Chapter 14 - Psychological Disorders

Final Exam

psychopathology

• the study of abnormal behavior and psychological dysfunction

trephining

• cutting holes into skull of a living person to release demons

humors

• hippocrates

• illness is the result from the imbalance in body fluids

exorcism

• casting out the demon by religious rituals

prognosis

• the outcome of something

• ex. you will die from this disease

etiology

• causes

defining abnormality by statistical definition

• if happens frequent

  • normal

• if it is rate

  • abnormal

defining abnormality by situational context

• the social or environmental setting of a person’s behavior

• ex. thinking she’s talking to herself but really she was on a call

signs of abnormality

1. experience subjective discomfort (emotional stress) when engaging in certain behavior or thought process

• ex. scared to leave the home bc of a certain thought

2. the thinking or behavior stops you from into into society or function normally (maladpative)

maladaptive

• find it hard to adapt to demands of daily life

• hinders your ability to function normally

What are the things that you have to have at least 2 of to be considered abnormal behavior and a psychological disorder

1. is the behavior or thinking unusual?

2. does it go against social norms?

3. does it cause a lot of subjective discomfort?

4. does it cause danger to self or others?

psychological disorder

• pattern of behavior or psychological functioning that causes people significant distress, causes them to harm themselves or others, or harms their ability to function in daily life

insanity is only used where?

• in terms of courts and law

insanity defense

• mentally ill person shouldn’t be charged with a crime because they weren’t in the right mind-

biological model to explain psychological disorders

• psychological disorders have a biological or medical cause

• focus on the brain chemicals

  • usually faulty neurotransmitters or genetic problems

psychodynamic view to explain psychological disorders

• hide problems in unconscious and when they try to get it out disordered function happens when trying to suppress the thoughts

• ex. always washing hands because have weird thoughts of cousin that are trying to become conscious

behaviorism view to explain psychological disorders

• you learn disordered behavior

cognitive psychologists

• study the way people think, remember, and mentally organize information

cognitive perspective when explaining psychological disorders

• see maladaptive functioning as resulting from illogical thinking problems

• ex. all spiders are vicious and will bite me and I will die

sociocultural perspective to explain psychological disorders

• focuses on social behavior and culture’s relationship

• normal and abnormal behavior is seen as the product of learning and shaping within the context of the family, the social group they belong to and the culture they have

cultural relativity

• the need to consider the unique characteristics of the culture in which the person with a disorder follows to be able to correctly diagnose and treat the disorder

• what is normal in one’s culture might be abnormal in another

somatic

• physical symptoms or conditions

• ex. Chinese people will report these instead of possible mental ones

cultural syndromes

• sets of particular syndromes of distress that are found in cultures

  • may or may not be recognized as an illness in the culture

• the people that are in the culture usually have these symptoms together

cultural idioms of distress

• terms/phrases that describe suffering/distress within a given cultural context

• alternate ways to show distress

cultural explanation or perceived cause

• culturally defined ways of explaining the source/cause of symptoms or the illness

biopsychological perspective on explaining psychological disorders

• abnormal behavior is a result of the combined interaction of biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences

DSM-5

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

• gives descriptions and criteria for disorders

• 250 disorders

• single axis now with 20 categories of disorders

• used in USA

pros of labeling mental disorders

• common language in the mental health community

• distinct diagnostic categories

  • can tell you what these symptoms mean

• can help the person receive effective treatment

cons of labeling mental disorders

• prejudicial

  • people will just assume stuff even after the symptoms disappear

    • labels stick

• effect judgment

psychology student’s syndrome

• thinking you have all the diseases you study about

affect

• emotion or mood

mood disorders

• disorders that have disturbances in emotion

• can be also known as affective disorders

• pushed to one extreme (really sad) to another one (really happy)

major depressive disorder

• mood disorder

• severe depression that comes on suddenly and seems to have no external cause or is too severe for current circumstances

• can be said to be unipolar disorder

  • because you are at one end of the spectrum (not moving from sad to another emotion; only sad)

ruminate

• repeatedly focus on negative emotions

seasonal affective disorder

• major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern

• get depressed at certain times of the year

  • usually due to low levels of light

manic

• excessive excitement, energy, or irritability

bipolar disorder

• periods of mood that may range from normal to manic, with or without episodes of depression or spans of normal mood interspersed with episodes of major depression and episodes of hypomania

bipolar I disorder

• period of mood in bipolar disorder where mood ranges from normal to manic with or without episodes of depression

bipolar II disorder

• spans of normal mood interspersed with episodes of major depression and episodes of hypomania

mania

• no reason to be happy, antsy, irritably, restless

what do you have less of if you’ve been neglected

• gray matter a

anxiety

• anticipation of a future threat

anxiety disorders

• primary symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety

free-floating anxiety

• unrelated to any specific and known cause

what is a phobic disorders a type of

• anxiety disorder

phobia

• irritational, persistent fear of something

social anxiety disorder

• social phobia

• fear of interacting with others and being in a social situation

  • afraid of being judged, self-conscious

specific phobia

• persistent fear by presence of anticipation of something

• recognize it doesn’t make sense

cynophobia

fear of dogs

trypanophobia

fear of injections/needles

hematophobia

fear of blood

arcnophobia

• fear of spiders

Odontophobia

fear of dentists

ablutophobia

fear of washing/baths

tenitrophobia

fear of thunder

agoraphobia

• fear of being in a place where escape is difficult or impossible if something were to go wrong

panic attack

• sudden onset of extreme panic

panic disorder

• when you have more than one panic attack and cause persistent worry and changes in behavior

generalized anxiety disorder

• feelings of dread and impeding doom for 6 months or more

• worry excessively

• no source and can’t control it

obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

• type of anxiety disorder

• intruding thoughts that occur again and again are followed by repetitive ritualistic behavior or mental acts (compulsions)

acute stress disorder (ASD)

