17 Psychological Disorders: Abnormal Behavior and Therapies (FROM BARRONS NOTES)

Disfunction

Someone who has a fear of open spaces (agoraphobia) and is thus unable to leave their home will likely have trouble functioning in terms of employment and social relationships.

Distress

A disorder like depression is distressing both to the people who suffer from it and their loved ones

Deviance

Behavior or feelings that are deviant are unusual, which means they are not shared by many members of the population. In the United States, having visions is atypical, whereas in some other cultures it occurs more commonly. Thus, in the United States, having visions is likely to be seen as a symptom of a psychological disorder.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

provides a way for psychologists to diagnose their patients. The DSM-5, which is the most recent edition, contains the symptoms of everything currently considered to be a psychological disorder

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

traumatic or stressful events that occur in childhood (ages 0-17) and can have lasting negative impacts on health and development

Maladaptive learned associations

• negative or unhelpful learned connections between stimuli, thoughts, and behaviors that can contribute to mental health problems like anxiety, depression, and addiction

• associations are formed through experiences and can become ingrained habits that interfere with daily functioning

• Cognitive theorists locate the source of psychological disorders in maladaptive learned associations

Sociocultural perspective

social ills such as racism, sexism, ageism, and poverty, and the discrimination that result from these prejudices, lie at the heart of psychological disorders.

Racism

Race discrimination: social ills such as racism, sexism, ageism, and poverty, and the discrimination that result from these prejudices, lie at the heart of psychological disorders.

Sexism

Sex discrimination: social ills such as racism, sexism, ageism, and poverty, and the discrimination that result from these prejudices, lie at the heart of psychological disorders.

Ageism

age discrimination: social ills such as racism, sexism, ageism, and poverty, and the discrimination that result from these prejudices, lie at the heart of psychological disorders.

Discrimination

discrimination: social ills such as racism, sexism, ageism, and poverty, and the discrimination that result from these prejudices, lie at the heart of psychological disorders.

Biological perspective

• biomedical model

• sees psychological disorders as caused by biological factors such as hormonal or neurotransmitter imbalances or by differences in brain structure.

• psychological disorders are associated with genetic abnormalities that may lead to the physiological abnormalities described above.

• However, the differences do not have to occur at the genetic level.

• disorders are caused by the interaction of different factors

Biopsychosocial view

problems likely result from the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors

Diathesis-stress model

• environmental stressors can provide circumstances under which a biological predisposition for illness can express itself.

• explains why even people with identical genetic makeups. For example, monozygotic (identical) twins do not always suffer from the same disorders.

Stressors

thing that causes stress

Eclectic

• Psychologists who do not subscribe strictly to one perspective or another

• accept and use ideas from a number of different perspectives

Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective

cause: Internal, unconscious conflicts

Humanistic perspective

cause: Failure to strive toward one’s potential or being out of touch with one’s feelings

Behavioral perspective

cause: Reinforcement history, the environment

Cognitive perspective

cause:Irrational, dysfunctional thoughts or ways of thinking

Sociocultural perspective

cause: Dysfunctional society

Biological/biomedical perspective

cause: Genetic predispositions, neurotransmitter imbalances

Autism spectrum disorder

• a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent challenges in social communication and interaction, and restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities

• deviations from typical social development

• seek out less social and emotional contact than do other children and are less likely to seek out parental support when distressed.

• hypersensitive to sensory stimulation.

• exhibit intense interest in objects not viewed as interesting by most people

• engage in simple, repetitive behaviors

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)

• Neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a person's ability to pay attention, control impulses, and manage hyperactivity

• difficulties in terms of developing skills

• Difficulty paying attention or sitting still

• not incapable of focusing; in fact, they hyperfocus on things of interest to them

• may spend hours working on building a Lego creation but be unable to follow their parents’ request to get dressed

• more frequently in boys, also overdiagnoses because of the more active behavior of typical young boys

• underdiagnoses in girls who sit quietly in the classroom

Anxiety disorders

• share a common symptom of anxiety.

• three anxiety disorders: phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

Specific phobia

an intense unwarranted fear of a situation or an object such as claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces)

Arachnophobia

fear of spiders

Agoraphobia

fear of open, public spaces

Social anxiety disorder

fear of a situation in which one could embarrass oneself in public

Taijin kyofusho

a type of social anxiety that involves concern that one’s body is displeasing to others

• Sociocultural impacts on disorders can be evidenced by the presence of certain issues that manifest only or in particular ways in certain cultures (Japan)

Generalized anxiety disorder

experiences constant, low-level anxiety.

• constantly feels nervous and out of sorts

Panic disorder

suffers from acute episodes of intense anxiety without any apparent provocation.

Panic attacks

tend to increase in frequency, and people often suffer additional anxiety due to anticipating the attacks

Ataque de nervios

In Caribbean cultures, similar symptoms are labeled as ataque de nervios. (Panic attacks)

Acrophobia

fear of heights

• learned the fear response

Dissociation

involves a break or separation from memories and thoughts or even a sense of who the person is

Dissociative amnesia

when a person cannot remember things and no physiological basis for the disruption in memory can be identified.

(often related to a traumatic or stressful event, without a medical explanation)

• Biologically induced amnesia is called organic amnesia.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

when a person has several personalities rather than one integrated personality

• have a history of sexual abuse or some other terrible childhood trauma

Dissociative disorders

• mental health conditions that involve experiencing a loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behavior and identity

• result when an extremely traumatic event has been so thoroughly repressed that a split in consciousness results.

