certain drugs,
abnormalities of certain components of the blood,
or certain types of infections.
Major neurocognitive disorder
which is also called "dementia,"
and its milder versions usually involve
irreversible and often progressive loss
of cognitive and other higher brain functions
from many potential causes
such as Alzheimer's disease, or stroke.
The sleep-wake disorders
involve distress or disability
from abnormalities related to sleep.
So let me just draw this person over here
who's got their eyes closed and they're very sleepy.
We'll just say they are sleeping,
so here they're snoring away,
and this will represent our sleep-wake disorders.
Disorders in this category include insomnia,
and breathing related sleep disorders
that involve insufficient amounts
of uninterrupted sleep,
and there are other disorders in this category
that cause abnormal sleepiness when awake.
Additional disorders in this category
involve abnormal behaviors during sleep
such as sleep walking.
The anxiety disorders involve distress,
or disability from abnormal amounts of worry or fear.
So for these let me just draw
a little kind of worried person over here,
just looking very worried about this whole situation.
Some of the anxiety disorders are specific
to certain stimuli which are known as phobias,
like a lot of people have
a phobia of spiders or snakes.
While other disorders in this category
are not specific to certain stimuli
including a common one called
"generalized anxiety disorder."
Panic disorder is in this category
which involves panic attacks
which are episodes of intense anxiety
that may cause people to be afraid
to leave their homes.
The depressive disorders involve distress,
or disability from abnormally negative mood.
Let me put a frowny face right here
to represent abnormally negative mood.
The term "mood" is used in several ways.
One way the term mood is used
is to refer to a long-term emotional state
which may be positive or negative.
In this way the word "mood" is related to emotions,
but emotions are thought of as usually
brief experiences often related to specific stimuli
like getting something you want,
whereas mood is more persistent,
and may or may not be related to specific events
in a person's life.
The second way the term mood is used
is as the subjective experience
a person has of their emotions,
and another term "affect" is often used
to describe how a person's emotional state
appears to others,
so that mood may refer to what
a person is saying they feel
like they may say they feel sad,
while affect may refer to the person crying.
In addition to negative mood
the depressive disorders often involve
related symptoms such as feelings of hopelessness,
or loss of enjoyment in activities.
These disorders carry a particularly
high risk of suicide which is a major cause of death
in people with many types of mental illness.
Bipolar and related disorders involve
distress or disability from abnormal mood
similar to the depressive disorders,
but the difference is that these disorders
may have periods of abnormally positive mood
which are called "mania."
So let me draw, in addition to this frowny face here,
let me draw a very happy face,
and maybe a too happy face,
kind of a way too happy face for mania.
During periods of mania people will often
sleep little, talk fast,
and may make bad decisions from impaired judgment
about the risks of activities,
or their own abilities,
and this can lead to all sorts
of social or legal problems
with this category of disorders.
Schizophrenia spectrum,
and the other psychotic disorders
is the next category which involves distress,
or disability from what is called "psychosis."
So for that let me draw this person up here,
and we'll say "up in their brain
"they are hearing voices,"
which is a common symptom
of some psychotic disorders.
Psychosis involves certain features
such as delusions or hallucinations.
Delusions are fixed false beliefs
not explainable by a person's cultural background
such as having special powers,
or the idea that one's thoughts are controlled
by somebody else.
Hallucinations involve sensory perceptions
without real stimuli such as hearing voices
that are not there.
With psychosis disorganized thinking may occur
as well as what are called negative symptoms
which may involve decreased emotional expression,
motivation, or social behavior.
Schizophrenia may have any of these features,
and the other disorders in this category
usually have some of them.
The trauma-and-stressor-related disorders
involve distress or disability
that may occur after mentally traumatic,
or stressful events leading to mood,
emotional, behavioral, and other abnormalities.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
is the prototype disorder in this category
which has had many previous names
because it has been common after wars
throughout history.
Let me just draw a soldier here
carrying his gun to represent somebody
who may have post-traumatic stress disorder.
I'll give him a helmet, too,
but this can occur after many different types
of stressors in addition to war or combat.
These disorders are common after all kinds
of traumatic experiences such as rape, assault,
and natural disasters.
Substance-related and addictive disorders
involve distress or disability
from the abnormal use of substances
that affect mental functions.
Let me just draw a glass of some kind of alcohol here
to represent the different substances
that can be related to this category,
but there are a lot of substances
that can affect mental functions,
and cause a substance related disorder.
