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Components of Eating Substance Abuse Sexual and Personality Disorder

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Submitted By mdionne82
Words 1348
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Melissa Redmond

April 2, 2012

Psy/410

Components
Introduction
Eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual, gender identity, and personality disorders lessen the ability for the human to function normal. Although their components have many varieties, being able to understand each of them allows for the reduction of classified awareness of these disorders and advertises a more realistic function of preventions and interventions to give support and become more normal.

Eating Disorders

Biological

Biological components involve a genetic basis, deficiencies, hormonal excesses, and abnormal neural activity. People suffering from bulimia and anorexia have serotonin levels that are low and unusual along with structural brain abnormalities. Alterations in the brain may be responsible for the change in the metabolic reactions and endocrine to starvation.

Emotional

Eating disorders may be a compound reaction to expectations that are high and usually start with the parents and kept up with by the person. Eating disorders can also be considered a way of protecting self from adult sexuality or it could be a response to a situation where sexual abuse may have taken place. There are many times where the individual has high expectations but unfortunately they have to deal with never being able to reach them (Hansell & Damour, 2008).

Cognitive

Cognitive in eating disorders have to deal with the individual focusing more on situations where eating and starving experiences that help to bring about reinforcement when it comes to eating. Things like horrible thoughts about body weight and food. Individuals often times have distorted thoughts about the body image and have the notion that they need to lose weight or are terribly afraid of gaining any weight (Hansell & Damour).

Behavioral

There are certain behaviors that go along with having a eating disorder. Binging, purging by regurgitating, using diuretics or laxatives, being over compulsive about exercising and fasting to keep the weight down. When people suffer from anorexia they find themselves being comfortable with starving themselves. Looking at eating disorders from the view of cognitive behavior, eating disorders come from thoughts that are inappropriate and personal experiences that help support eating habits that are out of control (Hansell & Damour, 2008).

Substance Use Disorders

Biological There are some where near 50 percent of substance use disorder can develop in a person who suffer from chemical deficiencies or self medicating biological (Goldstein, 2002). Contemporary research that has been done shows that the use of drugs can have an affect on the dopamine neurotransmitters and dopamine being release into certain areas of the brain can cause the internal reward system to activate and cause a lot of pleasure ( Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Emotional
Those who suffer with substance misuse are seen as a defense mechanism from psychodynamic theorists and are these individuals deal with memories and emotions that are repressed. There are a lot of people that suffer with substance abuse disorders show some signs of low self esteem and lean towards depression or depressive tendencies (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Cognitive
Individuals who deal with substance abuse eternalize maladaptive beliefs that abuse is supported by the person who has to deal with daily stress and a lot of tension and is not capable of relaxing. Individuals that deal with abusive patterns suffer from negative expectancies, beliefs, and schemas (Goldstein, 2002). To have a maladaptive perception allows for restructuring that promotes change to current expectancies and beliefs.
Behavioral
Social, classical, and operant conditioning all have roles that are important when it pertains to behavioral components dealing with substance abuse. Based off of operant conditioning paradigm, drugs are as powerful as they are because they a rein forcer because they increase the amount of pleasure, similar to a positive reinforcement (Goldstein, 2002). The drugs move what is considered the negative situations like stress, also considered the negative reinforcement, therefore pushing an individual to continue to use these drugs (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Sexual/Gender/Sex Disorders
Biological
Biological components deal with medications, medical illness, aging, cigarette smoking, and door diets. Brain tumors/injuries, temporal lobe epilepsy and other diseases have been found as apart of paraphilias. There has been research to show that there is some relation in gender identity disorder to predispositions in the endocrine system, this has an effect sexually and it also affects gender behaviors (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Emotional
In many cases where women have been accused with some type of sexual offense usually have had to deal with some form of child abuse (Davis, 2007). Freud’s theory was that most sexual behaviors that where deviant was a way to keep their defense up against those emotions that where internal and these bring about protective functions. To be able to not find a way to cope with things of the past that have caused humiliation is one of the main themes of paraphilias (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Cognitive
Cognitive is associated with dysfunctional thoughts and organized thought patterns that are related to sex and arousal in the way paraphilias was developed. A person is aroused in a sexual way that is abnormal; this in return creates dysfunctional thought processes to go along with the deviance that is perceived (Davis, 2007). The abnormal behavior continues the dysfunctional thoughts required to be apart of the behavior (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Behavioral
Paying attention to other abnormal sexual acts or being apart of these inappropriate behaviors as a child can learn sexual behavior that is inappropriate. Often time’s children are given the chance to watch porn as a reward can develop paraphilia. There are ways to help promote sexual behaviors that are healthy through therapy. These therapists are able to re establish healthy sexual behaviors (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Personality Disorder
Biological
Multiple neurotransmitter abnormalities, altered structures in the brain, and reduced white and grey matter volume; serotonin levels that are low, and prenatal substance exposure all play a part in the biological components in personality disorder. Researchers believe that some personality disorders come from genetics that have overlapped and environmental effects.
Emotional
Personality disorders usually show signs of a childhood that has been disruptive and where the child has had to use abnormal defense measures. Themes that are the central cause for personality disorder are parental ridicule and criticism. There are also reports that have shown signs of physical abuse even though this is not one of the main characteristics of personality disorder (Hansell & Damour).
Cognitive
The cognitive components of personality disorder suggest that an individual’s childhood has had an affect on the schemas and thought patterns. The cognitive components also show that these effects on the person’s behavior become the personality of the individual. Dysfunctional beliefs and behaviors are personality disorder characteristics and therapists are needed to help reverse these thoughts by replacing them with behaviors and beliefs that are more appropriate.
Behavioral
Individuals who are affected by personality disorders mandate determined beliefs that affect every part of their lives, although difficulty arrives when it comes to having to question those beliefs. Although there behavior is self-defeated they continue to act on these beliefs. Personality disorder is created by dysfunctional though processes and behaviors that where created during childhood. This happens because most times the individual is drawn in by the experiences that relate to their schemas even if it is or isn’t dysfunctional, causing the dysfunctional behaviors to stay (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Conclusion
It may seem as if eating, sexual dysfunctions, substance abuse and personality disorders have nothing in common but the internal issues and biological components involving experiences that are distressing and abide by their explanations. Making an effort to continue to address these issues allows for a better understanding.

Work Cited

Davis, H.J., Reissing, E.D. (2007). Relationship adjustment and dyadic interaction in couples with sexual pain disorders: A critical review of the literature. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 22(2), 245-254.

Goldstein, R. Z., & Volkow, N. D. (2002). Drug Addiction and Its Underlying Neurobiological Basis: Neuroimaging Evidence for the involvement of the frontal cortex. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(10), 1642-1652

Hansell, J., & Damour, L. (2008). Abnormal psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

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