Chapter 13 - Psychological Disorders

Vocabulary

• Hallucinations

• Delusions: fixed but patently false beliefs

• Culture-bound syndromes: psychological disorder in only one or a few cultures, culture-specific

• Medical Model: a framework for understanding abnormal behavior patterns as symptoms of underlying psychological disorders or diseases, mental illness represents biology not demonic

• Biopsychosocial model: integrative model explaining abnormal behavior patterns in terms of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors

• Diathesis-stress model: relates the development of disorders, diathesis or predisposition, usually genetic in origin, and exposure to stressful events or life circumstances

• Biopsychosocial

  • genes? neurotransmitters? brain structure?

  • what psychological factors? personality?

  • social/cultural behavior affected by society and cultural changes?

• Psychological

  • Sigmund Freud - unconscious conflicts in childhood

  • phobias inner turmoil expressed outwardly

  • Pavlov discovered conditions response - believed abnormal behavior was learned

  • Humanistic approach: ability to make conscious choices and strive to fulfill one’s potential, abnormal behavior happens because of roadblocks

• Sociocultural

  • abnormal behavior has more to do with social ills and failure in society

  • racial, gender, discrimination, ethnic, ethnic background

  • dealing with sociological/cultural issues takes a toll on your mental health

  • label of mental illness

Normal vs Abnormal

• ab means off norm meaning normal or rule

• six criteria for differentiating normal vs abnormal

  • Unusualness: behavior that is unusual or experienced by a few people

  • Social deviance: all societies have standards and social norms that define socially acceptable behavior

  • Emotional distress: considered abnormal when inappropriate or excessive

  • Maladaptive Behavior: when it causes personal distress, self-defeating, or is associated with sig health/social/occupational problems

  • Dangerous

  • Fault perceptions or interpretations of reality

Historical Analysis of Abnormal Behavior

• Humorism: a system of medicine practiced by Greeks and Romans

  • Phlegm - mucus

  • Sanguin - blood

  • Melancholic - black

  • Coleric - yellow

• The four humors were linked to abnormal behavior

• Hippocrates associated the four elements with the humors: earth, air, fire, and water

• Galen redefined Hippocrates’ theory and made connections to personality traits

• all balanced to have normal behavior

Early Beliefs

• Ancient to middle age believed abnormal behaviors came from supernatural forces or demonic spirits

• Exorcism: a way to cure psychological disorders by ritually driving away evil spirits

• In medieval times there were forceful ways to force normal behavior and torture, and people modified their behavior

Early BelifsSpiritual approach

• telephoning: cutting holes in the skull to allow evil spirits to escape used in 5000 BC

• Sharman: A medicine man or a priest would carry out these practices

• Middle Ages: people used magic rituals or exorcisms to “cure” people

• Malleus Maleficarum - 1486, defined witches’ recommended treatments to preserve Christianity and destroy heretics and devils

Vocabulary

• psychosocial disorders: mental illness of mental disorders, abnormal behavior

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - currently 5th edition, classifies all mental disorders on the basis of their distinctive features or symptoms

• Axis: class information in previous DMS, regarding an aspect of the individual functioning

• Multiaxial system: summarizes relevant information about an individual’s physical and psychological functioning

• Reliability: degree where clinicians diagnose consistently

• Validity: test, diagnosis or rating accurately and distinctly characterizes a person’s psychological status

DMS 5

• multi-tiered systems that help the examiner conduct a full exam

• 3 sections of DSM-V

• Section 1 : The Basics

  • covers how medical professionals use it

• Section 2 Diagnostic Criteria and Codes

  • largest

  • Covers in depth the type of conditions and explanation

• Section 3 Emerging Measures and Models

  • Contains information on specific assessment tools, and guidelines that providers use to diagnosis

