The 9 types of psychological symptoms (and characteristics)

When we talk about a mental or psychological disorder, we are referring to a set of characteristics and elements inferred from the analysis of the behavior and responses of a individual that cause significant discomfort and represent a handicap, disabling or difficulty of adaptation for the person himself or his around.

There are a large number of elements that can be observed in different dimensions of the person, These can be grouped into different types of psychological symptoms.

What is a symptom?

In order to talk about the different types of symptoms that we can find, it is useful to first define what a symptom is.

A symptom is understood as the element or characteristic that could indicate the presence of a medical or psychological problem.. It is not, therefore, an objective and totally visible indicator, as the lack of a part of the body could be, but we would be talking about an indication that something is happening.

Although it could be very useful to have the possibility of directly detecting any condition, unfortunately this is very rarely possible. Bearing in mind that mental processes are not directly observable physical entities (and even if they were, their meaning could be diverse), obtaining unequivocal signs of the presence of a disorder is not possible, which makes it necessary to resort to the observation of behaviors, behaviors and expressions that allow visualizing the thoughts,

emotions and beliefs that make us who, what and how we are.

Different types of psychological symptoms

The human psyche is a complex structure in which multiple systems that perform various functions interact, thereby there is a wide variety of aspects that could end up resulting in a maladaptive relationship with oneself or with the world.

This also implies that there is a wide variety of possible psychological symptoms., which we could group into the following.

1. perceptive

The perception or absence of it of the stimuli that come from the real world and the differentiation between them and contents produced by the mind are some of the most characteristic symptoms of certain disorders. Within this category would enter both perceptual deceptions, in which something is perceived that does not exist in the external world, such as perceptual distortions in which an existing stimulus in the environment is captured in a different way anomalous.

Difficulties in recognizing through the senses the stimuli that are presented to us despite the fact that our senses act correctly at the level biological, the agnosias.

2. Of the shape of thought

Although when talking about cognitive symptoms we usually think about "what" we think, It is equally relevant to consider the "how" or "in what way" we do it. These types of symptoms refer to the way of thinking, that is, to the way in which we reason, which is visible through language.

Lack of logic and internal coherence, use of words for characteristics that have nothing to do with their meaning, loss of associations, accelerations and/or inability to follow a line of thought until its conclusion or excessive use of elements that do not have a great relationship with what is intended are some of the psychological symptoms of this guy.

3. of thought content

As a living entity that has to make an active effort in order to survive and stay in the world, the human being captures and perceives information from the environment in order to be able to act in relation to events and circumstances that may affect. For this, it is necessary to work with the information received, being able to make judgments regarding it and use these to respond to the environment. The interaction with the environment and with ourselves brings into play the beliefs of each one, the which for the most part we will use as a basis to establish an action plan for what may happen.

However, Some people have fixed, intense, unrealistic, and inflexible beliefs that cause great distress or difficulty in the life of the individual, and behavior may be an indicator of the presence of a problem at this level. Within this type of psychological symptoms, delusions, obsessive ideas and overrated ideas.

4. of conscience

Although when we talk about psychological symptoms the first thing we think about is constructs linked to perception, thought or emotion, in order to experience all these things it is necessary to have a certain level of conscious activity.

It is important to take into account that we can also find symptomatic elements in this aspect, being able to decrease its level (as in stupor or in extreme cases, a coma), a narrowing of what we are aware of, causing the cognitive and behavioral aspects to be dissociated (an example of this being multiple personality), the introduction of foreign elements such as confusion or delirium or even the excess of consciousness that can accompany the consumption of substances.

5. of attention

Even having a sufficient level of consciousness to capture the stimuli, we must be able to focus on them and/or move our cognitive resources away.

So that, Another type of psychological symptoms to take into account are those related to the ability to focus, direct, sustain and withdraw attention.. Within this type of symptoms we can find both incapacity, difficulty or excess to concentrate, direct attention, select the stimuli to which to direct it or react to possible stimuli.

6. Of memory and recognition

The memory and recognition are vital elements for the human being, being basic to be able to learn and modify our behavior or acquire skills to respond to situations in our lives daily.

Psychological symptoms that indicate a disturbance in this area include difficulty remembering events from the past (anterograde amnesia), encode and store new information (retrograde amnesia), perform mental elaborations that are taken for granted memories (as in confabulation), or an extreme ability to recall events or stimuli (hypermnesia).

7. of language

As the main communication tool, language, both verbally and non-verbally, allows us to establish links with the environment and with other living beings, and even organize our thought. Aspects considered as symptoms in the area of ​​language include difficulties in intonation, rhythm, expression or comprehension.

8. psychomotor

The human being is an animal that needs to be able to move or move parts of its body to be able to perform most actions. The inability or difficulty in movement, the emission of stereotyped patterns of involuntary movements or excessive movement or motor agitation are typical psychological symptoms of this area.

9. affective

One of the types of symptoms that have the greatest effect on the subjective well-being of the person and that has the greatest presence in most disorders are the symptoms linked to emotion and affect. They refer to their own characteristics that show that there is an alteration in the subjective assessment of the individual.

Excessive joy or sadness anxiety, impulsiveness, indifference, decontextualization, inability to express, lack of emotion, rigidity or excessive variability are typical psychological symptoms.

Bibliographic references:

• Baños, R. and Perpina, C. (2002). Psychopathological exploration. Madrid: Synthesis.
• Santos, J. L. (2012). Psychopathology. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 01. YIELD. Madrid.