Advanced Placement Psychology

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Advanced Placement Psychology

• Module 22
• Disorders I Definitions and Anxiety

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Psychological Disorders

• Psychological Disorder
• a harmful dysfunction in which behavior is
  judged to be
• atypical--not enough in itself
• disturbing--varies with time and culture
• maladaptive--harmful
• unjustifiable--sometimes theres a good reason

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Definitions of Abnormal Behavior

• How do we determine what is abnormal? What is
  the definition of Abnormal?
• Jeffrey Dahmer (Mass Killings)
• Kate Premo (Flying)
• Richard Thompson (Living in Sewer)

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Definitions of Abnormal Behavior

• We use 3 methods to decide what is considered
  normal
• 1) Statistical Frequency
• 2) Deviation from Social Norms
• 3) Maladaptive Behavior

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1) Statistical Frequency

• A behavior may be considered abnormal if it
  occurs rarely or infrequently in relation to the
  behaviors of the general population.
• Example Thompson living in a sewer would be
  considered abnormal since out of 250 Million
  people in the U.S., only a very few would live
  this way.

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Deviation from Social Norms

• A behavior is considered abnormal if it deviates
  greatly from accepted social standards, values,
  or norms.
• Example Thompsons living in a storm sewer
  deviates greatly from where societys norms about
  where people should live.

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Maladaptive Behavior

• A behavior that is psychologically damaging or
  abnormal if it interferes with the individuals
  ability to function in ones personal life or in
  society.
• Example Being terrified of flying, hearing
  voices that dictate dangerous acts, starving
  oneself to the point of death, committing serial
  murders and eating the victims.

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Historical Perspective

• Perceived Causes
• movements of sun or moon
• lunacy--full moon
• evil spirits
• Ancient Treatments
• exorcism, caged like animals, beaten, burned,
  castrated, mutilated, blood replaced with
  animals blood

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Psychological Disorders

• 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

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Psychological Disorders

• Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
• assumes that biological, sociocultural, and
  psychological factors combine and interact to
  produce psychological disorders

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Psychological Disorders

• Cognitive-Behavioral Approach
• Emphasizes that mental disorders result from
  deficits in cognitive processes, such as thoughts
  and beliefs, and from behavioral problems, such
  as deficits in skills and abilities.

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Psychological Disorders

• Psychoanalytic Approach
• Mental disorders are due to unconscious conflicts
  or problems with unresolved conflicts at one or
  more of Freuds psychosexual stages.

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Psychological Disorders
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Clinical Assessments

• In dealing with Mental Disorders, in order to
  determine the disorder, the patient would go
  through a series of Clinical assessments.

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Clinical Assessments

• Clinical Assessment
• A systematic evaluation of an individuals
  various psychological, biological and social
  factors, as well as identifying past and present
  problems, stressors, and other cognitive or
  behavioral symptoms. There are three major
  techniques Clinical interviews, psychological
  tests, and neurological exams.

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Clinical Assessments

• 1) Neurological Tests
• These include evaluating reflexes, motor
  coordination, and brain structures.
• These are given because things like tumors,
  disease, or infections can cause abnormal
  behaviors.

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Clinical Assessments

• 2) Clinical Interview
• A method of gathering information about a
  persons past and current behaviors, beliefs,
  attitudes, emotions, and problems. Some are
  unstructured, others structured.

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Clinical Assessments

• 3) Personality Tests
• Two different kinds of tests Objective
  personality tests (MMPI) and Projective tests
  such as the Rorschach inkblot test.

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Problems with Clinical Assessment

• 1) Individuals may hid their symptoms from
  public view
• 2) Even after assessment, it may be difficult to
  explain what role those symptoms played in the
  persons current behavior.
• 3) It needs to be accurate because it has
  significant implications for therapy

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Problems with Clinical Assessment

• 4) The diversity, complexity, and peculiarities
  of symptoms mean that mental health professionals
  may have difficulty making or agreeing on their
  assessments.

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Psychological DisordersEtiology

• DSM-IV
• American Psychiatric Associations 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)

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DSM-IV-TR

• Is divided into 5 Axis They serve as guidelines
  for making decisions about symptoms.

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DSM-IV-TR

• AXIS I Nine Major Clinical Syndromes
• Axis I contains lists of symptoms and criteria
  about the onset, severity, and duration of these
  symptoms. In turn these lists of symptoms are
  used to make a clinical diagnosis of the
  following nine major clinical syndromes.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 1) Disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy,
  childhood, or adolescence.
• Includes disorders that arise before adolescence,
  such as ADD, autism, Mental Retardation,
  enuresis, and stuttering.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 2) Organic Mental Disorders
• Temporary or permanent dysfunctions of brain
  tissue caused by disease or chemicals. Examples
  Delirium, dementia, and amnesia

