Download Psychological Disorders

Psychological
Disorders
It’s Enough to Make One go
Crazy… Just Kidding.
What?




A psychological disorder is a behavior patterns
or mental processes that cause serious personal
suffering.
They may also interfere with a person’s ability to
cope with everyday life.
Almost one-third of adults in the United States
have experienced some type of psychological
disorder.
23% of American people admit to having
experienced some sort of psychological
disorder in their lifetime.
Are You Okay?





What is normal? What is abnormal?
Tough to decide, sometimes.
People with psychological disorders seem rather
“normal”, but may demonstrate an exaggeration
of behaviors.
It is important to remember that it is difficult to
asses whether or not another person has a
psychological disorder.
Psychologists usually use several criteria to
determine the presence of a disorder.
Symptoms





Typicality: Is the behavior or mental process
average, or typical?
This problem with this – of course – is that
sometimes people are simply “not typical”!
Geniuses like Marie Curie, Picasso, and
Einstein were certainly not “typical”.
They were also not subject to psychological
disorders!
Examples of a behavior that would fall under
this criterion?







Maladaptive: the behavior impair an
individual’s ability to function adequately in
everyday life.
Alcohol abuse is one behavior that is
maladaptive.
It can destroy the alcoholic’s health, work,
family life, etc.
Maladaptive behavior can also cause harm to
others.
Remember, however, violent criminals are
usually fine, mentally.
They know what they are doing and so not
psychological disorders.
Other examples of a behavior that would fall
under this criterion?







Emotional Discomfort: severe emotional
discomfort may be a sign of a
psychological disorder.
People who experience depression feel
helpless, hopeless, and extreme sadness.
These feelings can be so stressful that it
could lead a person to suicide.
Other examples of a behavior that would
fall under this criterion?
Socially Unacceptable Behavior: behavior
that violates a society’s accepted norms
may indicate a disorder.
Remember, however, some behaviors are
culture-bound and seem wrong to one
culture, but not another.
examples of a behavior that would fall
under this criterion?
ANXIETY!!!!!




Anxiety refers to a general state of dread or
uneasiness that occurs in response to a vague or
imagined danger.
Everyone has experienced anxiety, BUT if the anxiety
is out of proportion with the situation that causes the
anxiety, then, we begin to consider it a disorder…
A phobia - a word which derives from the Greek root
phobos (meaning fear) – is the most common anxiety
DISORDER.
DISORDER is nice and big because everyone has
anxiety…. It’s the disorder part that makes these
phobias special.
Examples








Zoophobia: fear of animals
Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed places
Acrophobia: fear of heights
Arachnophobia: fear of spiders
Hematophobia: fear of blood
Aviaphobia: fear of flying
Again – many people have these fears, but it
becomes a DISORDER when it hinders life.
When a person turns down a great job offer because
they may have to fly on a plane…. That’s a disorder.





A Social Phobia is characterized by persistent fear
of social situations.
People with social phobias often have panic attacks,
or short, intense periods of fear or discomfort that
feels a lot like a heart attack…
Some people have such abrasive fears of social
situation that they become closed off to the world.
Agoraphobia is a fear of being in places or situations
in which escape may be difficult or impossible.
People with agoraphobia sometimes never leave
their homes.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder



This disorder is characterized by excessive or
unrealistic worry about life circumstances
In order for this disorder to be diagnosed, the
excessive worry should persist for at least 6
months
One of the most common psychological disorders,
but few people seek treatment
OCD









An obsession is an unwanted thought, idea, or mental image
that occurs over and over again.
Sometimes they are completely senseless, sometimes
repulsive.
A compulsion is a repetitive ritual behavior.
When the obsession and the compulsions merge together to
hinder one’s life it becomes a ….?
DISORDER.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder could manifest in many way.
The person who obsesses about people breaking in to their
home will get up 25 times in the night to lock and re-lock the
door.
The person who obsesses about getting sick will wash his or
her hands 25 times a day in order to get rid of the germs.
People with severe cases of OCD have specific routines they
must follow in order for their lives to remain livable.
PTSD


Post-traumatic Stress Disorder refers to intense,
persistent feelings of anxiety that are caused by
something SO traumatic that it makes life difficult.
Symptoms of PTSD:






Flashbacks
Nightmares
Numbness of feelings
Avoidance of situations that remind people of the incident.
Increased tension, anger, poor concentration…
Causes: war, victim of crime, accidents, etc.
Explain!

