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CHAPTER 18
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
I. WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS?
A. Identifying Psych Disorders – definition of disorder:
behavior patterns or mental processes that cause serious
personal suffering or interfere with a person’s ability to
cope with everyday life. What is normal is subject to
interpretation. 1/3 of US citizens will have a psych
disorder.
B. Symptoms of Disorders – doctors look for
maladaptive behavior patterns.
1. Typicality - how far away from “normal” or
“typical” the behavior is.
2. Maladaptivity - impairment of an individual’s ability
to function adequately in everyday life. Such as
behavior that causes misery or distress. Alcohol
abuse is one example, threatening to commit suicide
or threatening other people are others.
3. Emotional Discomfort – many disorders cause
feelings of helplessness, hopelessness,
worthlessness, guilt or sadness, or contemplation of
suicide.
4. Socially Unacceptable Behavior - behavior that
violates society’s norms, this is often hard to
determine, see culture-based syndrome, pg 413.
II.ANXIETY DISORDERS
A. Definition - general state of dread or uneasiness that
occurs in response to a perceived danger. Types of
disorders are defined in the DSMIV.
1. Phobic Disorder – most common anxiety disorder;
refers to a persistent, excessive or irrational fear of a
particular object or situation. It must interfere with a
person’s normal life.
2. Panic Disorders - characterized by short periods of
intense fear or discomfort. People may experience
shortness of breath, dizziness, rapid heart rate,
shaking, sweating, choking, nausea & other physical
symptoms.
3. Generalized Anxiety Disorder - excessive worry
about life’s circumstances such as finances, work,
relationships, accidents or illness.
4. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – unwanted
thoughts, ideas, or mental images that occur over
and over.
5. Stress Disorders - intense feelings of anxiety
caused by an experience so traumatic that it cannot
be forgotten (PTSD). Ex: rape, child abuse, assault,
severe accidents, plane crash, bridge collapse, or
war. May last for years. May experience flashbacks,
nightmares, numbness of feelings, avoidance (won’t
fly on planes), sleep disturbances, irritability or poor
concentration.
B. Explaining Anxiety Disorders
1. Psychological View – psychoanalysts (Freud)
see these as forbidden childhood urges that have
been repressed. Sometimes these surface as
obsessions or compulsions. Behaviorists believe it
is learned behavior or conditioning. Cognitive theory
says it is because people become anxious because
they believe they have no control over their lives or
what happens to them.
2. Biological View - heredity plays an important role
in the development, studies show a genetic link.
III.DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS
A. Definition - separation of certain personality
components or mental processes from conscious thought.
1. Amnesia - sudden loss of memory usually
following a particularly stressful or traumatic event.
Typically can’t remember any events that occurred
for a certain period of time. Less common: some
forget their names, etc. May last for hours, days, or
years.
2. Fugue - amnesia plus suddenly relocating from
home and taking on a new identity. (Usually following
a traumatic event)
3. Dissociative Identity Disorder - (Multiple
Personality) existence of 2 or more personalities
within a single individual. Usually caused by severe
childhood abuse.
4. Depersonalization Disorder - feeling as though you
are outside your body, observing yourself from a
distance. The result of a stressful event.
B. Explaining Dissociative Disorder – Psychoanalytic
Explanation: people dissociate in order to repress
unacceptable urges or memories. No valid behavioral or
cognitive explanation.
IV.SOMATOFORM DISORDERS
A. Definition - expression of psychological distress
through physical symptoms.
1. Conversion Disorder – a change or loss of physical
functioning in a major part of the body for which
there is no medical reason.
2. Hypochondriasis – (hypochondria) a person’s
unrealistic preoccupation with the fear of serious
illness or disease.
B. Explaining Somatoform Disorders
1. Psychological View - Psychoanalysts: the
expression of repressed feelings. Behaviorists: it
serves as a reinforcer if it allows the person to
escape anxiety.
2. Biological View - some evidence of genetic
factors involved.
V.MOOD DISORDERS
A. Definition - mood changes that are inappropriate for or
inconsistent with the situations to which they are
responding.
1. Major Depression – most common of all
psychological disorders. (100 million worldwide,
perhaps 18% of the population at some time in their
life) involves being depressed all or most of the time.
When the feelings are out of proportion to the event
and continue over long periods of time.
2. Bipolar Disorder – (manic depression) dramatic
ups and downs in mood. Pg 423.
B. Explaining Mood Disorders
1. Psychological View - psychoanalysts: because
they suffered real or imagined loss of an object or
person in childhood. Behaviorists: learned
helplessness causes depression. Cognitive: some
people are prone to depression because of their
habitual style of a negative interpretation of life’s
events.
2. Biological View - 25% have family member with
similar problem. Points to a strong genetic
connection. Low levels of serotonin & noradrenalin
may be the cause…..drug therapy helps.
VI. SCHIZOPHRENIA
A. Definition – most serious of all disorders. Loss of
contact with reality, may include hallucinations, delusions,
and distortion of thought.
1. Paranoid Schizophrenia - delusions and auditory
hallucinations all related to a single theme.
Delusions of grandeur, persecution or jealousy.
2. Disorganized Schizophrenia - incoherent thought
and speech patterns, disorganized behavior,
delusions, hallucinations, emotionless or
inappropriate emotions.
3. Catatonic Schizophrenia – unusual, awkward or
uncomfortable body positions for long periods of
time, frozen.
B. Explaining Schizophrenia
1. Psychological View - no valid explanation for this
disorder
2. Biological View - definite genetic or biological
cause.
VII. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
A. Definitions - patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt
social life and distress the individual.
Psychological disorders are generally short periods of
illness that can be distinguished from usual behavior.
Personality disorders are part of an individual’s makeup, influencing virtually all of their behavior and
thoughts.
1. Paranoid - distrustful and suspicious of others &
interpret others motives as harmful or evil.
2. Schizoid - no interest in relationships with others,
withdrawn, lacking normal emotional responses.
Loners like the Unibomber.
3. Antisocial - persistent disregard for the rights of
others. Show no remorse for their rebellious, harmful
behavior.
4. Avoidant – can’t develop relationships for fear of
rejection, shy, withdrawn.
B. Explaining Personality Disorders
1. Psychological View - Psychoanalysts: due to being
rejected or harshly punished as a child. Behaviorists:
learned behavior, or proper behavior wasn’t learned.
Cognitive: they falsely interpret the intentions and
behavior of others
2. Biological View - strong possibility of a genetic
cause (crime gene, violence gene)