Transcript Chapter 18 Psychological Disorders

Chapter 18
Psychological Disorders
Section 1
What Are Psychological Disorders?
Pages 410-415
Section 1 Objective
• Explain the basis for classifying psychological
disorders.
Psychological Disorders
• Psychological disorders are behavior patterns
or mental processes that cause serious
personal suffering or interfere with a person’s
ability to cope with everyday life.
• Estimates suggest that almost one third of the
adults in the United States have experienced
some type of psychological disorder.
Identifying Psychological Disorders
• Deciding what behaviors, thoughts, or feelings
are “normal” or “abnormal” can be difficult.
• Normal is average for the majority of people.
Using this definition of normality, deviation from
the majority becomes the primary criteria for
abnormality.
• People with psychological disorders usually do
not differ much from “normal” people. The
primary difference is the simple exaggeration of
certain behaviors or mental processes.
Example
• Laughing is a healthy outlet for most people.
• Laughing all the time and especially in
inappropriate situations, might be considered
abnormal.
Symptoms of Psychological Disorders
• The word suggest is important here because
diagnosing an individual with a psychological
disorder is often difficult and diagnoses are not
always simple.
• Typicality-normality of a behavior or mental
process of often determined by the degree to
which it is average. The fact that a behavior is not
typical of most people does not mean it is
abnormal. Scientific and artistic geniuses, such as
Pablo Picasso, not typical of people in general-but
not abnormal.
Maladaptivity
• Behavior that impairs an individual’s ability to
function adequately in everyday life.
• Example would be behavior that causes
misery and distress rather than happiness and
fulfillment.
• Example: Alcohol abuse is a behavior. Alcohol
abuse often has strong negative effects on the
drinker’s health, work, and family life.
• Behavior which is hazardous to oneself or to
others may be considered maladaptive. This
could include threatening or attempting suicide
or attacking other people.
• Note: most people who commit violent crimes do
not have psychological disorders. Most criminals
are fully aware of what they are doing. They
know that their behavior is illegal and that they
can be held responsible for it.
• The majority of people with psychological
disorders are not violent or dangerous.
Emotional Discomfort
• Anxiety and depression cause most people
great emotional discomfort.
• Example: people who are depressed often
suffer feelings of helplessness, hopelessness,
worthlessness, guilt, and extreme sadness.
Many lose interest in virtually everything they
once enjoyed and believe that life is no longer
worth living. These feelings are so intense the
person may consider suicide.
Socially Unacceptable Behavior
• Behavior that is socially unacceptable may depend on the particular
society or culture in which it occurs. Normal behavior in one culture may
be considered abnormal in another. Cultural context has to be taken into
account when deciding on a psychological disorder.
• Culture-bound syndromes-clusters of symptoms that define or describe an
illness.
• Example: in the Middle Eastern cultures believe that certain inappropriate
behaviors, banging one’s head, due to possession of the body by a spirit.
In the U.S. the belief would likely be considered a sign of a serious
psychological disorder. Distinguishing between abnormal and normal, or
unacceptable and acceptable, behavior is influenced by cultural
expectations. Most people would find it distressing or suspicious if a
stranger stood “too close” to them. However, the appropriate distance
differs from culture to culture.
• Crying uncontrollably would be a normal reaction to the death of a loved
one; it would be an abnormal reaction to losing a pen.
History
• What a culture considers to be unacceptable
or abnormal behavior many change over time.
During much of the 1800s, for example, some
people thought that runaway slaves suffered
from a mental illness called drapetomania
(after the Greek words for “runaway” and
“madness”). Today the effort to escape the
bonds of slavery would be seen as heroic.
Examples
• Provide examples of behaviors that once were
considered socially unacceptable but are more
widely acceptable today.
• Why does a society’s views of acceptable and
unacceptable behavior may change over time.
Classifying Psychological Disorders
• Majority of psychologists believe its important
to have a classification of psychological
disorders so that individuals can be diagnosed
and treated correctly.
• The most used classification system for
psychological disorders is the DSM, or
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, published by the American
Psychiatric Association.
The differences between classifying disorders
according to their presumed causes and
classifying them according to their observable
signs and symptoms.
Analogy: Descriptive approach to the common cold
would be to list the symptoms-runny nose,
sneezing. An analysis of the cause of the common
cold would include references to cold-causing
viruses and how they affect the body.