Module
48
Psychological Disorders in Perspective
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Legal
Sexual assault
Chronic mental disorder
Eating disorders
Substance
abuse
Personality disorders
Suicidal
Grief
Abuse
Physical problems
Educational/vocational
Medication use
Academic skills
Depression
Developmental
Family issues
Relationship
Situational
Stress
anxiety
Percentage of students reporting problem
FIGURE 1
The problems reported by
students visiting a college counseling
center. Would you have predicted this
pattern
of psychological diffi
culties?
(Source: Benton et al., 2003.)
The Social and Cultural Context
of Psychological Disorders
In considering the nature of the psychological disorders described in
DSM-IV-TR, it’s
important to keep in mind that the specifi c disorders refl ect Western cultures at the
turn of the 21st century. The classifi cation system provides
a snapshot of how its
authors viewed mental disorder when it was published. In fact, the development of
the most recent version of the
DSM was a source of great debate, which in part
refl ects issues that divide society.
For example, two disorders caused particular controversy
during the revision
process. One, known as
self-defeating personality disorde r, was ultimately removed from
the appendix, where it had appeared in the previous revision.
The term self-defeating
personality disorder had been applied to cases in which people who were treated
unpleasantly or demeaningly in relationships neither left nor took other action. It
was typically used to describe people who remained in abusive relationships.
Although some clinicians argued that it was a valid category they observed in
clinical practice, the disorder lacked enough research evidence
to support its designation
Study Alert
It is important to understand
that the
DSM
is a living doc-
ument that presents a
view of disorders that re-
fl ects
the culture and his-
torical context of its authors.
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FIGURE 2
According to a global survey conducted by the World Health Organization, the
prevalence of psychological disorders is widespread. These fi gures show the prevalence of any
psychological disorder within the last 12 months.
(Source: The WHO World Mental Health Survey
Consortium, 2004, Table 3.)
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