Psych 306 Exam 4

Rates of women vs. men in severe unipolar depression

• Women are at least twice as likely as men to have episodes of severe unipolar depression.

• As many as 26 percent of women have an episode at some time in their lives

• Only 12 percent of men have episodes

Behavioral symptoms of depression

• less active

• less productive.

• They spend more time alone

• may stay in bed for long periods.

• move and speak slowly

Anhedonia

is an inability to experience any pleasure at all. Marker of melencholic depression

Melancholic major depression

a type of major depressive disorder in which the person is almost totally unaffected by pleasurable events.

Difference between hallucinations and delusions

Hallucinations: False perceptions, A sensory experience where someone sees, hears, smells, tastes, or feels something that isn't there.

Delusions: False beliefs, An unshakable belief in something that isn't true, despite evidence to the contrary

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder in the DSM 5

A disorder marked by repeated episodes of significant depression and related symptoms during the week before menstruation:

• Is controversial. Many clinicians believe that the category is sexist and "pathologized"

• severe cases of premenstrual syndrome (PMS),
  premenstrual discomforts that are common and normal among women.

“Baby blues”

As new mothers try to cope with the wakeful nights, rattled emotions, and other stresses that accompany the arrival of a new baby, they may have:

• Crying spells

• Fatigue

• Anxiety

• Insomnia, and sadness

  These symptoms usually disappear within days or weeks. Occurs in 80% of women.

Postpartum Depression

Depressive symptoms that continue and may last up to a year or more, The mother-infant relationship and the psychological and physical health of the child may suffer as a result. Women who have an episode of postpartum depression have a 25 to 50 percent chance of developing it again with a subsequent birth. Believed to be causes by hormone "withdrawal after childbirth" the symptoms include:

• extreme sadness

• despair

• tearfulness

• insomnia

• anxiety

• Intrusive thoughts

• compulsions

• panic attacks

• feelings of inability to cope and suicidal thoughts.

Types of depression (reactive, endogenous, etc)

Reactive (exogenous)- is triggered by external events like a stressful life situation, Considered "reactive" because it occurs as a direct response to an external stressor

Endogenous depression- is thought to arise from internal biological factors with no clear external trigger

Genetic factors in unipolar depression (twin studies)

• If an identical twin has unipolar depression, there is a 38 percent chance that the other twin has already had or will eventually get it too

• If a fraternal twin has unipolar depression, the other twin has only a 20 percent chance of having it too

Neurotransmitters in Depression

• Low activity of norepinephrine and serotonin

• This has been strongly linked to unipolar depression.

• The interaction is called the depression related circuit

What season is SAD most likely to begin in?

fall and winter, lack of light.

Bipolar I vs. Bipolar II

• Bipolar I: full manic and depressive episodes, mostly alternating between each other.

• Bipolar II: hypomanic episodes alternated with major depressive episodes.

Cyclothymic disorder

Cycling of elation/depression:

• periods of hypomania symptoms and mild depression

• A milder form of bipolar disorder.

• Usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood and is equally common amongst women and men.

Why might children of older men have a higher risk of developing bipolar Disorder?

As men age, they can produce increased genetic mutations during the manufacture of sperm cells

Downward drift

the theory that schizophrenia causes people to fall from a higher to a lower socioeconomic level or they remain poor because they are unable to function effectively.

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia

• Delusions 

• Disorganized thought process 

• Hallucinations 

• Inappropriate moods

Four types of delusions in schizophrenia

• Delusions of Persecution: The most common type of delusion, where a person believes they are being harassed, attacked, or conspired against

• Delusions of Reference: The belief that a neutral event has a personal meaning, such as thinking a billboard is sending them a special message

• Delusions of Grandeur: believe themselves to be great inventors, religious saviors, or other specially empowered persons.

• Delusions of Control: believe their feelings, thoughts, and actions are being controlled by other people.

Most common hallucination in schizophrenia

auditory hallucinations

The human brain during schizophrenia auditory hallucinations

• increased blood flow in Broca's area

• increased activity in the auditory cortex, lights up as if you are really seeing it.

Tactile Hallucination

• Perceptions of tingling, burning, or electric-shock sensations.

• 30%.

Flat affect

Symptom of schizophrenia:

• it is marked by a lack of emotion

• their faces are “still”

• they have poor eye contact

• a monotone voice

Psychomotor symptoms in schizophrenia

• Move relatively slowly

• Make awkward movements or repeated grimaces

• Odd gestures that seem to have a private purpose

• perhaps ritualistic or magical

• Catatonia: extreme psychomotor symptoms.

Andrea Yates

• she had drowned her five children in the bathtub because "they weren't developing correctly" and because she "realized [she had not been] a good mother to the child."

• She suffered from severe postpartum psychosis, which influenced her mental state.

