RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Take a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within this section). Then click the 'show answer' button to check your answers. Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term retention (McDaniel et al., 2009).

According to psychologists and psychiatrists, psychological disorders are marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

The medical model assumes that psychological disorders are mental illnesses with physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured through therapy, sometimes in a hospital. The biopsychosocial perspective assumes that three sets of influences—biological (evolution, genetics, brain structure and chemistry), psychological (stress, trauma, learned helplessness, mood-related perceptions and memories), and social and cultural circumstances (roles, expectations, definitions of “normality” and “disorder”)—interact to produce specific psychological disorders. Epigenetics also informs our understanding of disorders.

The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) contains diagnostic labels and descriptions that provide a common language and shared concepts for communication and research. Most U.S. health insurance organizations require a DSM diagnosis before paying for treatment.
     Some critics believe the DSM editions have become too detailed and extensive. Others view DSM diagnoses as arbitrary labels that create preconceptions, which bias perceptions of the labeled person’s past and present behavior.

A child (or, less commonly, an adult) who displays extreme inattention and/or hyper-activity and impulsivity may be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and treated with medication and other therapy. The controversy centers on whether the growing number of ADHD cases reflects overdiagnosis or increased awareness of the disorder. Long-term effects of stimulant-drug treatment for ADHD are not yet known.

Mental disorders seldom lead to violence, but when they do, they raise moral and ethical questions about whether society should hold people with disorders responsible for their violent actions. Most people with disorders are nonviolent and are more likely to be victims than attackers.

Psychological disorder rates vary, depending on the time and place of the survey. In one multinational survey, rates for any disorder ranged from less than 5 percent (Shanghai) to more than 25 percent (the United States). Poverty is a risk factor: Conditions and experiences associated with poverty contribute to the development of psychological disorders. But some disorders, such as schizophrenia, can drive people into poverty.