Psychological Disorders

Chapter 13

Perspectives on Psychological

DisordersSection 1

Historical Views of Psych Disorders

•Attributed to supernatural powers

•Madness was a sign that spirits had possessed a person

•Middles Ages

•Believed in exorcisms

• People were put in asylums-chained down and deprived food, light or “air” to cure them

• 1793 turning point in treating the ill

• Phillipe Pinel made the asylums more humane, sanitary and comfortable

• Dorthea Dix (1802-1887)

• American reformer

• Boston teacher that lead the way for humane treatment of the mentally ill

• New hopsitals were built but very little changes were made

Theories of Nature, Causes, and Treatment of Psych Disorders

• The Biological Model

• Behavior is caused by physiological malfunctions linked to heredity

• Genetic factors involved with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and autism

• Psychoanalytical Model

• Behavior disorders are symbolic expressions of unconscious internal conflicts, that are traced to earlier like

• Freudian ideology

• The Cognitive-Behavioral Model

• Like all behavior, abnormal behavior is the result of learning

• Learned behaviors like fears, anxiety, and sexual deviations can be learned and unlearned

• The Diathesis-Stress Model

• Some people are biologically prone to developing a particular disorder under stress, whereas others are not

• Systems Theory

• Emotional problems are “lifestyle diseases” that like heart disease are caused by a combination o biological risks, psychological stresses and societal pressures and expectations

• Causes of Mental Disorders

• Biological and psychological factors are connected

• Both are factor and can affect a person

Classifying Psych Disorders

• For nearly 40 years, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has issued a manual describing and classifying various psych disorders

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

• In 4th edition

Prevalence of Psych Disorders

• How common are psych disorders in the United States?

• 32% of all Americans suffer from one or more serious mental disorders during their lifetime

• At any given time, more than 15% are experiencing a mental disorder

• Drug abuse is the most common disorder

• Anxiety disorders are the second most common

•Mood disorders like depression are a problem for almost 8% of the population

• Schizophrenia afflicts 1.5 % of the population (about 3 million people!)

Mood DisordersSection 2

•Mood Disorders: disturbances in mood or prolonged emotional state

• Usually you have an rang of moods and emotions

•With mood disorders people seem stuck at one end of the spectrum or the other—really happy or really sad

Depression• Depression: overwhelming feelings of sadness,

lack of interest in activities, and perhaps excessive guilt or feeling of worthlessness

•Most common mood disorder

• Seriously depressed people suffer from insomnia, lose interest in food, trouble thinking and concentrating

• In extremely serious cases may experience suicidal thoughts ot even attempt suicide

• Important to distinguish between clinical and the “normal” depression

• Entirely normal to become sad when a loved on has died, break up with your significant other—considered “normal” depression

• 2 forms of depression—Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymia

•Major Depressive Disorder

• Episode of intense sadness that may last for several months

• Caused from difficult life events

• Dysthymia

• Less intense sadness but persists with little relief for a period of 2 years

• Biological problem

Mania and Bipolar Disorder

• Mania: euphoric states, extreme psychical activity, excessive talkativeness, distractedness, and sometimes grandiosity

• unlimited hopes but little motivation to act on them

• Can sometimes become aggressive and hostile toward others as their self confidence grows

• Manic periods usually alternate with depression

• Bipolar Disorder: periods of mania and depression alternate, sometimes with periods of normal moods intervening

•Much less common, equally prevalent in men and women

• Stronger biological component than depression

• Strongly linked to heredity and is often treated with drugs

Causes of Mood Disorders

• Biological Factors

• Consistent evidence that genetic factors play a role in depression and Bipolar Disorder

• Strongest evidence come from Twin Studies

• Chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters

•Medications can help create balanced neurotransmitters

• Psychological Factors

• Cognitive Distortions: illogical and maladaptive response to early negative life events that leads to feelings of incompetence and unworthiness that are reactive whenever a new situation arises that resembles the original events

• Social Factors

• Difficulties in interpersonal relationships

• Depression stems from excessive grief and irrational grief over a real or “symbolic” loss

Anxiety DisordersSection 3

• Anxiety Disorders: disorders in which anxiety is a characteristic feature or the avoidance of anxiety seems to motivate abnormal behavior

• Does not know why they are afraid or the anxiety is inappropriate to the circumstance

• Fear and anxiety doesn’t make sense

Specific Phobias • Specific Phobias: anxiety disorder characterized

by intense, paralyzing fear of something

• Interferes with life functioning

• EX: fear of flying, spiders, animals, heights, blood etc

• Social Phobia: fear connected with social situations or performances in front of other people

• EX: public speaking

• Agoraphobia: anxiety disorder that involves multiple, intense fears of crowds, public places, and other situations that require separation fron a source of security such as home

Panic Disorders

• Panic Disorders: recurrent panic attacks in which the person suddenly experiences intense fear or terror without reasonable cause

• During a panic attack a person may feel impending doom, chest pains, dizziness or fainting, sweating, difficulty breathing, and fear of losing control and dying

• Usually only lasts a few minutes, but can occur for no reason

Other Anxiety Disorders

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder: prolonged vague but intense fears that are not attached to any particular object or circumstance

• Inability to relax, constantly feeling restless, muscles tension, rapid heart beat apprehensiveness about the future

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): a person feels driven to think disturbing thoughts and/ or perform senseless rituals

Causes of Anxiety Disorders

• Often learned from others or experiences

• If you feel like you do not have control over your life and the events in it you may suffer from anxiety disorders

Psychosomatic Disorders

Section 4

Psychosomatic Disorders

• Psychosomatic Disorders: there is a real psychical illness that is largely caused by physiological factors such as stress and anxiety

