Ch 14 Psychological Disorders 11 18 2015 Early explanations of mental illness Trephining o Cutting a hole in the skull to let out the evil spirits Practice lasted a long time 3000 BC Many people survived this procedure People were possessed by demons witches o Burning at the stake or exorcisms Mental illness was an imbalance in 1 of the 4 humors o Black bile o Yellow bile o Phlegm o Blood Actually a biological approach Wrong Definitions of Abnormality Psychopathology o The study of abnormal behavior Psychological disorders o Any pattern of behavior that causes people significant distress causes them to harm others or harms their ability to function in daily life Statistically rare Deviant from social norms Situational Context o The social or environmental setting of a person s behavior Subjective Discomfort Emotional distress or discomfort Maladaptive Thinking or Behavior Anything that does not allow a person to function within or adapt to the stresses and everyday demands of life Biology and Psychopathology Biological Model o Psychological disorders have biological or medical causes Biological changes in the chemical structural or genetic systems of the body Psychological Viewpoints of Psychopathology o Psychodynamic Theorists Abnormal behavior stems from repressed conflicts and urges that are fighting to become conscious o Behaviorists Abnormal behavior is learned o Cognitive Theorists Abnormal behavior comes from irrational beliefs and illogical patterns of thought Sociocultural Perspective o Abnormal behavior is the product of family social and cultural influences Cultural Relativity The need to consider the unique characteristics of the culture in which behavior takes place Culture Bound Syndromes Disorders found only in particular cultures Biopsychosocial Model o Incorporates biology psychology and culture into a single explanation of abnormal behavior Diagnostic Systems ICD DSM o International classification of diseases o Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders Created in 1952 to help technicians to help discover psychological disorders Contains multiple categories and lists of psychological disorders Symptoms The path the disorder typically takes Diagnostic criteria Types of Disorders The DSM 5 describes about 250 different psychological disorders In a given year about 26 2 of American adults over age 18 suffer from a mental disorder Only about 5 8 suffer from a severe mental disorder Common to suffer from more than one disorder at a time Has Been Controversial living and changing Up until the 70 s homosexuality was listed as a document disorder Labeling Disorders Labels and the criteria for DSM have positive and negative aspects Pros Provide a common language to Professionals and researchers Establish distinct categories of diagnosis for treatment and understanding o Clearer the criteria the better the diagnosis Cons Overly prejudicial o Giving someone a label affects how other people treat that person o Labels tend to stick longer than the behavior Psychology Student s Syndrome o Related medical student syndrome o Students become convinced that they have the psychological disorders that they are learning about Disorders of Anxiety Trauma and Stress Anxiety Disorders the main symptom is excessive or unrealistic worry and fearfulness o Free floating anxiety anxiety that is unrelated to any realistic known source o Phobias and Social Anxiety o Anxiety Disorders Panic Attack Phobia An irrational persistent fear of an object situation or social activity Specific Phobia fear of objects or specific situations or events Ex Arachnophobia Fear of spiders Agoraphobia fear of being in a place or situation from which escape is difficult or impossible Social Anxiety Disorder aka Social Phobia Fear of interacting with others or being in social situations that might lead to a negative evaluation Sudden onset of an intense panic in which multiple physical symptoms of stress occur and often accompanied with feelings that one is dying Symptoms Heart palpitations pounding heartbeat numbness chills hot flashes sweating trembling shaking shortness of breath feeling of choking chest pain discomfort etc Sudden fear response in absence of immediate threat False alarm or misfire of fear system Uncued out of blue vs cued situation object Having a panic attack or even a few does not mean you have a disorder Panic Disorders Panic disorder Involves persistent worry about having additional attacks worry about the implications of an attack and or a significant change in behavior related to the attacks Generalized Anxiety Disorder Excessive anxieties and worries about a number of events activities that occurs more days than not for at least 6 months Can also have physical symptoms Ex tension restlessness fatigue sleep problems Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Intruding recurring thoughts or obsessions create anxiety that is relieved by performing a repetitive ritualistic behavior compulsion Feel an absolute need to act compulsively or their anxiety will not be relieved Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders o Acute Stress Disorder A disorder resulting from exposure to a major traumatic stressor that lasts up to a month Symptoms Anxiety disassociation recurring nightmares sleep disturbances concentration problems moments in which person relives the event in either dreams or flashbacks Common after experiencing a major traumatic stressor Limited amount of time can last up to one month If symptoms persist after 1 month it can become PTSD o Posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD The symptoms associated with ASD last for more than one month Intrusions avoidance negative changes in cognition or emotion changes in arousal reactivity Sometimes PTSD does not begin immediately following a traumatic event It can begin up to 6 months after traumatic event More extreme behaviors than ASD Disorders of Mood o Affect in psychological terms emotion or mood o Mood disorders Disorders in which mood is severely disturbed Major Depressive Disorder A severely depressed mood that comes on suddenly and seems to have no external cause May include thoughts of death or suicide The most commonly diagnosed psychological mood disorder Episodic in nature Cognitive symptoms Feeling worthless guilty problems concentrating or making decisions thoughts of death or suicide Affective symptoms Depressed mood diminished pleasure Somatic Symptoms Fatigue sleep problems Normal Sadness vs Depression Sadness normal feeling Bipolar and
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