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Psychological Disorders Chapter. Psychological Disorders. An Introduction. Psychological Disorder. A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, maladaptive and unjustifiable. What is abnormal, disturbing maladaptive and unjustifiable depends on:. Culture.
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Psychological Disorders An Introduction
Psychological Disorder • A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, maladaptive and unjustifiable. What is abnormal, disturbing maladaptive and unjustifiable depends on: • Culture • Time Period • Environmental Conditions • Individual Person
Maladaptive • An exaggeration of normal, acceptable behaviors • Destructive to oneself or others
Unjustifiable • A behavior which does not have a rational basis
Disturbing • A behavior which is troublesome to other people
Atypical • A behavior so different from other people’s behavior that it violates a norm • Norms vary from culture to culture
MUDA • A mnemonic device used to remember the four attributes of a psychological disorder • Maladaptive • Unjustifiable • Disturbing • Atypical
Early Theories • Afflicted people were possessed by evil spirits or sinners.
During the Middle Ages treatment methods were inhumane and cruel • Music or singing was often used to chase away spirits. • In some cases trephening was used: Cutting a hole in the head of the afflicted to let out the evil spirit.
Early Theories • Another theory was to make the body extremely uncomfortable.
History of Mental Disorders • In the 1800’s, disturbed people were no longer thought of as madmen, but as mentally ill. They were first put in hospitals. Did this mean better treatment?
Early Mental Hospitals • They were nothing more than barbaric prisons. • The patients were chained and locked away. • Some hospitals even charged admission for the public to see the “crazies”, just like a zoo.
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) • French physician who worked to reform the treatment of people with mental disorders • Encouraged more humane treatment
Philippe Pinel • Pinel said “take the chains off and declare that these people are sick” “a cure must be found!!!”
Somatogenic • At this time- it was believed that mental illness had a bodily cause- Somatogenic. General Paresis and Syphilis Example. But Somatogenic could not explain disorders such as hysteria (now called conversion disorder). Many disorders are psychogenic: the origin is psychological, not physical.
The Medical Model • Concept that mental illnesses have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured. • Psychological disorders can be diagnosed based on their symptoms and treated or cured through therapy. • Psychological disorders are similar to a physical illness.
Current Perspectives • Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective: assumes biological, psychological and sociocultural factors combine to interact causing psychological disorders. Used to be called Diathesis-Stress Model: diathesis meaning predisposition and stress meaning environment.
DSM-IV-TR • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition • The text of the DSM-IV was recently revised, hence “TR” at the end
DSM-IV-TR • Divides mental disorders into 17 major categories • Includes the symptoms but not the causes of each disease • Has changed significantly since the first edition
Labeling Stigmas • Studies show a clear bias against people diagnosed with mental disorders. Thomas Eagleton and George McGovern 1972
Anxiety Disorders a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety. the patient fears something awful willhappen to them.
Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders • Anxiety: Vague feeling of apprehension or nervousness • Anxiety disorder: where anxiety begins to take control and dominate a person’s life
What is anxiety? • is a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.
Types of Anxiety Disorders • Anxiety disorders are divided into: • Generalized Anxiety Disorder • Panic Disorder • Phobia • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder • An anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal. The patient is constantly tense and worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can’t concentrate and suffers from insomnia.
Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety • Must have at least three of the following: • Restlessness • Feeling on edge • Difficulty concentrating/mind going blank • Irritability • Muscle Tension • Sleep Disturbance
Panic Disorder • An anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations. Can cause secondary disorders, such as agoraphobia.
Panic Disorder • An anxiety disorder characterized by sudden bouts of intense, unexplained anxiety • Often associated with physical symptoms like choking sensations or shortness of breath • Panic attacks may happen several times a day
Phobias • A person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread.
Phobia • An anxiety disorder characterized by disruptive, irrational fears of specific objects or situations • The fear must be both irrational and disruptive.
Social Phobia • Phobias which produce fear in social situations • Fear of speaking in public
Agoraphobia • Fear of situations the person views as difficult to escape from • Fear of leaving one’s home or room in the house
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted, repetitive thoughts and actions • Obsessions – repetitive thoughts • Compulsions – repetitive actions • The obsessions/compulsions begin to take control of the person’s life.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder • An anxiety disorder characterized by reliving a severely upsetting event in unwanted recurring memories (flashbacks) and dreams
Explanations for Anxiety Disorders • You Learn them through conditioning. • Evolution • Genes • Physiology (the brain)
Biological Factors • Hereditary factors may result in a predisposition for developing anxiety disorders • Brain functions appear to be different in an anxiety disorder patient • Evolutionary factors may lead to anxiety disorders.
Learning Factors • Through classical conditioning people may associate fear with an object. • Observational learning--watching another experiencing fearfulness--may result in developing fear. • Fear of an object may be reinforced when by avoiding the feared objects.
