Understanding Psychological Disorders

Understanding Psychological Disorders

Key Questions

  • What does it mean to have a mental disorder?
  • Defining and classifying disorders
  • Categories of disorders:
    • Anxiety disorders, including OCD and PTSD
    • Mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder
    • Schizophrenia
    • Other disorders, including dissociative disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders
  • Examining rates, vulnerability, and protective factors

Why Learn About Psychological Disorders?

  • Reasons for interest:
    • Personal familiarity with psychological symptoms
    • Knowing someone with a disorder
    • Awareness of the prevalence and social impact of mental disorders
    • A desire to understand mental health and human behavior

Perspectives on Psychological Disorders

  • Approaches to understanding psychological disorders:
    • Defining psychological disorders
    • Classifying psychological disorders
    • Importance of labeling and its impact on treatment and societal perceptions
  • Key questions:
    • How do we determine severity for treatment?
    • Can we define specific disorders clearly?
    • How can diagnostic labels be helpful without stigmatizing individuals?

Definitions and Classifications

  • Psychological disorders defined as:
    • Patterns of thoughts, feelings, or actions that are:
    • Deviant: differing from cultural norms
    • Distressful: causing emotional suffering
    • Dysfunctional: interfering with daily functioning
  • Distress and dysfunction require severity to disrupt daily life and well-being.

Deviance as a Concept

  • Deviant: To deviate means to vary from the expected.
    • In psychology, deviance is contextual and cultural.
    • Example: Yelling is not considered deviant at a football game.

Understanding Psychological Disorders

  • Purpose of diagnosis is to facilitate treatment decisions.
  • Historical treatments include exorcism, beatings, and restraint, stemming from misconceptions about mental illness.

Philippe Pinel's Reform

  • Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) advocated for humane treatment of mental disorders, emphasizing:
    • Environmental factors as contributors to mental disorders.
    • Improvement of treatment environments as part of moral treatment.
  • Shift in perception from demonic possession to understanding mental health as influenced by circumstances.

Medical Model of Psychological Disorders

  • Psychological disorders viewed as psychopathology, an illness of the mind.
  • Diagnosis involves identifying collections of symptoms.
  • The medical model became influenced by discoveries such as the correlation between syphilis and mental symptoms.

The Biopsychosocial Approach

  • Psychological disorders arise from interactions between:
    • Nature (biological influences)
    • Nurture (cognitive and environmental factors)
  • Importance of considering all factors in understanding mental health.

Cultural Influences on Disorders

  • Examples of culture-specific disorders:
    • Bulimia Nervosa: prevalent in American culture characterized by binge eating and purging.
    • Running Amok: violent outbursts seen in Malaysian culture.
    • Hikikomori: extreme social withdrawal common in Japan.
  • Culture-bound syndromes exemplify how cultural context impacts the perception and definition of mental disorders.

Classifying Psychological Disorders

  • Importance of classification:
    • Provides a shorthand for communicating about symptoms and disorders.
    • Allows for statistical analysis and comparisons.
    • Guides treatment strategies.
  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM):
    • Version history: DSM-IV-TR, DSM-V (2013).
    • Use in clinical and medical settings globally.

Diagnostic Categories in DSM-5

  1. Neurodevelopmental disorders
  2. Schizophrenia and primary psychotic disorders
  3. Bipolar and related disorders
  4. Mood disorders
  5. Anxiety disorders
  6. Disorders related to environmental stress
  7. Obsessive-compulsive spectrum
  8. Somatic symptom disorder
  9. Feeding and eating disorders
  10. Sleep disorders
  11. Disorders of sexual function
  12. Antisocial and disruptive disorders
  13. Substance-related disorders
  14. Neurocognitive disorders
  15. Personality disorders
  16. Paraphilias
  17. Other disorders

Critiques of the DSM

  1. Over-inclusiveness: Too many individuals labeled as disordered.
  2. Arbitrary Boundaries: Difficulty in distinguishing between normal behavior and disorders.
  3. Value Judgments: Discussions about disorders often include subjective norms that may not reflect objective realities.

Labeling Psychological Disorders

  • Concerns about stigmatization associated with labels.
  • Advocates argue that labels can aid communication among professionals and improve treatment efficacy.
  • Example: Rosenhahn's (1973) study highlights potential misuse of labels and the impact of diagnoses on perceptions.

Stigma and Stereotypes

  • Many view diagnostic labels negatively, associating them with personal weakness or societal failure.
  • Psychologists urge caution in labeling due to cultural implications.

Insanity and Responsibility

  • Case Study: Jared Loughner (2011) - implications of mental health on legal responsibility for violent actions.
  • Ethical questions arise regarding blame and accountability in the context of diagnosed mental disorders.

Anxiety Disorders Overview

  • Types include:
    • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
    • Panic disorder
    • Specific phobias
    • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
    • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

  • Symptoms:
    • Emotional: Persistent worrying, anxious anticipation, and difficulty concentrating.
    • Physical: Autonomic arousal including trembling and sleep disturbances.

Panic Disorder

  • Characterized by repeated panic attacks:
    • Symptoms include intense dread, physical sensations resembling heart attacks, and fear of future attacks.
  • Agoraphobia often develops as a result, wherein individuals avoid situations that could trigger panic attacks.

