Appearance and Behavior of a Person - Essay Example

A classic example is that of schizophrenia patients who use neologisms during speech, which are only understood by the patient (Maddux & Winstead, 2005).

Mood

The mood is often described in terms of elevated or depressed mood. Other categorizations of mood include states of anxiety and panic of the patient. Clinicians describe mood subjectively; they assess patients’ mood and how it affects them objectively. Clinicians use the patient’s own words to describe their mood and often use terms such as dysphoric, euthymic, angry or apathetic, and neutral (Maddux & Winstead, 2005). Affect, on the other hand, is the labeling of the emotion conveyed by the patient's nonverbal behavior by using the parameters of appropriateness, intensity, mobility, and reactivity (Maddux & Winstead, 2005)

Question #2

Differential depression diagnosis includes a variety of medical disorders:

Endocrine disorders

Endocrine disorders affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or thyroid are likely causes to produce mood changes. Diseases that fit these criteria include hyperthyroidism, Addison disease, Cushing syndrome, and other related diseases.

 Central Nervous System diseases

 A broad range of physiologic and structural CNS conditions can result in mood changes and behavior. It is important to note that major depressive disorders can produce measurable cognitive deficits or a worsening of pre-existing dementia. Maddux and Winstead observed that this decline in cognitive functioning, during testing appears to result from impaired concentration or motivation, which is referred to as pseudo-dementia (2005). Such conditions remain after treating the depressive episode.

 Sleep-related disorders

Infectious diseases such as Lyme disease, mononucleosis, HIV, encephalopathy, and syphilis can also cause mood and behavior changes. Other than mood changes, the aforementioned diseases also cause sleep-related disorders such as insomnia and others. Among the known sleep disorders, obstructive sleep apnea in particular causes significant medical and psychiatric symptoms and is often missed during diagnosis (Maddux & Winstead, 2005). Patients and, if necessary, their partners should be interviewed on their sleep quality, snoring, and other notable sleep disorders.

Related psychiatric disorders include dysthymia where patients present with low mood for at least 2 years as the primary symptom. Anxiety disorder patients are at a higher risk of developing comorbid depression. Patients who exhibit certain personality disorders are also affected by mood changes as a prominent symptom. Other disorders that might result in comorbid depressive disorder include bulimia and anorexia.

Question #3

PTSD develops after individuals are exposed to traumatic events such as warfare, serious injury, sexual assault, and threats of imminent death.

Physicians arrive at the diagnosis of PTSD because of several symptoms such as disturbing recurring flashbacks, avoidance or numbing of memories of the event, and hyper-arousal, which continue for more than a month after the occurrence of the traumatic event (Maddux & Winstead, 2005).

Diagnosis

In the case of sexual assault, the victims often report increased arousal that did not previously exist. Other physiological responses include difficulties in sleeping, anger issues, poor concentration, or hyper-vigilance.