Download Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology
A.K.A. Psychological Disorders
A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is
judged to be atypical, disturbing,
maladaptive and unjustifiable.
What are the main factors that
cause psychological disorders?
#1. STRESS
#2. Genetic predisposition
#3. Environmental factors (i.e. traumatic events
or continuous loss)
Normal vs. Abnormal
• In order to arrive at a diagnosis of abnormality(ies),
psychologists/psychiatrists must establish what is considered
NORMAL behavior in the given society/culture.
• Cultures that are economically developed with fast-paced
lifestyles tend to value diagnoses of abnormalities.
• What is considered abnormal in one culture (i.e. a person
proclaiming to see dead people) is not necessarily viewed as
such in another culture (i.e. this person has a gift from God/has
a spiritual purpose).
• Use the BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL approach to determine
abnormalities.
Early Theories of Abnormal
Behavior
• Abnormal behavior was evil
spirits/demons trying to get out.
• Trephining was often used.
• Exorcism or casting out demons.
• Social ostracism.
Perspectives and Disorders
Psychological School/Perspective
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic
Cause of the Disorder
Internal, unconscious drives
Humanistic
Failure to strive to one’s potential or
being out of touch with one’s feelings.
Behavioral
Reinforcement history, the
environment.
Cognitive
Irrational, dysfunctional thoughts or
ways of thinking.
Sociocultural
Biomedical/Neuroscience
Dysfunctional Society
Organic problems, biochemical
imbalances, genetic predispositions.
DSM IV – TR (text revision)
• Diagnostic
Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders:
the big book of
disorders.
• DSM will classify
disorders and
describe the
symptoms.
• DSM will NOT explain
the causes or possible
cures.
DSM –IV-TR
Axis I – Is a CLINICAL SYNDROME present?
Axis II – Is a Personality Disorder or Mental Retardation
present?
Axis III – Is a General Medical Conditions, such as
diabetes, hypertension, or arthritis, also present?
Axis IV – Are Psychosocial or Environment Problems,
such as school or housing issues also present?
Axis V – What is the Global Assessment of this person’s
functioning?
Two Major Classifications in the
DSM
Neurotic Disorders
• Distressing but one can
still function in society
and act rationally.
Psychotic Disorders
• Person loses contact
with reality,
experiences distorted
perceptions.
John Wayne Gacy
Categories of Psychological Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Somatoform Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Mood Disorders
Schizophrenia
Personality Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
• A group of conditions
where the primary
symptoms are anxiety or
defenses against anxiety.
• The patient fears
something awful will happen
to them.
• They are in a state of
intense apprehension,
uneasiness, uncertainty, or
fear.
Phobias
• A person experiences
sudden episodes of
intense dread.
• Must be an irrational
fear.
• Phobia List
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
GAD
• An anxiety disorder in
which a person is
continuously tense,
apprehensive and in a
state of autonomic
nervous system arousal.
• The patient is
constantly tense and
worried, feels
inadequate, is
oversensitive, can’t
concentrate and
suffers from insomnia.
Panic Disorder
• An anxiety disorder
marked by a minuteslong episode of
intense dread in which
a person experiences
terror and
accompanying chest
pain, choking and
other frightening
sensations.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Persistent unwanted
thoughts (obsessions)
cause someone to feel
the need (compulsion)
to engage in a particular
action.
• Obsession about dirt
and germs may lead to
compulsive hand
washing.
(Watch ABC News
20/20’s Obssessive
Compulsive Disorder)
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
a.k.a. PTSD
• Flashbacks or
nightmares following
a person’s
involvement in or
observation of an
extremely stressful
event.
• Memories of the
even cause anxiety.
Practice FRQ Writing – Worth 8 points
(Quiz Grade)
Explain how the following phenomena can affect
behavior. Explain further how three of the five might
play a role in perpetuating racial discrimination.
• Deindividuation
• Social loafing
• Social facilitation
• Obedience
• Cognitive dissonance
Somatoform Disorders
• Occur when a person
manifests a
psychological
problem through a
physiological
symptom.
• Two types……
Hypochondriasis
• Has frequent
physical complaints
for which medical
doctors are unable
to locate the cause.
• They usually believe
that the minor
issues (headache,
upset stomach) are
indicative are more
severe illnesses.
Conversion Disorder
• Anxiety is converted into a
physical problem.
• Report the existence of severe
physical problems with no
biological reason.
• Like blindness, paralysis, or
extreme pain.
• Physical ailment may suddenly
or gradually improve or
disappear without any
explanation.
Dissociative Disorders
• These disorders
involve a disruption
in the conscious
process.
• Development of a
sudden loss of
memory or change in
identity.
• Three types….
Psychogenic Amnesia
• A person cannot
remember things
with no physiological
basis for the
disruption in
memory.
Dissociative Fugue
• People with
psychogenic amnesia
that find themselves
in an unfamiliar
environment.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Used to be known as
Multiple Personality
Disorder.
• A person has several
rather than one
integrated personality.
• People with DID commonly
have a history of
childhood abuse or
trauma.
(Watch: “Sybil”)
Mood Disorders
• Experience extreme or inappropriate
emotion.
Major/Clinical Depression
• A.K.A. unipolar
depression
• Sadness for 2 or more
weeks that may or may
not be explainable.
• Depression is the
common cold of
psychological disorders.
• https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=3BByqa7bhto
Seasonal Affective Disorder
S.A.D.
• Experience
depression during
the winter months.
• Based not on
temperature, but on
amount of sunlight.
• Treated with light
therapy.
Bipolar Disorder
• AKA: Manic Depression.
• Involves extreme periods of depression and manic
episodes, with little or no “in between” moods.
• Manic episodes involve feelings of high energy (but
they tend to differ a lot…some get confident and
some get irritable).
• Engage in risky behavior during the manic episode.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAswgP5M6AE
Schizophrenic Disorders
• About 1 in every 100
people are diagnosed with
schizophrenia.
Symptoms of
Schizophrenia
1. Disorganized thinking.
2. Disturbed Perceptions
3. Inappropriate
Emotions and Actions
Disorganized Thinking
• The thinking of a person
with Schizophrenia is
fragmented and bizarre
and distorted with false
beliefs.
• Disorganized thinking
comes from a breakdown
in selective attention.they cannot filter out
information.
Delusions (false beliefs)
• Delusions of
Persecution
• Delusions of
Grandeur
Disturbed Perceptions
• hallucinationssensory experiences
without sensory
stimulation.
Abnormal Emotions and
Behaviors
• Laugh at inappropriate
times.
• Flat Effect
• Senseless, compulsive
acts.
• Catatonia- motionless
Waxy Flexibility
Schizophrenia: Positive v.
Negative Symptoms
Positive Symptoms
•Presence of
inappropriate symptoms
Negative Symptoms
•Absence of
appropriate ones.
Types of Schizophrenia
Disorganized Schizophrenia
• disorganized speech or
behavior, or flat or
inappropriate emotion.
• Clang associations
• "Imagine the worst
Systematic, sympathetic
Quite pathetic,
apologetic, paramedic
Your heart is prosthetic"
Paranoid Schizophrenia
• Preoccupation with delusions or
hallucinations.
• Somebody is out to get me!!!!
Catatonic Schizophrenia
• Flat effect
• Waxy Flexibility
• Parrot-like repeating
of another’s speech
and movements
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia
• Many and
varied and
combination
of
symptoms.
Personality Disorders
• These are wellestablished,
maladaptive ways of
behaving that
negatively affect
people’s ability to
function.
• Dominates their
personality.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Lack of empathy.
• Little regard for
other’s feelings.
• View the world as
hostile and look out
for themselves.
Dependent Personality Disorder
• Rely excessively on the attention
and help of others.
• Consistently insist on having a
companion to go everywhere (i.e.
public restroom, mall, party, on
walks, etc.)
• Tendency to feel inadequate and
vulnerable in situations where one
must perform or fulfill a task
individually.
• Require regular encouragement or
assurance.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
• Needs to be the center
of attention.
• Whether acting silly or
dressing provocatively.
• Tend to project failures
on others, but willing to
accept most/all of the
credit for successes.
• “Drama-prone”
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Having an
unwarranted sense
of self-importance.
• Self-centered
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=Wg9eIjtcf64
Obsessive –Compulsive
Personality Disorder
• Overly concerned
with certain
thoughts and
performing certain
behaviors.
• Not as extreme as
OCD anxiety.
Sociopaths vs Psychopaths
See articles/video clips
Other Disorders
• Paraphilias (pedophilia,
zoophilia,
hybristophilia)
• Fetishism
• Sadist, masochist
• Eating Disorders
– Anorexia/Bulimia
• Substance use
disorders
• ADHD
The
ROSENHAN STUDY
• Rosenhan’s associates were
Malingering symptoms of hearing
voices.
• They were ALL admitted for
schizophrenia.
• None were exposed as imposters.
• They all left diagnosed with
schizophrenia in remission.
• What are some of the questions
raised by this study?
Therapy
• It used to be that if
someone exhibited
abnormal behavior,
they were
institutionalized.
• Because of new drugs
and better therapy,
the U.S. went to a
policy of
deinstitutionalization.
Psychoanalytic Therapy
• Psychoanalysis (manifest
and latent content
through…. hypnosis free
association, dream,
interpretation).
• Unconscious
• Transference
• Other therapies will
result in symptom
substitution.
Humanistic Therapy
• Client-Centered Therapy by
Carl Rogers
• These are non-directive
therapies and use active
listening.
• Self-actualization, free-will
and unconditional positive
regard.
• Gestalt Therapy by Fritz Perls
encourage clients to get in
touch with whole self.
Behavioral Therapies:
designed to alter behaviors using conditioning
Counter-conditioning
• Classical Conditioning
1. Aversive Conditioning
2. Systematic
desensitization
3. Flooding
Operant Conditioning
• Token Economy
Cognitive Therapy
• Change the way we view
the world (change our
schemas)
• Help to change thought
processing and consciously
decide positive thinking
over negative thinking
• Albert Ellis and Rational
Emotive Therapy
Somatic Therapies:
Created to alter chemicals/hormones within the
brain/body to regulate symptoms
Psychopharmacology
• Antipsychotics (thorazine,
haldol)
• Anti-anxiety (valium,
barbiturates, Xanax)
• Mood Disorders (serotonin
reuptake inhibitors)
• Bipolar (lithium)
Somatic Therapy
• Electroconvulsive
Therapy (ECT)- for
depression.
• Psychosurgery –
used only in extreme
cases
– Prefontal lobotomy
Group Therapy
• Created to offered
support and
encouragement.
• Acknowledges the
process of mental and
emotional healing at
various levels.
• Patient – centered.