Psychology

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association provides a written diagnostic account that is used as criteria by various health practitioners and institutions all over the world. It has undergone four revisions and the current revision used is known as DSM-IV-TR. It classifies psychiatric diagnosis into five axes relating to different aspects of mental disability
Axis I Clinical, learning, and major mental disorders
Axis II  Personality disorders and mental retardation
Axis III Physical Disorders
Axis IV Psychosocial and Environmental Factors which can be linked to the mental disorder
Axis V Global Assessment Scale for minors under 18 years of age

These axes are used in determining the severity of a patient s disorder, like schizophrenia, psychosis, and others.

According to the DSM-IV-TR, Schizophrenia is categorized into these aspects (1) Characteristic symptoms which consist of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, thought, and behavior, (2) Social Dysfunctions which refer  the disability in areas of functioning, socialization, self care and work, (3) Duration of the disorder, (4) Schizoaffective and mood disorder exclusion, (5) Substance and GMC exclusion, (6) Relationship to PDD, or the diagnosis of schizophrenia made if the first criteria is met. Schizophrenia also has subtypes which consist of pure schizophrenia (less common), catatonic type (very rare), disorganized type (speech and behavior discrepancies), paranoid type (diagnosis of exclusion), residual type, undifferentiated type, and the most common type which is the mixture of symptoms.

On the other hand, Psychosis, another mental disorder, is defined by loss of contact with reality. In most scenarios, psychosis is simply a result from too much stress and thus, the psychotic person manifests behavior that is beyond the norms experienced by most.  According to the DSM-IV-TR classification, Brief Psychotic Disorder is characterized by (1) Presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and catatonic behavior, (2) Duration of disturbance may range from a day to one month (3)  Not related to Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Mood Disorder, Substance use or GMC. Diagnosis should also be marked with the following aspects like with or without  stressors , and the post partum onset.

On a special note, the DSM-IV-TR provided different sets of diagnosis for different types of psychosis, such as Psychotic Disorder due to GMC, Shared Psychotic Disorder, and Induced Psychotic Disorder (Devarajan).

With regards to Lifespan Development, the DSM-IV-TR has provided some guidelines on disorders of childhood and old age. The childhood disorders consist of the following (1)  Mental retardation, the child has sub-average IQ and may result from genetic factors, pre-natal complications and metabolic deficiencies, (2) Learning disorders, characterized by academic achievement below expected level, (3) Pervasive developmental disorders Autism which may be derived from biological, behavioral and psychodynamic components, (4) Communication disorders, (5) Attention deficit disorders ADHD (6) Disruptive behavior

Disorders,  (7) Feeding and eating disorders , (8) Elimination disorders, (9) Separation and Anxiety Disorders, characterized by excessive anxiety when separated from caretakers. On the other hand, the disorders of old age consist of  (1) Delirium Acute cognitive

Disruption, (2) Dementia Progressive cognitive deterioration. These guidelines set by DSM-IV-TR face issues with regards to age, gender, and class context, as well as cultural and historical relativism (John, Wiley  Sons, Inc).

Experts say that mental disorders results from interplay of biological, social and psychological components. Schizophrenia has strong genetic components the inheritance of genes within the family and this may develop on early pregnancy. The disorder can also be aggravated or cured due to the environmental stressors and other factors (schizophrenia.com). On the other hand, Psychosis may be caused by the combination of social and biological factors, but can most largely triggered even by social factors alone (King, Coker, et. al, 1994). The other disorders throughout the lifespan development may also occur as a combination of the biological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral components of an individual. It is complex to access the magnitude of a certain component in the development of a mental disorder but as what experts usually argue, mental disorders develop and occur due to the interplay of different components, most largely influenced by stress.