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Psychological Disorders
Chapter 13
Perspectives on
Psychological Disorders
Section 1
Historical Views of Psych Disorders
• Attributed to supernatural powers
• Madness was a sign that spirits had possessed a
person
• Middles Ages
• Believed in exorcisms
• People were put in asylums-chained down and
deprived food, light or “air” to cure them
• 1793 turning point in treating the ill
• Phillipe Pinel made the asylums more humane, sanitary and
comfortable
• Dorthea Dix (1802-1887)
• American reformer
• Boston teacher that lead the way for humane treatment of the
mentally ill
• New hopsitals were built but very little changes were made
Theories of Nature, Causes, and Treatment of
Psych Disorders
• The Biological Model
• Behavior is caused by physiological malfunctions linked to
heredity
• Genetic factors involved with schizophrenia, depression,
anxiety, and autism
• Psychoanalytical Model
• Behavior disorders are symbolic expressions of
unconscious internal conflicts, that are traced to earlier
like
• Freudian ideology
• The Cognitive-Behavioral Model
• Like all behavior, abnormal behavior is the result of
learning
• Learned behaviors like fears, anxiety, and sexual
deviations can be learned and unlearned
• The Diathesis-Stress Model
• Some people are biologically prone to developing a
particular disorder under stress, whereas others are not
• Systems Theory
• Emotional problems are “lifestyle diseases” that like heart
disease are caused by a combination o biological risks,
psychological stresses and societal pressures and
expectations
• Causes of Mental Disorders
• Biological and psychological factors are connected
• Both are factor and can affect a person
Classifying Psych Disorders
• For nearly 40 years, the American Psychiatric Association
(APA) has issued a manual describing and classifying various
psych disorders
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM)
• In 4th edition
Prevalence of Psych Disorders
• How common are psych disorders in the United States?
• 32% of all Americans suffer from one or more serious
mental disorders during their lifetime
• At any given time, more than 15% are experiencing a
mental disorder
• Drug abuse is the most common disorder
• Anxiety disorders are the second most common
• Mood disorders like depression are a problem for almost
8% of the population
• Schizophrenia afflicts 1.5 % of the population (about 3
million people!)
Mood Disorders
Section 2
• Mood Disorders: disturbances in mood or prolonged
emotional state
• Usually you have an rang of moods and emotions
• With mood disorders people seem stuck at one end of the
spectrum or the other—really happy or really sad
Depression
• Depression: overwhelming feelings of sadness, lack of
interest in activities, and perhaps excessive guilt or feeling of
worthlessness
• Most common mood disorder
• Seriously depressed people suffer from insomnia, lose
interest in food, trouble thinking and concentrating
• In extremely serious cases may experience suicidal thoughts
ot even attempt suicide
• Important to distinguish between clinical and the “normal”
depression
• Entirely normal to become sad when a loved on has died,
break up with your significant other—considered “normal”
depression
• 2 forms of depression—Major Depressive Disorder and
Dysthymia
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Episode of intense sadness that may last for several
months
• Caused from difficult life events
• Dysthymia
• Less intense sadness but persists with little relief for a
period of 2 years
• Biological problem
Mania and Bipolar Disorder
• Mania: euphoric states, extreme psychical activity, excessive
talkativeness, distractedness, and sometimes grandiosity
• unlimited hopes but little motivation to act on them
• Can sometimes become aggressive and hostile toward others
as their self confidence grows
• Manic periods usually alternate with depression
• Bipolar Disorder: periods of mania and depression alternate,
sometimes with periods of normal moods intervening
• Much less common, equally prevalent in men and women
• Stronger biological component than depression
• Strongly linked to heredity and is often treated with drugs
Causes of Mood Disorders
• Biological Factors
• Consistent evidence that genetic factors play a role in
depression and Bipolar Disorder
• Strongest evidence come from Twin Studies
• Chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters
• Medications can help create balanced neurotransmitters
• Psychological Factors
• Cognitive Distortions: illogical and maladaptive response
to early negative life events that leads to feelings of
incompetence and unworthiness that are reactive