• EX: tension headaches

• Caused by muscle contractions brought on by stress

• Headache is real but considered psychosomatic because stress and anxiety (psychological factors) play an important role in causing symptoms

• Somatoform Disorders: there is an apparent psychical illness for which there is no organic basis

• Do not mean to mislead others about their physical condition

• The symptoms are very real to them, not faked are under voluntary control

• Somatization Disorder: person experiences vague, recurring psychical symptoms for which medical attention is sought after repeatedly but no cause is found

• Common Complaints: back pains dizziness, partial paralysis, abdominal pains, and sometimes anxiety and depression

• Conversion Disorder: dramatic specific disability has no psychical cause but instead seems related to psychological problems

• Also, blindness, deafness, seizures, and lose of feeling, or false pregnancy

• Have healthy muscles and nerves, yet symptoms are very real

• Usually caused to resolve a difficult conflict or relieves the patient of the need to confront a difficult situation

• EX: worry your self sick

• Hypochondriasis: person interprets insignificant symptoms as signs of serious illness in the absence of any organic evidence of such illness

• You have a headache and you assume you actually have a brain tumor

• Body Dimorphic Disorder: person becomes so preoccupied with his or her imaged ugliness that normal life is impossible

• EX: think you have big ears and eventually cant function in regular life

Dissociative Disorders

Section 5

Dissociative Disorders

• Disorders in which some aspect of the personality seems separated from the rest

• Involves memory loss– though temporary– change in identity

• Dissociative Amnesia: loss of memory fro past events without organic cause

• Usually block out stressful events or periods of life that may seem extremely stressful

• EX: extreme/ extensive abuse

• Dissociative Identity Disorder: person has several distinct personalities that emerge at different times

• Commonly know as multiple personalities

• In true multiple personalities, the various personalities are distinct people, whit their own names, identities, memories, mannerisms, and speaking voices, and even IQ’s

• Personalities sharply contrast each other

• Depersonalization Disorder: essential feature is that people suddenly feels changed or different in a strange way

• Feel like that have left their bodies, or their actions have become mechanical or dream like

• Common during adolescence and young adulthood when our sense of ourselves and interactions changes rapidly

Personality DisordersSection 6

• Personality Disorders: inflexible and maladaptive ways of thinking and behaving learned early in life cause distress to the person and/or conflicts with others

• EX: harmless eccentrics to cold blooded killers

Types of Personality Diosrders

• Schizoid Personality Disorder: person is withdrawn and lacks feelings for others

• Lacks desire to form social relationships

• No feelings towards others

• Seldom marry, have trouble holding jobs that require them to work with others

• Paranoid Personality Disorder: person is inappropriately suspicious and mistrustful of others

• There is no reason for suspicion or mistrust

• Refuse to accept blame or criticism when necessary

• Guarded, secretive, devious, scheming, and argumentative but see themselves and rational and objective

• Dependent Personality Disorder: person is unable to make choices and decisions independently and cannot tolerate being alone

• Underlying fear they will be rejected or abandoned by the important people in their lives

• Avoidant Personality Disorder: person’s fear of rejection by other leads to social isolation

• Person is timid, anxious, fearful of rejection

• Social anxiety leads to isolation but unlike schizoid people, they WANT to have close relationship with people

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder: person has an exaggerated sense of self-importance and needs constant admiration

• Believe they are extraordinary, need constant attention and admiration, display sense of entitlement, and tend to exploit others

• Borderline Personality Disorder: marked by instability in self- image, mood, and interpersonal relationships

• Tend to act impulsively, and often in self destructive ways,

• Feel uncomfortable being alone, ad often manipulate self destructive impulses in an effort to control or solidify their personal relationships—promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, and threats of suicide

• Common and serious

• Although genetics do play a role, not an important role in development

• Usually generates out of exposure to dysfunctional relationships with parents, frequent exposure to domestic violence, and physical or sexual abuse

• Antisocial Personality Disorder: involves a pattern of violent, criminal, or unethical and exploitative behavior and an inability to feel affection for others

• Lie, steal, cheat, and show little to no responsibility, often intelligent, and charming

• The “con man”

• Show little to no remorse, guilt or anxiety about behavior

Schizophrenic Disorders

Section 7

• Schizophrenic Disorder: severe disorders in which there are disturbances of thoughts, communications, and emotions, including delusions and hallucinations.

• Lasts for months, even years

• Out of touch with reality– insanity is a legal term for mentally disturbed people who are not considered responsible for their criminal actions

• Suffer from hallucinations—sensory experiences in the absence of external stimulation

• Usually takes the form of hearing voices that are not really there

• Frequently suffer from delusions– false beliefs about reality that have no basis in fact

• These delusions are usually paranoid– believe people are our to harm them

• Believe their doctors want to kill them, receiving radio messages fro aliens

• Distorted thoughts sometimes lead to self-destructive behaviors, increasing their risk fro suicide

• Difficult to live a normal life unless treated with medication

Types of Schizophrenic Disorders

• Disorganized Schizophrenia: bizarre childlike behaviors are common

• Giggling, frantic gesturing, show childish regard for social conventions and ma urinate and defecate at inappropriate times

• Catatonic Schizophrenia: disturbed behavior is prominent

• Alternate between catatonic state (mute and immobile) and extremely active state (constant shouting and talking)

• Paranoid Schizophrenia: marked by extreme suspiciousness and complex, bizarre delusions

•May believe themselves to someone they are not (Napoleon or the Virgin Mary)

• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia: there are clear schizophrenic symptoms that don’t meet the criteria for another subtype of the disorder

•May have delusions, hallucinations, or incoherence but doesn’t fit into any of the subtypes for the disorder

Causes of Schizophrenia

• Genetic component

• People with schizophrenia are more likely to have children with the disorder, as well

•May also be related to those who have excessive amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine