What is oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)?Even the best-behaved children can be difficult and challenging at times. But if your child or teenager has a frequent and persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, defiance or vindictiveness toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).…

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?From hoarding to handwashing to forever checking the stove, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) takes many forms. It is an anxiety disorder that traps people in repetitive thoughts and behavioral rituals that can be completely disabling. Surveys conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health show that 2 percent of the population suffers from OCD—that’s…

What is Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder?The main features of Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is a preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism (around anything from cleanliness to order) at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, regardless of the impact on others. Individuals with OCPD attempt to maintain control with painstaking attention…

What is Narcissism Personal Disorder?Narcissistic personality disorder — one of several types of personality disorders — is a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others. But behind…

What is mental retardation?Mental retardation is an intellectual disability that results in intellectual capabilities significantly below average. Mental retardation can interfere with learning, the ability to care for oneself, and the ability to meet general societal expectations about how to behave. It is generally defined as an IQ below 70, although…

Who Is Intelligent?Reading a road map upside-down, excelling at chess, and generating synonyms for “brilliant” may seem like three different skills. But each is thought to be a measurable indicator of general intelligence, a construct that includes problem-solving ability, spatial manipulation, and language acquisition.   IQ—or intelligence quotient—is the score most…

What Is Insomnia?Insomnia is a sleep condition that involves difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. Almost everyone goes through bouts of sleeplessness from time to time. But if someone struggles to fall asleep or wakes up at night or early in the morning and finds it difficult to fall back asleep, and this happens at least three…

The Definition of FailureIt’s almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it’s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it. We can choose to see failure as “the end of the world,” or as…

What is Dyslexia?Dyslexia is a neurological condition, not a mental disorder. It affects learning ability in people of normal and above-average intelligence. It is a language-based disability that causes difficulties with word recognition, spelling, and comprehension. Wat are the symptoms?Signs and symptoms of dyslexia most often appear in childhood but can also occur in…

What is Dyscalculia?Dyscalculia is a childhood disorder that affects the ability to learn arithmetic and mathematics in someone of normal intelligence, as compared with those of the same age who are receiving identical instruction. It is not a mental health disorder, but rather a nonverbal learning disability that causes difficulty with counting, measuring quantity, working memory for…