whenever a new situation arises that resembles the
original events
• Social Factors
• Difficulties in interpersonal relationships
• Depression stems from excessive grief and irrational grief
over a real or “symbolic” loss
Anxiety Disorders
Section 3
• Anxiety Disorders: disorders in which anxiety is a
characteristic feature or the avoidance of anxiety seems to
motivate abnormal behavior
• Does not know why they are afraid or the anxiety is
inappropriate to the circumstance
• Fear and anxiety doesn’t make sense
Specific Phobias
• Specific Phobias: anxiety disorder characterized by intense,
paralyzing fear of something
• Interferes with life functioning
• EX: fear of flying, spiders, animals, heights, blood etc
• Social Phobia: fear connected with social situations or
performances in front of other people
• EX: public speaking
• Agoraphobia: anxiety disorder that involves multiple, intense
fears of crowds, public places, and other situations that
require separation fron a source of security such as home
Panic Disorders
• Panic Disorders: recurrent panic attacks in which the person
suddenly experiences intense fear or terror without
reasonable cause
• During a panic attack a person may feel impending doom,
chest pains, dizziness or fainting, sweating, difficulty
breathing, and fear of losing control and dying
• Usually only lasts a few minutes, but can occur for no
reason
Other Anxiety Disorders
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder: prolonged vague but intense fears that are
not attached to any particular object or circumstance
•
Inability to relax, constantly feeling restless, muscles tension, rapid heart beat
apprehensiveness about the future
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): a person feels driven to think
disturbing thoughts and/ or perform senseless rituals
Causes of Anxiety Disorders
• Often learned from others or experiences
• If you feel like you do not have control over your life and the events in it you
may suffer from anxiety disorders
Psychosomatic Disorders
Section 4
Psychosomatic Disorders
• Psychosomatic Disorders: there is a real psychical illness that
is largely caused by physiological factors such as stress and
anxiety
• EX: tension headaches
• Caused by muscle contractions brought on by stress
• Headache is real but considered psychosomatic because
stress and anxiety (psychological factors) play an
important role in causing symptoms
• Somatoform Disorders: there is an apparent psychical illness
for which there is no organic basis
• Do not mean to mislead others about their physical
condition
• The symptoms are very real to them, not faked are under
voluntary control
• Somatization Disorder: person experiences vague,
recurring psychical symptoms for which medical attention
is sought after repeatedly but no cause is found
• Common Complaints: back pains dizziness, partial
paralysis, abdominal pains, and sometimes anxiety and
depression
• Conversion Disorder: dramatic specific disability has no
psychical cause but instead seems related to psychological
problems
• Also, blindness, deafness, seizures, and lose of feeling,
or false pregnancy
• Have healthy muscles and nerves, yet symptoms are very
real
• Usually caused to resolve a difficult conflict or relieves the
patient of the need to confront a difficult situation
• EX: worry your self sick
• Hypochondriasis: person interprets insignificant symptoms
as signs of serious illness in the absence of any organic
evidence of such illness
• You have a headache and you assume you actually have a
brain tumor
• Body Dimorphic Disorder: person becomes so preoccupied
with his or her imaged ugliness that normal life is impossible
• EX: think you have big ears and eventually cant function
in regular life
Dissociative Disorders
Section 5
Dissociative Disorders
• Disorders in which some aspect of the personality seems separated from the
rest
• Involves memory loss– though temporary– change in identity
• Dissociative Amnesia: loss of memory fro past events
without organic cause
• Usually block out stressful events or periods of life that
may seem extremely stressful
• EX: extreme/ extensive abuse
• Dissociative Identity Disorder: person has several distinct
personalities that emerge at different times
• Commonly know as multiple personalities
• In true multiple personalities, the various personalities are
distinct people, whit their own names, identities,
memories, mannerisms, and speaking voices, and even
IQ’s
• Personalities sharply contrast each other
• Depersonalization Disorder: essential feature is that people
suddenly feels changed or different in a strange way
• Feel like that have left their bodies, or their actions have
