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Chapter 14: Psychological Disorders
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
Psychology in Action, Fifth Edition
by
Karen Huffman, Mark Vernoy, and
Judith Vernoy
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Lecture Overview
• Issues in Identifying Psychological
Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Mood Disorders
• Other Disorders
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Abnormal Behavior
• Behavior is abnormal with regard to
– Statistical infrequency: how does the
frequency of the behavior compare to
others in the culture?
– Disability of dysfunction: Person is
abnormal if their behavior interferes with
their daily lives
– Personal distress: Is the person unhappy
about the behavior?
– Violation of norms: Based on social norms
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Statistical Issues in
Abnormality
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Culture-Bound Disorders
• An issue is the extent to which mental
disorders are similar across cultures
• In some instances, there are culturespecific disorders
– Running Amok: syndrome evident in Thai
culture in which a person becomes wildly
aggressive, thereby injuring others
– Brain Fog: syndrome evident in West Africa
in which schooling produces excessive
mental and physical tiredness
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Culture-General Issues
• Other issues are found across cultures:
– Nervous
– Feel apart, alone
– Trouble sleeping
– Can’t get along
– Can’t do anything
– Nothing turns out right
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Weak all over
Worry all the time
Personal worries
Low spirits
Restless
Hot all over
Explanations of Abnormality
• Demonology assumes that evil spirits
reside within a person
– Trephining: open the skull to let the spirit out
• Medical Model assumes that abnormal
behaviors reflect mental or physical
illness
– Treatment of abnormality would take place in
a hospital (mental)
– Treatments would be by a physician
(Psychiatrist)
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Diagnoses
• Mental illness, like physical illness, will
have different causes, have different
symptoms, and should lead to different
treatments
• The medical model requires a diagnostic
system to sort symptoms, arrive at a
differential diagnosis
– Psychiatry has devised the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Anxiety Disorders
• Symptoms of anxiety include rapid
breathing, dry mouth, and increased heart
rate
• Anxiety disorders include:
– Generalized Anxiety Disorder refers to longlasting anxiety that is not focused on an object
or situation (unspecific or free-floating)
– Panic Disorder refers to brief but intense
bouts of anxiety
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
– Phobias are strong irrational fears of objects
or of situations
• Specific phobias are tied to objects (knives)
• Social phobias are tied to situations (stage fright)
– Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is
characterized by diffuse anxiety related to
recurring thoughts and images (obsessions).
• Compulsions are impulses to exert some action
(e.g. hand-washing)
– Posttraumatic Stress Disorder refers to
anxiety related to suffering a traumatic event
(disaster, assault, war)
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Causes of Anxiety Disorders
• Learning perspective argues that phobias
are the result of
– Classical conditioning
• Specific objects are paired with a frightening event
• The object can then elicit fear
– Operant conditioning: the person reduces
their anxiety by avoiding the feared object
– Social learning (observation and modeling)
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
• Biological perspectives on anxiety
disorders:
– Evolutionary argument that we are
predisposed to fear what our ancestors
feared
– Altered biochemistry in brain contributes to
anxiety disorder
• Cognitive processes: focus is on distortions
of thinking
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Schizophrenia
• Psychosis refers to a general lack of
contact with reality
• Schizophrenia is a form of psychosis
involving perception, language, thought,
emotion, and behavior
– Prevalence of schizophrenia is 1 in 100
– Rarely emerges after age 45
– Schizophrenia is a severe disorder that
accounts for half of all admissions to mental
hospitals
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Schizophrenia Symptoms
• Perceptual Symptoms
– Sensory filtering and perception is impaired
– Hallucinations are perceptions without
sensations
• Language and Thought Disturbance
– Word salad: jumbled speech
– Delusions are mistaken beliefs that are
maintained despite contrary evidence
• Paranoid: others are talking about the person
• Persecution: others are out to get the person
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
• Emotional Disturbance
– Emotional affect in schizophrenia can be
enhanced or flattened (no affect)
• Behavioral Disturbance
– Unusual actions that meaning to the person
• Shaking their head to clear out bad thoughts..
– Catalepsy refers to an immobile stance that
can be held for hours (like a statue)
– Refusal to communicate
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Classification of Schizophrenia
• Positive symptoms involve distorted or
excessive mental activity
– Delusions, hallucinations,altered emotions,
erratic behaviors
– Occur during acute episodes
• Negative symptoms involve behavioral
and mental deficits
– Flattened emotions, social withdrawal
– Are chronic and do not respond well to drugs
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Biological Views of Schizophrenia
• Genetics: identical twins are more similar
in regard to schizophrenia (43 to 83 %
concordance)
– Much higher than siblings (9% concordance)
• Neurotransmitters: Dopamine activity is
excessive in the schizophrenic brain
– Drugs that relieve schizophrenia block
dopamine receptors
• Brain damage: enlarged ventricles are
evident in schizophrenia
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Mood Disorders
• Mood Disorders are characterized by
extreme disturbances in emotional states
– Major Depressive Disorder refers to
prolonged intensely reduced mood without
an obvious cause
• Interferes with ability to function and to enjoy life
– Bipolar Disorder refers to alternating state of
reduced mood (depression) and mania
(increased mood)
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Causes of Mood Disorders
• Biological:
– Variations in brain transmitters
norepinephrine and serotonin
– Abnormal function in frontal cortex
• Psychosocial: learned helplessness
theory suggests that depression results
from a history of being unable to control
or escape from aversive events
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Myths of Suicide
• People who talk about suicide are
unlikely to commit suicide
• Suicides usually do not warn others
• Suicidal persons are fully committed to
dying
• Men and women are equally likely to
commit suicide
• Only depressed people commit suicide
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by
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© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e