337 final Flashcards
Wakefield’s Harmful Dysfunction
- harmful: value based on social norms
- dysfunction: failure of an organ system to perform according to its evolutionary design
- the cause of symptoms must be mental to be a ‘mental disorder’
Skeptical view
- Thomas Szasz
- mental disorder is a label to justify medical intervention in a socially undesirable behaviour
- labels result in stigma and social control
- mental disorder should be an extension of physical and only be applicable to physical lesions
Pure Value Concept view
- mental and physical disorders are judgments of desirability
- disorder is a deviation from an ideal state
As Biological Disadvantage
- purely biological
- decreases survival and reproductive fitness
- must also include statistical deviance view
Lillienfeld critique
- questions what is natural function (the primary function of an organ system) and what is a by-product
Widiger proposal
- disorders are constructs that must be measured indirectly
- conceptualization will evolve as knowledge evolves
- multimodal: latent constructs are multiply determined and multiply expressed (a single etiology would be ideal, but is unlikely)
five factors necessary for a valid classification system
- Clinical description: common clustered signs and symptoms
- Course: similar trajectory
- Treatment response
- Family history: should run in families
- Laboratory studies: biological and psychophysiological associations
challenges of a categorical system
- Heterogeneity: people in one group should look similar to each other and different from people in a separate group (this isn’t always the case)
- Comorbidity: 50% of people with one disorder meet criteria for another; how do you know which problem to treat first? Will affect Tx, severity, and prognosis
DSM-I and DSM-II
- 1952 and 1968
- few categories with no requirement for number of symptoms
- based on psychoanalytic definitions
- a first attempt to standardize
DSM-III and DSM-III-TR
- 1980 and 1987
- based on a medical model
- empirical (not psychoanalytic, based on symptoms instead of etiology)
- based on a consensus of professionals to define inclusion/exclusion criteria and duration
- multi-axial classification
I: Major Clinical Disorders (the problem to treat)
II: Personality Disorders (not to treat, but could affect axis I)
III: Medical Conditions
IV: Psychosocial Stressors (context)
V: Global Assessment of Functioning (somewhat arbitrary)
DSM-IV
- 1994 and 2000
- introduced distress and impairment as factors
- gave a definition of mental illness
- polythetic approach: certain signs and symptoms are neither necessary or sufficient
DSM-5
- 2013
- removes multi-axial system
- some diagnoses get dimensional criteria
- new categories (OCD, PTSD is moved to Trauma)
what could comorbidities be due to
- chance (partly)
- sampling bias (more severe clinical populations)
- diagnostic criteria (overlap between diagnoses)
- multiformity (comorbid disorders represent a third independent disorder)
- causal (one disorder is a risk factor for another)
- shared etiology causes multiple disorders
which disorders are where in HiTOP
- SAD: internalizing - fear
- Agoraphobia: internalizing - fear
- Phobias: internalizing - fear
- Panic: internalizing - fear
- OCD: internalizing - fear
- MDD: internalizing - distress
- GAD: internalizing - distress
- PTSD: internalizing - distress
- Bipolar: internalizing - mania AND thought - mania (also closely related to psychosis)
1-year prevalences of disorders from most common to least
- MDD
- SAD (specific phobias may be 2nd most common)
- PTSD
- GAD
- Panic
- PDD
- OCD
lifetime prevalences of disorder categories from most to least common
- anxiety disorder
- mood disorder
- substance use disorders
- prevalence for any disorder is 46%
vulnerability-stress correlations
- demonstrate that diatheses and stress aren’t independent
- stress generation: people who are more vulnerable may behave in ways that increase their stress
- scars: having had one illness may change your view of the world which can exacerbate your stress
etiological heterogeneity
- there are many pathways to disorder
- captured by dimensional diathesis-stress models: low diathesis might still be capable of developing disorders at high enough levels of stress (not all-or-none like the original categorical diathesis-stress model)
differentiation between syndrome, disorder, disease