• Behaviorists posit that people who have experienced trauma simply find not thinking about it to be rewarding, thus producing amnesia or, in extreme cases, DID.

Major depressive disorder

• unipolar depression

• Someone with a mood or affective disorder experiences extreme or inappropriate emotions

• length of the depressive episode: clinically depressed people remain unhappy for more than 2 weeks in the absence of a clear reason

• loss of appetite, fatigue, change in sleeping patterns, lack of interest in typically enjoyable activities, and feelings of worthlessness

Persistent depressive disorder

• the depression is long-lasting but not as severe.

Learned helplessness

• a condition in which a person has a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed. It is thought to be one of the underlying causes of depression.

• when one’s prior experiences have caused that person to view himself or herself as unable to control aspects of the future that are controllable. This belief may result in passivity and depression. When undesirable things occur, that individual feels unable to improve the situation and therefore becomes depressed.

• due to their lack of ability to control their fate in the first phase of the experiment, these dogs had learned to act helpless.

Bipolar disorder

• involves both depressed and manic episodes

• depressed episodes involve all the symptoms of depression

• manic episodes involve feelings of high energy, a heightened sense of confidence and power, or anxious and irritable

• engage in excessively risky and poorly thought-out behavior that ultimately has negative consequences for them

Bipolar I disorder

• severe manic episode

Bipolar II disorder

• involves at least one episode of hypomania, which is a less extreme level of mania than in bipolar I

• hypomanic and depressive episode

Mania

abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders

disordered, distorted thinking often demonstrated through delusions, hallucinations,

disorganized thinking, disorganized speech, and/or disorganized motor behavior.

Disorganized thinking

Symptom of Schizophrenia

Disorganized speech

Symptom of Schizophrenia

Disorganized motor behavior

Symptom of Schizophrenia

Delusions

are beliefs that have no basis in reality

Delusions of persecution

the belief that people are out to get you

Delusions of grandeur

the belief that you enjoy greater power and influence than you do, that you are the president of the United States or a Nobel Prize–winning author

Hallucinations

perceptions in the absence of any sensory stimulation.

Word salad

Symptom of schizophrenia (odd use of language)

it may be difficult to understand what they are trying to communicate, and the resultant speech has been described as word salad

• make up their own words (neologisms)

• or string together a series of nonsense words that rhyme (clang associations).

Flat affect

consistently have essentially no emotional response at all

Schizophrenia

disorganized thinking, speech, and behavior, as well as hallucinations and delusions

Catatonia

• a motor problem

• remain motionless in strange postures for hours at a time

• move jerkily and quickly for no apparent reason

• or alternate between the two

Positive symptoms

refer to excesses in behavior, thought, or mood such as neologisms and hallucinations

Negative symptoms

correspond to deficits such as flat affect or catatonic stupor

• a state of catatonia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a lack of movement, immobility, and reduced responsiveness

Catatonic stupor

• a state of catatonia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by a lack of movement, immobility, and reduced responsiveness

Dopamine hypothesis

• most popular ideas about the cause of schizophrenia is biological

• high levels of dopamine seem to be associated with schizophrenia

• Antipsychotic drugs that treat schizophrenia lower dopamine levels, decrease in the disordered thought and behavior

• Parkinson’s disease is treated with L-Dopa, which increases dopamine levels. When given in excess, L-Dopa causes schizophrenic-like distortions in thought

Cluster A

is associated with suspicious or eccentric behaviors and includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders.

People who suffer from these disorders tend to be suspicious and distant from others.

Paranoid

persistent thoughts of suspicion and distrust, often characterized by the belief that others are trying to harm or deceive them

Schizoid

pervasive pattern of social detachment, a lack of desire for close relationships, and a limited expression of emotions

Schizotypal personality disorders

a personality disorder categorized in Cluster A, odd or eccentric behaviors, unusual beliefs, and difficulty with close relationships, often associated with social anxiety and a tendency towards paranoia

Cluster B

impulsive or emotional, dramatic, and erratic tendencies and includes antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic, and borderline personality disorders

Borderline personality disorders

• unstable relationships, emotions, self-image, and impulsivity

Antisocial personality disorder

little regard for other people’s feelings.

Narcissistic personality disorder

seeing oneself as the center of the universe

Histrionic personality disorder

overly dramatic behavior

Cluster C

avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders

Avoidant personality disorder

feelings of inadequacy, which can lead them to avoid social situations and be very sensitive to criticism

Dependent personality disorder

rely too much on the attention and help of others.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

overly concerned with certain thoughts and behaviors and may have a tendency toward perfectionism.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

persistent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action

Obsessions

persistent, unwanted thoughts

Hoarding disorder

• separate classification for OCD and related disorders

• persistent difficulty getting rid of or parting with possessions due to a perceived need to save the items

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely troubling event such as a war or natural disaster.

Memories of the event cause anxiety.

Flashbacks

vivid reliving of a past experience, often a traumatic one, that can disrupt the present moment and cause intense emotional distress

Anorexia nervosa

being at significantly low weight for one’s age and size, an intense fear of fat and food, and a distorted body image

self starvation

Bulimia

fear of food and fat and a distorted body image

do not lose as much of their body weight

binge-purge cycle in which sufferers eat large quantities of food and then attempt to purge the food from their bodies by throwing up or using laxatives.

Substance-related and addictive disorders

a diagnosis made when the use of such substances or behaviors, like gambling, regularly negatively affects a person’s life