• results from exposure to a major stressor and they relive the moment, can’t sleep, and suffer for as long as 1 month after

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

• results from exposure to a major stressor that lasts more than 1 month

  • symptoms can appear immediately or not occur until 6 months or later after the event

• decreases size of hippocampus in kids if severe

• can be directly exposed or by a family member/indirect

if there is hyperactivity in the amygdala what does that mean

• ongoing symptoms of trauma

if there is a lack of activity in ventral anterior cingulate cortex

• predicts later PTSD signs

habituation

• reduced activity in response to threat

behavioral and cognitive factors that cause stress, anxiety and trauma disorders

• fears are classically conditioned

  • caused by learning them

magnification

• making things seem more harmful than they actually are

• cause of stress, anxiety and trauma disorders

all-or-nothing thinking

• a person believes their performance has to be perfect or the result will be failure

• cause of stress, anxiety and trauma disorders

overgeneralization

• interpret one bad event to lead to a never-ending pattern of defeat

• cause of stress, anxiety and trauma disorders

minimization

• give little or no importance to one’s successes or positive events

• cause of stress, anxiety and trauma disorders

medicines for anxiety target what?

• neurotransmitter systems

dissociative disorders

• a break (or dissociation) in consciousness, memory, or a person’s sense of identity

• involuntary

dissociative amnesia

• can’t retain personal information in episodic memory

• psychological reasons are causing forgetting (not physical ones like retrograde amnesia)

dissociative fugue

• when a person suddenly travels away from home (flight or fugue) and afterword can’t remember the trip or personal information

  • ex. run away from home and come back and don’t remember who they are and what they even did there

dissociative identity disorder (DID)

• used to be known as multiple personality disorder

• two personalities

  • the core one

    • the main one

    • usually loses the memory and blacks out and is exchanged with the other one

explanations for dissociative disorders

1. Psychodynamic theory: motivated forgetting; go through trauma and repress it

2. cognitive and behavioral: may feel guilt so stop thinking about them, think about something else

depersonalization/derealization disorder

• people feel detached and disconnected from themselves

• have lower brain activity in areas responsible for body awareness

amok

• trancelike state

anorexia nervosa

• condition in which a person stops eating and their body weight is significantly low

• have BMI of less than 18.5

• their hormone secretion becomes abnormal

• organ damage can happen if weight loss is 40% or more below expected normal weight

• highest mortality rate

bulimia nervosa

• person develops cycle of binging and then uses inappropriate methods for avoiding weight gain

  • methods: throwing up, fasting for 2 days after

• older compared to those who have anorexia

• usually look normal

binge-eating disorder

• uncontrolled binge eating without inappropriate methods

causes of eating disorders

• more likely if female and an adolescent

• have a history of neglect and abuse

• culture

sexual dysfunction

• problem with sexual functioning or the actual physical workings of sex

what are the three areas you can have problems in with regard to sexual dysfunction

• sexual interest

• arousal

• and response

sexual desire or arousal disorders

• female sexual interest

• male hypoactive sexual desire disorder

disorders related to intercourse

• erective disorder

• Genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder

disorders related to timing/inability to orgasm

• premature ejaculation

• female orgasmic disorder

• delayed ejaculation

how can sexual dysfunction develop (the different factors)

• organic factors

  • sexual dysfunction that stems from physical sources

    • ex. illness, drugs disabilities

• sociocultural influences

  • Culture might say sex is bad

• psychological stressors

  • self conscious

  • scared and want to do it right

• relationship between the partners

40-45% of women and 30-35% of men have at least one sexual dysfunction

personality disorder

• a person adopts a persistent, rigid, and maladaptive behavior that interferes with normal social interactions

  • hard to have social interactions

• 10 categories of these

cluster A personality disorder

• odd and eccentric

paranoid personality disorder

• Cluster A

• believe everyone is out to get them

  • think everyone has bad intentions

  • distrust people

• usually men

cluster b personality disorder

• behavior is dramatic

antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)

• Cluster B

• behave recklessly without regard to consequences

• against society

  • basically just a bad person and does bad things

• usually men

borderline personality disorder

• Cluster B

• maladaptive personality pattern in which the person is moody, unstable, lacks a clear sense of identity, and often clings to others with a pattern of self-destructiveness

• have big shifts all the time

• chronic loneliness and disruptive anger

• usually women

Cluster C personality disorder

• main emotion is anxiety

dependent personality disorder

• Cluster C

• person is clingy and need constant attention and care

causes of personality disorders

• learned

• genetic

• disturbances in family relationships

schizophrenia

• suffers from disordered thinking bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality

• late teens to early 20s

• experience interruptions in thought

• can’t focus on relevant info

• a long lasting psychotic disorder

psychotic

• individual’s inability to separate what is real and what is fantasy