- syndrome: cluster of signs and symptoms that tend to co-occur, but pathology and etiology aren’t well-understood
- disorder: syndromes that cannot be explained by other conditions
- disease: most understood - both pathology and etiology
endophenotype approach vs. exophenotype approach
- endo: focus on identifying reliable biomarkers or lab indicators that are only present in the disordered population
- exo: focus on traditional signs and symptoms (DSM’s approach)
follow-up design
- start with people who are already ill and follow-up over time (prospective)
- studying the natural course of a disorder
high-risk design
- start with a sample likely to develop psychopathology and follow-up over time (prospective)
- temporal ordering
vulnerability marker
- should be present before, during, and after the illness
- if only after, could be a scar
- if it resolves with the illness, could be a subthreshold presentation
- should be over-represented in high-risk populations
case control design
compare group with disorder to group without disorder (useful for rare disorders)
cohort design
single large sample, some of whom have the disorder (to compare to many control groups, useful when the disorder is common)
family studies
- identify proband and assess their family members
- rates of illness should be higher than in the general population
- family tends to have subthreshold presentations (we inherit traits or predispositions, not disorders)
- coaggregation: disorders run in families in a nonspecific way (depression and anxiety coaggregate in familires)
- can suggest a genetic role but doesn’t prove it (move to adoption studies)
adoption studies
- parent as proband: find the kids they gave up for adoption to see if they’re ill
- adoptee as proband: compare their adopted/biological families to disentangle environment/genetic contributions
- cross-fostering: kids of parents without a disorder raised in families of people with disorders compare to kids of parents with disorders raised in families of people without disorders
twin studies
- gives an additive genetic component (A) that is roughly the difference between the Mz concordance and Dz concordance
- common environment: shared environment
- unique environment: nonshared environment
- heritability estimate is sample-specific and varies according to environment - tends to increase with age and is higher when there’s less environmental variance
endophenotypes
- intermediate between genotype and phenotype
- must correlate with illness in the population
- must not be state-dependent
- must be heritable (more in Mz than Dz)
- must see family similarities
- must be more present in families than in the general population
- must be specific to a particular illness (ideally)
- able to be measured
fear
response to a real/perceived threat (prep for action) that is current, response is immediate and not mediated by conscious thought)
panic
physiologically similar to fear but evoked without an identifiable or current threat
anxiety
future-oriented (feeling threatened by potential occurrences that have not yet happened)
epidemiology of specific phobias
- 2F:1M
- tends to have childhood onsets, but kids usually outgrow them (except for agoraphobia which onsets in 30s)
- high comorbidity with other anxiety disorders and depression
- prevalence is 12.5% for specific and 1.5% for agoraphobia
etiological models of specific phobias
- classical conditioning: averse learning experiences = acquired fears (doesn’t explain all cases)
- fears maintained through operant conditioning (avoidance is negatively reinforced and fear cannot be disconfirmed - two-factor model)
- evolutionary preparedness: evolved sensitivity to certain stimuli
- immunizing effect of prior experience (kids have very little experience with anything)
Klein’s theory of panic
- physiological sensations becomes the CS that was paired with a full-blown panic attack (the CR)
- leads to reinforcement through avoidance
epidemiology of panic disorder
- 2F:1M
- 4-5% lifetime prevalence
- onset is about 24 years and very abrupt (rare before adolescence and after middle age)
- heritability estimate about 30-40%
- very comorbid with other Axis I disorders (and personality disorders common too)
Clark’s theory of panic
- catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations = more arousal = vicious cycle (initial symptoms are usually internally-generated, but could be due to caffeine, cocaine, etc.)
