Running head: EATING, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, SEX/GENDER, AND 1

Eating, Substance Abuse, Sex/Gender, and Personality Disorders Paper

Miyiah Davis

PSY/400

September 12, 2010

Dr. Eric Niler

EATING, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, SEX/GENDER, AND 2

Eating, Substance Abuse, Sex/Gender, and Personality Disorders Paper

Many elements comprise disorders that require recognition when determining effective

treatment and accurate explanation. Within the following paragraphs cognitive/behavioral

components, emotional components, and biological components in personality disorders are all

explained to provide confirmation of common knowledge pertaining to various disorders.

However, to eliminate an exhaustive amount of information pertaining to personality disorders,

disorders within the Cluster B provides a general understanding of personality disorders. An

interesting fact involves the role of the hypothalamus within the disorders mentioned. The

hypothalamus is responsible for mood, hunger, sex drive, and associated with reward and

pleasure seeking; therefore, the hypothalamus is a key factor to normal functioning.

Components of substance abuse

Given that some individuals who experiment with drugs do not become avid drug users,

and some individuals who experiment with drugs develop an addiction, biological components

are important when considering the likelihood of substance abuse (Biological Components of

Substance Abuse and Addiction, 1993). An individual’s psychological makeup and biological

response to drugs both influence substance abuse; however, present studies cannot determine the

exact genetic component exclusively responsible in determining whether or not an individual

will develop an addiction to drugs (Biological Components of Substance Abuse and Addiction,

1993). What is apparent involves the activation of the hypothalamus and the brains reward

system that occurs when using drugs. The biological function of drugs mimics normal neuron

activity within the brain; therefore, causing a familiar enjoyable experience that increases the

chance of further drug use.

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Cognitive and behavioral components within substance abuse involve learning the

positive and pleasurable feelings associated with drug use. When an individual uses illicit drugs

he or she does so to experience the feeling that are associated with using the drug. Unfortunately

the individual using the drugs cannot rationalize the negative effects that are associated with t he

drug because ones cognitive ability is impaired from drug use. Behavioral effects involve the

context of drug-seeking and drug-use (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Early psychodynamic

theories stressed comfort, dependency, and devotion to pleasure seeking through one’s

unresolved oral stage; however, as time evolved the focus shifted to ego and superego

development, object relations, attachment and self-esteem (Hansell & Damour, 2008).

Components of sex/gender disorders

Classical conditioning of abnormal pairings that involve sexual arousal and inanimate

objects could theoretically produce a sexual fetish (Hansell & Damour, 2008). What an

individual learns within his or her social environment is also considered a contributing factor of

sex and gender disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008). For example, deviant sexual behaviors

observed as acceptable sexual behaviors distort normal social and cognitive skills relating to

appropriate sexual behavior, which unfortunately leads to paraphilic behaviors.

Biological components involve injuries or illness that damage areas of the brain

(hypothalamus) related to one’s sexual drive. According to Hansell & Damour, (2008) brain

tumors, degenerative diseases, temporal lope epilepsy, mental retardation, and childhood

physical and sexual abuse create an abnormality in sexual behavior among individuals.

Emotional components are According to Freud, perverse sexual behaviors are a result of the

phase of castration anxiety experienced in young boys (Hansell & Damour, 2008). The role of
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perverse behavior was then therefore, thought to provide one with reassurance by using defense

mechanisms against the fear of castration.

Gender disorders are also explained as learning by social encounters; however, what was

once thought to occur because of an overly close relationship between the mother and her son

although the father is absent has evolved to the son attempting to connect with an emotionally

detached mother. Cognition and behavior in gender disorders are also shaped by the

environment as in operant conditioning. A child receives positive reinforcement for inadequate

gender behavior (cross dressing) and receives punishment for demonstrating gender consistent

behavior (Hansell & Damour, 2008).

Components of eating disorders

Biological components of eating disorders involve the neuroendocrine dysfunction and

the deregulation of serotonin (Hansell & Damour, 2008). The brain structure responsible for

hunger is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is responsible for producing hormones that

control hunger by way of releasing serotonin. The lack of serotonin is a key component to mood

regulation, eating, and normal cognition of food intake and the feelings one has about his or her

body.

Cognitive and behavioral components involve dysfunctional thoughts and repeated

experiences that reinforce eating disordered behavior. Reinforcement of emotional relief

followed by guilt and depression create cognitive distortions that renew the emotional reactions

that prompt behaviors demonstrated in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in patients.

Individuals with anorexia concern themselves about the needs and desires of others to the

extinct they are not aware of what they want for themselves (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Over

compliance and high achievement are a result to unattainable parental expectations commonly
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present in families preoccupied with appearance and high achievement (Hansell & Damour,

2008). Recent explanations of childhood sexual abuse and the need to retain a child’s disposition

to avoid sexual anxieties are also found in individuals who have anorexia nervosa (Hansell &

Damour, 2008).

Components of personality disorders

Antisocial, borderline, and histrionic personality disorders are a result of emotionally

detached family environments as well as unreliable and inconsistent parenting (Hansell &

Damour, 2008). Biological components are linked to the lack of serotonin that helps maintain

mood stability and exposure to illicit drugs in utero. Cognitive and behavioral components of

Cluster B personality disorders are a result of modeled and reinforced behavior, dichotomous

thinking, and cognition based on vague perceptions. The defects in cognition mirror unreliable

and inconsistent parenting that has resulted in overly dramatic, emotional, and erratic behaviors.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the different components that influence disorders determine the accuracy

of the assessment and explanation of the above-mentioned disorders. The one common element

of all the disorders is the hypothalamus and the chemical released from the hypothalamus known

as serotonin that regulates many functions of the body. Emotions, hunger, sex drive, and the

reward system are all driven by the level of serotonin within the brain and determine the stability

of cognition, emotion, and basic functions of the body.

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References

Biological Components of Substance Abuse and Addiction. (1993). Retrieved from

http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/diskl/1993/9311/931104.PDF

Hansell, J., & Damour, L. (2008). Abnormal Psychology (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.