AP psych unit 8: Psychological Disorders and Therapy

Psychological disorder

They are a constellation of emotions, behavior, and/or thoughts that create significant distress or impairment in work, school, family, relationships, and/or daily living.

Medical model

concept that diseasees can be diagnosed, treated, and most often cured through treatment in a hospital

Diathesis-Stress Model

genetics combine with environmental factors to result in influencing a psych disorder

Many disorders are culture based

comorbidity

when disorders occur together.

Ex. it is common to have both an anxiety disorder and a depressive disorder

DSM-5

Official categorization of psych disorders in the US

It is the handbook used by healthcare professionals to diagnose mental disorders

Psychological disorder symptoms

if you have either of these 3 symptomes you have a psych disorder.

Hallucinations: false sensory experiences like hearing voices

Delusions: thinking things that are false beliefs like believing you are a mermaid or than people are out to get you

Affect: when you are characteristically depressed, anxious, manic, or not emotional.

Indicators of abnormality

Personal distress, Maladaptive behavior, Irrationality, Unpredictability, Unconventionality or undesirable behavior.

Anxiety disorders

are a classification of disorders marked by excessive fear, maladaptive behaviors, and excessive anxiety.

Generalized anxiety disorder

Many people spend months or years with free floating anxiety like dizziness, headaches, or cold sweats.

People feel a pervasive and persistent sense of anxiety

Feel constant worry, feel jittery, are sleep deprived, and feel on edge, and can’t concentrate

⅔ of sufferers are women

Panic disorder

is a strong feeling of anxiety that has no connection with previous events

A panic attack is when your heart races, body shakes, feel nauseous, difficulty breathing, hands sweaty and clammy, afraid they may be dying. It lasts a few minutes

Effects about 3% of the population

More common in women

Agoraphobia

fear of places which may cause a panic attack and can lead to people being a prisoner in their own house

Phobias

A persistent and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation.

Caused by hyperactivity in the amygdala

Social phobias

are the most common - fear of public scrutiny and embarrassment

Somtimes caused by extreme embarrassment or shyness in childhood

Preparedness hypothesis

suggests that humans carry an innate biological tendency to respond to threats to survival

OCD

patterns of persistent unwanted thoughts and behaviors

Affects about 2% of people

Obsessions are recurrent, intrusive thoughts

Complusions are recurrent urges to perform ritualistic actions

Hoarding disorder

is when you keep items and can not throw then away even if they interfere with your life, ability to socialize, safety, or ability to leave the house

These items may or may not be valuable - often are trash

Can create unsafe and unsanitary living conditions - ex. Rats, towering piles can collapse and mold can grow

trauma and stressor related disorders

is a classification of disorders where psychological distress results from a traumatic or stressful event.

Typically occur after a traumatic event(espically common among victims of violent crimes or combat veterans)

4 major symptoms experienced by sufferers of PTSD

Re-experiencing the event

Heightened arousal

Avoidance

Negative thoughts and mood or feelings

Mood disorder

when your mood is out of control, you are either elated or in a deep depression, and it interferes with normal life function commonly known as depressive disorders or bipolar disorders

Major Depressive Disorder

it is a depressive disorder

Symptoms include of MDD(must have 5 over a 2 week period)

Depressed mood

Lack of loss of interest in most activities

Lethargy

Physical agitation/restlessness

Significant weight changes

Insomnia or hypersomnia

Sluggishness

Indecisiveness, lack of concentration

Feelings of guilt or worthlessness

Thoughts of death and suicide

persistent depressive disorder

milder depression that is where experience depression symptoms on more than ½ days over 2 years

Seasonal Affective Disorder

depression caused by changes to light which regulates our internal biological clock and can be treated with light treatment

Postpartum Depression

depression experienced by women who have recently given birth due to hormonal changes and sometimes marked by intrusive thoughts: desire to harm the baby

causes of MDD

Can be genetic

Low activity in the frontal lobe area that controls emotional centers of the brain

Markedly different levels of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine than normal levels.

Negative view of the world, self, and future

Critical and unsupportive families

Learned helplessness

Bipolar Disorders

Group of disorders where person alternates between depression(hopelessness and lethargy) and mania (excessive elation or manic excitement and agitation)

Bipolar 1 disorder

most severe form where sufferers have manic phases that last a week where they are wildly optimistic, use very poor judgment, highly energetic, overly ambitious, and euphoric

Bipolar 2 disorder

move between depression and hypermania which is milder - less severe

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation

child bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia

is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and behavior, and other symptoms that cause social or occupational dysfunction.

psychotic disorder

disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted views, and a lack of understanding reality

symptoms of Schizophrenia

Positive:

often have delusions and hallucinations

Have inappropriate outbursts of emotion: laughter/rage/tears

Talk in a deluded way aka. Word salad

Have disturbed perceptions

Negative:

Socially they are withdrawn, with few friends.

