Sexual and Gender Identity, Personality, and Eating Disorders, classifications, components Essay Example for Free

Sexual and Gender Identity, Personality, and Eating Disorders, classifications, components Essay Abnormal disorders diagnosed in the DSM-IV-TR, a multi-axial diagnostic tool, used by clinicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical professionals for the classification of mental disorders (Hansell Damour, 2008). Axis I and Axis II of the DSM-IV-TR covers classifications of mental disorders that include unwelcome types of distress and impairment, that constitutes mental disease, disorder, and or disability. This paper takes into account the diagnostic categories of sexual and gender identity, personality and eating disorders along with the basic distinction. Axis I and Axis II provides a quick reference for the three disorders. Sexual and gender identity disorders tend to be deviant, unsuspecting, fetishism,and erotic. Personality disorders tend to be enduring, pervasive, and subjectively indistinguishable; whereas eating disorders include feelings of hunger, are self-induced, self-defeating, and emotional. This paper will address the biological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral components of three Axis I and Axis II, sexual and gender identity, personality and eating disorders: anorexia bulimia, a, gender identity, exhibitionism, schizoid, paranoid. Diagnose and evaluate our case analysis of Alfred C. Kinsey, inadequate feeling of himself, which gained him explicit interest in sex. Major DSM Categories Sexual and Gender Identity Sex and gender disorders fall into the Axis I categories of: sexual dysfunctions, sexual desire, sexual arousal, sexual pain disorders, orgasmic, Paraphilia’s, and gender identity disorder. When considering sex and gender disorders it is imperative to keep in mind that normal and abnormal behaviors occur on continuing bases and that the factors of impairment and distress most often signify abnormality (Hansell Damour, 2008). Personality Disorder This classification begins with the general definition of personality disorder that has an unhealthy array of behaving, thinking and functioning that applies to each 10 personality disorders these include: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Axis II disorders are more pervasive and less able to be independently distinguished. Personality disorders still include the elements of distress and impairment as guidelines for the diagnosis of dysfunction. Eating Disorder The DSM-IV-TR includes two Axis I categories of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, restricting to binge-eating, purging types, and bulimia nervosa restricting to purging and non-purging types. Anorexia nervosa affects between 0. 5% and 1% of the general population in the United States currently and bulimia nervosa affects up to 3% (Hansell Damour, 2008). When considering eating disorders it is important to take into account that some sub-groups in the American culture have extremely low body, such as gymnast and models, which complicates the diagnosis of eating disorders. Components of Sexual and Gender Identity Biological There are many biological factors that can affect sexual function. Biological components include aging, cigarette smoking, poor diet, medications, medical illness, brain injuries, and some degenerative diseases have been implicated in paraphilia’s. Research has discovered a connection in gender identity disorder to predispositions in the endocrine system which affects sexual and gender behaviors (Hansell Damour, 2008). Emotional Freud believed deviant sexual behavior is a defense mechanism in response to an internal emotional conflict and such behaviors provide a protective function. The inability to cope with and exert control over past humiliation fits right into paraphilia’s (Hansell Damour, 2008). In gender identity disorders, research emphasizes deviant or deficient parental relationships (Hansell Damour, 2008). Cognitive The greatest component that affects sexual functioning is anxiety. It is generally fluid by cognitive aspects such as psychological hang ups and emotional response. The individual is sexually aroused to deviant stimuli, which create maladaptive thought processes to accommodate the perceived deviance. The inappropriate behavior  preserve the maladaptive thoughts required to accommodate the behavior (Hansell Damour, 2008). Behavioral Deviant sexual behavior can be learned by observing abnormal sexual behavior or participating in such behavior. Children rewarded for inappropriate sexual behaviors, (such as viewing or participating in pornography) can develop paraphilia. Therapy can focus on re-establishing healthy sexual behavior by reinforcing more appropriate behaviors (Hansell Damour, 2008). Components of Personality Disorder Biological Many personality disorders have been linked to genetics. Biological components disorders in personality disorders include altered brain structures, reduced gray and white matter, various neurotransmitter abnormalities, prenatal substance exposure, and low serotonin levels. The beliefs that some personality is the result of an overlap of genetics and environmental effects. Emotional Personality disorders generally reflect a disruptive childhood from which the child learns to rely on maladaptive defense mechanisms. Parental criticism and ridicule are central themes underlying these disorders. Additional research supports claims of childhood sexual or physical abuse, although this is not always characteristic in these disorders (Hansell Damour, 2008). Cognitive Cognitive components of personality disorders include the understanding that childhood experiences shape specific thought patterns or outlines, which have a significant effect on patterns of the individual’s behavior and perception which later becomes the