AP Psych Unit 11-Psychological disorders and treatment

Psychological disorders

Mental health classify this as potentially harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Deviant

involved robbery, theft, rape, murder assault, any actions that my violate formally enacted rules or social norms.

distressful

involved unpleasant feelings or emotions. Sadness or anxiety. Impact your level of functioning.

Dysfunctional behavior

is deviating from the social norms of society. OCD or ADHD. It disrupts your life.

Ancient Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Include trephination (drilling holes into the head), exorcism, being caged like animals, being beaten, burned, castrated, mutilated, or transfused with animal blood.

Neuroticism

is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, envy. These people are more likely to respond poorly to stressful situations, more likely to interpret a regular situation as hostile, and minor frustrations as being hopeless. They are typically shy, self conscience, and have trouble controlling urges.

Medical Model

a term in psychology, indicating, the assumption that abnormal behavior is the result of physical problems and should be treated medically. Sometimes, this is true with the result of a traumatic brain injury. The biological approach of the medial model focuses on genetics, neurotransmitters, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy.

Biopsychosocial approach

is a medical model that attempts to demonstrate links between multiple body systems and human environment that create risks for illness.

DSM

What is used to identify and describe psychological disorders. The american psychiatrist association rendered a diagnostic and statistical manual of metal disorders to describe and diagnose psychological disorders.

Axis I:clinical syndromes

One of the DSM guidelines. What we typically think of as the diagnosis (ie. Depression, schizophrenia, social phobia)

Axis II: developmental disorders and personality disorders

developmental disorders include autism and cognitively disabled, disorders which are typically first evident in childhood. Personality disorders are clinical syndromes which have more long lasting symptoms and encompass the individuals way of interaction with the world. They include anti-social, paranoid and borderline personality.

Axis III

physical conditions that play a role in development or continuance of Axis I and II disroders. Physical conditions such as brain injury or HIV/AIDS that can result in symptoms of mental illness.

Axis IV: Severity of Psychosocial Stressors

Events in a persons life, such as the death of a loved one, stating a new job, college, unemployment, and even marriage can impact the disorders listen in axis I and II. These events are both listed and rated for this axis.

Axis : Highest level of functioning

on the final axis, the clinician rates that person’s level of functioning both at the present time and the highest level within the previous year. This helps the clinician understand how the above 4 axes are affecting the person and what time of changes were to be expected.

Generalized anxiety disorder

is a condition of persistent and uncontrollable tenseness and apprehension. One shows autonomic nervous system arousal and often is unable to identify or avoid the cause of their feelings.

Panic Disorder

A minute-long episode of intense dread which may include feelings of terror, chest pains, choking, or other frightening sensations. More people seek therapy for this disorder than any other.

Phobia

is marked by the persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that disrupts behavior.

Agoraphobia

The fear of public spaces. Anxiety about two or more of the following, public transportation, being in open spaces, being in an enclosed space, being in a line/in a crowd, being outside of home.

Acrophobia

an irrational fear of heights or high places. Many people dislike heights, but someone with a clinical case can have intense emotional and physical responses just from the thought of being in a high place.

Obsessive Compulsive disorder

Persistence of unwanted thoughts, obsessions, and urges to engage in senseless rituals that cause distress, compulsions is known as this.

OCD in the brain

A PET scan of the brain of a person with OCD shows high metabolic rate in the frontal lobes, which is the area that involved directing attention.

Kleptomania

characterized by the inability to control the impulse or the urge to steel superfluous, unneeded or meaningless items.

Pyromaniac

characterized by an inability to control the impulse to set fires

Intermittent explosive disorders

characterized by an inability to control the impulse to respond in rage to minor triggers.

Pathological gambling

characterized by an inability to control the impulse to gamble

Trichotilomania

when people pull out their own hair

Body Dysphoric disorder

is a mental disorder in which you can’t stop thinking about one or more perceived defects or flaws in your appearance-a flaw that, to others, is either minor or not observably. Characterized by excessive preoccupation with an imagined defeat in physical appearance or an excessive concentration with a slight psychical abnormality. Affected by the ACC, frontal lobe, and Amygdala.

Post Traumatic Stress disorder

Effects the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala. Symptoms include sleep problems, nightmares, flashbacks, and jumpy anxiety. Can be treated through deep breathing therapy, message therapy, and psychotherapy.

Selective Mutism

a severe anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, such as with classmates at school or to relatives they do not see often. It usually starts during childhood and if left untreated, can persist into adulthood.

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

an anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fear.