anxiety sensitivity
- trait-like fear about sensations related to anxiety
- belief that if you keep having the panic symptoms, your health will eventually decline
- more likely to panic when you experience anxiety
behavioural signs of PD
- safety behaviours: maladaptive coping contributes to maintenance of PDP
- interoceptive avoidance: avoidance of internal symptoms that reproduce high arousal (caffeine, having sex, saunas)
- experiential avoidance: distraction from anxiety sx, thought suppression
temperament relation to panic
- neuroticism, negative affectivity
- fear of fear could lead to behaviours that exacerbate stress
- related to anxiety sensitivity
etiology ideas from reading about panic
- anxious attachment (unpredictable/unresponsive caregiver) = anxiety disorders
- respiratory disease is common (could be a diathesis)
- reduced amygdala volume
- increased HPA reactivity to environmental cues (difficulty differentiating between threat and safety cues)
treatment for PD
- CBT: panic control treatment uses cognitive aspects, conditioning, behavioural exposure (Clark’s model is more focused on cognitions)
- ACT useful if you use behavioural exposure
- exposure + relaxation + breathing training
- SSRIs most useful, benzos also effective (both have withdrawal effects that could prompt relapse)
epidemiology of GAD
- 2F:1M
- 5-6% (lifetime) or 3.1% (6-month)
- onset is around 30 years, but highly variable
- gradual onset
- very chronic (similar to personality disorders)
- high comorbidities (controversial diagnosis because of this - could just be conceptualized as negative affectivity that predisposes generally to psychopathology)
- trait anxiety runs in families, so does GAD
differentiation of GAD from MDD
- GAD: attentional biases toward threat
- MDD: more likely to have memory biases
- MDD: low positive affect (people with GAD can experience joy, but both have tendencies toward high negative affect)
- intolerance of uncertainty is the core feature of GAD
- MDD: precipitating event is humiliation vs. GAD: precipitating event is danger events
- MDD: emotion context insensitivity (ECI) - disengagement from the environment in lab stressors
- GAD: hyperresponsivity to threat and normal responses to positive stimuli in lab stressors
temporal course MDD and GAD
- extreme goal-focus in GAD = burnout = motivational disengagement in MDD
- uncertainty about future in GAD = certainty about negative future in MDD
- beliefs of helplessness in GAD = hopelessness in MDD
- Or MDD could be a stressor, so after recovery people worry to prevent another episode
cognitive avoidance
- rather than feel fear, worry about what to do about fear
Tom Borkovec GAD
- worry = cognitive avoidance about low-probability events
- when those events don’t occur, they believe their worry was effective, so they keep worrying to keep preventing the bad outcomes
- worry is a verbal/cognitive process that buffers form emotional arousal (no vivid imagery = cannot change fear structure)
- thought suppression = more intrusive worry = increases sense of lack of control = more worry
intolerance of uncertainty in GAD
- core feature of GAD
- tendency to react negatively to ambiguous situations (preferring a negative outcome to an uncertain one)
- causal role in exacerbation of worry
- information-processing bias (more recall of ambiguous situations and more likely to interpret them negatively)
metacognition view of GAD
- Type I worry: about daily events
- Type II worry: worry about worry
- belief that worry is a positive coping strategy, so they use it, but when they feel they can’t cope with a stressor = Type II worry = belief that worry is uncontrollable
mood-as-input view of GAD
- implementing an ‘as many as you can’ strategy to response generation + negative mood = more perseveration (so the cycle continues)
treatments for GAD
- CBT (most effective)
- relaxation training, psychoeducation, identifying triggers of worry, imaginal/in vivo exposure
- cognitive restructuring: targeting beliefs about worry, intolerance of uncertainty, negative problem-solving orientation, cognitive avoidance
- client preference for meds or behavioural Tx (CBT is better for long-term outcomes, but otherwise they’re similar)
- SSRIs, benzos, SNRIs, psychotropics to boost GABA, second-generation antipsychotics
epidemiology of SAD
- 2F:1M (gender differences emerge in adolescence)
- 12% prevalence (2nd most common anxiety disorder, 3rd most common overall)
- high comorbidity with anxiety and depression (high self-criticism) - SAD may act as a risk factor
- lower prevalence in East Asian countries and among Hispanic and non-white populations (could be due to measurement problems)
