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Psychological Disorders
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
What Are Psychological
Disorders?
SECTION 1
Quick Definitions
 Psychological Disorders: patterns of thoughts or
behaviors that interfere with lives or cause suffering
 Culture-Bound Syndromes: what we consider a
disorder may actually be considered normal in other
areas
Did You Know?
 How many Americans suffer from psychological
disorders?
 Studies vary, but the results range from one-fourth
up to half!
 For the test, we’ll say:
 One-third of adults in the United States have
experienced some type of psychological disorder.
Symptoms
Typicality—is the behavior average of the rest of
society?
2. Maladaptive Behavior—determines whether the
behavior is harmful to self or others
3. Emotional Discomfort—if a person suffers from
extreme or long-lasting feelings of hopelessness or
helplessness
4. Socially Unacceptable Behaviors—actions that
violate society’s norms
1.
Classifying Psychological Disorders
 It’s important to have a system for classifying
disorders for diagnosis and treatment.
 Disorders were first classified based on their
presumed causes.
 Today, psychologists use the DSM-IV to classify
disorders.

DSM-V: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders; 5th edition (first published in 1960)
Anxiety Disorders
SECTION 2
Introduction
 Description: a general state of uneasiness or dread
that occurs in response to a vague or imagined
danger
 Characteristics: nervousness, inability to relax,
concern about losing control
 Physical Signs: trembling, sweating, rapid heart rate,
shortness of breath, increased blood pressure,
flushed face, feelings of faintness
 A problem when this happens all the time and is out
of proportion to the situation
Types of Anxiety Disorders
• Phobic disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Phobic Disorder
 A lot of us say we have phobias, but we really don’t
 Description: an excessive/irrational fear of a certain
subject or situation
 Diagnosed when the fear leads to avoidant behavior
and changes in a person’s life
Panic Disorder
 1/75 people have this disorder
 Have recurrent and unexpected panic attacks
 A short period of intense fear/discomfort with shortness of
breath, dizziness, rapid heart beat, trembling/shaking,
sweating, nausea, choking, and more
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 Description: an excessive and unrealistic worry
about life in general that lasts for six months or more
 Worry about: finances, work, relationships,
accidents, illnesses, etc.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 Obsessions: unwanted thoughts, ideas, or
mental images that occur over and over
again; often senseless
 Compulsions: repetitive, ritual behaviors;
often involve checking and cleaning
 Sufferers usually know their obsessions
and compulsions are unwarranted
Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome
 Characterized by the
excessive collection of
items, along with the
inability to discard them
 Often creates cramped
living conditions, with
only narrow pathways
winding through stacks
of clutter
 Leads to limited
interaction with others
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
 Description: intense, persistent feelings of anxiety
caused by a traumatic experience (rape, war, abuse,
assault, accident, etc.)
 Symptoms: flashbacks, nightmares, numbness of
feelings, avoidance, increased tension and jumpiness
Explanation
Psychological Views
Biological View
 Learned in childhood
 It’s genetic—we inherit
 A cover for forbidden
these obsessions and
compulsions from our
parents
urges
 Due to feelings of
worthlessness
 A negative response to
a situation
Dissociative Disorders
SECTION 3
Background Information
 Dissociation refers to the separation of personality
components or mental processes from conscious
thought
 The most common form of “normal”
dissociation is daydreaming
 Dissociation removes stress or lessens
anxiety
 There are four disorders we’re going to discuss.
Dissociative Amnesia
 Characteristic: a sudden loss of memory
 May last a few hours or several years
 Often appears after a traumatic experience and
returns with little notice
 Usually doesn’t occur again
Dissociative Fugue
 Characteristics
 forget information and events
 Relocate
 Develop a new identity
 Most common during wars and natural disasters
 Just like in the soap operas!
Dissociative Identity Disorder
 Also known as Multiple Personality Disorder
 Characteristic: two or more personalities exist in one
person
 Each personality is different from each other
 A history of severe child abuse is common with most
DID patients (physical, sexual, or psychological)
Depersonalization Disorder
 Characteristic: detachment from one’s mental
processes and/or body
Explaining this Disorder
 Psychoanalytic Psychologists
 A response to inappropriate urges
 Learning Psychologists
 People have been taught not to think about disturbing events
 Most believe there is no link between dissociation
and genetics
Gender Identity Disorder
Symptoms
 Children
 Are disgusted by their own body parts
 Are rejected by their peers, feel alone
 Have depression or anxiety
 Say that they want to or will be the opposite sex
 Adults
 Dress like or live the life of the opposite sex
 Feel alone
 Have depression or anxiety
Causes/Diagnosis
 The cause is unknown
 In order to diagnose this disorder, the feeling of
being in the body of the "wrong" gender must last for
at least two years
Treatment
 Counseling: have the patient talk about the issues
 Hormonal Therapy: give him/her the hormones that
correspond with the gender he/she was born with
 Sex Reassignment Surgery: your basic sex change
Somatoform Disorders
SECTION 4
Introduction
 Definition: the expression of
psychological distress through
physical symptoms
 This disorder is NOT intentional
 Some diagnosed cases are
reversed because a medical
illness is found!
