Download Psychological Disorders

Chapter 11:
Psychological Disorders
Copyright © 2005 Allyn & Bacon
Psychological Disorder
The presence of a constellation of
symptoms that create significant distress or
impair work, school, family, relationships, or
daily living

Symptoms



Cognitive
Emotional
Behavioral
Psychological Disorders

Four factors




Deviance (atypical)
Distress
Dysfunction (disability)
Danger
What is Abnormal Behavior?
Insanity, is a legal ruling that an accused
individual is not responsible for a crime.

Contrary to the public's understanding of
the insanity plea, such pleas are
infrequently used and rarely successful.
Explaining Abnormality

The medical model views abnormal behaviors as
no different from illnesses and seeks to identify
symptoms and prescribe medical treatments.

The psychodynamic model considers abnormal
behavior as the result of unconscious conflicts,
often dating from childhood.
Explaining Abnormality

The humanistic model suggest that inappropriate
thoughts, behaviors, and emotions can be the result
of conditions of worth and if our ideal self becomes
mismatched with our real self.

The cognitive model suggests that our interpretation
of events and our beliefs influence our behavior.

The behavioral model views abnormal behaviors as
learned through classical conditioning, operant
conditioning, and modeling.

The sociocultural model emphasizes the importance
of social and cultural factors in the frequency,
diagnosis, and conception of disorders.
Explaining Abnormality
Biological
(Evolution,
individual
genes, brain
structures
and chemistry)
Sociocultural
(Roles, expectations,
definition of normality
and disorder)

Bio-psycho-social
Perspective

Psychological
(Stress, trauma,

learned helplessness,
mood-related perceptions
and memories)
assumes that biological,
sociocultural, and
psychological factors
combine and interact to
produce psychological
disorders
Has become the
prevailing explanation
among most
psychologists.
Labels and Abnormality

Rosenhan “On being sane in insane
places”






8 pseudopatients claimed to hear voices
Admitted to psychiatric hospitals
Stopped reporting symptoms
Normal behaviors were interpreted as pathological
Doctors rarely responded to questions
Many real patients were not fooled
Categorizing Disorders

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IVTR) - Provides rules for diagnosing
psychological disorders that have increased
reliability.





Axis I: clinical disorders
Axis II: personality disorders and mental retardation
Axis III: general medical conditions
Axis IV: psychosocial and environmental problems
Axis V: global assessment of functioning
Classifying and Counting
Psychological Disorders

Phobias, alcohol and drug abuse or
dependence, and major depressive
disorder are among the most common
psychological disorders.
Mood Disorders

Major depressive disorder

A mood disorder in which a person, for no apparent reason,
experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods,
feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or
pleasure in most activities

Lifetime prevalence



Women 20%
Men 12%
Dysthymia


A mood disorder similar to major depression, but is less
severe and more chronic (long-lasting) in nature
Lifetime prevalence 6%
Mood Disorders

Suicide



Is often associated with depression, is one of the
leading causes of death in the United States.
Attempted by 30% of depressed people
The risk factors

Include being male, being unmarried, and being
depressed.
Mood Disorders

Bipolar disorder occurs when a person’s moods
swings between depression and mania.



Formerly called manic depression
Lifetime prevalence 1%
The symptoms of mania include euphoria,
increased energy, poor judgment, impulsivity,
insomnia, decreased sleep, and self
aggrandizement.

Mania



Manic episode
Prodromal phase
Often cycles with depression
Explaining Mood Disorders

The brain

Hereditary factors



Lower levels of serotonin and norepinephrine
Frontal lobe



Increased activity
Amygdala
The person



Often runs in families
Attributional style – How the person interprets their surroundings.
Learned helplessness – typified by when someone doesn’t feel in
control the outcome of their situation.
The group

Diminished social support network
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety Disorders –
Are characterized by distressing, persistent
anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that attempt
to reduce anxiety
Anxiety Disorders

Generalized Anxiety Disorder


The person is typically tense, apprehensive, and
in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal
Phobia


persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or
situation
The most frequently diagnosed phobia is
agoraphobia
Anxiety Disorders

Panic disorder

Frequent panic attacks (which resemble heart
attacks) marked by a minutes-long episode of
intense dread in which a person experiences
terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or
other frightening sensation are the main symptom
of panic disorder. It is also characterized by

Biological and cognitive explanations for this
disorder have been proposed.

Lifetime prevalence 3%
Anxiety Disorders

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessions


Are senseless thoughts, images, or impulses that
occur repeatedly; they are often accompanied by
Compulsions

Are irresistible, repetitive acts that are often performed
to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions.
Compulsions include:




Checking
Washing
Ordering
Lifetime prevalence 2%
Anxiety Disorders

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)


Traumatic event
Symptoms




Re-experience event
Avoidance and emotional numbing
Heightened arousal
Lifetime prevalence 8% (among Americans)

Prevalence strongly affected by environment



Violence
Disasters
Possible Genetic Predisposition
Schizophrenia

Is a type of psychosis




Person has a break with reality
May experience positive symptoms (e.g., delusions,
hallucinations, disorganization)
May experience negative symptoms (e.g., extreme
withdrawal, flat affect, alogia, or avolition)
Four subtypes




Paranoid
Disorganized
Catatonic
Undifferentiated
__________________

Residual
Stress Disorders

Dissociative disorders involve disruptions
in some function of the mind.

Dissociative amnesia occurs when memories
cannot be recalled; in dissociative fugue, memory
loss is accompanied by travel.

Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by
the presence of two or more personalities in the
same individual.


Formally known as multiple personality disorder
Should not be confused with schizophrenia
Explaining Schizophrenia

The Brain

Hereditary




Schizophrenia tends to run in families.
The risk of developing the disorder increases with the
degree of genetic relatedness between an individual
and a family member who has schizophrenia.
Ventricle size
The Dopamine Hypothesis

This neurotransmitter, seems to be involved in the
development of schizophrenia
Explaining Schizophrenia

A widely accepted explanation among
psychologists and physicians is:
A predisposition that may be inherited,
with the actual development of the
disorder requiring the presence of other
factors including exposure to high levels
of stress.
Diathesis-Stress Model
Eating Disorders



Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa
Factors




Genetic predisposition
Gender
Cultural factors
Lifetime prevalence 0.5%-4%
Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are long-standing
dysfunctional patterns of behavior.
Categorizations of Personality Disorders
 Dramatic Types




Antisocial personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder
Personality Disorders

Anxious Types




Dependent personality disorder
Avoidant personality disorder
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Odd Types



Paranoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder