Download Psychological Disorders

Psychological Disorders
Definition
 A harmful
dysfunction that
occurs when
behavior is
atypical,
disturbing,
maladaptive, and
unjustifiable
Breaking it down
 Atypical- outside the average scope of human
behavior
 Ex. A person who disregards social norms like
wearing a costume every day
 Disturbing- bothersome to you or others
 Ex. A person who sees or hears things that does not
exist and then tries to respond to those stimuli
 Maladaptive- gets in the way of living one’s life
 Ex. A person won’t go to work because it makes him
anxious
 Unjustifiable- no external explanation for the
behavior
 Ex. When a person is sad even though their life is
going well.
Perspectives
 Medical- disorders
are sicknesses that
can be diagnosed
with symptoms
and treated with
therapy
 Bio-Psycho-Socialdisorders are a
product of biology,
psychology, and
sociocultural
factors
DSM-V
 Diagnostic Statistical
Manual for Mental
Disorders
 Classifies disorders
according to
symptoms,
treatments, and
expected duration
Types of Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Characterized
by fear or
anxiety.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
 generalized anxiety disorder (person is continually
tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic
nervous system arousal)
 panic disorder (episodes of intense dread
accompanied by physiological reactions)
 phobias (persistent, irrational fear marked by
avoidance)
 obsessive-compulsive disorder (unwanted
repetitive thoughts and actions)
 post-traumatic stress (people in a state of anxiety or
fear after a traumatic event)
Causes
Learning Perspective
 Anxiety is a result of
classically conditioned
fear.
 Fear is generalized
 Behavior that reduces
fear is reinforced
(because it takes the
fear away)
 We learn anxiety by
observing the fears of
others
Biological Perspective
 Natural selection makes
some fears more likely
 Some people are
genetically predisposed
to have more fear
 Physiology- brain areas
involved in emotion and
fear are overactive
Dissociative and Personality
Disorders
Break from normal
personality
Abnormal
personality
Types of Dissociative and Personality
Disorders
 dissociative-identity disorder (multiple personalities)very sketchy in terms of research
 avoidant personality disorder (fear of rejection and
therefore withdrawal from others)
 schizoid personality disorder (eccentric behaviors such
as social disengagement)
 histrionic personality disorder (shallow, attentiongetting emotions, goes to great lengths to get praise and
reassurance)
 narcissistic personality disorder (exaggerate their own
importance, aided by fantasies)
 antisocial personality disorder (sociopath, one who lacks
conscience)
Debate over Dissociative Disorders
Those who say yes:
 There are distinct brain
and body states
associated with different
personalities
 Handedness can switch
 Visual acuity and eyemuscle balance changes
 Subtle memories don’t
transfer
Those who say no:
 Those with dissociative
disorders are also highly
hypnotizable
 Only 2 cases per decade
from 1930-1960
 20,000 cases in 1980s
 Almost solely diagnosed
in North America
Causes
A way of dealing with childhood trauma?
Then why do the children who survived
the Holocaust not exhibit an increased
rate of personality disorders?
Mood Disorders
Characterized by unstable moods
Types of Mood Disorders
 major depressive disorder (two or
more weeks of depressed moods with no
apparent cause)
 bipolar disorder (alternating between
manic and depressive episodes)
Explanations of Mood Disorders
 Behavior and cognition- depressed people have
negative thoughts about their behavior
 Depression is common- it’s causes must
likewise be common
 Women are twice as likely to have major
depression
 Most major depressive episodes self-terminate
 Stressful events often precede major depression
Perspectives
Biological
Social-Cognitive
 Mood disorders linked
to genetics
 Negative thoughts lead
to negative moods
 Genes change
neurotransmitters:
 Negative moods lead to
negative actions
 Norepinephrine is
overabundant in
mania and scarce in
depression
 Negative actions lead to
a negative response
from others
 Serotonin is scarce
during depression
 Negative response leads
to negative thoughts
Schizophrenia
Characterized by disorganized
thinking, disturbed perceptions, and
inappropriate emotions and actions
Types of Schizophrenia
 paranoid (preoccupation with delusions or
hallucinations)
 disorganized (disorganized speech or behavior or
flat or inappropriate emotion)
 catatonic (immobility or repetitive movements,
extreme negativism or parroting others)
 undifferentiatied (many or varied symptoms)
 residual (withdrawal after hallucinations and
delusions have disappeared)
Potential Causes
 Brain abnormalities
 Dopamine overactivity
 Low activity in frontal lobe
 High activity in thalamus during hallucination
 Large fluid-filled areas that shrink cerebral tissue
 Maternal virus during pregnancy
 Genetic factors
 Identical twins are much more likely to both have
the disorder than are fraternal twins
 Psychological factors
Psych Therapies
Psychotherapy
An emotionally charged, confiding
interaction between a trained therapist
and someone who suffers from
psychological difficulties
Eclectic approach- uses techniques from
various therapies to help a client
Psychoanalysis
Traditional Psychoanalysis
 Started by Freud in the late 1800’s
 Assumption is that disorders are caused by
repressed traumas (usually from childhood)
 Freud used free association, where the patient
would start discussing any memory focusing on
thoughts and feelings
 When the patient hit a block, called resistance,
the psychoanalyst would interpret the underlying
wishes, feelings, and conflicts.
Traditional Psychoanalysis
Another method is dream
interpretation
Freud believed that the content of
dreams could tell an analyst about a
clients repressed feelings and drives
Psychodynamic Therapy
 Psychodynamic therapy is an update to
psychoanalysis
 Focuses on interpretation of past
memories
Comparing Therapies
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic
 Therapist is out of
the line of vision
 Therapist may talk
to client face-toface
 Client comes
several times a
week
 Client comes for
several years
 Client comes once
a week
 Client comes from
a few weeks
Interpersonal Therapy
A brief alternative to psychodynamic
therapy
Especially used for depressed clients
Focus is on improving current
relationships and interpersonal skills
Humanistic Therapies
Basic Principles
Focus on the present and the future
Focus on conscious thoughts and
feelings
Taking immediate responsibility for
one’s feelings and actions
Promotes growth instead of cures
illness
Methods
 Client-centered therapy- developed by
Carl Rogers, a technique where the
therapist creates an accepting, genuine
and empathetic environment
 Active listening- a type of listening in
which the listeners echoes, restates, and
clarifies what the speaker has said
Behavior Therapies
Focus on Classical and Operant Conditioning Techniques
Classical Conditioning Techniques
Counterconditioning- conditioning new
responses to stimuli that trigger
unwanted behaviors
Two types:
Systematic Desensitization- associating a
relaxed state with something that would
normally cause anxiety
Exposure therapies- treat anxiety by exposing
people to the things they fear or avoid
Aversive Conditioning- associating an
unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior
Operant Conditioning Techniques
 Using rewards or
punishments to change
behavior
 Token economy- a way to
reward desired behavior
 Patient exchanges a token
earned for exhibiting the
desired behavior for
privileges or treats
Cognitive Therapies
Basic Ideas
Teaches people more adaptive ways
of thinking and acting
Based on the assumption that our
thoughts intervene between our
events and our emotional reactions
Example
Event
You lose your job
Thought
“I’m worthless. It’s
hopeless.”
Result
Depression
Event
You lose your job
Thought
“I deserve something
better.”
Result
No Depression
Biomedical Therapies
Drug Therapies
 Antipsychotic drugs- block dopamine
receptor sites
 Patients must be carefully monitored
 Can produce symptoms akin to Parkinson’s
disease
 Antianxiety drugs- depress central
nervous system activity
 Treat symptoms but not causes
 Antidepressant drugs- increase the
availability of certain neurotransmitters
(serotonin and norepinephrine)
Electroconvulsive Therapy
 A therapy for severely depressed patients
where a brief electrical current is sent
through the brain of an anesthetized
patient
 We don’t know for sure why it works
 Only for severe depression
 After 3 sessions a week for two to four
weeks, 80% of patients show
improvement
Psychosurgery
 Surgery that removes or destroys brain
tissue
 Only used as a last resort because the
operations are irreversible
 Can reduce uncontrollable seizures by
deactivating specific nerve clusters
 Can also cut the circuits involved in severe
obsessive compulsive disorder
Lobotomies
 A psychosurgery procedure used during
the 1930s-1950s
 Used to control uncontrollably violent or
emotional patients
 Procedure severs the nerves that connect
the frontal lobes to the emotioncontrolling centers of the inner brain
 This procedure is rarely used today
Group and Family Therapies
Basic Principles
 Using psych therapy techniques in small
groups
 Saves the patient time and money and is
generally just as effective
 Provides social support for patients
 Family therapy uses group therapy
principles to better family relationships
Alternative Therapies
Types
 Therapeutic Touch- a practitioner hovers
her hands over a patient to move “energy
fields”
 Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing (EMDR)- rapidly moving
one’s eyes in order to relieve anxiety or
stress
 Light exposure therapy- exposing
seasonally depressed people to a bright
light
Evaluating Psychotherapies
Is It Worth It?
 Clients often enter therapy in a crisis, so
their positive expectations can enhance
healing
 Unusual events tend to regress toward the
mean
 Clients generally like their therapists and
speak kindly of them
 80% of people have poorer outcomes than
the average treated person
 The type of therapy depends on the
problem
Commonalities
Therapy offers hope
Therapy offers an explanation for
behavior and a way to change that
behavior
Clients and therapists have an
empathic, trusting, and caring
relationship