Download Psychological Disorders

Psychological Disorders:
An Introduction
Warm up
• Before we begin Abnormal Psych, what
do you hope to learn in this unit?
• Have you had any experience dealing
with psychological disorders – people
connected to you or any past reading on
this topic?
Defining Disorder
Psychological Disorder
• Behavior patterns or
mental processes which
cause serious personal
suffering or interfere with
a person’s ability to cope
with everyday life.
It Takes 4 Things for a Behavior
to be Considered a Disorder:
•
•
•
•
Typicality
Mal-adaptivity
Emotional Discomfort
Socially Unacceptable
Behavior
Typicality
• Is the behavior typical of most people?
Maladaptive
• Impairs the person’s
ability to function in
everyday life.
• An exaggeration of
normal, acceptable
behaviors
• Destructive to oneself
or others
Emotional Discomfort
• A behavior which is troublesome to
the person themselves or those around
them.
Socially Unacceptable Behavior
• A behavior so
different from other
people’s behavior that
it violates a norm
• Norms vary from
culture to culture
Understanding
Disorders
Early Views of Mental Illness
• In ancient times, mental
illness was usually
explained through a
supernatural model; the
person was possessed.
• During the Middle Ages
treatment methods were
inhumane and cruel
Conditions for Psychologically
Disabled
Ancient Greek Trephines
European Trephines “released
evil spirits.”
Conditions for Psychologically
Disabled
Medieval Solutions…
The Medical Model
• Diseases have physical causes
that can be diagnosed, treated,
and in most cases, cured.
• Disorders are diagnosed based
on symptoms and treated or
cured through therapy.
• Disorders are similar to a
physical illness.
Bio-Psycho-Social Model
• Believe mental
illnesses combine
biological,
psychological, and
socio-cultural factors
to produce
psychological
disorders
Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
Classifying Disorders
Diagnosis
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM-IVTR)—describes symptoms and
diagnostic guidelines for
psychological disorders
– Made by the APA.
– Provides common language to
label mental disorders
– Has guidelines to diagnose
mental disorders
DSM-IV-TR
• Divides mental disorders into 17
major categories
• Includes symptoms but not causes of
each disease
• Lists and describes 250 specific
psychological disorders
Labeling Stigmas
• Studies show a clear bias against people diagnosed
with mental disorders.
• Rosenhan Study – “normal” people pretended to hear
voices and checked into a mental hospital then acted
normal.
• Their normal actions were taken to be abnormal once
they were labeled schizophrenic.
Prevalence
• Roughly 50% of adults experienced symptoms at
least once in their lives
• 80% who experienced symptoms in the last year
did NOT seek treatment
– Many would benefit from treatment don’t seek it.
– Most people just deal with it.
• Women have higher prevalence of depression and
anxiety
• Men have higher prevalence of substance abuse
and antisocial personality disorder
Gender Differences for Disorders
Prevalence of Mental
Disorders Worldwide
Are People with a Mental Illness as
Violent as the Media Portrays
Them?
• People with mental disorders are often depicted on TV
as helpless victims or evil villains who are
unpredictable, dangerous, and violent.
• Studies show that former mental patients did not have
a higher rate of violence than “normal” people.
• People with severe mental disorders who experience
bizarre delusional ideas and hallucinated voices do
have a slightly higher level of violent and illegal
behavior than do “normal” people.
Mental Illnesses
With a partner…
• Choose one of the disorders.
• Create a 2 minute newscast where one
person interviews another person that has
one of the disorders.
• Your dialogue should be “two minutes in
length”; hand it in once you’re done with
your presentation.
• Have fun!