Psychological Disorders Flashcards

Abnormal Behavior

• Abnormal behavior includes actions, thoughts, and feelings that are distressing or harmful, preventing someone from forming meaningful relationships.

The Concept of Insanity

• Not guilty by reason of insanity.
• Competence to stand trial.
• Involuntary commitment.

Disorders Interfere with Our Lives

• Psychopathology is the sickness or disorder of the mind.
• Drawing the line between “normal” emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and a psychological disorder can be difficult.
• A psychological problem is considered a disorder when it disrupts a person’s life and causes significant distress over a long period.

Limitations of the Criteria for Disordered Emotions, Thoughts, and/or Behaviors

• Deviation from Cultural Norms:
  • Limitation: People differ in their beliefs of whether something deviates from the cultural norm.
  • Example: The behavior of an eccentric woman may be more tolerated in the wealthy.
• Maladaptive Behavior:
  • Limitation: Just because it is maladaptive doesn't make it a disorder.
  • Example: Talking on your cell phone while driving puts you at risk for a crash, but it is not necessarily a psychological disorder.
• Personal Distress:
  • Limitation: It is possible to experience distress without having a psychological disorder; it is also possible to experience a psychological disorder without distress.
  • Example: A person might be distressed about how others respond to the person's sexual orientation, even though that orientation is not a psychological disorder. A person who is a psychopath will take advantage of others without remorse.
• Discomfort to Others:
  • Limitation: Something that is not a disorder can cause discomfort to others.
  • Example: Several people cyberbullied Amanda Todd. This behavior caused Amanda great pain, but it does not mean the bullies had psychological disorders.

The Biopsychosocial Model

• The Biopsychosocial Model explains the development of psychological disorders through the interaction of diathesis (predisposition or vulnerability) and stress (environmental stressors).
• Diathesis:
  • Inherited predisposition to develop the disorder.
  • Prenatal trauma.
  • Childhood sexual or physical abuse.
  • Family conflict.
  • Significant life changes.
• Development of the Disorder:
  • The stronger the diathesis, the less stress is necessary to produce the disorder.

The Diathesis-Stress Model

• The Diathesis-Stress Model proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event.
• According to this model, the onset of mental disorders occurs due to both vulnerability for the disorder and the presence of stressful events.

Assessment and Categorization of Disordered Thoughts, Emotions, and/or Behaviors

• Assessment of a person’s mental functions and actions allows psychologists to:
  • Categorize the individual’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in order to make a diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be provided.
  • Understand the course of the condition and its probable outcome, or prognosis.
• The process involves interviews, self-reports, observations, and psychological testing, leading to assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing assessment.

Assessing Symptoms

• The first step in an assessment is often to conduct an interview.
• People’s self-reports can reveal a great deal.
• A psychological assessor can also gain information through observation of the client’s behavior.
• Another source of information regarding psychopathology is psychological testing.

DSM-5 Classification

• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used for classification.
• The number of disorders described in the DSM has grown over the years. For example, EDITION YEAR NUMBER OF DISORDERS -- 1952 50 -- 1968 100 -- 1980 IIIA 150 -- 1987 200 -- 1994 IV 250

Categorizing Disordered Thoughts and Behavior

• Many mental disorders may occur together even though the DSM-5 treats them as separate disorders—for example, depression and anxiety, or depression and substance abuse. This state is known as comorbidity.
• DSM-5 describes 19 major categories of disorder, each of which has several variations or types.

Normal and Abnormal Behavior

• Behavior may be viewed on a continuum from normal to psychological disorder.

Anxiety Disorders

• Phobia: Intense, unrealistic fear focused on some object or situation that the individual will often go to great pains to avoid.

Social Phobia

• Characterized by extreme and persistent fear or anxiety and avoidance of social situations in which the person could potentially be evaluated negatively by others.

Anxiety Disorders (cont.)

• Generalized anxiety disorder: vague, uneasy sense of tension and apprehension, free-floating anxiety.
• Panic anxiety disorder: sharp, intensely uncomfortable attacks of anxiety.
  • Characterized by recurrent abrupt experiences of unexpected intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Traumatic exposure to death, threats of death, or sexual violation may result in PTSD.
• Three basic symptoms:
  • Re-experiencing the event in nightmares, daytime “flashbacks,” or intrusive thoughts.
  • Numbing.
  • Changes in physiological arousal resulting in sleep problems, bursts of anger, or an exaggerated startle response.
• Stressors that cause PTSD:
  • combat-related stress
  • physical assault
  • automobile accident
  • witnessing violence and disasters
  • rape and sexual molestation
  • terrorism

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

• Obsessions: Anxiety-provoking thoughts that will not go away.
• Compulsions: Irresistible urges to engage in behaviors, e.g., repeatedly touching a spot on one’s shoulder, washing one’s hands, checking the locks on doors.

Obsessive-Compulsive & Related Disorders

• Hoarding: Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with personal possessions, even those of apparently useless or limited value…the large number of possessions fill up and clutter the active living areas…and prevent normal use of the space…symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning… (DSM-5 Criteria for Hoarding Disorder).

Mood Disorders

• Major depression:
  • Characteristics:
    • Five or more of the following symptoms experienced during a 2-week period (must include Criteria 1 and 2):
      • Depressed mood: sadness, grief, despair, loneliness, emptiness, hopelessness, helplessness, teary feelings.
      • Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all activities.
      • Weight loss or weight gain; decreased or increased appetite.
      • Disturbed sleeping patterns.
      • Lethargy/listlessness or agitation.
      • Fatigue or loss of energy.
      • Feelings of worthlessness or excessive inappropriate guilt.
      • Difficulty concentrating or making decisions.
      • Recurrent thoughts of death or thoughts about suicide.

Bipolar Disorder

• Bipolar disorder:
  • Periods of mania usually alternate irregularly with periods of severe depression.
  • Formerly known as “manic-depressive” psychosis.
  • Characteristics:
    • intense euphoria
    • racing thoughts
    • little sleep needed
    • psychotic distortions
    • buying sprees
    • sexual promiscuity

Bipolar Disorders Involve Mania

• Symptoms of bipolar disorder:
  • Bipolar I disorder: Mood disorder characterized by extremely elevated moods during manic episodes.
  • Bipolar II disorder: Mood disorder characterized by alternating periods of extremely depressed and mildly elevated moods.

Why Do Women Have Higher Rates of Depression than Men?

• Biological: Women are genetically at risk for depression, and ovarian hormones may influence serotonin levels.
• Psychological: Women tend to ruminate about problems, and relationships are a key part of a woman's self-worth.
• Sociocultural: Women's lower social status is a risk factor for stressors, and the female gender role encourages dependence and passivity.

How Depression Arises

• Genetic Vulnerability
• Chemical Imbalance?
• Cognitive Vulnerabilities:
  • Hopelessness Theory
  • Negative Cognitive Triad:
    • The Self (