personality. Maladaptive belief’s and behaviors are characteristics in personality disorders were therapy works towards replacing these beliefs and behaviors with more effective and useful ones. Behavioral Personality disorder are produced by maladaptive behaviors and thought processes created in childhood which persist because individuals are usually attracted to experiences that fit into their lives whether or not they are maladaptive. Therefore the maladaptive behaviors are maintained. People affected with personality disorders dictate underlining beliefs onto every facet of their lives, yet they have difficulty questioning these beliefs (Hansell Damour, 2008). Components of Eating Disorders Biological Biological components include a genetic factors, hormonal and neural abnormalities. Individuals who have hormonal and neural abnormalities tend to have no control over their eating habits, which causes them unleveled amounts of hormones related to hunger. Bulimia nervosa is linked to low hormone amount that suppress the appetite, this causes the individual to feel excessively hungry. It is the reverse case for anorexia nervosa. Emotional Eating disorder may be a complex reaction to high expectations set by parents and promoted by the individual. The body image becomes the high standard to an individual and not achieving it becomes the emotional instability part of their lives. Many strive toward high expectations and suffer the effects of not reaching those (Hansell Damour, 2008). Cognitive According to Hansell and Damour (2008), cognitive explanations of eating disorders emphasizes on rigid maladaptive beliefs, fixed thought patterns, self-defeating and self-perpetuating behavioral strategies. Cognitive explanations of eating disorders focus on eating or starvation that reinforces eating. Individual have distorted thoughts about food, body weight, body images and persevere in the belief they need to lose weight, or are afraid of gaining weight. Behavioral People with eating disorders participate in behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, binging, and excessive exercise after eating in an effort to maintain their body weight. In anorexia individuals find comfort in starvation. Eating disorders are a result of inappropriate thoughts that reinforce haphazard eating behaviors (Hansell Damour, 2008). Case Analysis of Alfred C. Kinsey Alfred C Kinsey grew up with a controlling father, which caused him feeling of inadequacy. His family consisted of both parents, himself, very little affection and seemingly sexless household. His inadequate feeling gave Kinsey to accelerate greatly in school and on into his adult life. Using his doctoral degree as a sex education professor, Kinsey married having a family with 4 children, whom viewed sex with openness, allowing nudity in the house. Kinsey interest in sex was extreme and his goal was to â€Å"discover every single thing people did sexually† (Gathorne-Hardy, 1998, p. 182). Kinsey opened Institute for sex research and published the Kinsey report. It then generated two books on sexual behavior. Both books and Kinsey sexual practice throughout his life gave a lot of controversial and extreme allegations, that Kinsey was bisexual, played in masochistic sexual practices and engaged in child sexual abuse. Biological Kinsey family life consisted of both parents, displaying very little affection which caused Kinsey to believe it was a sexless marriage, with a controlling father. Kinsey grew an inadequate feeling about himself. He gained a need to excel academic wise causing him to gather all information possible about others sex lives. He became upset with his sex life as well as others. His marriage and family life dealt with his explicit interest in sex. Emotional Kinsey questions his own sexuality in adolescence and adulthood. Kinsey displayed a need for self-assurance through validation of his achievements. Kinsey â€Å"was a very sickly throughout his childhood and felt demeaned by his father† (Meyer, Chapman, Weaver, 2009,). Kinsey felt as the â€Å"authorities† on sexual research and education. Kinsey gathered and engaged in illegal sexual acts. Cognitive Kinsey thinking was prevalent to psychosexual disorder as the result of faulty socialization and learning, affected by genetic and temperament variables. The psychosexual disorder carries significance development of deviant and disrupted sexual behavior. Kinsey, not caring about his sexual apparatus, bisexual or participating in masochistic united his psychosexual disorder with a gender identity. Behavioral Kinsey â€Å"variation in sexual behavior are limited only by an individual’s imagination† (Laws O’Donohue, 2008; Sbrage O’Donohue, 2004). Kinsey behavior was repressed without any sexual acts. Census had Kinsey bisexual and engaging in Masochistic sexual practices. Conclusion In conclusion, even though impairment and distress are the primary diagnostic criteria for the verdict of abnormal disorders in both Axis I and Axis II disorders, the two categories can still are distinguished through the pervasiveness and subjective assessment of the personality disorder. Axis I categories of bulimia nervosa, sexual and gender disorder, exhibitionism are all rooted in biological or genetic predispositions that find their expression through sociocultural, affective, and behavioral triggers. By addressing these components biological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral factors in these disorders, psychological science develops a more clear understanding of these disorders in an effort to engage the individuals in successful therapeutic applications. Alfred C. Kinsey grew up with a controlling father and a sexless household. But in the long run his life was filled with sexual practices and controlling deviance behavior which initialed him with psychosexual disorder and carefree form of gender identity.