Pathological Disorder

involves a sudden and involuntary loss of the ability to know who you are, where you are, and what you are feeling. An excessive response to a traumatic or very stressful experience that is characterized by the mind detaching from one’s environment, fragmentation of reality and depersonalization.

Stockholm Syndrome

a group of psychological symptoms that occur in some people in a captive or hostage situation.

Reactive Attachment disorder

is a condition found in children who have received grossly negligent care and do not form a healthy emotional attachment with their primary caregivers-usually their mothers- before age 5. Most children suffer damage to their amygdala and frontal lobe (so anger and reasoning)

Tourette Syndrome

a nuerological disorder characterized by facial grimaces and tics and movements of the upper body and grunts and shouts. The basal ganglia, frontal lobe, and cerebellum are affected. There are various motor and vocal tics.

conversion disorder

A condition where psychological distress manifests as physical symptoms without a clear medical explanation. Symptoms can include paralysis, blindness, seizures, or difficulty speaking. Treatment involves psychotherapy to address underlying psychological issues.

Hypochondria

Excessive anxiety about having a serious illness, despite medical reassurance and absence of physical symptoms.

Malingering

Intentionally faking or exaggerating physical or mental symptoms for personal gain. Commonly seen in legal or compensation settings.

Dissociative disorder

Is when a person conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. A person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Symptoms= loss of appropriate emotion, being separated from body, watching yourself as if you are in a movie.

Dissociative Amnesia

the inability to recall important personal events or information that is associated with stressful events. Usually results from witnessing a terrible accident. People may forget who they are, where thy live, or who their family is.

Dissociative Fugue

involves a person suddenly and unexpectedly travels away from home or work and is unable to recall the past. A type of traveling amnesia involving a person disappearing for a period of time and appearing later in another city or state. Temporary loss of personal identity and impulsively wander or travel away from their homes or places of work. People often become confused about who they are and might even create new identities. Breakdowns of memories and identity or perceptions.

Major Depressive Disorder

When signs of severe depressions exist for two weeks or more and are not caused by drugs or medical conditions. Sings include lethargy and fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in family and friends, loss of interests in activities.

Method of Treatment DID

Stress management and social skills, psychodynamic approach and repression of trauma/bad memories that might have caused the disorder, sometimes hypnosis is used and exposure therapy.

Neurotransmitters and depression

a reduction of norepinephrine and serotonin had been found in this mood disorder. Drugs that alleviate mania reduce norepinephrine.

Bipolar disorder

a condition is which people go back and forth between periods of very good or irritable mood and depression. The “mood swings” between mania and depression can be very quick. Formally called mania-depression disorder.

Bipolar disorder II

less severe than mania. A decreased need for sleep which a person feels rested only after 3 hours of sleep. A person is usually cheerful and more talkative that usual. Past treatment was lithium. It causes abdominal pain, weight gain, dry mouth, and liver problems. Now, abilify and capylta are used.

Cyclothymic disorder

a relatively mild mood disorder. Mood swings between short period of mild depression and hypomania (less severe than mania), an elevated mood. The low + high swings never reach the severity of major depressive disorder or full mania, people have milder symptoms than occur in full blown bipolar disorder.

Seasonal affective disorder

when one’s mood fluctuations are impacted by the temperature and season.

Schizophrenia

a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself into auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions and it is accompanied by social or occupational dysfunction. Nearly 1 in 100 people suffer from schizophrenia, and through out the world over 24 million suffer from this disease.

Symptoms of schizophrenia

initial symptoms: irritable or tense feelings, difficulty sleeping and difficulty concentraiting. As the illness continues, problems with thinking, emotions, and behavior develop including lack of emotion, strongly held beliefs that are not based in realty (delusions). Hearing or seeing things that are not there (hallucinations), problems paying attention thoughts “jump” between unrelated topics (“loose associations or world salad”) worlds thrown together.

Somatoform disorders

disorder that mimics an actual injury, but there is no apparent physical cause.

Delusions

is a belief that is clearly false and that indicated an abnormality in the affected person’s content of thoughts. An example is a depressed person who believes that thoughts are being inserted into his or her mind from some outside force, person, or group of people, there thoughts are not recognized as the persons own thoughts.

Positive symptoms

hallucination, disorganized thinking, deluded ways that are not present in normal individuals. Delusions of grandeur find false beliers that one possesses superior qualities such as genius, omnipotent, or wealth. It is most often a symptom of schizophrenia, but can also be a symptom found in bipolar disorder as well.

