Psychology 202: Psychological Disorders (Chapter 14) Tony Rosato suffered from “Capgras”- Rosato was completely lucid however, family members are replaced by an identical-looking imposter and what they lack is the ability to link emotional responses to familiar faces - Usually associated with schizophrenia or brain injury How are psychological disorders conceptualized and classified? - Psychopathology: sickness or disorder of the mind - Was explained to be apparent “madness” which resulted from possession or evil sprits - Back in the day, those with psychopathology were removed from society so they would not bother others - Asylum: understaffed, overcrowded, mental institutions… chained up and lived in filthy living conditions - Hippocrates (founder of modern medicine): classified psychopathologies into mania, melancholia andphrenitis (mental confusion) o Melancholia: extreme sadness or depression o Melancholy: use to describe ppl who are sad - Psychopathology is now known as a medical condition (now reflects dysfunction of the body, particularly the brain) - Biological and environmental factors are important (both interact) Psychopathology is different from everyday problems:- Common around the globe, in all countries and societies - Greatest proportion of disability, surpassing cancer and heart disease - 1 in 2 Americans will experience some psychological disorder in their life (most commonly depression, attention-deficit, anxiety, addiction or substance abuse)- Only 7% of US population is severely affected and usually suffers from multiple disorders (EX: anxietyand depression AND abuses alcohol) - Enormous sex differences… women= depression and anxiety, men= antisocial personality and autism) - Sex differences reflect culture and biology - Sex may differ in their predispositions to psychological disorders, but cultural values influence how often different disorders are diagnosed for men and women Psychological disorders are maladaptive: - It can be challenging to decide if a given behavior is caused by psychopathology… a behavior has to bereviewed in the context of the situation - Many behaviors that seem normal in one setting may be considered deviant in other settings - To decipher whether someone has a psychological disorder… 1) Does the person act in a way that deviated from cultural norms for acceptable behavior? 2) Is the behavior maladaptive? (Does the person’s ability to respond to appropriately in different situations? 3) Is the behavior self-destructive, does it cause the individual personal distress or does it threaten other people in the community? 4) Does the behavior cause discomfort and concern to others, this impairing a person’s social relationship? - Hard to define so now it is defined as thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are maladaptive rather than deviant - Diagnostic criteria for all the major disorder categories stipulate that the symptoms of the disorder must interfere with at least one aspect of the person’s life (such as work) Psychological disorders are classified into categories: - Etiology: factors that contribute to the development of a disorder (also investigate in possible treatments) - Psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin recognized that not all patients with mental disorders suffer from the same disorder- Identified that mental disorders on the basis of groups of symptoms that occur together… he separated disorders of mood from disorders of cognition - Latter disorder: dementia praecox (now known as schizophrenia)- Categorizing mental disorders was not officially adopted until 1952 when the American Psychiatric Associated published DSM (still goes through revisions) - In DSM, disorders are described in terms of observable symptoms (a client must meet specific criteriato receive a particular diagnosis) - Three seconds… 1) an introduction with instructions for using the manual 2) diagnostic criteria for all of the disorders, which are grouped so that similar categories of disorders are located near each other and 3) a guide for future psychopathology research, which includes conditions not yet officially recognized as disorder (EX: misuse of caffeine)- 1 problem with DSM: implies that a person either has a psychological disorder or does not - It has the either/or evaluation known as a categorical approach o The diagnosis is categorical and a person is either in the category or not - This approach fails to capture differences in the severity of a disorder - Dimensional approach: consider psychological disorders along a continuum in which people bar in degree rather than in kind (recognizes that many psychological disorders are extreme versions of normal feelings) - Researchers indicate that personality disorders can be viewed as maladaptive extremes of the big 5 personality traits - Another problem with DSM: people seldom fit neatly into the precise categories provided (psychological disorders occur together even though DSM treats the as separate disorders) - Comorbidity: occurring together such as depression and anxiety (people found to be depressed should be examined for comorbid conditions) - Though people can be diagnosed with 2 or more disorders, a dual diagnosis offers no advantages in terms of treatment because both conditions usually will respond to the same treatment Psychological disorders must be assessed: - Disorders are detected by medical tests, such as blood test - Assessment: Examination of a person’s mental state to diagnose possible psychological disorders - Diagnosis: verified confirmation of what is wrong - Prognosis: After appropriate treatment is provided, the course and probable outcome will depend on the particular disorder that is diagnoses - Assessment does not stop at diagnosis, ongoing assessments continue to see what is causing the disorder and what progress is being made with the treatment - The method of initial assessment sometimes depends on how a person comes into contact with mental health workers - Mental health workers administrate a mental status exam to provide a snapshot of the patient’s psychological functioning (this exam involves behavioral observation, evaluation on grooming, eye contact, tremors, moods, thoughts, content and memory) - Mental status exam is also useful for determining whether the mental impairments are due to a psychological condition or an acute physical condition such as stroke vs. head injury - Many symptoms developed over long periods of time -