PSYC 1F90 Textbook: Lecture 6 & 7

Mental Disorder

A significant impairment in psychological functioning

Psychopathology

The scientific study of mental, emotional, and behavioural disorders; also used to refer to maladaptive behaviour

Statistical Abnormality

Abnormality defined on the basis of an extreme score on some dimension, such as IQ or anxiety

Social Nonconformity

Failure to conform to societal norms or the usual minimum standards for social conduct

Subjective Discomfort

Private feelings of pain, unhappiness, or emotional distress

Maladaptive Behaviour

Behaviour arising from an underlying psychological or biological dysfunction that makes it difficult to adapt to the environment and meet the demands of daily life

Comorbid

The simultaneous presence in a person of two or more mental disorders

Insanity

A legal term that refers to a mental ability to manage one’s affairs or to be aware of the consequences of one’s actions

Delusion

Strongly held thought or beliefs that are at odds with reality

Delusional Disorder

A psychosis marked by severe delusions of grandeur, jealousy, persecution, or similar preoccupations

Erotomanic Delusion

Erotic delusions that they are loved by another person, especially someone famous or high status

Grandiose Delusion

Suffer from the delusions that they have a great, unrecognized talent, knowledge, or insight—or a special connection with/ are God or a famous celebrity

Jealous Delusion

Having an all-consuming, but unfounded, belief that your spouse or partner is unfaithful

Persecutory Delusion

Involves the belief that you are being considered against, cheated, spied on, followed, poisoned, maligned, or harassed

Somatic Delusion

Believe their bodies are diseased or rotting, invested with insects or parasites, or that parts of their bodies are defective

Paranoid Psychosis

A delusional disorder centered especially on delusions of persecution

Schizophrenia

Severe disorder characterized by disturbances in thought, perceptions, emotions, and behaviour

Disturbed Thinking

Related to problems with selective attention; impaired “sensory filter”; paranoia; actions and thoughts are being controlled, things inserted in their mind, or removed

Disturbed Perception

Feel insects crawling under their skin, taste poison, smell gas—believe their enemies are out to get them; sensory changes like numbness or loss of sensation or extreme sensitivity to heat, cold, pain, touch; think that God or the government (etc.) are controlling their minds and use violence to “save themselves”

Disturbed Emotions

The emotions of one with schizophrenia may become inappropriate or blunt; flat affect

Disturbed Behaviour

Withdrawal from contact with others, apathy, loss of interest, breakdown of personal habits, inability to deal with daily events

Catatonia

Disorder marked by stupor, rigidity, unresponsiveness, posturing, mutism, and agitated, purposeless behaviour

Prenatal Risk Factors of Schizophrenia

Women exposed to flu or rubella during pregnancy during the middle of pregnancy have a higher risk of having children with schizophrenia; malnutrition; complications during birth—disturb brain activity

Psychosocial Risk Factors of Schizophrenia

Exposed to psychological trauma like sexual abuse, death, divorce, separation or other childhood stresses; troubled family; etc.

Genetics Risk Factors of Schizophrenia

Inherit a potential gene; more vulnerable to the disorder

Brain Functioning Risk Factors of Schizophrenia

Have different brain structure; brains are shrunk, or atrophied; activity tends to be low in the front; enlarged ventricles, surrounding brain tissue is withered

Stress-Vulnerability Model

A model that attributes mental illness to a combination of environmental stress and inherited susceptibility

Mood Disorders

The presence of unusual disturbances in emotion

Depressive Disorders

Marked by chronic feelings of sadness and despondency

Bipolar Disorder

A mood disorder in which a person alternates between depression and periods of mania

Mania

A manic episode where a person is loud, elated, hyperactive, grandiose, and agitated

Cyclothymic Disorder

Moderate manic and depressive behaviour that persists for 2+ years

Bipolar I Disorder

A mood disorder in which a person has episodes of mania and also periods of deep depression

Bipolar II Disorder

A mood disorder in which a person is mostly depressed but also has had one or more episodes of mild mania

Risk Factors of Mood Disorders

Biology

Heredity; fraternal twins; neurotransmitter function

Gender

Women are about twice as likely as men to experience depression; pregnancy, menstruation, and menopause.

Risk Factors for Suicide

Family history of suicidal behaviour, availability of a firearm, feelings of hopelessness, severe anxiety, panic attacks, shame, failure, or rejection

Direct Threats

Preoccupation with death, depression/ hopelessness, rage/ anger, etc.

Personality Disorders

Long-standing, inflexible ways of behaving that create a variety of problems

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Associated with under-arousal of the brain and linked with psychopathy

Psychopath

Neurological problems

Causes of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Under-arousal of the brain

Anxiety Disorders

Class of disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension and worry

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Psychological disorder characterized by nearly constant, exaggerated worries

Panic Disorder

Chronic state of anxiety, with brief moments of sudden, intense, unexpected panic

Phobias

Excessive, irrational fear of specific objects or situations

Agoraphobia

Fear of being in public areas or unfamiliar situations

Social Anxiety Disorder

An intense, irrational fear of being observed, evaluated, embarrassed, or humiliated by others in social situations

Specific Phobia

Persistent fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation

Theoretical Perspectives on Anxiety Disorders

Psychodynamic

Internal motives, conflicts, unconscious forces, and dynamics of mental life

Humanistic

Subjective experience, human problems, and personal potentials

Behavioral

Observable behaviour and the effects of learning and conditioning

Cognitive

Distorted thinking causes people to magnify ordinary threats and failures

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Extreme preoccupations with certain thought and compulsive performance of certain behaviours

Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders

Behaviour patterns brought on by traumatic stresses

Dissociative Disorders

Class of psychological disorders involving disintegration of consciousness, memory, or self-identity

Somatic Symptom Disorder

Exhibiting the characteristics of a disease or injury without an identifiable physical cause

Factitious Disorder

Munchausen Syndrome, where a person fakes medical problems to gain attention

Conversion Disorder

A bodily symptom that mimics a physical disability but is caused by anxiety or emotional distress

Perseverance (Grit)

Angela Duckworth’s definition

Characteristics of “Grit”

New ideas and projects are sometimes distracting from previous ones, Setbacks do not discourage, Don’t give up easily

Demonstrating Interest

Score high grit with well-developed interests that evolve over time

Practice

Deliberate practice

Demonstrating Purpose and Hope

Truly committed to something that interests you