Psychological Disorders:An Introduction

Warm up• Before we begin Abnormal Psych, what

do you hope to learn in this unit?

• Have you had any experience dealing with psychological disorders – people connected to you or any past reading on this topic?

Defining Disorder

Psychological Disorder

• Behavior patterns or mental processes which cause serious personal suffering or interfere with a person’s ability to cope with everyday life.

It Takes 4 Things for a Behavior to be Considered a Disorder:

• Typicality

• Mal-adaptivity

• Emotional Discomfort

• Socially Unacceptable

Behavior

Typicality

• Is the behavior typical of most people?

Maladaptive

• Impairs the person’s ability to function in everyday life.

• An exaggeration of normal, acceptable behaviors

• Destructive to oneself or others

Emotional Discomfort

• A behavior which is troublesome to the person themselves or those around them.

Socially Unacceptable Behavior

• A behavior so different from other people’s behavior that it violates a norm

• Norms vary from culture to culture

Understanding Disorders

Early Views of Mental Illness

• In ancient times, mental illness was usually explained through a supernatural model; the person was possessed.

• During the Middle Ages treatment methods were inhumane and cruel

Conditions for Psychologically Disabled

Ancient Greek TrephinesEuropean Trephines “released evil spirits.”

Conditions for Psychologically Disabled

Medieval Solutions…

The Medical Model

• Diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured.

• Disorders are diagnosed based on symptoms and treated or cured through therapy.

• Disorders are similar to a physical illness.

Bio-Psycho-Social Model

• Believe mental illnesses combine biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors to produce psychological disorders

Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective

Classifying Disorders

DiagnosisDiagnostic and Statistical Manual

of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR)—describes symptoms and diagnostic guidelines for psychological disorders– Made by the APA.– Provides common language to

label mental disorders– Has guidelines to diagnose

mental disorders

DSM-IV-TR

• Divides mental disorders into 17 major categories

• Includes symptoms but not causes of each disease

• Lists and describes 250 specific psychological disorders

Labeling Stigmas

• Studies show a clear bias against people diagnosed with mental disorders.• Rosenhan Study – “normal” people pretended to hear voices and checked

into a mental hospital then acted normal. • Their normal actions were taken to be abnormal once they were labeled

schizophrenic.

Prevalence• Roughly 50% of adults experienced symptoms at

least once in their lives• 80% who experienced symptoms in the last year

did NOT seek treatment– Many would benefit from treatment don’t seek it.

– Most people just deal with it.

• Women have higher prevalence of depression and anxiety

• Men have higher prevalence of substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder

Gender Differences for Disorders

Prevalence of Mental Disorders Worldwide

Are People with a Mental Illness as Violent as the Media

Portrays Them? • People with mental disorders are often depicted on

TV as helpless victims or evil villains who are unpredictable, dangerous, and violent.

• Studies show that former mental patients did not have a higher rate of violence than “normal” people.

• People with severe mental disorders who experience bizarre delusional ideas and hallucinated voices do have a slightly higher level of violent and illegal behavior than do “normal” people.

Mental Illnesses

With a partner…

• Choose one of the disorders.• Create a 2 minute newscast where one

person interviews another person that has one of the disorders.

• Your dialogue should be “two minutes in length”; hand it in once you’re done with your presentation.

• Have fun!