apsych c17--psychological disorders

  • defining psychological disorders in three steps:

    • dysfunction—having trouble functioning due to the disorder. ex: emily has severe OCD. it makes it difficult for her to socialize

    • distress—disorders are distressing to both the people that have them and the people around them

    • deviance—unusual compared to the population

  • resources to define them:

    • international classification of mental disorders by WHO

    • diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders by the American Psychiatric Association

  • perspectives on why people have psychological disorders

    • psychodynamic: internal, unconscious conflicts

    • humanistic: failure to strive toward one’s potential

    • behavioral: reinforcement history, the environment

    • cognitive: irrational thoughts

    • sociocultural: dysfunctional society (poverty, racism, etc.)

    • biological/biomedical: genetic predispositions, neurotransmitter imbalances

    • diathesis-stress model: environmental stressors can provide circumstances under which a biological predisposition for illness can express itself

  • categories of disorders

    • neurocognitive (social development or skill development deficiencies): autism, ADHD, alzheimers

    • anxiety:

      • agoraphobia—fear of open spaces

      • social anxiety disorder—being scared to embarrass oneself in public

      • taijin kyofusho—Japanese term, social anxiety that involves concern that one’s body is displeasing to others

      • generalized anxiety disorder—constant, low-level anxiety

      • panic disorder—intense anxiety, panic attacks

    • dissociative:

      • disruption in conscious process, like dissociative amnesia (can’t remember things temporarily)

      • dissociative identity disorder (AKA multiple personality disorder)

      • often caused by severe repressed trauma

    • depressive:

      • major depressive disorder: severe depression, persistent depressive disorder is long-lasting but not AS severe

      • some people think that depression comes from having unreasonably negative ideas that people have about themselves and the world

      • depression may be biological

      • learned helplessness: when one’s experiences have caused that person to view themself as unable to control aspects of the future that are in fact controllable (seen in depressed people often)

      • bipolar

        • experiencing high/manic episodes

        • bipolar I is more severe than bipolar II

    • schizophrenia spectrum disorders:

      • delusions of persecution—people are out to get you

      • delusions of grandeur—i am the president, etc.

      • hallucinations

      • odd usage of words—word salad

      • catatonia (motor problem with strange postures, jerking, etc.)

      • flat affect—no emotional response to something

      • negative symptoms—deficits such as flat affect or catatonic stupor

      • positive symptoms—excesses in behavior, thought, and mood

      • cause:

        • dopamine hypothesis: high levels of dopamine found in people with schizophrenia

        • biological/genetic predisposition

    • personality:

      • cluster A—suspicious behaviors

        • paranoid

        • shizoid

        • schizotypal

      • cluster B—impulsive/emotional/erratic

        • borderline personality disorder

        • antisocial personality disorder (withdrawn from the world)

        • narcissistic (center of the universe)

        • histrionic (overly dramatic)

      • cluster C—anxiety/avoidance

        • avoidant

        • dependent

        • OCD

    • OCD/related

      • OCD

      • hoarding disorder

      • PSTD

    • paraphilic

      • attracted to something abnormal (pedophilia!)

    • feeding disorders:

      • anorexia, bulimia, etc.

    • substance related/addictive disorders exist too