Notes on Psychological Disorders: Personality Disorders, Dissociative Disorders, and Schizophrenia

Personality Disorders

DSM-5 lists 10 personality disorders.
Often comorbid with each other and other mood disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder).
Low inter-rater reliability among clinicians for diagnosis.
Diagnosis conditions:
- Traits must appear by adolescence.
- Traits must be inflexible, stable, and expressed in various situations.
- Traits must lead to distress or impairment.

Prevalence: ~2% of the population, more common in women.
Characteristics: instability in mood, identity, and impulse control; self-destructive behavior.
Differentiated from bipolar disorder: BPD mood changes are rapid whereas bipolar mood changes are more prolonged.
Risk factors include childhood experiences (e.g., unempathetic parenting) and genetic tendencies to overreact to stress.

Not in DSM but researched; similar to Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Characteristics: superficial charm, dishonesty, manipulativeness, and risk-taking.
Example: Ted Bundy as an archetype of psychopathy.
Lack of psychosis; often not physically aggressive but may engage in risk taking due to a deficit in fear or perpetual underarousal.

Involve disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of reality.

Depersonalization: Feeling detached from oneself.
Derealization: Feeling that the external world is strange or unreal.
Common experiences among adults, especially in teens/young adults; not a disorder unless causing significant distress or impairment.

Dissociative Amnesia: Marked by inability to recall important personal information typically stemming from trauma.
Dissociative Fugue: Sudden travel away from home with amnesia for significant life events.
Controversial diagnoses; often thought to arise from head injuries or neurological causes rather than purely psychological events.

Previously known as multiple personality disorder; characterized by two or more distinct personality states (alters).
Alters can demonstrate different physiological responses; inquiry into causes suggests either post-traumatic experiences or social-cognitive influences post-therapy.

Severe mental health disorder characterized by disruptions in thought, emotion, and perception.
Symptoms include delusions (fixed false beliefs), hallucinations (sensory perceptions without stimuli), and disorganized speech.
Prevalence: <1% of general population; over 50% of mental institution patients.
Evidence points to strong genetic and biological components; characterized by brain abnormalities and neurotransmitter imbalances.

Typical onset in mid to late twenties; family environment can influence relapse rates particularly regarding expressed emotion.
The diathesis-stress model explains mental disorders as a product of genetic vulnerabilities combined with environmental stressors.
Potential genetic predisposition observed through familial studies; environmental stressors trigger full-blown disorders.
Next lecture focus: Treatments for psychological disorders, comparing biological and therapeutic interventions.