Psychological disorders

1
Psychological disorders
2
I. Defining and diagnosingdisorders
3
Mental disorder
chapter 11

• Any behavior or
• emotional state that
• causes a person to suffer
• is self-destructive
• seriously impairs the persons ability
• to work or get along with others
• endangers others or the community

4
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM

• Axis I Primary clinical problem
• Axis II Personality disorders
• Axis III General medical conditions
• Axis IV Social and environmental stressors
• Axis V Current and past levels of overall
  functioning

5
Explosion of mental disorders

• Supporters of new categories answer that it is
  important to distinguish disorders precisely.
• Critics point to economics diagnoses are needed
  for insurance reasons for therapists to be
  compensated.

6
Projective tests

• Projective tests
• Psychological tests used to infer a persons
  motives, conflicts, and unconscious dynamics on
  the basis of the persons interpretation of
  ambiguous stimuli
• Rorschach inkblot test
• A projective personality test that asks
  respondents to interpret abstract, symmetrical
  inkblots

7
Objective tests

• Inventories
• Standardized objective questionnaires requiring
  written responses
• Typically include scales on which people are
  asked to rate themselves
• Evaluating Whether You Are Depressed

8
II. Mood disorders
9
Symptoms of depression
chapter 11

• Major depression
• A mood disorder involving disturbances in
• emotion (depressed mood, excessive sadness)
• behavior (reduced interest in ones usual
  activities)
• cognition (thoughts of hopelessness, feelings of
  worthlessness or guilt, reduced ability to
  concentrate, recurrent thoughts of death)
• body function (fatigue, loss of appetite,
  significant weight loss or gain, sleeping too
  much or too little)

DSM IV requires 5 of these within the past 2 weeks
10
Bipolar disorder

• A mood disorder in which episodes of depression
  and mania (excessive euphoria) occur.
• AKA manic-depressive disorder

11
Genetic factors in depression

• Studies of adopted children support genetic
  explanations of depression.
• 5-HTT is a gene that is present in either a long
  or short form.
• 17 of individuals with the long form become
  severely depressed.
• 43 of individuals with 2 copies of the short
  form become depressed.
• Genetics may also influence levels of serotonin
  and other neurotransmitters.
• Biomedical therapy is common for depression.
• Major depression Antidepressant medication
• Bipolar disorder Lithium (also
  antidepressants, antipsychotics)

12
Life experiences and circumstances

• Social explanations emphasize the stressful
  circumstances in peoples lives.
• Loss of or problems with important relationships
• Women are less satisfied with work and family
  and more likely to live in poverty.
• A health psychologist might emphasize stress
  reduction

13
Cognitive habits

• Cognitive explanations emphasize habits of
  thinking and ways of interpreting events.
• Depressed people believe their situation is
  permanent, uncontrollable.
• Rumination
• Brooding about negative aspects of ones life
• Cognitive therapy is often effective in treating
  depression

14
III. Anxiety disorders
15
Generalized anxiety disorder

• Continuous state of anxiety marked by feelings of
  worry and dread, apprehension, difficulties in
  concentration, and signs of motor tension

16
Panic disorder

• An anxiety disorder in which a person experiences
  recurring panic attacks
• Panic attack a feeling of impending doom or
  death, accompanied by physiological symptoms such
  as rapid breathing and dizziness

17
Fears and phobias

• Phobia
• An exaggerated, unrealistic fear of a specific
  situation, activity, or object

18
Agoraphobia

• A set of phobias, often set off by a panic
  attack, involving the basic fear of being away
  from a safe place or person.

19
Posttraumatic stress disorder

• An anxiety disorder in which a person who has
  experienced a traumatic or life-threatening event
  has symptoms such as psychic numbing, reliving
  the trauma, and increased physiological arousal
• Diagnosed only if symptoms persist for six months
  or longer
• May immediately follow event or occur later

20
Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• An anxiety disorder in which a person feels
  trapped in repetitive, persistent thoughts
  (obsessions) and repetitive, ritualized behaviors
  (compulsions) designed to reduce anxiety

21
Treatment of anxiety disorders

• Biomedical therapy (antidepressant and
  antianxiety medication)
• Cognitive therapy
• Behavior therapy

22
IV. Dissociative disorders
23
Dissociative amnesia

• Involves memory loss caused by extensive
  psychological stress

24
Dissociative identity disorder

• A controversial disorder marked by the appearance
  within one person of two or more distinct
  personalities, each with its own name and traits
• Commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder

25
The MPD controversy

• First view
• MPD is common but often unrecognized as such.
• Starts in childhood as a means of coping
• Trauma produced a mental splitting.
• Second view
• Created through pressure and
• suggestion by clinicians
• Handfuls to 10,000 since 1980

26
Sociocognitive explanation

• MPD is an extreme form of our ability to present
  many aspects of our personalities to others.
• MPD is a socially acceptable way for some
  troubled people to make sense of their problems.
• Therapists looking for MPD may reward patients
  with attention and praise for revealing more and
  more personalities.

27
V. Personality disorders
28
Problem personalities

• Personality disorder
• Rigid, maladaptive patterns that cause personal
  distress or an inability to get along with others
• Narcissistic personality disorder
• Characterized by an exaggerated sense of
  self-importance and self-absorption

29
Criminals and psychopaths

• Antisocial personality disorder
• Characterized by a lifelong pattern of
  irresponsible, antisocial behavior such as
  lawbreaking, violence, and other impulsive,
  restless acts

30
VI. Schizophrenia
31
Schizophrenia

• A psychotic disorder marked by
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Disorganized, incoherent speech
• Inappropriate behavior
• Impaired cognitive abilities
• Typical onset adolescence to early adulthood

32
Delusions and hallucinations

• Delusions
• False beliefs that often accompany schizophrenia
  and other psychotic disorders
• Hallucinations Sensory experiences that occur in
  the absence of actual stimulation

33
Genetic vulnerability

• The risk of developing schizophrenia increases as
  the genetic relatedness with a diagnosed
  schizophrenic increases.

34
Structural brain abnormalities

• Several abnormalities exist
• Decreased brain weight
• Decreased volume in temporal lobe or hippocampus
• Enlargement of ventricles
• About 25 do not have these observable brain
  deficiencies.

35
Neurotransmitter abnormalities

• Many schizophrenics have high levels of brain
  activity in areas served by dopamine, and greater
  numbers of dopamine receptors.
• Abnormalities may also involve serotonin,
  glutamate
• Biomedical therapy antipsychotic medication

36
Prenatal or birth complications

• Damage to the fetal brain increases chances of
  schizophrenia and other mental disorders.
• Damage may occur as a function of
• maternal malnutrition
• maternal illness
• brain injury
• oxygen deprivation at birth