Often are flat emotionally

Often trace patterns in air or hold pose for hours

Chronic schizophrenia

slow developing, social withdrawal common recover less likely, usually develops adolescence or early adulthood.

Episodes of psychosis tend to be longer and recovery periods shorter

Acute Schizophrenia

often in response to traumatic event, recovery more common, can happen at any age.

Causes of Schizophrenia(hypothesized)

• Heredity: affected relatives increase risk but over 80% do not develop it

• Impaired and low frontal lobe functioning

• Several brain regions and the connectedness such as amygdala, hippocampus, corpus callosum experience dysfunction

• Abnormally high levels of dopamine which cause overactivity

• Complications at birth can cause increased risk

• Prenatal environment can cause increased risk:

  • Flu epidemic

  • Densely populated area

  • In development during fall and winter

  • Mothers who had the flu or viral infection

psychotherapy

ocuses on changing disordered thoughts, feelings and behaviors using psychological techniques.

Goal is personal growth and overcoming difficulties

Insight or talk therapy

it is a psychotherapy that focuses on helping people understand their problems and change their thoughts, motives, or feelings.

Behavior therapy

it is a psychotherapy that focuses primarily on changing behavior

Biomedical therapies

focuses on treating mental problems by changing the biology of the brain

Psychotherapies also called talk therapies

attempt to change people on the inside - changing the way they think and feel

Personality disorders

Stable, inflexible, and maladaptive personality traits, causing distress in normal functioning, especially noticeable over repeated interactions.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Have exaggerated sense of self importance, a need for constant attention, and fantasies about success or importance

Often reach inappropriately to defeat or criticism

Often struggle in relationships and with empathy

Antisocial personality disorder

Irresponsible or harmful behavior that shows a lack of conscience and responsibility

Often feel no shame or anxiety, empathy, or remorse

Sometimes called sociopaths or psychopaths

Signs include: chronic lying, stealing, fighting

Many are impulsive and have little to no fear and feelings

Many are serious criminals and many are successful politicians or businesspeople who put career and success first

causes of antisocial personality disorder

• Increased risk comes from biology: 

  • From families who are antisocial or unemotional

  • Lower mental ability

  • Lower self control

  • Link to substance use disorder

• Increased risk comes from environmental factors

  • Childhood abuse

  • Family instability

  • Poverty

  • Neglect or abandonment in childhood

Borderline personality disorder

Main signs are instability and impulsivity

Often same characteristics as antisocial but without the planning and forethought

Have unpredictable moods

Feeding and eating disorders

Disorders marked by altered consumption or absorption of food that impacts physiological or physical health

Anorexia nervosa

It is when someone has a distorted body image, so they excessively diet because they have a pathological fear of becoming fat. As a result they usually experience severe weight loss

Causes of anorexia

• Family history of OCD

• Being “perfectionistic”

• Irrational expectations for body

• Feelings of mastery over body

• Cultural emphasis on being thin

  • Fat is bad culture

• Gendered expectations of body

• Heredity is linked as identical twin studies have revealed a link

• Lots of similarities between anxiety disorders.

Bulimia Nervosa

is characterized by frequent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate behaviors such as self-induced vomiting to avoid weight gain.

• Common to purge(throw up), use laxatives, restrict, fast, excessively exercise

Hypothesized causes of bulimia

• Lower levels of serotonin

• Dieting in extreme cases can lead to onset

• Normative influence: approval by peers

Binge eating disorder

is defined as recurring episodes of eating significantly more food in a short period of time than most people would eat under similar circumstances.

Psychoanalysis therapy

came from Freud, uses psychodynamic perspective and often seens psychological problems coming from tension in the unconscious mind by forbidden impulses and threatening memories usually related to childhood trauma.

Believes we repress troubling things and therapy needs to probe the unconscious in an attempt to bring these issues into the “light of day” or into consciousness.

The major goal: to reveal and interpret the contents of the unconscious mind despite resistance and to interpret feelings and desires you have been avoiding

Useful for treatment of PTSD, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, DID.

analysis of transference

one of the final stages of psychodynamic therapy, it is when patients learn how their relationship with the therapist mirrors the unresolved issues they have with their patients

humanistic therapy

Also called insight therapy and try to help a patient understand their motives and defenses and how that translates to behavior

Believe therapy can help people recognize freedom, enhance self-esteem, and realize their full potential by addressing problems that arise in life and existential crises

Commonly used to treat anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, DID, and certian personality disorders(this is very difficult).

