Psychology and Mental Health

The science of mannerisms and the mind is known as psychology. It includes both conscious and unconscious aspects of thinking and understanding. Psychology is a social science that aims to understand people, both individuals and groups, according to its definition. Psychologists are professionals who specialize in this field (Rodriguez, 2001). They research mental functions and how they affect behavior in individuals and society, as well as biological and physiological processes that influence mental behaviors and functions. In essence, psychology will help you understand how and why you react the way you do, as well as the impact it has on individuals and society (Eysenck, 2000). While psychology seeks to understand human behavior, psychologists look to understand all the factors that influence human behavior and thoughts that range from societal pressures to biological controls. Psychology is a development of both philosophy and biology, and it dates back to ancient Greek and has the inclusion of great minds such as Socrates and Aristotle (Rowan, 2003). The word itself is derived from a Greek word psyche that means breath or life. The first psychology practice, however, came to be in 1879 in Germany and was established when Wilhelm Wundt created the first psychology lab. His central focus was on the structures that make the mind that solely relied on analysis of feelings and sensations through the use of self-examination. Over time more ideas and thoughts have been added, and with each addition, we can understand the human mind and behavior a little bit better.
One of the biggest problems in the field of psychology is Gender Dysphoria, formerly known as gender identity disorder. The change in the DSM-5 separates children, adolescents, and adults’ inappropriate way by developmental stages. Gender Dysphoria refers to a feeling that an individual is not at ease with the gender, which corresponds with the sex that they were naturally born. The feeling usually has several degrees, which result in behavioral differences. These variations in Dysphoria degree are ordinarily used to elucidate the observed behaviors of persons who show changes in their gender expression from what the society expected from their birth sex. One of the key impacts of the shift is the stigma reduction whereby the language is changed from disorder to Dysphoria, which acts as a step toward depathologizing individuals who are transgender. Consequently, transgender people trying to seek hormonal or surgical treatment are currently forced to rely on gender identity disorder diagnosis to access necessary treatment. Despite the stigmatizing, the diagnosis may be, when it comes to transgender people seeking medical care, it is always a challenge since the change in language does not favor them as the previous gender identity disorder.
According to the DSM-IV description, for a state to be referred to as a disorder, it has to show that the individual is dysfunctional. Thus, for Gender Identity Disorder to be considered as a disorder as per the definition of DSM-IV, it has to be determined that cross-sex/gender behaviors represent a psychological, biological, or behavioral dysfunction in the individual. The application of the term “dysfunction” creates a lot of confusion since its concept is wide open to interpretation because no definition is given to contradicting term in DSM-IV that transgender people still use to seek medical treatment like surgery. The aim of this research paper is to answer whether Gender Identity Disorder is simply a defiant or an actual conflict between the transgender people and the society. In this scholarly paper, Gender Identity Disorder will be broadly discussed from literature review, research paper, and a clear conclusion of the issue is wrapped up in a lucid manner and does not create a conflict between the transgender individuals and the society.
In my research paper, I plan to discuss how improbable is that discomfort with a person’s biological sex represents a conflict between transgender people and the society. Discomfort with the sex of people shows an underlying apprehension with how they experience their actual biological make-up.
I also plan to provide the research, evidence, and analysis that bring out the clarity of my thesis by using the appropriate examples. A search for sources for my project took quite a long time since I only had to use scholarly sources. I managed to get the information I needed regarding my topic mental health/psychology whereby among the issues that it had, I picked Gender Dysphoria.
Since my main aim was to find out whether the Gender Identity Disorder is simply a defiant or an actual conflict between the transgender people and the society, I tried to look for a book, which would carry all that information. Rowan (2003) presents details and explanations of transgender individuals under the Gender Dysphoria. It also explains how the society relates to individuals due to their sex. The author also has highlighted all the issues that are related to mental health.
John (2013) also provides complete accounts of mental illnesses including relationship and social causes. He further challenges individual’s preconceptions regarding what they think concerning mental health.
Jaclyn (2001) elucidates the core concepts of cognitive psychology, behaviorism, and psychoanalytic psychology and also diagnoses tests, important individuals, disorders and their treatments. She also discusses various essays in her book and other issues like emotional intelligence, genetics, multiple intelligence, and social support.
Eysenck (2000) explains how the traditional approaches are combined with the cognitive neuroscience approach cutting edge to bring out a broad primary field in cognitive psychology. He covers general topics like language, perception, and many other subjects that we usually apply in our daily lives.
Debra (2012) demystifies the probable link that exists between psychology as a discipline and the real world psychology. She structures her book into rooms that have a general overview of the major concepts of psychology that are applicable in different situations. She also provides some case studies that talk about psychologists input, and it impacts.
Research Paper
What causes people to be born as transgender? From my understanding, this is the most recurrent question of any individual or a group. In a few words, no one knows for sure what causes transgender. However, some theoretical frameworks have been researched, developed, and tested over the previous years. The psychology and medical professions are the primary sources of the findings of many kinds of research that deal with transgender issues. They have employed the term Gender Dysphoria to separate children, adolescents, and adults in an appropriate way by developmental stages. However, the term does not suit transgender people, especially in the medical treatment thus the use of the previous DSM-IV Gender Identity Disorder. This research paper explores the field of psychology. It looks at the issue of Gender Dysphoria that we study in psychology and the role that psychology plays in ensuring that society functions at its best. It will also address the importance of psychology in the day to day lives of people and reveal how psychology helps to improve mental health and human behavior in society.
Psychology is referred to as the science of mannerisms and mind. It encompasses aspects of conscious and unconscious understanding and thinking. In training, psychology is a social science designed to understand people, both individually and groups. Professionals that work under this discipline are called psychologists (Jaclyn, 2001). They work to understand mental functions and how they affect behavior in both individuals and society at the same time discovering biological and physiological processes that influence mental behaviors and functions. This paper shows how controversial is the opinion that discomfort within a group appears because of the individual’s biological sex, representing a conflict between transgender and society.
Applied psychology uses emotional means and findings in the scientific psychology to resolve practical problems within the humans and animals (Rowan, 2003). For example, applied psychology with the help of therapists supports transgender people and the society in coming along and fighting stigmatization through counseling, clinical services, and education. Applied psychology helps in curbing any form of discomfort, which might exist between the individuals and the society through counseling services that make the transgender people feel welcome and not discriminated in the society.
On the other hand, theoretical psychology focuses on the theory and philosophy aspects of psychology. This field focuses on the combination and incorporation of ideas that are in existence and those that develop over time in the area of psychology. These theories are reached without any experimentation or confirmation through testing (Jaclyn, 2001). This discipline came from the philosophy of science which bases its ideas on logic and rationale. This subject comes from philosophy which focuses on understanding nature and organization of concepts. It tries to explain that there is nothing wrong with transgenderism and nature selected them to be the way they are thus removing the discomfort that surrounds transgender people in society. This type of psychology is grounded scientifically in ideas that are known as epistemology. It plays an important yet unique role in the field of psychology; any claim made regards human thinking, behavior, and actions can be verified as true if these acts are appealing in theory and empirically reinforced by research.
Psychology also utilizes scientific means to predict, understand and explain human behavior (John, 2013). Saying that they use accurate measures means that the studies have a well-organized structure that starts with a hypothesis which is then empirically tested. Modern researchers use a variety of scientific methods in the study of human behavior that include relational studies, longitudinal studies, and experiments. This has been the case since psychologists began to move away from philosophical aspects to determine human behavior. For example, it explains that behavior of transgender like men carrying out all the female duties and women doing vice versa is as a result of how they were brought up. A man brought up in a family where females are the majority will tend to adapt and copy their behavior.
Cognitive psychology studies the thought process and perceptions of a human. This branch of psychology looks into aspects such as opinion, attention, memory, language acquirement, problem-solving and decision-making processes in the test subject. It means that factors such as attention span and memory retention have an effect on mental health and human behavior (Eysenck, 2000). The thought process is dependent on humans’ ability to understand their situation and surroundings and as such cognitive psychology aims at looking into how these affect human behavior. Comparative psychology is the study of animal behavior. Through the understanding of animal behavior, the medics can understand human behavior. This type of psychology leads to a deep and broad understanding of human behavior as it compares human and animal reaction in the same situations.
Clinical psychology seeks to study and apply psychology in understanding, preventing and treating mental health problems, and promoting the healthy well-being of individuals and fostering proper personal growth (Eysenck, 2000). Clinical psychology focuses on psychological assessment and psychotherapy. It means that this form of psychology looks at factors that influence human behavior by looking at an individual’s life and surroundings. For example, through clinical counseling and medical treatments like surgeries, a transgender person can either become a man or a woman thus boosting their social interaction in the society.
Social psychology is a study that looks into understanding societal behavior and social impacts and how they influence social and individual behavior. Social psychology looks at approaches, anger, prejudices, and conformity that affect individual behavior in social settings (Debra, 2012). This discipline focuses on the input of personal attributes of mind and the behavioral background in the actions of society. Debra (2012) illustrates how the behavior of transgender people is influenced by different approaches, thus bringing a sense of discomfort within the society. Does Debra (2012) counter argument using the social psychology that transgender people sex behavior bring discomfort to the community? No, a transgender social setting may be influenced by various factors like anger or love. However, we are all humans; all of us experience the same feelings transgender people do. Even though the author’s book is very informative, her statement disqualifies the source point that transgender brings discomfort to the society.
The field of mental health is one of the most impressive areas in the education sector. Through psychology, medics and psychologists can diagnose conditions that could not be detected by anyone thus providing treatment to the victims. Through it, branches, one of the issues that fall under it, Gender Dysphoria, the challenges it encompasses can be discussed. The condition involves a lot of stigmatization in the society thus through the discussions from the psychology branches; it is clear that Gender Identity Disorder does not create conflict between the transgender individuals and the society.
Literature Review
Four out of the five sources used in this research paper explain how implausible is that discomfort with a person’s biological sex represents a conflict between transgender individuals and the society. Discomfort with a person’s sex indicates an underlying agitation with how the person experiences their actual biological makeup (Rowan, 2003). John (2013) also points out that such discomfort among people would be most likely to exist despite the Gender Identity Disorder 42 societal openness surrounding gender role expression degree. Eysenck (2000) also explains various traditional approaches that the society undergoes and the importance of social relations in a family that embraces their members who are transgender. Jaclyn (2001) uses ethical and moral issues to explain the importance of social support in the society thus implying how it is unlikely for a person’s biological sex to bring discomfort in the society. However, Debra (2012) differs from the other four authors and points out that any behavior pattern, which is marked to be different from the accepted standards of a society always will bring a discomfort in the community.




Works Cited
Debra Bekerian, A. L. (2012). Applied Psychology: Putting Theory Into Practice. Oxford: OUP Oxford.
Eysenck, M. W. (2000). Psychology: A Student's Handbook. New Delhi: Taylor & Francis,.
Jaclyn Rodriguez, T. I.-G. (2001). Psychology and Mental Health: Abnormality-Grief and guilt. Massachusetts: Salem Press.
John Cromby, D. H. (2013). Psychology, Mental Health and Distress. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Rowan Bayne, I. H. (2003). Applied Psychology: Current Issues and New Directions. California: Sage.


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