Transcript Psychological Disorders

Psychological Disorders
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
What Are Psychological
Disorders?
SECTION 1
Quick Definitions
 Psychological Disorders: patterns of thoughts or
behaviors that interfere with lives or cause suffering
 Culture-Bound Syndromes: what we consider a
disorder may actually be considered normal in other
areas
Did You Know?
 One-third of adults in the United States have
experienced some type of psychological disorder!
Symptoms
Typicality—is the behavior average of the rest of
society?
2. Maladaptive Behavior—determines whether the
behavior is harmful to self or others
3. Emotional Discomfort—if a person suffers from
extreme or long-lasting feelings of hopelessness or
helplessness
4. Socially Unacceptable Behaviors—actions that
violate society’s norms
1.
Classifying Psychological Disorders
 It’s important to have a system for classifying
disorders for diagnosis and treatment.
 Disorders were first classified based on their
presumed causes.
 Today, psychologists use the DSM-IV to classify
disorders.
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DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-V should be released in 2012)
Dissociative Disorders
SECTION 3
Background Information
 Dissociation refers to the separation of personality
components or mental processes from conscious
thought
 The most common form of “normal”
dissociation is daydreaming
 Dissociation removes stress or lessens
anxiety
 There are four disorders we’re going to discuss.
Dissociative Amnesia
 Characteristic: a sudden loss of memory
 May last a few hours or several years
 Often disappears after a traumatic experience and
returns with little notice
 Usually doesn’t recurs
 Just like in the soap operas!
Dissociative Fugue
 Characteristics
 forget information and events
 Relocate
 Develop a new identity
 Most common during wars and natural disasters
Dissociative Identity Disorder
 Also known as Multiple Personality Disorder
 Characteristic: two or more personalities exist in one
person
 Each personality is different from each other
 A history of severe child abuse is common with most
DID patients (physical, sexual, or psychological)
Depersonalization Disorder
 Characteristic: detachment from one’s mental
processes and/or body
Explaining this Disorder
 Psychoanalytic Psychologists
 A response to inappropriate urges
 Learning Psychologists
 People have been taught not to think about disturbing events
 Most believe there is no link between dissociation
and genetics
Somatoform Disorders
SECTION 4
Introduction
 Definition: the expression of
psychological distress through
physical symptoms
 This disorder is NOT intentional
 Some diagnosed cases are
reversed because a medical
illness is found!
 Some cases go unreported
because the focus is on medical
tests.
Conversion Disorder
 Description: experience a change in or loss of
physical functioning in a major part of the body with
no medical reason
 Example: when a person cannot move his/her legs or
see at night
 Some people are unconcerned about these
symptoms!
Hypocondriasis
 Also known as hypochondria
 Description: a person’s
unrealistic preoccupation with
the fear he/she has a serious
disease
 Example: when a person is sure
a belly ache is actually stomach
cancer
 Some people will see several
doctors until one gives them
any form of treatment!
Explanation
 A person converts psychological stress into actual
medical problems
 Example: a pilot afraid to fly since September 11th
may develop problems with his/her vision
Mood Disorders
SECTION 5
Introduction
 Mood changes refers to being “up” or “down”
depending on life experiences
 Becomes a disorder when changes are inappropriate
or inconsistent
SAD
HAPPY
Major Depression
 Another one of the most
common disorders
 Effects over 100 million
people worldwide
 A person must have five
of the nine symptoms
which must occur every
day for two weeks
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Depressed mood
Loss of interest in
activities
Weight loss or gain
Sleeping more or less
Faster/slower reactions—
physically and emotionally
Loss of energy
Feeling worthless or guilty
Unable to concentrate or
make decisions
Thoughts of death or
suicide
Bipolar Disorder
 Also known as manic
depression
 Characterized by
dramatic ups and downs;
changes quickly for no
reason at all
 The depressive
characteristics are the
same as major
depression
 There are five
characteristics of the
manic stage
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Inflated self-esteem
Inability to sit still or sleep
Racing thoughts
Pressure to talk to switch
topics
Difficulty concentrating
Explanation
 Psychological Views
 Learned helplessness
 It is simply a person’s habit
 Biological Views
 Heredity
 A chemical imbalance; due to
low levels of serotonin
Schizophrenia
SECTION 6
Introduction
 Most serious disorder
 Very rare; .5% - 1% suffer from this disorder
 Characterized by a loss of contact with reality
 Can develop gradually or very quickly
 Worsens over time
 Very difficult to treat
 20% with schizophrenia will attempt suicide; 10% of
the attempts are successful
Symptoms
 Hear Voices
 Hallucinations: see things that aren’t there
 Can be visual or auditory
 Delusions: believe things to be true that aren’t; often
believe they can do things they can’t and that they’re
better than they are
 Thought Disorders
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Organization: skip around
Content: repetition
 Social Withdrawal
 Catatonic Stupor: an immobile, expressionless,
coma-like state
Explanation
 Genetics
 Injury or trauma at birth
 Birth during a winter month
 A viral infection during infancy
 A brain defect
Personality Disorders
SECTION 7
Description
 Patterns of inflexible
traits that disrupt social
life or work and/or
distress the affected
individual; are major
components of a person’s
personality
 Effects up to 10% of the
population
Prevalence in
American Adults
Affected
Unaffected
Types of Disorders
 Paranoid: distrustful and suspicious of others, see
others as harmful and evil, threatening and insulting
 Schizoid: no interest in relationships with others,
lack normal emotional responses
 Antisocial: show disregard for others and violate the
rights of others with no guilt or remorse
More Types of Disorders
 Avoidant: want relationships, but are afraid; act shy
and withdrawn
 Borderline: have unstable relationships and an
unstable self-image
 Dependent: clingy and submissive
 Histrionic: excessively emotional; always need
attention
Explanation
 Not clearly explained until the 1980s
 Were rejected by adults as children, severely
punished
 Reinforced negative behaviors
 genetics