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Chapter 17
Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal Behavior versus
Psychological Disorders
• Abnormal behavior is defined by culture.
• Psychological disorders are defined by
psychologists and psychiatrists (in Western
culture).
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)
• Characterized by inattention, overactivity, and
impulsivity
• Diagnosed in school-aged children, mostly male
• 15 percent of school-aged population in the United
States have been diagnosed
• Increasing numbers of children diagnosed with
ADHD may be a reflection of changing social
expectations, rather than an increase in the
frequency of this neurological condition
Prevalence of Mental Disorders
• One in every five people living in the
United States
• If chemical dependencies are included, the
figure increases to about 1 out of 3
The Medical versus the
Psychological Model
• Medical model
– Disordered thoughts and behavior are the result
of a diseased or otherwise malfunctioning brain
• Psychological model
– An individual's past and present life
experiences cause and maintain a psychological
disorder
Organic versus Functional
Disorders
• Organic mental disorders
– Mental disorders that are caused by brain
dysfunction
– Example: general paresis
– Freud's "psychosis”
• Functional mental disorders
– The brain appears to be normal
– Example: depression
– Freud's "neurosis”
Standardization
of Diagnostic Terms
• Psychiatrists and psychologists created the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
• Published by the American Psychiatric
Association
• Revised version DSM-IV published in 1994
• Recognizes over 200 different forms of
mental disorder
• Arranged in 17 categories
The Five Axes of the DSM-IV
The Frequency of Major Mental
Disorders in the United States
• As a group,
anxiety disorders
are the most
common form of
mental illness in
the United
States.
• Depression is
the most
common single
disorder.
Four Types of Anxiety Disorders
• Phobic disorder - an anxiety disorder characterized by a
persistent, inappropriate fear of an object or situation
• Generalized anxiety disorder - a mental disorder that is
characterized by a persistent, inappropriate anxiety for
which there is no apparent cause
• Panic disorder - a disorder characterized by recurring
rushes of paralyzing anxiety that may last for several
minutes
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder - a disorder characterized
by obsessions and compulsions
The Prevalence of Phobias
• The most common simple phobias are a
paralyzing fear of snakes, insects, and
other small, moving life forms
• Many people also have social phobias
and agoraphobia
The Prevalence of Phobias
Common Obsessive Thoughts
and Compulsions
• OCD is characterized by obsessions (persistent, uncontrollable
thoughts) and compulsions (ritualized behaviors)
• Individuals with OCD typically have more than one obsession and
follow multiple rituals
Somatoform Disorders
• Hypochondriasis
• Somatization disorders
• Conversion disorders
Glove Anesthesia
Subtypes of Dissociative Disorders
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•
•
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Dissociative fugue
Dissociative amnesia
Depersonalization disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
Distinguishing Features
of Clinical Depression
• There are five ways in which clinical
depression differs from lesser forms
• Twice as many women as men are
diagnosed with this disorder
Ten Facts About Suicide
The Adaptiveness of Mood Disorders
• Some people may be genetically predisposed to
mental illness
• Sadness and depression may be adaptive in
signaling the need for change
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
•
•
•
•
•
Incoherent thinking
Delusions
Hallucinations
A deterioration of adaptive behavior
Disturbance of affect
Types of Schizophrenia
• Disorganized type
– characterized by incoherent thought patterns
• Paranoid type
– characterized by thoughts of persecution or
grandiose thinking
• Catatonic type
– characterized by muscular rigidity accompanied
by lack of responsiveness
Causes of Schizophrenia
• Genetic factors
– If one identical twin is schizophrenic, the other has a 50 percent chance of
developing this disorder
• Physiological factors
– The dopamine hypothesis is based on the fact that schizophrenic
symptoms diminish with drugs that block certain dopamine receptors, and
that amphetamine stimulates dopamine receptors, producing
schizophrenia-like symptoms
• Environmental factors
– Certain environmental factors seem to trigger schizophrenic symptoms, as
predicted by the diathesis-stress model
– EE studies indicate that schizophrenic patients returning home from an
institution have higher relapse rates than others when family members
express negativity toward them
Categories of Personality Disorders