Core Concept 121

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Core Concept 12-1

• Psychological disorders are seen as diseases by
  the medical model, while psychology prefers an
  interaction of nature and nurture.

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Psychopathology

• Pattern of emotions, behaviors, or thoughts
  inappropriate to the situation and leading to
  either personal distress or inability to function
  effectively
• Also called
• mental illness
• mental disorder
• psychological disorder

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Normal v. Abnormal

• Telling the difference not easy.
• Abnormality is relative and varies with both
  historical time and culture.
• Severe psychological disorders easier to identify.

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Hallucinations

• False sensory experiences
• Example hearing the voice of God giving commands
  to behave in bizarre fashion

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Delusions

• Disordered thinking involving persistent false
  beliefs
• Examples persecution or grandiosity

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Severe Emotions

• Depression
• Mania
• Lack of all emotions

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Continuum of Psychopathology

• _____________________________
• None Mild Moderate Severe

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Neurosis v. Psychosis

• Outdated but useful concepts
• Neurosis--unhappy and ineffective but not out of
  touch with reality or dangerously ill.
• Psychosis--profound disturbance in perception,
  rational thinking, and emotions.

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History of Mental Illness

• Ancient World--mind possessed by demons and
  spirits.
• Hippocrates (400 B.C.)
• abnormal behavior due to physical causes
• began the medical model of mental illness
• Imbalance of four body humors
• Middle Ages--devil and witchcraft again
• Medical model returns in 18th century

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Ancient World

• Explanation of psychopathology- mind possessed
  by demons and spirits

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Hippocrates

• Psychopathology due to physical causes
• Began the medical model of mental illness
• Imbalance of body humors

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Body Humor Theory
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Middle Ages

• Devil and witchcraft again used to explain mental
  illness
• Cure was torture--drive out the devil.

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Ergot

• A fungus that infects rye grass
• Contains lysergic acid (like LSD)
• Hallucinogenic
• Salem witches likely affected by ergot

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Medical Model

• Returns in 18th Century
• Diseases of mind have medical causes
• Led to sweeping reforms in treatment of mental
  illness

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Insane Asylums

• Humane treatment based on rest, contemplation,
  and simple work.
• Became overcrowded warehouses

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Problems with Medical Model

• doctor-knows-all leads to passive patients
• over reliance on drug therapy
• no increase in coping skills

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Psychological Models

• Behavioral-abnormal behaviors learned
• Cognitive-abnormal behaviors influenced by how
  people think of themselves and others
• Social-abnormal behavior occurs in a social
  contex
• Biological-genetic factors and brain dysfunction
  contribute

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Indicators of Abnormality

• distress
• maladaptiveness
• irrationality
• unpredictable behavior
• unconventional behavior

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Core Concept 12-2

• The DSM-IV, the most widely used system,
  classifies disorders by their mental and
  behavioral symptoms.

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Classification of Disorders

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fourth Edition
  (DSM-IV)
• Classifies disorders by mental and behavioral
  symptoms
• Widely accepted
• More than 300 disorders

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Classes of Disorders

• Mood Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Schizophrenic Disorders
• Personality Disorders
• Many others

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Mood Disorders

• Abnormal disturbances in emotion or mood, also
  called affective disorders.
• Major Depression
• Bipolar Disorder

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Depression

• Lifetime risk of 5.2 of having a depressive
  episode.
• Major Depression--extreme sadness, loss of
  enjoyment, sleep and appetite problems, loss of
  energy, difficulty concentrating, thoughts of
  death.
• Dysthymia--mild depression

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Bipolar Disorder

• Alternating periods of mania and depression.
• Manic Phase--euphoric, energetic, hyperactive,
  talkative, and excited.
• Usually responds well to medication.

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Schizophrenia

• A psychotic disorder involving distortions in
  thoughts, perceptions, and emotions.
• Incidence of 1 with first episode almost always
  in late adolescence or early adulthood.
• State psychiatric hospitals--40 of patients have
  schizophrenia.

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Disorganized Type

• Incoherent speech
• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Bizarre behavior.

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Paranoid Type

• Delusions of persecution or grandiosity
• Hallucinations
• No incoherence
• Withdrawn
• Flat affect

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Personality Disorders

• Not a mental disorder
• A long-standing personality pattern
• Leads to maladpative behavior, disrupted social
  relationships, poor impulse control.
• Very chronic, pervasive, inflexible.

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Examples

• Narcissistic--feels entitled, needs constant
  attention or admiration.
• Borderline--very unstable patterns.
• Antisocial--pattern of irresponsible behavior and
  lack of conscience.

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Core Concept 12-3

• Ideally, accurate diagnoses lead to proper
  treatments, but diagnoses may also become labels
  that depersonalize individuals and ignore the
  social and cultural contexts in which their
  problems arise.

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Labeling People

• Ideally,diagnosis may become a label with
  negative consequences--a stigma.
• Rosenhan Study of pseudopatients

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Insanity Plea

• A legal not psychological concept--person found
  not guilty by reason of insanity is not held
  responsible for their criminal conduct.
• Myths about the insanity plea abound.
• In Texas, a severe mental disorder that prevented
  the person from knowing right from wrong.