Specific Phobia

  • Diagnosed when an individual exhibits uncontrollable and irrational avoidance of a particular object or situation.
  • Activation of intense fear even at the thought or image of the phobic stimulus.

Common Phobias

  • Examples:
    • Agoraphobia: Avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult during a panic attack.
    • Social phobia: Intense fear of judgment in social situations.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

  • Obsessions: Recurring unwanted thoughts or images.
  • Compulsions: Irresistible urges to perform specific actions.
  • Criteria for diagnosis includes distress and dysfunction affecting daily life.

Common Behaviors in OCD

  • Rechecking behaviors such as repeatedly checking if a door is locked.
  • Impact on daily routines and time spent on compulsive behaviors.

Brain Imaging and OCD

  • PET scans reveal increased activity in frontal lobes of individuals with OCD, correlating with attention and error-checking.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Affects 10-35% of those exposed to trauma:
    • Symptoms include re-experiencing trauma through intrusive memories, nightmares, and heightened arousal.

Risk Factors for PTSD

  • Less control during trauma, frequency of traumatic experiences, brain differences, lack of resiliency, and re-traumatization.

Resilience and Post-Traumatic Growth

  • Resilience refers to recovery and finding strength after traumatic experiences.
    • Components include fostering connections, hope, and viewing challenges as surmountable.

Anxiety Disorders: Explanatory Perspectives

  • Psychodynamic Perspective: Freud's theory posits anxiety arises from repressed impulses and social conflicts.
  • Behavioral Perspectives: Involves classical and operant conditioning contributing to anxious behaviors.
  • Cognitive Perspective: Focuses on misinterpretations, negative beliefs, and hypervigilance as relevant contributors.
  • Evolutionary Perspective: Caution in recognizing danger as an adaptive behavior for survival.

Biology and Anxiety

  • Genetic links demonstrate heritability of anxiety disorders, emphasizing neurotransmitter imbalances (serotonin, glutamate) and brain structure abnormalities.

Mood Disorders

  • Major depressive disorder (MDD): Characterized by profound sadness, hopelessness, and a cycle of symptoms impacting daily life.
  • Bipolar disorder comprises alternating episodes of depression and mania.

Major Depressive Disorder Criteria

  • Symptoms must include: depressed mood, diminished interest in activities, changes in appetite and sleep, lethargy, feelings of worthlessness, and cognitive difficulties.

Common Misunderstandings

  • Critique against MDD sufferers minimizing their experiences; depression can persist even in ostensibly positive circumstances.

Prevalence of Depression

  • Findings illustrate high global rates of depression: approximately 6% of men and 9% of women yearly. Lifetime prevalence higher in Canadians (12%) and Americans (17%).

Dysthymic Disorder and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

  • Dysthymic Disorder: Chronic mild depression lasting over two years.
  • SAD: Significant depressive episodes linked to seasonal changes, especially in winter.

Bipolar Disorder: Overview

  • Formerly “Manic-depressive Disorder.” Characterized by mood swings between depressive and manic states marked by extreme mood and activity changes.

Symptoms of Mania

  • Includes euphoric or irritable moods, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and grandiosity.

Bipolar Disorder in Youth

  • Research indicates bipolar disorder can manifest in childhood, with DSM modifications for unique presentations in children.

Understanding Mood Disorders

  • Greater susceptibility in women and among younger cohorts.
  • Men and women exhibit differences in depression prevalence, with women being nearly twice as likely to experience major depressive episodes.

Symptoms and Explanations for Mood Disorders

  • Emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms collectively define mood disorders.
  • Recurring negative thought patterns and learned helplessness contribute to sustained depression.

Suicide and Self-Injury

  • Major global concern: 1 million suicides annually relate to underlying mood disorders.
  • Non-suicidal self-injury fulfills various psychological needs and reflects distress.

Biological Perspectives on Depression

  • Genetic components support depression, including classifications of depressive genes and neurological activity differences observed in the brain during depressed states.

Preventing or Reducing Depression

  • Strategies include medication to adjust neurotransmitter levels, engaging in physical exercise, and maintaining a nutritious diet.

Personality Disorders: Overview

  • Defined as enduring patterns of behavior resulting in impaired social functioning, categorized into three clusters:
    • Anxious, Eccentric/Odd, and Dramatic.

Specific Personality Disorders

  • Examples of personality disorders include:
    • Avoidant, Antisocial, Narcissistic, Histrionic, Borderline, and Obsessive-Compulsive.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

  • Characterized by impulsive disregard for others' safety and needs, often charming but manipulative in interpersonal relations.
  • Associated risk factors include biological and psychological components that may predict development.

Additional Insights: Antisocial Behavior

  • Not all individuals with APD are criminals, and criminality is distinct from APD traits.
  • Further discussion on the biological basis of violent crime suggests interactions between early life experiences and neurobiological factors.

Rates of Psychological Disorders

  • Examination of psychological disorder prevalence across various cultures and the associated data regarding mental health challenges in the United States.

Risks and Protective Factors for Mental Disorders

Risk Factors

  • Include academic failure, birth complications, child abuse, chronic insomnia, and parental mental illness.

Protective Factors

  • Involve aerobic exercise, effective parenting, positive self-perception, social support, and problem-solving skills.

Outcomes for Individuals with Psychological Disorders

  • Treatment outcomes vary: some individuals may not experience recovery while others achieve personal or professional success despite disorder diagnosis.