The 9 types of psychological symptoms (and characteristics).

Signs, signals or evidence that something is wrong with our mind.

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

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

What is a symptom?

In order to be able 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 be signaling the presence of a medical or psychological problem.. It is not an objective and totally visible indicator, as could be the lack of a body part, 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 rarely possible. Taking into account that mental processes are not directly observable physical entities (and even if they were, their meaning could be different) it is not possible to obtain unequivocal signs of the presence of a disorder, so it is necessary to resort to the observation of behaviors, behaviors and expressions that allow us to visualize 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 interact and perform various functions, so there is a wide variety of aspects that could result in a maladaptive relationship with oneself or the world.

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

Perceptual

The perception, or lack thereof, of stimuli coming from the real world and the differentiation between these and contents produced by the mind are and contents produced by the mind are some of the most characteristic symptoms of certain disorders. This category includes both perceptual deceptions, in which something is perceived that does not exist in the outside world, and perceptual distortions in which a stimulus existing in the environment is captured in an anomalous way.

This type of symptom can also include difficulties in recognizing the stimuli presented to us through the senses despite the fact that our senses act correctly at a Biological level, agnosias.

2. Of the form of thought

Although when we talk 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.. This type of symptom refers to the way we think, i.e. the way we reason, which is visible through language.

Lack of logic and internal coherence, use of words by characteristics that have nothing to do with their meaning, loss of associations, accelerations and/or inability to follow a line of thought to its conclusion or excessive use of elements that have little relation to what is intended are some of the psychological symptoms of this type.

3. Of the content of thought

As a living entity that has to make an active effort in order to survive and remain in the world, the human being captures and perceives information from the environment in order to be able to act in relation to the events and circumstances that may affect him. To do this, it is necessary to work with the information received, being able to make judgments about 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 of us, which for the most part we will use as a basis to establish a plan of action in the face of what may happen.

However, some people have fixed, intense, far from reality and inflexible beliefs that provoke a great anguish or difficulty in the life of the individual. or difficulty in the life of the individual, being the behavior an indicator of the presence of a problem at this level. Within this type of psychological symptoms are mainly delusions, obsessive ideas and overvalued ideas.

4. Consciousness

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

It is important to keep in mind that we can also find symptomatological elements in this aspect, such as a decrease in its level (as in stupor or in extreme cases coma), a narrowing of what we are aware of making the cognitive and behavioral dissociated (being an example of this the multiple personality), the introduction of strange elements such as confusion or delirium or even the excess of consciousness that may accompany substance use.

5. Attention

Even if we have a sufficient level of consciousness to grasp the stimuli, we must still be able to focus on them and/or to withdraw our cognitive resources.

Thus, another type of psychological symptoms to be taken into account are those related to the ability to focus, direct, sustain and withdraw attention.. Within this type of symptoms we can find both inability, difficulty or excess to concentrate, direct attention, select the stimuli to which to direct it or react to possible stimuli.

6. Memory and recognition

Memory and recognition are vital elements for the human being, being basic to be able to learn and modify our behavior or to acquire abilities to respond to the situations of our daily life.

Psychological symptoms that indicate an alteration in this area include difficulty in remembering past events (anterograde amnesia), encoding and storing new information (retrograde amnesia), making mental elaborations that are taken for memories (as in confabulation), or an extreme capacity to remember events or stimuli (hypermnesia).

7. Language

As the main communication tool, language, both verbal and non-verbal, allows us to establish links with the environment and with other living beings, and even to organize our thoughts. 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 organism to be able to perform most actions. The inability or difficulty in movement, the emission of stereotyped patterns of involuntary movements, or an excess of movements or agitation. or an excess of movements or motor agitation are typical psychological symptoms in 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 is most present in most disorders are symptoms related to emotion and affect. They refer to characteristics that show that there is an alteration in the subjective appraisal of the individual.

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

Bibliographical references:

• Baños, R. and Perpiña, C. (2002). Exploración Psicopatológica. Madrid: Síntesis.
• Santos, J.L. (2012). Psicopatología. Manual CEDE de Preparación PIR, 01. CEDE. Madrid.