CHAPTER 15 B A S E D O N O P E N S T A X P S Y C H O L O G Y T E X T B O O K WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS D E F I N E D Psychological Disorder a condition characterized by abnormal thoughts feelings and behaviors Psychopathology is the study of psychological disorders including their symptoms etiology i e their causes and treatment Atypical deviate from the norm Wakefield defined psychological disorder as a harmful dysfunction Dysfunction occurs when an internal mechanism breaks down and can no longer perform its normal function Natural internal mechanisms psychological processes honed by evolution such as cognition perception and learning C U LT U R A L LY Violating cultural expectations is not in and of itself a satisfactory means of identifying the presence of a psychological disorder Hallucinations seeing or hearing things that are not physically present in Western societies is a violation of cultural expectations and a person who reports such inner experiences is readily labeled as psychologically disordered In other cultures visions that for example pertain to future events may be regarded as normal experiences that are positively valued THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION According to the APA 2013 a psychological disorder is a condition that is said to consist of the following There are significant disturbances in thoughts feelings and behaviors The disturbances reflect some kind of biological psychological or developmental dysfunction The disturbances lead to significant distress or disability in one s life The disturbances do not reflect expected or culturally approved responses to certain events In truth no single approach to defining a psychological disorder is adequate by itself nor is there universal agreement on where the boundary is between disordered and not disordered DIAGNOSING AND CLASSIFYING Diagnosis appropriately identifying and labeling a set of defined symptoms Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM 5 The first edition of the DSM published in 1952 classified psychological disorders according to a format developed by the U S Army during World War II Necessity breeds progress The most recent edition published in 2013 is the DSM 5 APA 2013 The DSM 5 includes many categories of disorders e g anxiety disorders depressive disorders and dissociative disorders comorbidity the co occurrence of two disorders 41 of people with obsessive compulsive disorder OCD also meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder Drug use is highly comorbid with other mental illnesses 6 out of 10 people who have a substance use disorder also suffer from another form of mental illness Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 41 Major Depressive Disorder KEEP IN MIND As these disorders are outlined please bear two things in mind First remember that psychological disorders represent extremes of inner experience and behavior If while reading about these disorders you feel that these descriptions begin to personally characterize you do not worry this moment of enlightenment probably means nothing more than you are normal Each of us experiences episodes of sadness anxiety and preoccupation with certain thoughts times when we do not quite feel ourselves These episodes should not be considered problematic unless the accompanying thoughts and behaviors become extreme and have a disruptive effect on one s life Second understand that people with psychological disorders are far more than just embodiments of their disorders We do not use terms such as schizophrenics depressives or phobics because they are labels that objectify people who suffer from these conditions thus promoting biased and disparaging assumptions about them It is important to remember that a psychological disorder is not what a person is it is something that a person has through no fault of his or her own As is the case with cancer or diabetes those with psychological disorders suffer debilitating often painful conditions that are not of their own choosing These individuals deserve to be viewed and treated with compassion understanding and dignity PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS Psychological disorders were viewed from a supernatural perspective attributed to a force beyond scientific understanding Between the 11th and 17th centuries groups of people would suddenly begin to dance with wild abandon to as dancing mania The biological perspective views psychological disorders as linked to biological phenomena such as genetic factors chemical imbalances and brain abnormalities A person s risk of developing schizophrenia increases if a relative has schizophrenia The closer the genetic relationship the higher the risk The diathesis stress model integrates biological and psychosocial factors to predict the likelihood of a disorder This diathesis stress model suggests that people with an underlying predisposition for a disorder are more likely than others to develop a disorder when faced with adverse environmental or psychological events In The Extraction of the Stone of Madness a 15th century painting by Hieronymus Bosch a practitioner is using a tool to extract an object the supposed stone of madness from the head of an afflicted person ANXIETY DISORDERS Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive and persistent fear and anxiety and by related disturbances in behavior A person diagnosed with a specific phobia experiences excessive distressing and persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation Agoraphobia otherwise known as a fear of people is listed in the DSM 5 as a separate anxiety disorder Agoraphobia is characterized by intense fear anxiety and avoidance of situations in which it might be difficult to escape or receive help if one experiences symptoms of a panic attack Phobias can be learned through Classical Conditioning chapter 6 vicarious learning and Vicarious learning witnessing someone expressing a fear of something can teach someone Verbal transmission constant verbal reinforcement of something that illicits fear can cause verbal transmission to fear that same thing a phobia to develop ANXIETY DISORDERS II Social anxiety disorder formerly called social phobia is characterized by extreme and persistent fear or anxiety and avoidance of social situations in which the person could potentially be evaluated negatively by others Safety behaviors mental or behavioral acts that reduce anxiety in social situations by reducing the chance of negative social outcomes Examples of