PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

CHAPTER 15

What is Abnormal?

•Deviation from the average

•Deviation from the ideal

•Sense of personal discomfort

•Inability to function effectively

•A legal concept (insanity)

What is Abnormal?

•A behavior that cause people toexperience distress and prevents themfrom functioning in their daily lives

Theories on Causes

•Through much of history, mental illnesshas been seen as witchcraft orpossession

•Medical Perspective: root cause inphysiological

•Psychoanalytic Perspective: root causein childhood conflicts

Theories of Causes

•Behavioral Perspective: root cause inrewards and consequences in theenvironment

•Cognitive Perspective: root cause inthoughts and beliefs

•Humanistic Perspective: rooted in howpeople perceive themselves and others

Classifying Abnormal Behavior

•Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5)

•Major Changes

▫Lifespan development focus

▫Developmental conditions have been renamed

▫Sexual disorders re-named and conceptualized

▫Less restrictive criteria

Mood Disorders

•Major Depressive Disorder

▫A severe form of depression that interfereswith concentration, decision making, andsociability

▫Prevalence

≈ 7% of individuals in the US/ year

3x more common in women than men

Mood Disorders

•Symptoms

▫Depressed mood/ feelings of worthlessness

▫Loss of interest

▫Significant weight gain or loss

▫Insomnia or hypersomnia/ fatigue

▫Diminished ability to think or concentrate

Mood Disorders

•Bipolar

▫Prevalence

≈ 1.8% of adults in US

No evidence of gender differences

▫Symptoms

Mania: an extended state of intense, wildelation, expansive, or irritable mood andpersistent increased activity

Hypomania: A less intense state of mania

Mood Disorders

•Bipolar I disorder: Major depressive episode& Manic episode

•Bipolar II disorder: Major depressive episode& Hypomanic episode

Causes of Mood Disorders

•Genetic Causes

•Environmental causes

•Cognitive and emotional causes

Schizophrenia

•A class of disorders in which severedistortion of reality occurs

•Symptoms

▫Positive: Delusions, Hallucinations,Inappropriate emotional displays,disorganized speech

▫Negative: Social withdrawal, blunted affect,catatonia

Schizophrenia

•Prevalence

▫≈ 0.3-0.7% of population

▫Slightly lower in females

▫Age of onset: early-mid 20s in Males & late 20sfor Females

▫Earlier age of onset is generally a sign of aworse prognosis

Causes of Schizophrenia

•Genetic Causes

▫Identical twin study showed 40-65%

•Biological Causes

•Situational Causes

Personality Disorders

•Characterized by a set of inflexible, maladaptive,behavior patterns that keep a person fromfunctioning appropriately in society

•Prevalence

▫≈ 15% of US adults have at least 1 personality disorder

▫There is some gender difference in prevalence in of certainpersonality disorders

Cautious of stereotype diagnosis

▫Disorders usually become recognizable during adolescenceand early adult life

Personality Disorders

•Antisocial Personality Disorder

▫Individual shows no regard for moral orethical rules of society or the rights ofothers

▫Symptoms

Failure to conform to social norms

Deceitfulness

Impulsivity

Lack of remorse (lack empathy)

Cocky, arrogant, superficial charm, manipulative

Personality Disorders

•Narcissistic Personality Disorder

▫A personality disturbance characterized by anexaggerated sense of self importance

▫Symptoms

Grandiose sense of self-importance

Preoccupied with fantasies

Belief they are “special” and “unique”

Requires excessive admiration

Sense of entitlement and arrogance

Lacks empathy

Personality Disorders

•Borderline Personality Disorders

▫A disorder characterized by problemsregulating emotions and thoughts, displayingimpulsive and reckless behavior, and havingunstable relationships with others

▫“I hate you, don’t leave me”

Personality Disorders

•Borderline Personality Disorder (cont’d)

▫Symptoms

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imaginedabandonment

Pattern od unstable and intense interpersonalrelationships

Identity disturbance

Impulsivity

Affective instability

Difficulty controlling anger

Causes of Personality Disorders

•Environmental Factors

•Biological Factors

•Genetics Factors

Anxiety Disorders

•The occurrence of anxiety without anyobvious external cause that effects dailyfunctioning

•Prevalence

▫≈18% of US adults

▫Generally, affect women more than men

Except blood-injection-injury specific phobiaoccurrence in men and women is nearly equal

Anxiety Disorders

•Specific Phobias

▫Intense, irrational fear of specific objects orsituations

•Generalized Anxiety Disorder

▫The experience of long-term, persistent anxietyand worry

•Panic Disorder

▫Disorder that takes the form of panic attackslasting from a few seconds to several hours

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

•A disorder characterized by :

▫Obsessions: A persistent, unwanted thought oridea that keeps recurring

▫Compulsions: An irresistible urge torepeatedly carry out some act that seemsstrange and unreasonable

Causes of Anxiety D/Os and OCD

•Genetic Factors

▫Identical Twin study showed 30%

•Biological Factors

• Behavioral Factors

•Cognitive Factors

Somatic Disorders

•Psychological difficulties that take on aphysical (somatic) form, but for which thereis no medical cause

•Prevalence

▫≈ 5-7% of adults in US

▫Generally, affect women more than men

Somatic Disorders

•Somatic Symptom Disorder

•Illness Anxiety Disorder

▫A disorder in which people have a constant fear ofillness and a preoccupation with their health

•Conversion Disorder

▫An actual physical disturbance without a physicalcause

Dissociative Disorders

•Psychological dysfunctions characterized bythe separation of different facets of a person’spersonality that are normally integrated

•Prevalence

▫≈ 1.8% of US adults

▫Nearly equal rates in men and women

Dissociative Disorders

•Dissociative Identity Disorder

▫A person displays characteristics of 2 or more distinctpersonalities

▫Also known as Multiple Personality Disorder

•Dissociative Amnesia

▫A significant, selective memory loss occurs

•Dissociative Fugue (a specifier of DissociativeAmnesia)

▫A person leaves home suddenly and assumes a newidentity