Negative Symptoms

emotionally flat (flat effect) dull speaking, monotone, or disconnected from reality. irritability to start or follow through with activities, lack of motivation, speaking less, little to no interest in life or relationships.

Understanding schizophrenia

is a disease of the brain exhibited by the symptoms of the mind. Hallucinations are usually auditory and decisions are false beliefs held in spite of evidence.

Brain Abnormalities Schizophrenia

Dopamine activity is found to be higher in the D4 receptors of the brain. Clozapine (clozaril) block receptors for dopamine and serotonin to remove the negative symptoms.

Paranoid Schizophrenia

anxious, angry or argumentative, false believes that others are trying to harm you or your loved ones.

Disorganized Schizophrenia

problems with thinking and expressing ideas clearly, childlike behavior, and showing little emotion.

Catatonic Schizophrenia

lack of activity, muscles and posture may be rigid, grimaces or other odd expressions on the face.

Undifferentiated schizophrenia

may include symptoms of more than one other type.

Residual schizophrenia

withdrawal after hallucinations and delusions have disappeared.

Neologism

a new word that is coined especially be a person affected with schizophrenia and is meaningless except to the coiner, and is typically a combination of two existing words or a shortening or distortion of an existing word. considered indicative of brain damage or a thought disorder (like schizophrenia) when presenting in adults.

Clang Associations

is a manner of speaking in which words are chosen for their related sounds rather an logical meanings. Many patients with psychotic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia present these symptoms.

double bind

is an emotionally distressing dilemma (schizophrenia) in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, with one negating the other.

Psychotic disorder

are a group of disorders marked by irrational thought, distorted perceptions, and lost contact with reality. Only 1 in 7 people experience a full and enduring recovery from schizophrenia. Caused by drug use (cocaine, LSD, marijuana and crystal meth).

Brain Activity and Schizophrenia

Researchers found that schizophrenic patients express higher levels of dopamine in several parts of the brain. Brain scans show abnormal activity in the pre-frontal cortex (thinking and reasoning, corpus callosum, hemispheres), thalamus (major senses), and amygdala (aggression) of schizophrenic patients also have brain lesions.

Schizoaffective disorder

is a very severe mental health condition characterized primarily by symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations or delusions, and symptoms of mood disorders such as mania and depression.

Antisocial personality disorder

is a disorder in which the person (usually men) exhibits a lack of conscious for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members.

Psychopath

shows no remorse for others and usually develop no conscience for others due to environmental factors. Have to be dominate and in charge of situations that involve hurting others. Research shows that some are born this way, and some have found reduced activation in the murderers frontal lobe. Main cause is traumatic events resulting from psychical, sexual, mental abuse.

Sociopath

are similar to psychopaths excepts they are led by a dominant figure. Main cause is traumatic events resulting from some form of abuse.

shallow or flat effect

involves emotional experiences of people with psychopathy. They feel little emotion in situations that normal people would. You may speak in a dull, flat voice and your face may not change. You may also have trouble understanding emotions in other people.

Resistance

during free association, the patient edits his thoughts, resisting his or her feelings to express emotion. Becomes important in the analysis of conflict-driven anxiety. For example, a client might make a off-handed remark, joke, claim they forgot or initiate a fight..

Transference

the patient opens up and reveals his or her innermost private thoughts, developing positive or negative feelings toward the therapist. For example, a patient may begin to feel the same feelings toward his or her therapist as the patient does for his or her significant other.

Eclectic approach

therapists employ elements from a range of therapeutic techniques, with the goal of establishing a course that is personally tailored to the patient or client. Form of psychotherapy that combines aspects of two or more different approached to met the needs of a client.

Existential therapies

is a style of therapy that places emphasis on the human condition as a whole. uses a positive approach that applauds human capacities and aspirations while simultaneously acknowledging human limitations.

Person centered therapy

Carl rogers. Involves the therapist listening to the needs of the patient in an accepting and non-judgemental way, addressing problems in a productive way and building his or her self-esteem.

Behavior Therapy

to treat phobias or sexual disorders, behavior therapists use this to and do not delve deeply below the surface looking for inner causes.. Therapies that applies learning principles to eliminate unwanted behaviors.

Classical Conditioning techniques

is a type of therapy based on the principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace the bad or unpleasant emotional responses to a stimulus with a more pleasant adaptive response. A procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that triggers unwanted behaviors.

