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Introduction to Psychology Disorders-Lecture Notes-Psychology, Study notes of Psychology

Disorders are of multiple types, Anxiety Disorder, Mood Disorder, Schizophrenia, Other Disorders. Culture-General Issues, Demonology, Medical Model, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Learning perspective, Suicide,

Typology: Study notes

2010/2011

Uploaded on 12/05/2011

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Download Introduction to Psychology Disorders-Lecture Notes-Psychology and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity!

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Lecture Overview

  • Issues in Identifying Psychological

Disorders

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Mood Disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • Other Disorders

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Abnormal Behavior

  • Behavior is abnormal with regard to
    • Statistical infrequency: how does the frequency of the behavior compare to others in the culture?
    • Disability or dysfunction: behavior is abnormal it interferes with daily life
    • Personal distress: Is the person unhappy about their behavior?
    • Violation of norms: A behavior is abnormal if it differs from social norms

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Statistical Issues in

Abnormality

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Culture-Bound Disorders

  • An issue is the extent to which mental disorders are similar across cultures
  • In some instances, there are culture-specific disorders
  • Examples include:
    • Running Amok: syndrome evident in Thai culture in which a person becomes wildly aggressive, thereby injuring others
    • Brain Fog: syndrome evident in West Africa in which schooling produces excessive mental and physical tiredness

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Culture-General Issues

  • Other issues are found across cultures:
    • Nervous Weak all over
    • Feel apart, alone Worry all the time
    • Trouble sleeping Personal worries
    • Can’t get along Low spirits
    • Can’t do anything Restless
    • Nothing turns out right Hot all over

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Explanations of Abnormality

  • Demonology assumes that evil spirits reside within a person - Trephining: open the skull to let the spirit out
  • Medical Model assumes that abnormal behaviors reflect mental or physical illness - Treatment of abnormality would take place in a hospital setting (e.g. mental hospital) - Treatments would be administered by a physician (psychiatrist) - Medical model looks for symptoms and signs of disorder; leads to development of a classification system (DSM system) - Treatments often involve drugs

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Diagnoses

  • Mental illness, like physical illness, will

have different causes, have different

symptoms, and should lead to different

treatments

  • The medical model requires a diagnostic

system to sort symptoms, so as to arrive

at a differential diagnosis

  • Psychiatry has devised the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Anxiety Disorders

  • Symptoms of anxiety include rapid

breathing, dry mouth, and increased heart

rate

  • Anxiety disorders include:
    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder refers to long- lasting anxiety that is not focused on an object or situation (unspecific or free-floating)
    • Panic Disorder refers to brief but intense bouts of anxiety

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Anxiety Disorders

  • Phobias are strong irrational fears of objects or of situations - Specific phobias are tied to objects (knives) - Social phobias are tied to situations (stage fright)
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by diffuse anxiety related to recurring thoughts and images (obsessions). - Compulsions are impulses to exert some action (e.g. hand-washing)

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Causes of Anxiety Disorders

  • Learning perspective argues that phobias

are the result of learning/conditioning

  • Classical conditioning
    • Specific objects are paired with a frightening event
    • The object can then elicit fear
    • Phobias endure because the person avoids the feared stimulus and thus cannot extinguish the fear
  • Operant conditioning: the person reduces their anxiety by avoiding the feared object
  • Social learning (observation and modeling)

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Phobia Conditioning

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Anxiety Disorders

  • Biological perspectives on anxiety

disorders:

  • Evolutionary argument that we are predisposed to fear what our ancestors feared
  • Altered biochemistry in brain contributes to anxiety disorder
  • Cognitive processes: focus is on distortions of thinking
  • Sociocultural processes: fast-paced life, decreased job security

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Schizophrenia Symptoms

  • Emotional Disturbance
    • Emotional affect in schizophrenia can be enhanced or flattened (no affect)
  • Behavioral Disturbance
    • Unusual actions that have meaning to the person - Shaking their head to clear out bad thoughts…
    • Catalepsy refers to an immobile stance that can be held for hours (like a statue)
    • Refusal to communicate with others

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Classification of Schizophrenia

  • Positive symptoms involve distorted or excessive mental activity - Delusions, hallucinations,altered emotions, erratic behaviors - Positive symptoms occur during acute episodes
  • Negative symptoms involve behavioral and mental deficits - Flattened emotions, social withdrawal - Negative symptoms are chronic (long-term) and may not respond well to drug treatment

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Biological Views of Schizophrenia

  • Genetics: identical twins are more similar in regard to schizophrenia than are fraternal twins (43 to 83 % concordance) - Much higher than siblings (9% concordance)
  • Neurotransmitters: Dopamine activity is excessive in the schizophrenic brain - Drugs that relieve schizophrenia block dopamine receptors
  • Brain damage: enlarged ventricles are evident in schizophrenia

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Heritability of Schizophrenia

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Schizophrenia Issues

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Dissociative Disorders

  • In dissociative disorders, critical elements

of personality split apart from significant

aspects of experience, memory or

consciousness.

  • Dissociative amnesia: failing to recall or identify past experiences
  • Dissociative fugue: leaving home and wandering off
  • Dissociative identity disorder: developing separate personalities

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

Personality Disorders

  • Personality disorders involve inflexible,

maladaptive personality traits.

  • Antisocial personality disorder:

egocentrism, lack of guilt, impulsivity, and

superficial charm

  • Borderline personality disorder: impulsivity

and instability in mood, relationships and

self-image.