Psychological explanations:




Psychoanalytic: anxiety is a psychic reaction to danger
surrounding the reactivation of a fearful situation from childhood
 OCD: when repressed events re-surface, they come back as
obsessions
Learning: phobias are learned in childhood, either from a traumatic
event or from a parent’s fears
 Avoiding situations re-enforces anxiety because avoidance reduces
anxiety
Cognitive: people make themselves anxious by telling themselves
that they are helpless in certain situations, which causes anxiety
Biological explanations:



The tendency to be tense is often inherited
A combination of many genes cause anxiety
Tendency to panic seems to run in families
Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Disorders




Dissociation is the separation of certain parts of
personality or mental processes from conscious
thought.
For example – sometimes a person can be so
engrossed in a book or a T.V. show that they do not
hear their name being called from the next room.
Daydreaming is the most common form of
dissociation.
This is NORMAL!
When it’s not Normal…


When dissociation occurs as a result of a
stressful event or certain feelings, it can be a
sign of a disorder.
Dissociative Amnesia:




Sudden loss of memory
Usually follows a stressful event
Cannot remember events surrounding traumatic
event
Is not caused biologically (like from a blow to the
head), and can last from a few hours to years

Dissociative Fugue:




Forgetting personal information and past
events
Suddenly relocates and takes on a new
identity
Caused by stressful or traumatic event
When it is over, the person does not
remember period of fugue

Dissociative Identity Disorder:




Involves existence of two or more
personalities within a single individual
Other personalities do not know of the
other’s existence
Two personalities control behavior
Person suffering usually severely abused in
childhood

Depersonalization Disorder:




People feel as though they are outside of
their body, watching themselves from a
distance.
Preceded by a traumatic event
Can accompany depression or anxiety
Can stand alone as a disorder
EXPLAIN!




Psychoanalytic Theorists believe these
disorders are caused by undesirable urges and
repressed anger about the past.
Learning Theorists believe these individuals
have learned NOT to think about stressful
traumas in order to avoid pain.
They dissociate themselves from the event by
selectively forgetting the event ever happened.
Cognitive and biological theorists have no
decent explanation.
Somatoform
Disorders
Somatoform Disorders


Somatization refers to the expression of
psychological distress through physical
symptoms.
People with these disorders HAVE
psychological disorders (like depression), but
EXPERIENCE inexplicable physical
symptoms like paralysis.

Conversion Disorder




Experience a change in
or loss of physical
functioning in a major
part of the body
No medical explanation
Blindness, paralysis
Characterized by
person’s lack of caring
about his or her
symptoms

Hypochondriacs




Have unhealthy fear of
having serious illness
Is not physically ill
Has confusion about his
or her normal bodily
functions
“Is my stomach
supposed to gurgle like
that? I must have
cancer!”
EXPLAIN!


Explanations are mainly psychological in nature
Psychoanalytic theory- people repress emotions that
relate to certain urges, and those emotions are
expressed with physical symptoms



Physical symptoms are a combination of the unconscious’s
need to express these feelings and the fear of expressing
the feeling
Behavioral- somatoform symptoms reinforce an
escape from anxiety
Other psychologists claim that patients literally
“convert” mental stress to medical problems
Mood Disorders
Mood Disorders




Many people have mood changes.
IT’S NORMAL!
If the mood changes are inappropriate, longlasting, or if the person’s mood is
unresponsive to stimulus, there could be a
deeper problem.
There are two major categories of mood
disorders: depression and bipolar disorder.









Depression:
Feelings of worthlessness, guilt, great sadness.
Persistent depressed mood all day
Loss of interest in seeking any kind of pleasure
Sleeping more or less than usual
Fatigue or loss of energy
Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Symptoms must be present for more than two
weeks
15% of severely depressed people kill themselves.
Bipolar Disorder



Dramatic ups and downs
Periods of mania, or extreme excitement
followed by deep depression
During times of mania:




Inflated self-esteem
Inability to sit still or sleep
Pressure to keep talking and switching topics
Racing thoughts
EXPLAIN!




Psychoanalytic theorists believe some are prone to
depression because they suffered a real or imagined
loss of a loves object, or person in childhood.
Repressed fears, emotions, etc lead to great
sadness.
Biological theorists believe it is genetic and passed
down through generations
Scientists believe that two neurotransmitters,
serotonin and noradrenaline, contribute to these
disorders
Schizophrenia




Schizophrenia is characterized by the loss of
contact with reality.
Schizophrenia can be extremely disabling
It typically appears in young adulthood, but
can emerge later in some cases
If untreated, it will worsen over time
Paranoid Schizophrenia





Have delusions
Have auditory hallucinations (hear voices)
Have delusions of grandeur (“the CIA
recruited me to do a secret mission!”)
May hallucinate people, places, and events
Can become agitated, confused, and afraid
when confronted
Disorganized Schizophrenia







Are incoherent in their thought and speech
Disorganized in their behavior
Have hallucinations, but they are fragmented and
unconnected
Emotionless
May giggle and speak nonsense for no apparent
reason
Do not care about personal hygiene and may lose
control of bladder and bowels
Can become irrationally angry for no reason and
become a danger to self and others
Catatonic Schizophrenia






Immobile, expressionless, coma-like state
May hold unusual, uncomfortable body
positions for long periods of time.
Arms and legs may swell due to lack of
movement
May become suddenly agitated
Not able to communicate verbally
No recognition of outside activity
EXPLAIN!









Psychoanalytic theorists believe it is the result of the
overwhelming of the ego by urges from the id.
The intense inner conflict REGRESSES the individual back
to a child-like stage.
Fantasies get confused with reality leading to hallucinations
and delusions.
The family with frequently critical attitudes towards a child
could put the child at risk or cause someone to relapse.
The Biological theorists believe it is a brain disorder
Schizophrenics have smaller brains than other people
They have smaller frontal regions
These difficulties may result in a lack of synapses
Causes? Heredity, complications during pregnancy/birth,
maternal starvation, being born during the winter, too much
dopamine *the neurotransmitter)
Personality disorders
Personality Disorders





Personality disorders are patterns of inflexible traits
that disrupt social life and cause stress for the
individual.
Personality disorders are different from
psychological disorders:
Psychological disorder traits can be distinguished
from the individual’s typical personality
Personality disorders are enduring traits that are
major components of the individual's personality.
In other words, this is just WHO THIS PERSON IS
and the traits have been there for a long time.
Paranoid Personality Disorder






Distrustful of others
Interpret other’s motives as harmful or evil
difficult to get along with
Argumentative
Cold and aloof
Do not see how their suspicions could be
incorrect
Schizoid Personality Disorder






No interest in social relationships with others
Lack emotional responsiveness
Do not become attached to other people
Tend to be loners, have few friends
Similar to symptoms of schizophrenia –
without the hallucinations and delusions
They stay in touch with reality
Antisocial Personality
Disorder




Consistent disregard for, and violation of, the
rights of others
Do not feel guilt or remorse for their antisocial
disorder
In childhood, may run away from home, hurt
or kill animals, lie and steal
As adults, could become aggressive, have a
hard time keeping a job, fail to pay bills and
may break the law.
Avoidant Personality Disorder






Desire relationships with other people, but
have great fear of rejection
Avoids social situations due to this fear
Acts shy
Always afraid to do something foolish or
embarrassing
More severe than SOCIAL PHOBIAS and not
easy to overcome
Phobias are fixable
More….




Narcissistic Personality Disorder = feelings of
grandeur, need for admiration, lack of empathy for
the feelings of others
Borderline Personality Disorder = instability in
interpersonal relationships, poor or deluded selfimage
Dependent PD = extremely submissive to anyone
offering attention, extremely clingy
Obsessive-Compulsive PD = Obsession with
control, perfectionist, must have order, spends life
attempting to control everything in life.
EXPLAIN!!!!









Psychoanalytic theorists, like Freud, believe that a
lack of guilt is the basis for many of these disorders
(life antisocial PD).
The superego never fully develops
Research finds that children who are rejected and
harshly punished by adults lack a sense of guilt
The child who is nurtured and disciplined with
affection will develop guilt and will not suffer PDs.
Learning theorists believe that childhood “teaches”
children how to relate to other people.
If a child only gets attention for behaving badly, they
will continue to behave badly.
Role models are also important in childhood.
Biological theorists go for genetics again!
Frontal part of the brain has fewer neurons and
therefore lack problem-solving skills