Personality disorders, Eating Disorders, Psychosomatic Problem

Personality disorders: - Personality disorders are longstanding, maladaptive, and inflexible ways of relating to others, and the behaviors or symptoms characteristic of them usually begin in childhood or adolescence. Those with personality disorders may function adequately and be regarded simply as eccentric, but when they are faced with an extremely stressful situation, they can respond only rigidly and narrowly. The eleven types of personality disorders are classified in three groups, or clusters, based on their similarities. The disorders often emerge during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood and continue into adult life.
• Cluster A—disorders of odd/eccentric reactions
o A paranoid personality disorder is manifested by a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others and a tendency to interpret the actions of others as malevolent or threatening.
o A schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a tendency to be indifferent to social relationships and by restricted expression of emotions in interpersonal settings.
o Those with a schizotypal personality disorder display eccentric ways of thinking, perceiving, communicating, and behaving and are acutely uncomfortable in close relationships.
• Cluster B—disorders of dramatic, emotional, or erratic reactions
o Individuals with an antisocial personality disorder manifest a pervasive tendency to disregard and to violate the rights of others.
o A borderline personality disorder is characterized by instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions as well as by marked impulsivity.
o Those with a histrionic personality disorder exhibit pervasive and excessive emotionality and attention-seeking behavior.
o Manifestations of a narcissistic personality disorder include a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.
• Cluster C—disorders involving anxiety and fearfulness
o Those with an avoidant personality disorder exhibit, in a variety of contexts, a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluations.
o Those with a dependent personality disorder allow others to make decisions and display a need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behavior accompanied by fears of separation.
o An obsessive-compulsive personality disorder involves, in many contexts, a tendency toward perfectionism, a rigid preoccupation with orderliness, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.
• A disorder termed a personality disorder not otherwise specified is one that does not meet the criteria for a specific personality disorder but in which the combination of symptoms causes clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning.

Eating disorders:-
Eating disorders are conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa are the most common specific forms in the United Kingdom. Other types of eating disorders include binge eating disorder and eating disorder not otherwise specified. Bulimia nervosa is a disorder characterized by binge eating and purging. Purging can include self-induce vomiting, over-exercising, and the usage of diuretics, enemas, and laxatives. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme food restriction to the point of self-starvation and excessive weight loss. Though primarily thought of as affecting females
(an estimated 5–10 million being affected in the U.K.), eating disorders affect males as well. An estimated 10 – 15% of people with eating disorders are males (Gorgan, 1999). (An estimated 1 million U.K. males being affected). Although eating disorders are increasing all over the world among both men and women, there is evidence to suggest that it is women in the Western world who are at the highest risk of developing them and the degree of westernization increases the risk. Nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disorder. The skill to comprehend the central processes of appetite has increased tremendously since leptin was discovered, and the skill to observe the functions of the brain as well. Interactions between motivational, homeostatic and self-regulatory control processes are involved in eating behaviour, which is a key component in eating disorders.
Eating disorders are characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior.
• Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimally normal weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and distortion in the perception of the shape or size of one's body. Postmenarcheal females with this condition are often amenorrheic (having missed three consecutive menstrual cycles). Muscular weakness and osteoporosis (bone loss) may also occur.

• Bulimia nervosa is manifested by binge eating and use of inappropriate techniques, such as purging or use of laxatives, to prevent weight gain. To qualify for this diagnosis, an individual must engage in binge eating and the inappropriate compensatory acts (purging, use of laxatives), on average, twice a week for three months.

Psychosomatic Problem: -
Pertaining to the interrelations of mind and body; having bodily symptoms of psychic, emotional, or mental origin. Psychosomatic disorder (psychosomatic illness) a disorder in which the physical symptoms are caused or exacerbated by psychological factors, such as migraine headache, lower back pain, or irritable bowel syndrome. It is now recognized that emotional factors play a role in the development of nearly all organic illnesses and that the physical symptoms experienced by the patient are related to many interdependent factors, including psychological and cultural. The physical manifestations of an illness, unless caused by mechanical trauma, cannot be divorced from a person's emotional life. Each person responds in a unique way to stress; emotions affect one's sensitivity to trauma and to irritating elements in the environment, susceptibility to infection, and ability to recover from the effects of illness. Physical conditions to which psychological factors are shown to be contributory are currently classified as psychological factors affecting medical condition. Any physical condition can be so classified, but the most frequently included are ASTHMA, PEPTIC ULCER, bowel disorders, cardiovascular disorders, ARTHRITIS, ALLERGY, HEADACHE, and certain endocrine disorders.