Schizophrenia gene and research

Polygenic gene, no one specific one.
some people inherit a biological predisposition to schizophrenia and develop the disorder later on when they face extreme stress, usually during late adolescence or early adulthood.
There are more than 100 gene sites that have been linked to schizophrenia, and is caused by a combination of gene defects.

The dopamine hypothesis

The theory that schizophrenia results from excessive amounts of dopamine.

• Challenged by atypical antipsychotic drugs, this lead to the thought that schizophrenia may be due to the interactions of dopamine and other neurotransmitters rather than just dopamine.

Personality Disorder definition

An enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and outward behavior that repeatedly impairs a person's sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy

Difficulties in treating personality disorders

people don’t think there is anything wrong with themselves so they don’t want to be treated

Behavioral symptoms of Odd personality disorders

odd or eccentric behaviors that are similar to those seen in schizophrenia including:

• extreme suspiciousness

• social withdrawal

• peculiar ways of thinking and perceiving things. Such behaviors often leave the person isolated.

Paranoid personality disorder

• Deeply distrust other people of others motives

• Believe that everyone intends them harm

• Dislike close relationships.

• They excessively trust their own abilities.

Schizoid personality disorder

• They avoid social contact because they genuinely prefer to be alone

• Not generally suspicious.

• Persistently avoid and are removed from social relationships

• Demonstrate little to no emotion.

• They have no need for praise or criticism.

• Like paranoid, they don't have close ties with other people.

Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder

• lack of conscience or superego

• amorality,

• persistently disregard and violate others rights.

• Irresponsible about most things

• have no remorse for things

• Highly manipulative, and impulsive

• low anxiety

• Must be at least 18 before they can be diagnosed.

Likelihood of treatment for antisocial personality disorder

• Treatments are typically ineffective and are prevented by the individual's lacking a conscience, a desire to change, or respect for therapy.

• Medication also has little effect.

• CBT tries to have them understand the moral dilemmas but they cannot understand.

Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms

• Unstable self-image 

• impulsivity and Self-destructiveness

• alcohol/substance abuse 

• cutting/ self-mutilation 

• Reckless driving, unsafe sex

• Excessive need for affirmation 

• Suicidal thoughts & actions

• Unstable love relations 

Degrees of manic behavior (least to most severe)

• Hypomania (least)

• Acute Mania (med)

• Delirious Mania (most)

Histrionic (hysterical) personality disorder symptoms

A personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking.

• They change themselves in order to attract others.

• Use theatrical mannerisms to describe lives.

• Change themselves to impress an audience

• Approval is the biggest part of their lives.

• Obsess over how others perceive them.

Features of delusional disorder

• Seemingly good adjustment,

• Reasonably intact delusional system, Believable.

• Persistent delusions that are false but not bizarre and not due to schizophrenia; persecutory, jealous, grandiose, and somatic.

• More common in the elderly.

Symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder

• Grandiosity, self-importance

• Fantasies of unlimited success omnipotence 

• Feeling unique and very special;

• Need for excessive admiration 

• Feels very entitled 

• Interpersonally exploitative a user

• Devoid of empathy 

• Envious of others, jealous 

• Arrogant, superior, invincible, omniscient 

• Rules don't apply to them  

Tendency to have a "stolen glance"

• Men look at themselves 23 times on average in the mirror.

• Women look at themselves 11 times in the mirror.

Symptoms of avoidant personality disorder

Uncomfortable, restrained in social situations, overly sensitive to any sort of criticism, belief they are inferior 

Danny Corwin

Raped and killed numerous women. Sent to prison where he got juco degree, enrolled in A&M in 87, police had a hard time pinning crimes on him. One of his victims survived and he left a fingerprint on her car and was arrested 8 days later. Killed people in white creek. Claimed there were pressures in his head

Schizoaffective Disorder

A disorder in which symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder are prominent.

Benita, Meet Buster LeJeune

Benita ran for governor
sent death threats and carried a shotgun to teach at an elementary school causing outcry
got into arguments with many people
brilliant as a child
taken to LeUnes and called him Lejeune
when confronted about her paranoia she left his office

Paranoia: Francis Euel "Doc" Savage II, aka Elijah

undergraduate, panicked when taking finals, did a mission in Israel, well known when he came back was very eccentric, believed himself to be a prophet, local legend, threatened prominent teachers regarding their gayness since he wanted A&M to go back to the way it was, forced to leave by FBI agent head of security

Alexander Kemos

high ranking A&M Administrator who faked all of his credentials including PHD and navy seals.

Marcie the Poetess (The Institutionalized Pussycat Poem)

She was obese, and had schizoaffective disorder (bipolar and schizo), she tried losing weight but then gained it all back, she got sent to Austin state hospital, and wrote poetry

Okie Boy: Woman with abdominal tumor (pg. 34

• The grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and believed that her religion would save her.

• She was a religious fanatic and believed her prayers should cure her cancer