I am trying to recall the term used by psychologists to describe mental illnesses with a genetic component but which must be activated or triggered in order to emerge. I have a vague memory of a name for these disorders -- hyphenated, I believe, as in a "Blah-Schmah Disorder" except replace the 'blah' and 'schmah' with something meaningful! Any help would be appreciated!
2007-02-26 19:05:37 · 5 answers · asked by coreyander 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
It's the diathesis-stress model
2007-02-26 19:16:05 · answer #1 · answered by crispies! 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Diathesis-stress Model...hehe. Don't you just hate those brain farts ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diathesis-stress_model
...and if you need to know this, there are different theories of how diathesis and stress produce mental illness. If not then don't bother reading this!
1) You must have the diathesis to get a disorder, but whether the person gets the disorder depends on the stress (environmental) component
AND/OR
2) Your chances of getting a disorder depend on an interaction between the two, but either diathesis or stress may cause a disorder or both. Usually it's the overall balance that makes the biggest difference (ie. low genetic risk but high stress may produce a disorder, or High genetic and low stress may still result in a disorder.
2007-02-26 19:43:08 · answer #2 · answered by ladyofthemystnin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
2007-02-26 19:15:58 · answer #3 · answered by ak47_girl 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Stress diasthesis
2007-02-26 19:08:28 · answer #4 · answered by freshbliss 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Bi-polar maybe?
2007-02-26 19:15:03 · answer #5 · answered by mrtlu 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