  • Cultural differences affect the diagnosis

DMS 4

• multiaxial system

• axis 1&2 comprises diagnostic classifications

• a3 Medical conditions and diseases

• a4 psychosocial and environmental problems

• a5assessment of functioning

Culture-Bound Syndrome

• Only found in one or a few cultures, can’t find widespread

• Psychologists take into account cultural context to make judgments

• Jumping Frencmen of Maine - extreme startle response, imitative speech, and behaviors, only of French Canadian descent

• Mal de Ojo - staring hard

• Rootwork - illness to hexing or witchcraft

Pulse Oximeter and Racial Bias

• Eugenics and scientific racism

• pulse clip-on finger - determining oxygen levels in the blood helps save lives

• Research has shown overestimated oxygen levels in darker skin people, melanin disrupts the reading

• most medical devices are geared toward lighter individuals

Anxiety DIsorders

• Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety

• Fear

• Phobias

• Social Phobia

• Specific phobia - involves specific situations or objects ex, clowns, 13, heights, animals

• Acrophobia - fear of heights

• Claustrophobia - fear of tight spaces

• Agoraphobia - an irrational fear of public places

• Panic disorder - anxiety disorder involving repeated episodes of sheer panic attacks

• Generalized anxiety disorder - persistent and generalized anxiety and worry - 6 months or longer

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - repeated occurrence of obsessions and/or compulsions

  • Obsession is the engaging or intrusive thoughts a person cannot control

  • Compulsion is the repeated behaviors or rituals the person feels compelled to perform again and again

• Behavior Treatment

  • Flooding - a person is immersed in the sensation of anxiety by being exposed to the feared situation entirely

  • In vivo, flooding - actually immersed in a fear situation

  • Imaginal flooding - the client is immersed through imagination in the actual fear situation

• Graded in vivo - Clients gradually expose themselves to increasingly challenging anxiety-provoking situations

• Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VERT) - uses virtual reality in which the client is immersed in computer-generated environments that resemble the situations in the fear

• Thought stopping - a cognitive behavioral method in which the client learns to stop having anxiety-provoking thoughts

Panic Disorder

• panic attack - period of intense fear and physical discomfort accompanied by being overwhelmed and about to lose control

• Biologically

  • Respirator distress - shortness of breath, hyperventilation, feeling of choking

  • Autonomic Distress - sweat, heart palpitations, shaking and trembling, distress

  • Sensory - tingling, numbness, dizziness

• Having the occasional panic attack does not mean you have a panic disorder

Dissociative and Somatoform Disorder

• Dissociative disorders - a class of psychological disorders involving changes in consciousness, memory or self-identity

  • stream of consciousness

  • DID clients are blocking out extremely traumatic events

• Dissociative amnesia - inability to remember important personal details and experiences, usually associated with traumatic or stressful events

  • no physical cause of the amnesia, therefore it is a psychological

• Dissociative Identity Disorder - characterized by the appearance of multiple personalities in the same individual (Moon Knight)

• Depersonalization - a condition in which people feel detached from their own bodies

• Derealization - people feel a sense of detachment from their surroundings

• Somatic symptoms - involving physical problems and /or concerns about medical symptoms

• Somatic symptom Disorder - involving physical symptoms that may or may not be accounted to a medical condition

  • physical ailments beyond what is explained by a medical condition

Somatoform Disorders

• Conversion disorder - characterized by a change or a loss of physical function that cannot be explained by medical causes

  • hysteria, hysterical paralysis, hysterical blindness,

  • no physical cause for these symptoms

Illness Anxiety Disorder or Hypochondria

• extremely rare disorder affecting children and adolescents at 30,

• spend time in medical facilities seeking advice, avoid doctors believing they won’t take symptoms seriously creating more symptoms

3 Major forms of dd

• Dissociative Identity Disorder

  • multiple personalities

  • split personalities

  • linked to trauma or stressful events

  • alters have their own likes and dislikes

• Dissociative Amnesia

  • cannot remember essential information about life

  • can be specific moments of your life, entire life, or personality

  • limited to memories associated with traumatic events

• Depersonalization/derealization Disorder

  • feeling of being detached from your thoughts, feelings, and body, and disconnected from your environment