e an individual who experienced the death of a spouse, this person may lock himself or herself up and with no one giving positive reinforcement the individual may fall out the social picture that also provided reinforcement. Not only is the loss of a loved one the cause for mood disorders, but others causes can be the loss of a job, separation from a primary group of friends, or an illness. Depressed people also tend to pick out negative comments from conversations to provide a type of negative reinforcement about themselves.Another Behavioral theory is that people tend to have learned helplessness if they feel they have no control over the reinforcers or punishers in their lives. This produces a feeling that even if they take action the results will not be desirable Genetics: May play an essential role in determining causes for mood disorders, studies done on twins support this theory, by saying that twins in which at least one is bipolar, seventy two percent of twins were both bipolar.Brain Biochemistry: Irregular levels of neurotransmitters in the brain may cause mood disorders. An example would be the neurotransmitter norepenephrine, is the levels of it are too low, an individual tends to become depressed. But if it is too high, then the person exhibits symptoms of the manic side of bipolar disorder.SchizophreniaPsychoanalysts believe that when a person’s ego becomes overwhelmed by impulses from the id, or unbearable guilt. Instead of trying to resolve the issues the ego retreats and the person regresses to the oral stage of psychosexual development. The person then regresses so far that they become infantile in manner and lose all sense of reality. Bizarre hallucinations and speech represent the individual’s struggle to regain reality.Behaviorists feel that individual may not have been conditioned to respond successfully to social stimuli, or they have been punished for such responses. Because of this lack of so...
