Abnormal Psychology

1

• Abnormal Psychology

2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
Defining Abnormal Behavior

• What is abnormal behavior?
• statistical infrequency
• e.g. mental retardation
• personal distress
• e. g. depression
• violation of social norms
• e.g., alcoholism
• Abnormal behavior is behavior that causes
• significant impairment in social or occupational
  functioning
• Significant distress in self or others

5
Causes of Abnormal Behavior

• Biological factors
• e.g., neurotransmitters
• Psychological factors
• e.g. traumatic stressors
• Sociocultural factors
• e.g. downward social drift
• An interactive approach Biopsychosocial

6
Classifying Abnormal Behavior

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
  Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV)
• Multiaxial system
• I Primary classification
• II Personality disorders
• III General medical conditions
• IV Psychosocial stressors
• V Current level of functioning

7
Categories of Mental Disorders

• Anxiety disorders
• Psychological disorders that include the
  following main features
• Excessive fear (out of proportion to the feared
  stimulus)
• Phsical symptoms (e.g. racing heart, sweatiness)
• Apprehensive expectations and thoughts

8
Anxiety Disorders

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Consists of persistent anxiety for at least a
  month
• Individual is unable to specify the reasons for
  the anxiety
• Panic disorder
• Panic attacks coupled with at least one month of
  worry about having another panic attack

9
Anxiety Disorders

• Agoraphobia
• Individuals often lead very restricted lives- not
  leaving the house at all.
• characterized by an intense fear of
• Having a panic attack and being humiliated or
  unable to find help

10
Anxiety Disorders

• Phobic disorder
• Individual has irrational, overwhelming,
  persistent fear of a particular object or
  situation
• Social phobia
• Intense fear of being humiliated or embarrassed
  in social situations

11
Anxiety Disorders

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Individual has recurrent unwanted thoughts that
  will not go away (obsession) and/or urges to
  perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors
  (compulsion)
• Common themes are contamination or doubting

12
Anxiety Disorders

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Develops through exposure to an extremely
  traumatic event
• Anxiety symptoms may immediately follow the
  trauma or be delayed for many years

13
Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative disorders
• Involve a sudden loss of memory or change in
  identity
• Dissociative amnesia
• Memory loss caused by extensive psychological
  stress

14
Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative fugue
• Individual not only develops amnesia, but also
  unexpectedly travels away from home and assumes a
  new identity
• Dissociative identity disorder
• Formerly called multiple personality disorder
• Individuals have two or more distinct
  personalities or selves

15
Mood Disorders

• Major depressive disorder
• Individual experiences depressed characteristics
  for at least two weeks
• Symptoms are
• Cognitive
• Emotional
• somatic
• Dysthymic disorder
• More chronic than major depressive disorders and
  has fewer symptoms.

16
Mood Disorders

• Bipolar disorder
• A mood disorder characterized by extreme mood
  swings that include one or more episodes of mania
  
• Euphoria
• Excitability and hyperactivity
• Person may experience depression and mania

17
Causes of Mood Disorders

• Biological causes
• Heredity and brain processes
• Psychological causes
• Learned helplessness
• occurs when individuals are exposed to aversive
  stimulation, such as prolonged stress or pain,
  over which they have no control

18
Schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia
• A severe psychological disorder characterized by
• Disturbances in affect
• e.g. flat or inappropriate
• Disturbances in speech and behavior
• e.g. formal thought disorder
• Distortions in cognition
• e.g., delusions and hallucinations

19
Types of Schizophrenia

• Disorganized schizophrenia
• Individual has delusions and hallucinations that
  have little or no recognizable meaning
• Catatonic schizophrenia
• Most prominent characteristic is disturbances in
  motor behavior
• e.g. catatonic rigidity

20
Types of Schizophrenia

• Paranoid schizophrenia
• Characterized by delusions of reference,
  grandeur, and persecution
• Undifferentiated schizophrenia
• Characterized by disorganized behavior,
  hallucinations, delusions, and incoherence

21
Causes of Schizophrenia

• Biological factors
• Heredity and neurobiological factors
• The dopamine hypothesis
• Psychosocial factors
• Diathesis-stress view
• A combination of biogenetic disposition and
  stress causes schizophrenia

22
Personality Disorders

• Personality disorders
• Chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral
  patterns that are thoroughly integrated into the
  individuals personality

23
Odd/Eccentric Cluster

• Paranoid
• Schizoid
• Schizotypal

24
Dramatic/Emotionally Problematic Cluster

• Histrionic
• Narcissistic
• Antisocial
• Borderline

25
Chronic Fearfulness/Avoidant Cluster

• Avoidant
• Dependent
• Obsessive-compulsive
• Passive-aggressive