become mechanical or dream like
• Common during adolescence and young adulthood when
our sense of ourselves and interactions changes rapidly
Personality Disorders
Section 6
• Personality Disorders: inflexible and maladaptive ways of
thinking and behaving learned early in life cause distress to
the person and/or conflicts with others
• EX: harmless eccentrics to cold blooded killers
Types of Personality Diosrders
• Schizoid Personality Disorder: person is withdrawn and lacks
feelings for others
• Lacks desire to form social relationships
• No feelings towards others
• Seldom marry, have trouble holding jobs that require
them to work with others
• Paranoid Personality Disorder: person is inappropriately
suspicious and mistrustful of others
• There is no reason for suspicion or mistrust
• Refuse to accept blame or criticism when necessary
• Guarded, secretive, devious, scheming, and
argumentative but see themselves and rational and
objective
• Dependent Personality Disorder: person is unable to make
choices and decisions independently and cannot tolerate
being alone
• Underlying fear they will be rejected or abandoned by the
important people in their lives
• Avoidant Personality Disorder: person’s fear of rejection by
other leads to social isolation
• Person is timid, anxious, fearful of rejection
• Social anxiety leads to isolation but unlike schizoid
people, they WANT to have close relationship with people
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder: person has an exaggerated
sense of self-importance and needs constant admiration
• Believe they are extraordinary, need constant attention and
admiration, display sense of entitlement, and tend to
exploit others
• Borderline Personality Disorder: marked by instability in selfimage, mood, and interpersonal relationships
• Tend to act impulsively, and often in self destructive ways,
• Feel uncomfortable being alone, ad often manipulate self
destructive impulses in an effort to control or solidify their
personal relationships—promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, and
threats of suicide
• Common and serious
• Although genetics do play a role, not an important role in
development
• Usually generates out of exposure to dysfunctional
relationships with parents, frequent exposure to domestic
violence, and physical or sexual abuse
• Antisocial Personality Disorder: involves a pattern of violent,
criminal, or unethical and exploitative behavior and an
inability to feel affection for others
• Lie, steal, cheat, and show little to no responsibility, often
intelligent, and charming
• The “con man”
• Show little to no remorse, guilt or anxiety about behavior
Schizophrenic Disorders
Section 7
• Schizophrenic Disorder: severe disorders in which there are
disturbances of thoughts, communications, and emotions,
including delusions and hallucinations.
• Lasts for months, even years
• Out of touch with reality– insanity is a legal term for
mentally disturbed people who are not considered
responsible for their criminal actions
• Suffer from hallucinations—sensory experiences in the absence
of external stimulation
• Usually takes the form of hearing voices that are not really there
• Frequently suffer from delusions– false beliefs about reality that
have no basis in fact
• These delusions are usually paranoid– believe people are our to
harm them
• Believe their doctors want to kill them, receiving radio messages
fro aliens
• Distorted thoughts sometimes lead to self-destructive behaviors,
increasing their risk fro suicide
• Difficult to live a normal life unless treated with medication
Types of Schizophrenic Disorders
• Disorganized Schizophrenia: bizarre childlike behaviors are
common
• Giggling, frantic gesturing, show childish regard for social
conventions and ma urinate and defecate at inappropriate
times
• Catatonic Schizophrenia: disturbed behavior is prominent
• Alternate between catatonic state (mute and immobile) and
extremely active state (constant shouting and talking)
• Paranoid Schizophrenia: marked by extreme suspiciousness
and complex, bizarre delusions
• May believe themselves to someone they are not
(Napoleon or the Virgin Mary)
• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia: there are clear
schizophrenic symptoms that don’t meet the criteria for
another subtype of the disorder
• May have delusions, hallucinations, or incoherence but
doesn’t fit into any of the subtypes for the disorder
Causes of Schizophrenia
• Genetic component
• People with schizophrenia are more likely to have children
with the disorder, as well
• May also be related to those who have excessive amounts of
the neurotransmitter dopamine