Dissociative Disorder

It is a fragmentation of the personality(multiple personalities) where there is a disruption in the normal integration of memories, cognitions, emotions, perceptions, and behavior

Dissociative Amnesia

Psychological amnesia where you forget a traumatic or highly stressful experience

Can be closely related to PTSD

People experience memory gaps

Dissociative Fugue

amnesia combined with flight where the person has lost sense of identity

Fugue state can last for hours or years

People often flee homes, jobs, families

Some start new lives in new places

Dissociative Identity Disorder(DID)

multiple personality disorder where your alters are different from you

You must have 2 or more altering and distinctive personalities

Have own voice and own mannerisms

The original personality has no idea what the other identity is doing

Different than the host personality - ex. if you are shy your alter might be outgoing

Method for Insight therapies: Person-centered Therapy

Allow patients to lead discussion and therapist listens without judgment

Use “reflection of feeling,” or reflective listening which is when the therapist paraphrases patient to make the patient see and hear themselves

Believed that this would help people develop self awareness and self acceptance

Behavior therapies

Also called behavior modification. Based on the assumption that undesirable behaviors have been learned and therefore, can be unlearned.

Focus on the problem behaviors rather than inner thoughts, motives, or emotions

Their goal is to determine how these behaviors were learned and see if they can eliminate them

Counterconditioning

type of behavior therapy that uses classical conditioning to get new responses from stimuli

Virtual reality exposure therapy

type of counterconditioning that uses technology to create electronic simulations

Commonly used to treat phobia disorders

Exposure Therapies

type of behavior therapy that treats anxieties by exposing people to things that they avoid or that they are afraid of

Systematic desensitization

expose a patient to an anxiety producing stimulus gradually to extinguish anxiety

Eventually the plesant relaxed state that one is in will be carried on because stimulus is introduced gradually

is a type of exposure therapy

Aversion therapy

conditioning procedure that makes tempting stimuli less desireable by pairing them with unpleasant stimuli

Teaches you what not to do

Cognitive therapies

In a general sense it says rational thinking is the key to therapeutic change

Claim psychological problems come from erroneous(incorrect) thinking

Cognitive therapists help individuals confront the destructive thoughts that support emotional reactions

Work on more constructive ways of perceiving and interpreting events

REBT

it is a form of cognitive therapy, its stands for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. It is where people work to eliminate thought patterns that are self-defeating

Idea that psych disorders are based on unrealistic and unattainable goals and self-defeating attitudes

Therapist works with patient to get them to question these goals and set realistic goals with a reward system

Cognitive Behavioral therapy

combines a cognitive emphasis on thoughts and attitudes with the behavioral strategies.

Therapist and client work together to modify irrational self talk, change self defeating thinking, set attainable behavioral goals, and develop realistic strategies for attaining them

Teaches people to challenge irrational thinking that is negative and to practice a positive approach and attitude

Works on regulating unhealthy emotions

Couples and Family therapy

idea is helpful to be in context with those you are struggling with or those who are experiencing same struggles as you

In couples therapy the therapist can look for verbal and non verbal communication styles, can aid with clarification of feelings and ideas

Family therapy focuses on altering psychological spaces between people and helping resolve interpersonal conflict

Work on helping members recognize their roles in a group

Focus is on interactions

Group Therapies

multiple patients at the same time(not family or couple)

Usually uses humanistic perspective but somtimes psychodynamic

Common with people struggling with same problem (eating disorders, addiction)

Presence of others often promotes accountability and enables others to see that they are not alone

Self-help support groups

common, plentiful, often free

Often run by a non health professional

Belief is that people should be able to meet and talk in a non threatening way

Exchange ideas and build a support network is the goal

Biomedical therapies

seek to treat psychological disorders by changing the brain’s chemistry with drug therapy

Most common strategy today

pharmacology

looks at the effects of drugs on the mind and behavior

Antipsychotic drugs

are used to treat the symptoms of psychosis: delusions, hallucinations, social withdrawal, and agitation

Most work by reducing the activity of dopamine by occupying the receptor sites and blocking its activity

Commonly used to treat schizophrenia

Barbiturates

a type of anti anxiety drug that acts as a central nervous system depressant, so they have a relaxing effect

Benzodiazepines

a type of anti anxiety drug that works by depressing the central nervous system and increasing the activity of certain neurotransmitters like GABA

antidepressants

work by turning up the volume on messages transmitted over certain pathways, especially those using norepinephrine and serotonin or by blocking reputake

Elevated arousal and mood

Used to treat depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD and related disorders, PTSD

SSRIs

a type of antidepressant that focuses on preventing reputake of serotinin and are the most widley used

Mood Stabilizers

also common for biomed treatment

Most common use for bipolar disorder, also used for PTSD, depressive disorders, OCD and related and some personality disorders

Lithium

is a common mood stabilizing drug to treat bipolar disorder that dampens both ends of mood swings

Lithium treatment for people with bipolar disorder benefits 70% of people

Electroconvulsive Therapy(ECT)

manipulates the brain by shocking it

Use anestesia

Sends a quick electrical current through the brain

Treats severe depression when drug therapy has not worked

No one really knows why it works

TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation

sends repeated pulses of electricity throught th brain to stimulate or suppress brain activity

Sometimes can reduce symptoms of schizophrenia