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DSM-IV-TR

• 3) Substance-Related Disorders
• Refers to the maladaptive use of drugs and
  alcohol. This category requires an abnormal
  pattern of use, as with alcohol abuse and cocaine
  dependence.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 4) Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Disorders
• Psychotic symptoms (grossly disorganized,
  delusions, and hallucinations) by over 6 months
  of behavioral deterioration. Also includes
  delusional disorder and schizo-affective disorder.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 5) Mood Disorders
• The cardinal feature is emotional disturbance,
  Patients may, or may not, have psychotic
  symptoms. These include Bi-polar disorder,
  major depression.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 6) Anxiety Disorders
• Characterized by physiological signs of anxiety
  and subjective feelings of tension, apprehension,
  or fear.
• Example Phobias

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DSM-IV-TR

• 7) Somatoform Disorders
• Disorders dominated by somatic symptoms that
  resemble physical illnesses. These symptoms
  cannot be accounted for by organic damage. There
  must also be strong evidence that these symptoms
  are produced by psychological factors or
  conflicts. Example Hypochondriasis

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DSM-IV-TR

• 8) Dissociative Disorders
• This disorder features a sudden, temporary
  alteration or dysfunction of memory,
  consciousness, identity, and behavior, as in
  dissociative amnesia and multiple personality.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 9) Sexual and Gender-Identity Disorders
• Three basic types of disorder in this category
  gender-identity, paraphilias, sexual dysfunction.

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DSM-IV-TR

• AXIS II
• This axis refers to disorders that involve
  patterns of personality traits that are
  longstanding, maladaptive, and inflexible and
  involve impaired fuctioning or subjective
  distress. Examples Borderline schizoid,
  antisocial personality disorders. (Jeffrey Dahmer)

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DSM-IV-TR

• AXIS III
• General Medical Conditions This Axis refers to
  physical disorders or conditions, such as
  diabetes, arthritis, and hemophilia.

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DSM-IV-TR

• AXIS IV
• Psychosocial and Environmental Problems This
  refers to problems that may affect the diagnosis,
  treatment, and prognosis of mental disorders in
  Axes I and II. Example A negative life event,
  Family stress, PTSD

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DSM-IV-TR

• AXIS V
• Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale
  Used to rate the overall psychological, social,
  and occupational functioning of the individual on
  a scale from 10 (In danger of hurting self) to
  100 (superior functioning).

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DSM-IV-TR

• Advantages
• There re three advantages of using DSM-IV
• 1)Mental Health professionals use the
  classification system to communicate with one
  another.

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DSM-IV-TR

• 2)Researchers use the classification system to
  study and explain mental disorders
• 3) Therapists use the classification system to
  design their treatment program so as to best fit
  their client problems.

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Problems with DSM-IV

• Labeling
• Identifying and naming differences among
  individual. The label places individuals into
  specific categories, may have either a positive
  or negative association.

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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

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Symptoms
• Psychological symptoms. They include being
  irritable, difficulty concentrating, and unable
  to control worrying.
• Physical Symptoms restlessness, easily
  fatigued,seating, flushing, pounding heart,
  insomnia, clammy hands, headaches, and muscle
  tension or aches
• Treatment Psychotherapy, Tranquilizers,
  alrazolam and diazepam, part of a group of drugs
  known as benzodiazepines

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Anxiety Disorders

• 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

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Panic Disorder

• Symptoms intense fear or discomfort in which
  for or more of the following symptoms are
  present Pounding heart, sweating, trembling,
  shortness of breath, feelings of choking, chest
  pain, nausea, feeling dizzy, fear of losing
  control, or dying.
• Treatment Benzodiazepines or antidepressants,
  Psychotherapy

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Anxiety Disorders

• Phobia
• persistent, irrational fear of a specific object
  or situation
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or
  actions (compulsions)

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Symptoms Irrational, recurring thoughts,
  impulses, or images that a person unable to
  control and interfere with normal functioning,
  and compulsions, irresistible impulses to perform
  over and over some senseless behavior or ritual.
• Treatment Exposure Therapy and anti-depressant
  drugs.

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Anxiety Disorders

• Common and uncommon fears

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Anxiety Disorders
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Anxiety Disorders

• PET Scan of brain of person with Obsessive/
  Compulsive disorder
• High metabolic activity (red) in frontal lobe
  areas involved with directing attention

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Somatoform Disorders

• A pattern of recurring, multiple, and significant
  bodily (somatic) symptoms that extend over
  several years.
• The symptoms are not under voluntary control,
  have no known physical causes, and are believed
  to be caused by psychological factors.
• (pain, vomiting, paralysis, blindness)

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Somatoform Disorders

• 1) Somatization Disorder Begins before age 30,
  last several years, and is characterized by
  multiple symptomsincluding pain,
  gastrointestinal, sexual and neurological
  symptomsthat have no physical causes but are
  triggered by psychological problems or distress.

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Somatoform Disorders

• 2) Conversion Disorder Changing anxiety or
  emotional distress into real physical, motor,
  sensory, or neurological symptoms for which no
  physical or organic cause can be identified.
• (headaches, nausea, dizziness, loss of sensation,
  paralysis)

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Somatoform Disorders

• 3) Mass Hysteria A condition experienced by a
  group of people, who through suggestion,
  observation, or other psychological processes,
  develop similar fears, delusions, abnormal
  behaviors, or physical symptoms.

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Somatoform Disorders

• 4) Hypochondriasis Mis-interpreting normal
  physical sensations as symptoms of a disease