Download Psychological Disorders are:

"Everybody Hurts" by REM
We all have bad days –
so what is the difference between
feeling depressed and being
diagnosed as clinically depressed?
Psychological Disorders
True and False
(Handout 16-1 Myers)
History of Understanding Psychological
Disorders
• In Ancient times, disorders were thought to
have been caused by movements of the sun
and moon (lunacy is full moon) or by evil
spirits.
• Treatments for people with mental illness were
very inhumane even up until the mid 1900’s.
Patients were often chained like animals,
beaten, burned, castrated, etc.
Conditions for Psychologically
Disabled
•
Ancient Greek Trephines
European Trephines
“released evil spirits.”
Conditions for Psychologically
Disabled
History of the Incurable Insane
Psychological Disorders
Psychological behaviors run a continuum from very mild
to extreme. Everyone has these behaviors to one
degree or another. It is not until a behavior or feeling
interferes with your quality of life that they become
a disorder.
Psychological Disorders are:
Atypical (deviant)
Disturbing (distressing)
Maladaptive (dysfunctional)
Unjustifiable
What is “insane”?
Insanity is a legal definition, not a psychological one. The term of
insanity is applied to someone who is incapable of determining if an
act is wrong and cannot control their behavior.
The insanity defense is rarely used – just 0.9% of the time (9 times in
1000). The success rate is less than 20% of the time it is used.
People who are declared not guilty by reason of insanity generally
spend more time institutionalized than they would have been
imprisoned.
Being declared insane is not the same as being declared not
competent to stand trial – this simply means you are unable to
understand the charges against you and the proceedings of the
court (could apply to very young children, for example).
Defining Disorders
DSM IV-Diagnostic and statistical manual vol. 4.: attempts to
describe psychological disorders, without explaining the causes,
predicts the future course, and suggests treatments. It focuses on
observable behaviors to make diagnoses.
Categorizes 400+ disorders, in 17 categories.
Axis I: refers to clinical disorders which need clinical attention.
Includes most mental disorders
Ex: Depression, Schizophrenia, Phobia, etc.
Axis II: Includes personality disorders and mental retardation.
Ex: Antisocial, Narcissistic, Avoidant, etc.
Axis III:relates to physical conditions which may contribute to mental
illness. Ex: brain injury, cancer, HIV, etc.
Axis IV:
relates to psycho-social events in a persons life
which may contribute to mental illness.
Ex: death of a loved one, divorce, new job, etc.
Axis V:
relates to a rating clinician gives patient on how well
they are functioning in life presently and within the last year.
Handout 16-5 Group Activity
David Rosenhan Tests Power of
Labeling and Its Reliability
Describe Rosenhan’s study:
He had colleagues attempt to fake symptoms to get into
mental hospitals. Each pseudopatient told the hospitals they
had been hearing voices. Apart from that they told no lies
other than fake names, addresses, etc.
After being admitted, the fake patients acted completely
normal. Hospital staff failed to identify the fakers and
interpreted all of their normal behavior in terms of mental
illness. Ex: guy taking notes was said to have “writing
behavior” which seemed pathological.
What does this say about the impact of labeling?
David Rosenhan Tests Power of
Labeling and Its Reliability
What does this say about the impact of labeling?
When a person has been labeled with a disorder,
other people tend to look at his/her behavior
through the lens of that disorder. Regular
behavior may be considered abnormal and linked
to the disorder.
Labeling tends to form biases in people.
You Become Psychotic Activity
Handout
(Multiple Causation Handout)