 Some cases go unreported
because the focus is on medical
tests.
Conversion Disorder
 Description: experience a change in or loss of
physical functioning in a major part of the body with
no medical reason
 Example: when a person cannot move his/her legs or
see at night
 Some people are unconcerned about these
symptoms!
Hypocondriasis
 Also known as hypochondria
 Description: a person’s
unrealistic preoccupation with
the fear he/she has a serious
disease
 Example: when a person is sure
a belly ache is actually stomach
cancer
 Some people will see several
doctors until one gives them
any form of treatment!
Explanation
 A person converts psychological stress into actual
medical problems
 Example: a pilot afraid to fly since September 11th
may develop problems with his/her vision
Impulse Control Disorders
Description
 defined primarily by loss of control
 characterized by an inability to resist the impulse to
perform an action that is harmful to one's self or
others
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
 the inability to control violent impulses
 result in serious damage to either persons or
property
 the degree of the aggressiveness is not in proportion
to cause
Trichotillomania
 Hair loss caused by compulsive pulling or twisting of
the hair until it breaks off
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An uneven appearance to the hair
Bare patches or all around loss of hair
Constant tugging, pulling, or twisting of hair
Denying the hair pulling
 Patients say they have a sense of relief, pleasure, or
gratification after the hair pulling
 These symptoms are usually seen in children
Kleptomania
 Involves the compulsive stealing of items that aren’t
needed
 There is usually a feeling of tension before stealing,
and a sense of pleasure at the time of the theft
 A rare problem; more common in women
Pathological Gambling
 The uncontrollable impulse to gamble
 It often results in disrupted relationships,
financial problems, and/or criminal
behavior and yet the individual can’t stop
 Often are obsessed with gambling and
need to increase the amount of money
gambled in order to experience the same
rush
Pyromania
 Involves setting fires for pleasure
 The individual usually has a significant fascination
with fire
 Experience a sense of relief or gratification from the
experience
Treatment
 Some of the disorders are helped by behavior therapy
 Reduce stress and help the patient develop other habits
 There may also be a neurological explanation (there’s
something wrong in the brain)

Treat with anti-depressants
Mood Disorders
SECTION 5
Introduction
 Mood changes refers to being “up” or “down”
depending on life experiences
 Becomes a disorder when changes are inappropriate
or inconsistent
SAD
HAPPY
Major Depression
 Another one of the most
common disorders
 Effects over 100 million
people worldwide
 A person must have five
of the nine symptoms
which must occur every
day for two weeks
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Depressed mood
Loss of interest in
activities
Weight loss or gain
Sleeping more or less
Faster/slower reactions—
physically and emotionally
Loss of energy
Feeling worthless or guilty
Unable to concentrate or
make decisions
Thoughts of death or
suicide
Bipolar Disorder
 Also known as manic
depression
 Characterized by
dramatic ups and downs;
changes quickly for no
reason at all
 The depressive
characteristics are the
same as major
depression
 There are five
characteristics of the
manic stage
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Inflated self-esteem
Inability to sit still or sleep
Racing thoughts
Pressure to talk to switch
topics
Difficulty concentrating
Explanation
 Psychological Views
 Learned helplessness
 It is simply a person’s habit
 Biological Views
 Heredity
 A chemical imbalance; due to
low levels of serotonin
Schizophrenia
SECTION 6
Introduction
 Most serious disorder
 Very rare; .5% - 1% suffer from this disorder
 Characterized by a loss of contact with reality
 Can develop gradually or very quickly
 Worsens over time
 Very difficult to treat
 20% with schizophrenia will attempt suicide; 10% of
the attempts are successful
 Often starts between 18-25
Symptoms
 Hear Voices
 Hallucinations: see things that aren’t there
 Can be visual or auditory
 Delusions: believe things to be true that aren’t; often
believe they can do things they can’t and that they’re
better than they are
 Thought Disorders
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Organization: skip around
Content: repetition
 Social Withdrawal
 Catatonic Stupor: an immobile, expressionless,
coma-like state
Explanation
 Genetics
 Injury or trauma at birth
 Birth during a winter month
 A viral infection during infancy
 A brain defect
Personality Disorders
SECTION 7
Description
 Patterns of inflexible
traits that disrupt social
life or work and/or
distress the affected
individual; are major
components of a person’s
personality
 Effects up to 10% of the
population
Prevalence in American
Adults
Affected
Unaffected
Types of Disorders
 Paranoid: distrustful and suspicious of others, see
others as harmful and evil, threatening and insulting
 Schizoid: no interest in relationships with others,
lack normal emotional responses
 Antisocial: show disregard for others and violate the
rights of others with no guilt or remorse
More Types of Disorders
 Avoidant: want relationships, but are afraid; act shy
and withdrawn
 Borderline: have unstable relationships and an
unstable self-image
 Dependent: clingy and submissive
 Histrionic: excessively emotional; always need
attention
Explanation
 Not clearly explained until the 1980s
 Were rejected by adults as children, severely
punished
 Reinforced negative behaviors
 genetics