- onset age around 16 (social re-orientation and importance of peer judgment in adolescence)
- moderately heritable
Clark and Wells cognitive theory of SAD
- social situations activate negative beliefs about their social competency
- negative schemas interfere with their interpretation of the situation = see more danger and threat = more anxious = rejection is viewed as even more likely = more anxious
- internal self-focus during social interactions so they can’t focus on others’ judgments (which acts a safety/avoidance behaviour) and makes them less socially competent
- biased memory toward negative experiences which reinforces a negative self-schema
post-event processing in SAD
biased rumination that confirms negative beliefs
research paradigms SAD
- Stroop task: cannot disengage attention from social threat words
- dot-probe paradigm: attending preferentially to threat stimulus
- attentional biases could also be shifting away from threat (which can lead to missing positive cues from others)
biases in SAD
- judgment: self-critical, overestimate the likelihood of negative outcomes
- memory: especially when info is personally relevant, negative intrusive memories of social situations
- imagery: in third person = negative view of the self = more anxiety (contributes to maintenance)
risk factors in childhood for SAD
- parental anxiety
- insecure attachment = negative peer relations, interpersonal difficulties
- childhood maltreatment = negative, global, stable inferential style
- controlling/critical parenting
- accommodating parenting = behavioural inhibition is reinforced
CBT for SAD
- cognitive restructuring
- in vivo exposure
- Clark and Wells cognitive therapy: shifting attention externally, decreasing safety and avoidance behaviours
biological interventions for SAD
- SSRIs and SNRIs
- benzos (as-needed adjunct)
- MAOIs (last resort)
- atypical antipsychotics, anticonvulsants
obsessions
- intrusive and inappropriate (ego-dystonic)
- recognized to be your own thoughts (not thought-insertion)
- contamination, uncertainty, aggressive, symmetry/exactness, sexual (less common in kids), somatic
- never act on obsessions, but still cause distress
compulsions
- attempts to neutralize or suppress obsessions (to decrease anxiety)
- washing/cleaning, checking, repeating, mental (prayers, voluntary thoughts)
epidemiology of OCD
- 1.5% lifetime prevalence
- slightly more common in males in childhood, but slightly more common in females in adulthood
- age of onset is about 19 years
- usually with gradual onset (often childhood onset)
- very chronic (full remission is rare)
cognitive models of OCD
- while intrusive thoughts are very common, people with OCD consider them to be very upsetting + feel responsible and self-blame for any possible negative outcomes (which makes the thought more upsetting until they must perform the ritual to decrease anxiety)
- negative affectivity increases rates of intrusive thoughts
- deficits in STM: constantly re-checking because they can’t remember if they’ve already checked
- poor reality testing: difficulty distinguishing between real and imagined events (convinced that thoughts are true)
intolerance of uncertainty in OCD
- believe they lack sufficient coping mechanisms or problem-solving skills to deal with threats
- compulsions are an attempt to increase certainty about outcomes
moral TAF
belief that unwanted disturbing thoughts are just as bad as the actions themselves
likelihood TAF
belief that having a thought will increase the chance that the outcome will occur (which makes disturbing thoughts even more upsetting)
neutralizing obsessional thoughts study
- attempts to undo or prevent thoughts (checking, crossing out, lighting on fire)
- neutralizing immediately = decrease in anxiety and decrease in desire to neutralizing
- delayed neutralizing = desire to neutralize remains, but anxiety decreases naturally
- neutralizing isn’t just driven by anxiety, but by a sense of responsibility
disgust proneness
- especially associated with contamination subtype, but also hoarding, ordering, other specific phobias
- runs in families, also has a learning component (vicarious)
- OCD more likely to believe there’s a danger of contamination (false alarm)
- difficult to extinguish the aversive conditioning, so can be difficult to treat
cognitive-behavioural models of OCD
- maladaptive beliefs (inflated responsibility, need to control thoughts, intolerance of uncertainty)
- intrusive thoughts appraised as significant
- operant conditioning helps maintain the disorder
treatment for OCD
- exposure and response prevention shows 50-70% improvement
- in vivo/imaginal exposure to provoke anxiety, but let anxiety subside naturally and don’t engage in rituals (helps to facilitate extinction)
- within-session habituation (anxiety decreases within one session) and between-session habituation (anxiety is initially lower with every session)
- inhibitory learning: new safety associations are being created
- SSRIs, tricyclics show 20-40% reductions (convenient but modest)
epidemiology of PTSD
- 2F:1M (but rates of trauma are equivalent across genders)
- 7-8% prevalence (but rates of trauma are 50-60%)
- highest risk of PTSD is associated with assault and violence (but still PTSD only develops in 50% of people)
- rates vary culturally (may be due to time of measurement effects), predominant/distressing symptoms vary culturally
predictors of PTSD
- gender
- familial psychopathology
- history of psychopathology
- internalizing sx in childhood (negative affectivity)
- childhood or previous traumas
- lower IQ
- nature of trauma (proximity, duration, risk to life, intention, psychological factors during the experience, *dissociation most important)
- level of social support following trauma (but PTSD tends to erode social networks)
results of the co-twin PTSD study
- similar abnormalities in ExP+ and UxP+ that aren’t present in the other pair of twins which suggests the vulnerability factor hypothesis
- slight differences between ExP+ and UxP+ suggest the worsening course hypothesis
- symptom severity was correlated with hippocampal volume in the same person and in their co-twin
hypotheses about hippocampal volumes in PTSD
(1) scar hypothesis: caused by trauma
(2) risk factor for trauma exposure (selecting dangerous environments)
(3) vulnerability factor for developing PTSD following a trauma (SUPPORTED, only found in ExP+ and UxP+)
(4) consequence of exposure to trauma (NOT SUPPORTED, if only in Exp+ and Exp-)
(5) manifestation/sign of PTSD (if only in Exp+)
(6) product of a sequel or complication of PTSD (worsening course - SUPPORTED, predicting one twin’s PTSD severity from the co-twin’s volume)
dual-representation theory of PTSD
- autobiographical memories (verbally-accessible VAM): info consciously attended-to before, during, after trauma
- situationally-accessible memories (SAM): unconsious information not easily accessed
social-cognitive theory of PTSD
- trauma can modify important beliefs about personal invulnerability, the world as a meaningful and predictable place, and the self as positive/worthy
- can affect agency, safety, trust, power/control, esteem, intimacy
- individuals will engage in (1) assimilation, alter interpretation of event, (2) accommodation, alter original belief slightly, or (3) overaccommodation, alter belief drastically
conservation of resources theory
- traumatic stress occurs when most important resources are threatened (well-being, sense of trust)
treatment of PTSD
- CBT is best, includes prolonged exposure (PE) to habituate to anxety and block negative reinforcement from avoidance
- cognitive processing therapy (CPT) targets unhelpful thoughts without a behavioural component
- stress-inoculation therapy (SIT) and present-centered therapy (PCT) focus on non-trauma
- biological: SSRI, SNRI, antiadrenergics, mood stabilizers, anticonvulsants (benzos aren’t effective)
- 40-80% remission with large drop out rates (avoidance)
epidemiology of MDD vs. bipolar
- MDD: 2F: 1M
- bipolar: F=M
- MDD 10-20x more common than bipolar
- bipolar has earlier onset, more episodes, poorer outcomes
Watson & Clark tripartite model
- to explain overlap between MDD and anxiety disorders
- depression-specific: anhedonia (few people with anxiety show this sx)
- anxiety-specific: physiological hyperarousal (may be better applied to panic/phobias)
- overlap: general distress/negative affectivity
- cannot explain all cases (SAD)
epidemiology of depression
- 2F:1M
- MDD lifetime prevalence is 16-17%
- PDD lifetime prevalence is 3-6%
- rates tend to be lower in East Asian countries
- PDD rates are higher in industrialized countries
- presentation varies culturally: somatic complaints in Asian, Latin American, North African countries
MDD course
- onset teens/mid-20s (can be preceded by low grade chronic depression)
- episodes last 5-6 months on average
- 20% of episodes are longer than 2 years
- 50% of people who have one episode will have at least another
- most people relapse (average of 5-6 episodes over lifetime)
PDD course
- very chronic
- high likelihood of remission with relapse
- common to have PDD with intermittent episodes of MDD
family studies of MDD and bipolar
- proband with MDD = family more likely to have MDD, not bipolar
- proband with bipolar = family more likely to have bipolar and MDD
- some disorders run more cleanly in families, there is some overlap
McGuffin twin study design and conclusions
- Mz and Dz index twins with bipolar or MDD, then find their co-twins to see if they have mood disorders, MDD, or bipolar
- Bipolar appears more heritable (suggests 70% heritability)
- suggests 96% heritability of mood disorders in general (mood disorders have a genetic component)
- suggests 52% heritability of MDD
Kendler twin study
- higher heritability estimates in female twins for depression which suggests more genetic factors in girls
Parker’s parental bonding instrument
- Dimension 1: care, nurturance
- dimension 2: overprotection, control
- low care frequently reported, overprotection less so
- interaction between low care and high overprotection is especially important
behavioural models of depression
- behavioural inhibition (cause) = receive less positive reinforcement from the environment = even less likely to engage in those behaviours (avoidance - negative reinforcement)
- interpersonal deficits can also decrease the amount of positive reifnrocement
- anhedonia = amotivation = avoidance because lack of energy and activities aren’t rewarding anyway
- cognitive factors: low self-esteem = high negative affect = high self-criticism = bad social performance (which confirms belief of low self-esteem)
Beck’s cognitive triad
- negative views about self = negative views about the world = negative views about the future (these schemas act as a diathesis, filter information)
- schemas contribute to negative automatic thoughts containing cognitive distortions
cognitive distortions
- all-or-nothing
- arbitrary inference (drawing negative conclusions without evidence)
- overgeneralization
- selective abstraction (not seeing the whole picture)
- magnification/minimization
- personalization (bad things happen because of you)
- emotional reasoning (something is true because of the strength of the emotion)
Seligman’s learned helplessness
- learn early on that our behaviour is useless to change a situation, so we should stop expending effort to try (doesn’t explain why depressed people feel guilty for bad things happening)
- revision: we make internal, global, stable attributions when we feel like we lack control over a situation
self-referent encoding task (SRET)
- lab study for memory biases seen in depression (preferential recall for negative words that they endorsed as describing them)
- we don’t see these memory biases in people with anxiety
- sometimes also seen in at-risk populations
attentional biases in depression
- faster at finding threat in a safe environment and slower at finding safety cues in a threatening environment
- stroop task: difficulty disengaging from threatening or sad words
- dot-probe task
- dischotic listening: difficulty inhibiting distractor information when it’s related to loss, sadness, threat
- less evidence for attentional than more memory biases
integrated view of depression
- diathesis can be biological (genetic, neurochemical (monoamines), endocrine (stress response), immunology (inflammation response), neural connectivity)
- can be behavioural (avoidance)
- can be cognitive (distortions, schemas)
- can be emotional (reactivity, regulation)
treatment of depression
- behavioural: decreasing unpleasant and increasing pleasant events (behavioural activation)
- CBT: identify and challenge automatic thoughts, cognitive errors, negative core beliefs
- interpersonal therapy: identifying and correcting lapses in interpersonal functioning
- somatic: ECT, transcranial stimulation, deep brain stimulation, MAOIs, TCAs, SSRIs, SNRIs
- PDD especially can benefit from continued pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy
psychotic symptoms in bipolar
- mood congruent (delusions of grandeur for mania, guilt and sin for depression)
- mood incongruent (thought insertion/mind control for mania, anything happy for depression)
- psychotics sx should only occur during the episode to still be considered bipolar, otherwise it’s schizoaffective
epidemiology of bipolar
- lifetime prevalence is 2-4%, stable worldwide
- cyclothymia prevalence is 4-5%
- 5-10% with depression will convert to bipolar
- episodes last about 2 months (but duration can decrease with tx)
- poor prognosis if mixed states or rapid cycling
- relapse rate: 7-9 times over lifetime
treatment for bipolar and MDD
- bipolar: lithium as mood stabilizer with anticonvulsants (has a lot of noncompliance)
- MDD: antidepressants (which can trigger mania in bipolar)
goal-attainment etiological model
- stress in prior 6 months predictive of onset and relapse
- goal-attainment events can also trigger mania: get really happy = get dysregulated = no productive bx = downward spiral
- elevated reward sensitivity (NAcc activation, more reactive to successes - predictor of severe course)
kindling etiological model
- need a high-level stressor to provoke the first episode = brain changes to be more vulnerable = need less stress for the next episode until no stress is required to provoke mania
biological factors in bipolar
- high norepinephrine in mania, low in depressive
- decreased sensitivity of serotonin system = increase variability in dopamine system
- high glutamate levels in PFC
neural circuits in bipolar
- hyperactive amygdala in mania
- decreased connectivity between amygdala and PFC
- lower PFC activation (inability to inhibit emotions, abnormal control of limbic structures)
- impairments in emotional control circuits
- hyperactive BG and striatal activation
social rhythm stability hypothesis
- inability to maintain daily rhythms, increased variability in circadian rhythms
- fluctuations in sleep quality can trigger negative moods
- bright light can trigger mania (disrupting circadian rhythms)
stressor
- external demand that presents a challenge to homeostasis/ability to maintain equilibrium
- can be negative or positive, real or perceived
stress
- how the organism reacts physiologically/psychologically to the stressor
- necessarily and sufficiently an interaction between the organism and its environment
SAM system
- sympathetic adrenomedullary system
- hypothalamus signals = medulla secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline = fight-or-flight = peripheral excitation
- immediate response
HPA axis
- hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
- hypothalamus release corticotropin releasing hormone/factor = pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone = adrenal cortex releases glucocorticoids = fight-or-flight (inhibit immune system)
allostatic load
the amount of strain the stress system is under
hippocampus
- memory, stress regulation
- strong reciprocal connections with the hypothalamus and many cortisol receptors
- acute stress decreases hippocampal activation
- chronic stress decreases hippocampal volumes (cell death, fewer connections)
- altered function of the hippocampus = cortisol hypersecretion (cannot dampen the cortisol response like it should)
PFC
- slow to develop, so it’s easier to inflict damage on it (vulnerable to effects of stress)
- repeated stress = dendritic shortening
- severe child abuse = decreased PFC volume (cell death, reduced connections)
5 patterns associated with ELS
- common
- increases risk of lifetime mental disorder
- nonspecific risk factor
- increases risk of psychopathology throughout life
- explains 30% of disorder onsets
- can disrupt brain development (maternal cortisol)
- can lead to persistent dysregulation of stress response systems
fetal programming
- maternal stress passed to fetus via glucocorticoids (placenta), so infants develop hypersensitive stress response systems (increased baseline and reactive cortisol)
factors that can buffer against stress
- men doing the TSST with their female partner (doesn’t work for women unless the male partner is making physical contact)
- pet ownership, doing the TSST with a dog
- physical exercise can protect against hippocampal degeneration, can improve mood immediately
- present-focused breath
sleep deprivation effects on stress systems
- increases allostatic load (increases blood pressure, and night cortisol)
- can affect hippocampal volumes, alter mood and cognitive control
- bad sleep hygiene can decrease sleep quality and duration
reactivity hypothesis
- larger heart rate responses and greater cortisol reactivity = future adverse health risks
- also hyporesponsiveness of cortisol associated with adverse outcomes
- stress-related circadian dysregulation (flatter diurnal cortisol slope)
specificity models of ELS
- effects of ELS differ depending on type of stress
- doesn’t account for co-occurring ELS
cumulative-risk models of ELS
- doesn’t account for type, severity, chronicity
dimensional models
- experience-driven plasticity has specific influences on learning and neurodevelopment through synaptic pruning and myelination
- threat/harshness, deprivation, unpredictability
- measuring degrees of experiences in early life and making predictions about affective, cognitive, neural development that are similarly/differentially affected by these experiences
suicide attempt
nonfatal self-directed potentially injurious behaviour with an intent to die
suicidal ideation
- thinking about, considering, planning suicide
- can be defined very broadly or specifically, not always conceptualized the same way which makes it hard to study
NSSI vs. suicide attempts
- both highly correlated, also with depression and suicidal ideation
- NSSI more prevalent and frequent, different methods, less severe, performs different functions
NSSI functions
- to relieve negative emotions/regulate affect
- not with intent to die
- interpersonal: autonomy (sense of independence), interpersonal boundaries (who I am vs. others) or influence (trend), peer bonding, revenge (rarely endorsed), sensation seeking, toughness
- intrapersonal (frequently endorsed): affect regulation, anti-dissociation, anti-suicide, marking distress, self-punishment
why is suicide difficult to study
- stigma
- low base-rate phenomenon
- cannot be studied retrospectively, so must be studied longitudinally which requires very large samples
- studying proxies for suicide because we can’t study suicide as an outcome which may not be representative
- ethically researchers must intervene if an attempt is imminent
- etiologically complex (difficult to get a good holistic picture)
- not much replication work
epidemiology of suicidal behaviour
- high-income countries have higher rates of suicide
- men are 3x more likely to die from suicide (disparity even larger in high-income countries)
- women make more attempts than men, deaths by suicide are increasing for women
- sex and age patterns differ according to economic status of country and time
- death by suicide is more common in kids and younger adults
- sexual and gender minorities have higher rates
- white and First Nations have highest rates
- young children have much lower rates of suicide, except Black youth who have higher rates of death by suicide
which disorders are more associated with suicidal behaviour in types of countried
- developed: PTSD, bipolar, MDD
- developing: PTSD, conduct, SUDs
psychosocial predictors of suicidal ideation and attempts
- depression, hopelessness, impulsivity
- impulsivity hastens transition from through to action
Edwin & Shneidman’s theory of suicide
- psychache (emotional pain) is the primary motivator (threshold has been surpassed)
Roy Baumeister’s theory of suicide
- motivated by a need to reduce aversive self-awareness
Thomas Joiner interpersonal theory of suicide
- perceived burdensomeness and low belongingness as motivators & hopelessness about both these things create desire for suicide
- capability to act on suicide desire requires overcoming fears of death and pain
superordinate dimensions of suicide motivators
- internal self-oriented: hopelessness, psychache, need to escape, etc. (associated with greater intent to die and more preparation)
- communication other-oriented: desire to seek help, communicate, etc. (associated with lower suicidal intent because they represent a continued connection to people and desire to maintain connection)
therapies and prevention for suicide
- dialectical behaviour therapy (for BPD)
- cognitive therapy for suicide prevention (CT-SP) based on Beck’s theory
- collaborative assessment and management of suicide risk (CAMS)
- prevention: reduce access to means, school-based interventions,
ideation-to-action framework
- risk factors can predict ideation, but not attempts (difficult to study how one progresses from thought to action)
- Joiner’s interpersonal theory
- integrated motivational-volitional theory (O’Connor)
- mental disorders (depression), impulsivity, hopelessness are predictors of ideation
- specific disorders (PTSD), poor premeditation, access to lethal means are predictors of attempts
integrated motivational-volitional theory of suicide (O’Connor)
- defeat and entrapment are predictors of suicide desire
- acquired capability, access to lethal means, planning, impulsivity explain the progression to action
3-step theory of suicide
- first step: psychological pain (one’s existence is being punished with pain) and hopelessness about the future
- pain can be isolation, high burdensomeness and low belonging, defeat and entrapment, etc.
- second step: pain exceeds connectedness (to other people, a sense of purpose, an interest, etc.) and then ideation will escalate
- third step: ideation progresses to attempt through capacity (fear of death is difficult to overcome)
- capacity can be dispositional (lower pain sensitivity) or acquired (habituation to pain, injury, death), or practical (knowledge or and access to lethal means
suicide
death resulting from intentional self-injurious behaviour, associated with an intent to die as a result of the behaviour
interrupted attempt
takes steps toward making a suicide attempt but is stopped by another person prior to any injury or potential injury