Background Paper Stress Disorders And Mental Illness

Background Paper: Stress Disorders and Mental Illness Stress disorders are a form of mental illness. Understanding the history of mental disorders and their treatment is important for researching new ways to treat these disorders and potentially prevent some of the disorders from developing. Over the years mental illnesses have been perceived and treated in many ways. Some of the earlier treatments include extensive bloodletting, dosing with chemicals, and physically shocking the patient (Dain, 359). Throughout this paper we will look at the historical background of mental disorders, current information about them such as treatments, and how researching mental disorders affects future treatments of mental disorders. Mental disorders†¦show more content†¦Eventually hospitals and other facilities were set up for the treatment of mental disorders in which humane care and occupational therapy were used for treatment. By 1829 the â€Å"moral-treatment hospitals† seemed to justify therapeutic claims of treating patients. Throughout history those susceptible to mental disorders have changed going from upper classes most likely to develop mental disorders to lower classes being most likely to develop the disorders (Dain, 359). We have discussed the historical background of mental illnesses. Next we will look at current treatments and diagnoses of mental illness in more specific areas such as stress disorders. Compared to the 1850s, the research today has expanded a great deal to diagnose and treat stress disorders. One common stress disorder is social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety refers to extreme anxiety in social situations that creates â€Å"emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension or worry† (Perez, 1386). After the social events the person engages in analyzing their social interactions that is known as PEP which maintains the anxiety though repetition and processing negative interactions. One of the most common treatments for social anxie ty disorder is CBT or cognitive-behavioral therapy. This therapy uses models for specific disorders to treat the disorder. For example the anxiety symptoms related to social anxiety are created by underlying