Psychological Disorders

psychological disorder

deviant, distressful, or dysfunctional pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior

medical model

concept that diseases like psychological disorders have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and cured

biopsychosocial approach

there are biological, psychological, and cultural influences on mental health disorders

DSM-IV-TR

system used by psychologists to classify disorders, describes various disorders without attributing, doesn’t presume causes

Anxiety Disorders

characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

Somatoform Disorders

symptoms take a bodily form without apparent physical cause

Dissociative Disorder

conscious awareness is separated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings

Mood Disorders

characterized by emotional extremes

Schizophrenia

characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning

Types of Anxiety disorders

generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia

Understanding anxiety disorders

learning - fear conditioning, observational learning biological - natural selection, genes the brain

Types of somatoform disorders

conversion disorder, hypochondria

Understanding Dissociative identity disorder

some did experience switching handiness, exhibit heightened activity in brain areas associated with control and inhibition of traumatic memories, some psychologists believe did fits as an anxiety disorder

Types of mood disorders

depression leads to behavioral and cognitive changes, women are twice as vulnerable to depression, most major depressive episodes self terminate, stressful events typically trigger depression

Mood Disorder Perspectives

biological perspective - genetic influences, depressed brain is a slow brain, biochemical social cognitive perspective - negative thoughts and negative moods interact, depression is a cycle

Understanding Schizophrenia

genetic factors, psychological factors, brain abnormalities - too much dopamine, maternal virus during pregnancy, abnormal activity

Understanding Personality Disorders

unemotional and fearless, there’s genetic factors, genetic vulnerability, early signs - impulsivity, low anxiety, no concerns for social rewards

Historical Treatments

exorcism, lobotomy, shock therapy, asylum

psychoanalysis

aims to pull repressed thoughts to conscious mind, resistance - blocking anxiety laden material from consciousness; interpret - finding meaning, exposing resistance, and opening other significant events in order to promote insight; transferring - transfer to the analyst emotions linked with other relationships; psychodynamic therapists - therapy that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self insight

Humanistic therapies

insight therapies - aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing clients awareness of underlying motives and defenses; client centered therapy - developed by Carl Rogers in which the therapist uses techniques to facilitate growth; active listening - a client centered therapy where therapist engages in empathetic listening in which listener echoes, restates and clarifies

counter conditioning

classical conditioning applied to evoke new response to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behavior

exposure therapy

treating anxieties by exposing people to the things they fear and avoid

aversive conditioning

type of counter conditioning that associates unpleasant states with unwanted behavior

token economies

operant conditioning procedure where people earn a token for exhibiting desired behaviors

Cognitive therapies

beck’s therapy for depression - attempts to reverse patient’s thoughts about themselves, cbt - popular therapy which combines the values of cbt therapies

Family Therapy

aims to solve issues within stressful relationships by improving communication, explaining roles and understanding dynamics

self help and group therapy

aims to solve issues by group discussion with others who are also afflicted