These include alcohol, caffeine, cannabis,
hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, sedatives,
hypnotics, anxiolytics, stimulants,
and tobacco, amongst others.
The mental affects of these substances
may cause mental abnormalities
similar to the other types of mental disorders
including mood abnormalities, anxiety symptoms,
or psychosis.
Other addictions like gambling
are also included in this category
because they share many aspects
of addiction to substances.
The personality disorders involve distress,
or disability related to personality.
Personality involves long-term
mental and behavioral features
that are characteristic of a person.
There is a huge spectrum of personality types
that are generally considered acceptable
by a person's culture.
Personality disorders involve personality features
that are outside generally accepted societal norms,
and which cause distress or disability.
These have traditionally been grouped into clusters.
Cluster A often has odd or eccentric behavior.
Cluster B often involves intense emotional,
and relationship problems.
Let me just draw this very intense person over here
to represent somebody in cluster B,
and cluster C is often anxious,
avoidant or obsessive.
Disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders
involve distress or disability from behaviors
that are unacceptably disruptive or impulsive
for a person's culture.
Let me just draw this person over here
shouting very loudly in an inappropriate setting.
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
involve distress or disability
from obsessions or compulsions.
Obsessions are thoughts that recur involuntarily,
and which are often unwelcome.
Compulsions are activities that a person feels
they must do and which are often
related to an obsession.
A common example is someone having an obsession
that their hands are dirty,
and then a compulsion to wash their hands
many more times a day than would be normal.
Somatic symptom and related disorders
involve distress or disability from symptoms
similar to those that may occur with illness
unrelated to a mental disorder,
but the symptoms are of psychological origin
with or without also having symptoms
of a general medical condition at the same time.
An example of this could be someone
that has abdominal pain,
so they're saying "ow, my abdomen hurts,"
but there's actually not anything
physically wrong with the abdomen.
The tissues of the abdomen are just fine,
and it's really caused
by psychological factors like stress.
Feeding and eating disorders involve
distress or disability from mental,
or behavioral abnormalities related to food.
Disorders in this category include
anorexia nervosa, where a person takes in
an insufficient amount of food.
So we'll say this person is turning down
a perfectly nice slice of pizza
even though they're actually way below
their healthy body weight,
and another common disorder in this category
is bulimia nervosa which involves
binge eating and purging.
The elimination disorders involve
distress or disability from urination or defecation
at inappropriate times or places.
I'll just draw this person over here
who has had a urinary accident,
and they're trying to cover it up.
The dissociative disorders involve
distress or disability from abnormalities
of identity or memory.
So let me just draw this person over here
asking "who am I?"
Some of the people with these disorders
seem to have multiple personalities,
or may have lost memory for parts of their lives.
The sexual dysfunctions involve distress,
or disability from abnormalities and/or
performance of sexual activity.
So I'll just write R-Rated over here.
Gender dysphoria involves distress or disability
caused by a person identifying themself
as a different gender than that
identified by society,
so as an example let me just draw a person here
who society identifies as being male,
and I'll just represent that with pants,
but they themselves feel that they are female,
and I'll just represent that with a skirt.
This category requires an important
distinction to be made.
If people experience distress or disability
regarding gender identity
the distress and disability constitutes the disorder.
A person identifying with another gender
without distress or disability
does not have a mental disorder.
Previously, there was much stigmatization
surrounding this issue,
and older categorization systems
that did consider identification with another gender
as a mental disorder in and of itself.
The paraphilic disorders involve people
that have distress or disability
related to having sexual arousal to unusual stimuli,
or what would be considered unusual
for that person's culture,
so I'll also just point this over
to the R-Rating over here.
So now similarly to gender dysphoria
people that have sexual arousal to unusual stimuli
do not have a mental disorder
unless it causes distress or disability,
or for this category activities related to it
could cause harm to another,
particularly children or other people
without sufficient decision-making capacity
for proper consent.
The last category is just called "other disorders."
I'm just going to draw
a big question mark here for this one.
The entire purpose of this category
is for any person that appears
to have a mental disorder
causing distress or disability,
but one that doesn't fit well
in any of these other categories of mental disorder.
The vast majority of people with a mental disorder
will fit in one of these
big categories of mental disorders,
but very rarely a person just won't fit,
but does clearly have a mental disorder,
and that's what this other disorders category is for.
So that's all I have time for now,
and, obviously, there's a lot more information
with all the specific disorders
that are contained within these
top level categories of the DSM-5,
but to keep this video to a reasonable length
I'm just going to stop right here.