Exposure therapies

is a process by which the therapist intentionally exposes the client to a feared object or situation. Exposure therapy is often used to treat a fear of flying by leading the client to gradually spend time in airports, watching planes take off and land, and then finally boarding the airplane, Expose patients to things they fear and avoid. Through repeated exposure, anxiety lessons because they habituate the things they feared.

**Antipsychotic Drugs (Ex: Schizophrenia)**

Goal-Get rid of psychotic symptoms. (Hallucinations, catatonia, etc. Drugs-Thorazine for positive symptoms and doesn’t work very well. Clozaril or Clozapine for negative symptoms. How do they work?-Dopamine levels involving body pleasure and movement

Antianxiety Drugs

Goal-Gets rid of feelings of nervousness and anxiety. Drugs-Xanax and Activaril. How do they work?-Neurotransmitter GABA which has inhibitory effects on the brain meaning the stoppage of excessive feelings.

Antidepressant Drugs

Goal?Lifts your mood and arousal.Drugs-Prozac, Zoloft, Cymbalta and Lexapro. How do they work? Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Example: Serotonin

Mood-Stabilizing Drugs

Goal-Balance mood and create a healthy medium. Drugs-Lithium carbonate (common salt) and Abilify. How does it work? Moderates the levels of norepinephrine-arousal and adrenaline and glutamate.  An excitatory neurotransmitte.

**Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)**

Goal?Recommended for use as a treatment for severe depression that has not responded to other treatment. Treatment-100 volts of electric current (electrodes shock the brain). Seizures are electrically induced in loss of physical sensations patients for therapeutic effect. How does it work? Activates different part of the brain to reduce the effects of depression. (frontal lobe)

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Goal?Severe depression and mostly Schizophrenia. Treatment-A pulsating magnetic coil that is placed over the prefrontal cortex regions. How does it work?-Changes chemical signals in the frontal lobe involving reasoning and personality

**Neuroleptics**:

tranquilizer used to treat psychotic conditions when a calming effect is desired. Also known as anti-psychotics medication that has been linked to the side effect of tardive dykinesia.

Phenylketonuria (**PKU**)

a genetic disorder in which the body lacks the enzyme necessary to metabolize phenylalanine (Essential amino acid that is necessary for growth in infants and for equilibrium in adults). Left untreated, the disorder can cause brain damage and progressive mental retardation as a result of the accumulation of phenylalanine and its breakdown products.

Interdependent

type of culture in which people place more emphasis on collective systems than on personal achievement.

Diathesis-stress approach

a psychological theory that attempts to explain behavior as a result of genetic or developmental vulnerability together with stress from life experiences. A **diathesis** is defined as a person's **predisposition** towards a problem or disorder. This can be inherited (genetic factors), acquired (biological, physiological, psychosocial, sociocultural factors), or a combination of both.

Anxiety Disorder

Similar symptoms as general anxiety disorder, but the anxiety and spurred by something and is not as constant.

Social Phobia

 is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities. It can even make it hard to make and keep friends

Mood disorder

 your general emotional state or mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with your ability to function. You may be extremely sad, empty or irritable (depressed), or you may have periods of depression alternating with being excessively happy (mania)

Dysthymic Disorder

as a low mood occurring for at least two years, along with at least two other symptoms of depression.

Examples of symptoms include lost interest in normal activities, hopelessness, low self-esteem, low appetite, low energy, sleep changes, and poor concentration.

Treatments include medications and talk therapy.

Mania

is a condition in which you have a period of abnormally elevated, extreme changes in your mood or emotions, energy level or activity level. This highly energized level of physical and mental activity and behavior must be a change from your usual self and be noticeable by others.

Disorganized thinking

Disorganized thinking (formal thought disorder) is typically inferred from the individual's speech. The individual may switch from one topic to another (derailment or loose associations). Answers to questions may be obliquely related or completely unrelated (tangentiality).

Hallucinations

a false perception of objects or events involving your senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Hallucinations seem real, but they're not. Chemical reactions and/or abnormalities in your brain cause hallucinations.

Apathy

 a lack of goal-directed activity. It also presents as a lack of interest and emotional expression. 

catatonia

s a disorder that disrupts a person's awareness of the world around them. People with this condition sometimes react very little or not at all to their surroundings, or might behave in ways that are unusual, unexpected or unsafe to themselves or others.

Chronic/Process Schizophrenia

a chronic brain disorder that affects less than one percent of the U.S. population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, trouble with thinking and lack of motivation.

acute/reactive schizophrenia

can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to an emotionally traumatic event, and has extended recovery periods

Hypochondria

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Obsession with the idea of having a serious but undiagnosed medical condition.