jimtrue.com : school : PSY1012 : Chapter Sixteen: Psychological Disorders

Posted by Jim True on April 19, 2006 6:21 PM. Last Updated October 22, 2006 9:23 PM

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Chapter Sixteen: Psychological Disorders

Psychological Disorders

• Psychological Disorder
• a "harmful dysfunction" in which behavior is judged to be:
• atypical. (not typical, weird)- not enough in itself
• disturbing - varies with time and culture; ; disturbing to the person experiencing the symptoms
• maladaptive - harmful; interferes with social and occupational functioning
• unjustifiable - sometimes there's a good reason
• Medical Model
• concept that diseases have physical causes
• can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured
• assumes that these "mental" illnesses can be diagnosed on the basis of their symptoms and cured through therapy, which may include treatment in a psychiatric hospital
• Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
• assumes that biological (genetic), sociocultural (how you were raised, your environment), and psychological (how you think) factors combine and interact to produce psychological disorders

Etiology

• DSM-IV
• American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition)
• a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders
• presently distributed as DSM-IV-TR (text revision)
• Main problem with DSM is when people live up or live down to what their disorder is; essential for insurance payments

Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety Disorders
• distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• person is tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal
• Overlaps often with Depression
• Differs from fear, because anxiety is 'imagined threat' whereas fear is real.
• Panic Disorder
• marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensation
• often get diagnosed in hospital emergency room because they think they are having a heart attack
• May have 'queued' panic attacks that are brought on by specific situations
• Phobia
• persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or situation
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions)
• can be either in order to be diagnosed
• Table 16.1 (Common Obsessions and Compulsions and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• For people that have both, the compulsive act quiets the stress of the obsession.
• Often helped by taking SSRI's (anti-depressants)

Mood Disorders

• Mood Disorders
• characterized by emotional extremes
• Major Depressive Disorder
• a mood disorder in which a person, for no apparent reason, experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities
• Percentage of 18-84 year olds experiencing major depression at some point in life
• In clinical depression, the Brain Chemistry - Cognition - Mood circuit can be changed and the person will fell better. Altering any one component of the chemistry-cognition-mood circuit can alter the others
1. Stressful experiences
2. Negative Explanatory Style
3. Depressed Mood
4. Cognitive Behavioral changes
• The vicious cycle of depression can be broken at any point
• Manic Episode
• a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state
• Bipolar Disorder
• a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania
• formerly called manic-depressive disorder
• A true manic episode characterized Bipolar I, more serious will often cause the person to be hospitalized; Bipolar II is genetic and runs in families, experience hypomania (fun, wild, energetic, promiscuous)
• PET scans show that brain energy consumption rises and falls with emotional switches. Rapid cycling between manic and depressive states, "riding the Bi-Polar Express"
• PET Scan of brain of person with obsessive compulsive disorder
• High metabolic

Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative Disorders
• conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts and feelings
• Dissociative Identity Disorder
• rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities
• formerly called multiple personality disorder

Personality Disorders

• disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning
• usually without anxiety, depression, or delusions
• Differ in that these are long-term patterns of behavior; do not see their own contribution to their own current state.
• Antisocial Personality Disoder
• disoder in which the person (usually man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members
• may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist
• Sociopaths know what is right and wrong; just don't care
• PET scans illustrate reduced activation in a murderer's frontal cortex

Schizophrenia

• literal translation "split mind"
• a group of severe disorders characterized by:
• disorganzied and delusional thinking
• disturbed perceptions
• inappropriate emotions and actions
• Delusions
• false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders
• Hallucinations
• sensory experiences without sensory stimulation
• Subtypes of Schizophrenia (Table 16.2) - Paranoid, Disorganized, Catatonic, Undifferentiated, Residual

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