1. Abnormal Psychology

4. Defining Abnormal Behavior • What is abnormal behavior? • statistical infrequency • e.g. mental retardation • personal distress • e. g. depression • violation of social norms • e.g., alcoholism • Abnormal behavior is behavior that causes: • significant impairment in social or occupational functioning • Significant distress in self or others

5. Causes of Abnormal Behavior • Biological factors • e.g., neurotransmitters • Psychological factors • e.g. traumatic stressors • Sociocultural factors • e.g. “downward” social drift • An interactive approach: Biopsychosocial

6. Classifying Abnormal Behavior • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) • Multiaxial system • I: Primary classification • II: Personality disorders • III: General medical conditions • IV: Psychosocial stressors • V: Current level of functioning

7. Categories of Mental Disorders • Anxiety disorders • Psychological disorders that include the following main features: • Excessive fear (out of proportion to the feared stimulus) • Phsical symptoms (e.g. racing heart, sweatiness) • Apprehensive expectations and thoughts

8. Anxiety Disorders • Generalized anxiety disorder • Consists of persistent anxiety for at least a month • Individual is unable to specify the reasons for the anxiety • Panic disorder • Panic attacks coupled with at least one month of worry about having another panic attack

9. Anxiety Disorders • Agoraphobia • Individuals often lead very restricted lives- not leaving the house at all. • characterized by an intense fear of: • Having a panic attack and being humiliated or unable to find help

10. Anxiety Disorders • Phobic disorder • Individual has irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation • Social phobia • Intense fear of being humiliated or embarrassed in social situations

11. Anxiety Disorders • Obsessive-compulsive disorder • Individual has recurrent unwanted thoughts that will not go away (obsession) and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors (compulsion) • Common themes are contamination or doubting

12. Anxiety Disorders • Post-traumatic stress disorder • Develops through exposure to an extremely traumatic event • Anxiety symptoms may immediately follow the trauma or be delayed for many years

13. Dissociative Disorders • Dissociative disorders • Involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity • Dissociative amnesia • Memory loss caused by extensive psychological stress

14. Dissociative Disorders • Dissociative fugue • Individual not only develops amnesia, but also unexpectedly travels away from home and assumes a new identity • Dissociative identity disorder • Formerly called multiple personality disorder • Individuals have two or more distinct personalities or selves

15. Mood Disorders • Major depressive disorder • Individual experiences depressed characteristics for at least two weeks • Symptoms are: • Cognitive • Emotional • somatic • Dysthymic disorder • More chronic than major depressive disorders and has fewer symptoms.

16. Mood Disorders • Bipolar disorder • A mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings that include one or more episodes of mania • Euphoria • Excitability and hyperactivity • Person may experience depression and mania

17. Causes of Mood Disorders • Biological causes • Heredity and brain processes • Psychological causes • Learned helplessness • occurs when individuals are exposed to aversive stimulation, such as prolonged stress or pain, over which they have no control

18. Schizophrenia • Schizophrenia • A severe psychological disorder characterized by: • Disturbances in affect • e.g. flat or inappropriate • Disturbances in speech and behavior • e.g. formal thought disorder • Distortions in cognition • e.g., delusions and hallucinations

19. Types of Schizophrenia • Disorganized schizophrenia • Individual has delusions and hallucinations that have little or no recognizable meaning • Catatonic schizophrenia • Most prominent characteristic is disturbances in motor behavior • e.g. catatonic rigidity

20. Types of Schizophrenia • Paranoid schizophrenia • Characterized by delusions of reference, grandeur, and persecution • Undifferentiated schizophrenia • Characterized by disorganized behavior, hallucinations, delusions, and incoherence

21. Causes of Schizophrenia • Biological factors • Heredity and neurobiological factors • The dopamine hypothesis • Psychosocial factors • Diathesis-stress view • A combination of biogenetic disposition and stress causes schizophrenia

22. Personality Disorders • Personality disorders • Chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are thoroughly integrated into the individual’s personality

23. Odd/Eccentric Cluster • Paranoid • Schizoid • Schizotypal

24. Dramatic/Emotionally Problematic Cluster • Histrionic • Narcissistic • Antisocial • Borderline

25. Chronic Fearfulness/Avoidant Cluster • Avoidant • Dependent • Obsessive-compulsive • Passive-aggressive