Download Mar10-99

Abnormal Psychology (Chapter
18)
Second Lecture Outline:
Dissociative Disorders
Depression and Mood Disorders
Suicide (Interview tape)
Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative amnesia: Memory loss for
specific events or people
• Fugue: Total memory loss after stress,
relocation and starting a new life
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD)
– two or more identities that coexist
– associated with child trauma such as abuse
– abused children “leave their bodies”
– hearing voices
Mood Disorders
• Unipolar depression
• 10-20% depressed
at some point in life
• multiple causes
• low self-esteem, loss
of motivation,
pessimism
• women > men
•
•
•
•
Bipolar disorder
1% of population
genetically mediated
depressive and
manic symptoms
• mania related to
high energy and
shifts of attention
Symptoms of depression
Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities
Restlessness, irritability, crying
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness,
helplessness, hopelessness
Sleeping disruption, early-morning
awakening
Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating
and weight gain
Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling
"slowed down"
Thoughts of death or suicide
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or
making decisions
Causes of Depression
• Psychodynamic: Intrapsychic conflict
– anger at other turned inward after loss
• Behavioral: Learned helplessness due
to uncontrollable punishment. Dogs.
• Cognitive: Beck’s errors in thinking
– Arbitrary inference “They hate me.”
– Selective abstraction “Lawn has weeds”
– Overgeneralization “I am a failure”
– Magnification, minimization, personalization
Psychophysiology of
Depression
• Low levels of neurotransmitters are
linked to depression
• Drugs affect serotonin reuptake (SRIs)
• Prozac
• Mania treated with lithium carbonate:
mood-leveling drug
• Epinephrine decreased during
depression -- hormonal factors
Biological basis: NMR Scans
Suicide
• Suicide rate 20 in 100,000 in the US
• 10 attempts for every “success”
• Men more successful because of lethal
means (e.g., guns) as opposed to pills
• Suicide linked to depression, but
sometimes follows it or unrelated
• Often rational, follows warnings, intent
to die is unclear, cry for help