Psych 100 1H Focus Questions Chapter 16 pp 593 612 Class 33 11 11 2013 1 What is a mental disorder and how can it be identified using the DSM What is a symptom What is a syndrome and when is it classified as a mental disorder a Mental disorder medical disease that borrows the terms symptom and syndrome b DSM manual specifies criteria for deciding what is a disorder and what is not c Symptom characteristic of a person s actions thoughts or feelings d Syndrome constellation of symptoms manifested by an individual e Syndrome Disorder i Clinically significant detriment distress impairment of functioning clinically significant Internal Source biology mental structure or habits ii iii Not subject to voluntary control 2 Do we have a way of reliably and validly categorizing and diagnosing mental disorders What steps can we take to improve reliability and validity What are dangers in labeling people with mental disorders a Reliability b Validity c Labelling i Before DSM could have 3 different diagnoses ii DSM III was thicker and more useful 1 Remove as much guesswork as possible 2 Become more reliable i Similar origins and courses of development respond similarly to treatment ii Rosenhan 1973 Being Sane in insane places i Blind clinicians and others to qualities of the person that are not captured by the label ii Reduce esteem iii iv Refer to person first before diagnosis Interfere with ability to cope well with environment 3 What is the role of culture in the development of mental disorders and in classifying mental disorders Provide examples in your response including a discussion of culture and ADHD Japanese Taijin Kyofoshu a b Kleinmann 1982 Chinese refer to somatic symptoms c Western ideals and anorexia d Culture i Affects patients as well as symptoms ii Homosexuality 1973 e ADHD i General cultural shift toward seeing mental disorder where people previousl saw variation ii ADHD is the most frequently diagnosed disorder among children in the iii 1 3 of white boys are ADHD because they are more likely to refer to United States clinicians 4 How are mental disorders related to brain characteristics Include a discussion of Down syndrome Alzheimer s disease and episodic mental disorders Distinguish between predisposing precipitating and perpetuating causes of mental disorders Down syndrome congenital disorder that appears in 1 out of 800 new borns Caused by an error in meiosis Moderate to severe retardation and physical coordination Alzheimer s disease primarily in elderly progressive deterioration in all cognitive abilities a Episodic Mental Disorders i Brought on by stressful environment predisposition resides in the brain Predisposing causes all in place before the onset of the disorder making person susceptible to the disorder Genetically inherited characteristics Precipitating causes immediate events in a persons life that bring on the disorder Loss of a loved one or job perceived threat to one s well being large change in life Perpetuating causes Consequences of the disorder that keep it going once it begins Attention 5 What are anxiety disorders Include a discussion of generalized anxiety disorders What are phobias social phobia and specific phobias How can phobias be explained by evolution Anxiety disorders fear or anxiety is the most prominent disturbance Generalized anxiety disorders not focused on one specific threat attaches to various threats real or imagined Manifests itself primarily as worry Phobias intense irrational fear that is clearly related to a particular category of object or event Social phobia scrutinized or evaluated by other people public speaking eating meeting Specific phobias specific category of object or situation blood snakes heights a Evolution the fear i 40 of people recall specific traumatic situation where they first acquired ii Classic conditioning iii People genetically predisposed to be wary of objects and situations that would have posed realistic dangers during most of our evolutionary history 6 What is obsessive compulsive disorder and how is it related to brain abnormalities What is panic disorder Posttraumatic stress disorder Obsessive compulsive disorder fear is of something that exists only as a thought and can be reduced by performing some ritual Posttraumatic stress disorder linked to emotionally traumatic incidents that have occurred Flashbacks sleeplessness high arousal irritability guilt numbing depression Panic disorder feeling of helpless terror unprovoked by any specific threat in the environment a Brain abnormalities i In some cases appears after known brain damage difficult birth could be predisposing cause Unknown cause ii Damage in frontal cortex and limbic system connections can produce OCD by interfering with ability to produce sense of closure or safety that occurs when action is completed