Download Psychological Disorders - Ed W. Clark High School

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 To be considered a disorder, a behavior must be:
 Deviant
 Distressful
 Dysfunctional
Biopsychosocial
Approach
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 Disorders are caused by genetics and environmental
and cultural factors
 Some disorders only exist in certain cultures
Classifying and diagnosing
disorders
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 DSM-V – Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders
 Helps make diagnoses consistent; using the DSM,
different psychologists usually classify a person the
same
 However, labeling can lead to bias and self-fulfilling
prophesies
Anxiety Disorders
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 Generalized Anxiety Disorder – person is
unexplainably and continually tense and uneasy –
trembling, sweaty palms, heart palpitations etc. No
physical cause. Patient cannot identify cause
 Panic Disorder – short-term feeling of intense dread;
feeling like something terrible is about to happen
 Agoraphobia
Phobias
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 Persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific
object or situation
 They are sometimes normal fears (heights, spiders)
but taken to an extreme
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Acrophobia: Heights
Gephyrophobia: Bridges
Aerophobia: Flying
Herpetophobia: Reptiles
Agoraphobia: Open spaces
Mikrophobia: Germs
Ailurophobia: Cats
Murophobia: Mice
Amaxophobia: Vehicles, driving
Numerophobia: Numbers
Anthophobia: Flowers
Nyctophobia: Darkness
Anthropophobia: People
Ochlophobia: Crowds
Aquaphobia: Water
Ophidiophobia: Snakes
Arachnophobia: Spiders
Ornithophobia: Birds
Astraphobia: Lightning
Phonophobia: Speaking aloud
Brontophobia: Thunder
Pyrophobia: Fire
Claustrophobia: Closed spaces
Thanatophobia: Death
Cynophobia: Dogs
Trichophobia: Hair
Dementophobia: Insanity
Xenophobia: Strangers
Top ten fears (men and
women combined)
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1. Fear of snakes
2. Fear of being buried alive
3. Fear of heights
4. Fear of being bound or tied up
5. Fear of drowning
6. Fear of public speaking
7. Fear of hell
8. Fear of cancer
9. Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes
10. Fear of fire
Top 5 fears of men
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 1. Fear of being buried alive
 2. Fear of heights
 3. Fear of snakes
 4. Fear of drowning
 5. Fear of public speaking
Top 5 fears of women
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 1. Fear of snakes
 2. Fear of being bound or tied up
 3. Fear of being buried alive
 4. Fear of heights
 5. Fear of public speaking
Have you heard of…
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 tiskaidekaphobia (the number 13)
 uxoriphobia (one’s wife)
 Santa Claustrophobia (getting stuck in a chimney)
 panaphobia (everything)
 phobophobia (fear itself)
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 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – unwanted
repetitive thoughts or actions
 Become a disorder when they interfere with
everyday living
 Examples
 Happens more to teens and young adults
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 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Traumatic
stress that leads to symptoms such as haunting
memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy
anxiety, and insomnia
 Very few people who experience a traumatic
situation exhibit PTSD, but they are much more likely
to.
Explaining Anxiety
Disorders
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 Learning – classical fear conditioning
 Biological perspective- Natural selection; spiders,
snakes, not bombs.
 Genes – twin studies
 Social – anxiety levels have increased over the last 50
years
Dissociative Disorders
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 Dissociative Identity Disorder – is it real?
 “Dissociative dog” video
 Dissociative fugue (dissociative amnesia) – patient
forgets their identity and travels/wanders to a new
place. May assume new identity
Mood Disorders
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 Characterized by emotional extremes
 Major Depressive Disorder – “common cold” of
psychological disorders
 Fairly common natural response to stress
 Lethargy, feelings worthlessness, loss of interest in
formally enjoyed activities
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 Bipolar Disorder
 Mania and depression
 Common among creative people
 Less common than major depression
 Lithium Carbonate is often used to treat Bipolar
disorder
Explaining Mood
Disorders
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 List
 Genes – depression runs in families
 Neurotransmitters – Norepinephrine and serotonin
(exercise releases serotonin)
 Negative thoughts and moods interact
 Culture – in more individualized countries, there is
less to fall back on in times of stress
Schizophrenia
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 Characterized by disorganized and delusional
thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate
emotions and actions
 Disorganized thinking
 Voices and other hallucinations
 Inappropriate emotions and actions
 Subtypes
 Causes – dopamine; less frontal lobe activity;
maternal virus; genes
Personality Disorders
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 Inflexible and enduring patterns of behavior that
impair social functioning
Avoidant – sensitivity to rejection
Schizoid – eccentric; emotionless disengagement
Histrionic – shallow attention-getting
Borderline – unstable identity and relationships;
impulsive emotions
 Antisocial
 Narcissistic
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 Anti-social personality disorder
(sociopath/psychopath)
 Lack of Conscience
 Ruthless
 Show low levels of stress and arousal, even during
stressful situations
 Have less frontal lobe tissue
 Environment plays a role, too – Australia
 Do most criminals display ASPD?
Narcissistic personality
disorder
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 1. I think I am a special person.
 2. I expect a great deal from other people.
 3. I am envious of other people’s good fortune.
 4. I will never be satisfied until I get all that I
deserve.
 5. I really like to be the center of attention.
Characteristics of NPD
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 Strong need to be admired; inflated sense of selfimportance; lack of insight into others feelings;
feelings of entitlement
 High, but very fragile, self-esteem (need others to
verify their worth)
 Prefer friends who are weak or unpopular so they
won’t compete for attention
 Talk mostly about themselves
 Prone to envy
Rates of Psychological
Disorders
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 Very common
 Chart of countries and rate of mental disorders
 Poverty
 Risk and protective factors