Abnormal Psychology

Question 1

Abnormal Behavior

Answer 1

• Behavior that is deviant, maladaptive, or personally distressful over a relatively long period of time
  
  • Deviant: unusual, or different from the norm
  • Maladaptive: interferes with the ability to function effectively within the world
  • Personally distressful: the behavior is troublesome over a long period of time

Question 2

Biological Approach

Answer 2

• Organic, internal causes (brain, genetics, neurotransmitters)

Question 3

Psychological Approach

Answer 3

• Experiences, thoughts, emotions, personality characteristics

Question 4

Sociocultural Approach

Answer 4

• Social contexts (gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family, culture)

Question 5

Biopsychosocial Model

Answer 5

• Combination of the three (more appropriate)

Question 6

DSM

Answer 6

• Classification of psychological disorders in the United States
  
  • Strengths: organized means of diagnostic criteria, etc
  • Weakness: language, labeling, etc

Question 7

Anxiety Disorders

Answer 7

• Disabling psychological disorder that features motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts (most likely to commit suicide w/depression)

Question 8

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Answer 8

• Persistent anxiety, minimum of 6 months, unable to identify “why”
  
  • Cause: deficiency (GABA), respiratory abnormalities, impossible self-standards, history of uncontrollable traumas or stressors, overly strict parents, poor coping skills

Question 9

Panic Disorder

Answer 9

• Experiences recurrent, sudden onsets of intense terror, without warning, and no specific cause
  
  • Cause: deficiency (GABA) rush (norepinephrine) increased (lactate), generalization & overgeneralization (CO2 air), classical conditioning

Question 10

Phobic Disorder

Answer 10

• Irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation
  
  • Cause: genetic, serotonin, “learned fears”

Question 11

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Answer 11

• Anxiety provoking thoughts that will not go away and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors to prevent or produce some future situation
  
  • Causes: decreased (serotonin, dopamine), inability to cope (major life changes)
  • Obsessions: recurrent thoughts
  • Compulsions: recurrent behaviors

Question 12

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Answer 12

• Exposure to a traumatic event, severely oppressive situation, cruel abuse, or a natural or an unnatural disaster
• Individual is unable to cope
  
  • Symptoms: flashbacks, avoidance of the experience, reduced ability to feel emotions, desire closeness, interpersonal relationships, excessive arousal, difficulties with memory and concentration, impulsiveness

Question 13

Mood Disorders

Answer 13

• Primary disturbance of mood, can include cognitive, behavioral, and somatic (physical) symptoms, as well as interpersonal difficulties
  
  • Mood: prolonged emotion that demonstrates the individuals entire emotional state

Question 14

Depressive Disorders

Answer 14

• Individual suffers from depression (lack of pleasure in life) most likely to commit suicide

Question 15

Major Depressive Disorder

Answer 15

• Significant depressive episode and depressed state, at least 2 weeks (leading cause of disability in the United States)

Question 16

Dysthymic Disorder

Answer 16

• Chronic, at least 2 years (1 as a child/adolescent), not experienced a major depressive episode
  
  • Causes: neurotransmitters, learned helplessness, contagion (spread of depression) socioeconomic/cultural means, cognitive means

Question 17

Bipolar Dissorder

Answer 17

• Extreme mood swings that include one or more episodes of mania, an overexcited, unrealistically optimistic state (over diagnosed)

Question 18

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Answer 18

• A type of depression that occurs at the same time every year
  
  • Your biological clock (circadian rhythm): The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may disrupt your body’s internal clock, which lets you know when you should sleep or be awake. This disruption of your circadian rhythm may lead to feelings of depression.
  • Serotonin levels: A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that affects mood, might play a role in seasonal affective disorder. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression
  • **Melatonin levels: **The change in season can disrupt the balance of the natural hormone melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood

Question 19

Most Misdiagnosed

Answer 19

• Bipolar Disorders:
  
  • Bipolar I- Involves at least 1 full manic episod
  • Bipolar II- Hypomanic episodes alternate with major depression
  • Cyclothymia- Hypomanic episodes alternate with depressive episodes that do not meet criteria for major depression

Question 20

Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 20

• Involves the relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation (more common in women) highest mortality rate of all psychology disorders
  
  • Causes: high achieving perfectionists, following dieting & life stressor, often from well educated middle/high income white families (teenage years)
  • thinning of bones and hair, severe constipation, low blood pressure, damage to heart & thyroid. Complete lack of distress over these symptoms
  • no medications that can treat anorexia, only the “symptoms”
  • Family therapy is “key”

Question 21

Bulimia Nervosa

Answer 21

• Binge or purge eating pattern by self induced vomiting or the use of laxatives. Preoccupied with food, have a strong fear of becoming overweight, and are depressed or anxious
  
  • Chronic sore throat, kidney problems, dehydration, gastrointestinal disorders, dental problems
  • Causes: (women) adolescence/early adulthood, perfectionist, unrealistic expectations in terms of self standards

Question 22

Binge Eating Disorder

Answer 22

• Recurrent episodes of consuming large amounts of food during which the person feels a lack of control over eating
• No purging, usually overweight or obese
• Quick eat, often when not hungry until uncomfortably full, frequently eat alone because of embarrassment or guilt
• Most common of all eating disorders
• Are concerned with their appearance (regardless of obesity)
• Causes: dopamine levels, high levels of cortisol, and poor coping skills related to stress
• 10% of individuals with anorexia or bulimia are men, binge eating disorder affects men and women in roughly equal proportions
• For example, a research from the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that among 46,351 men and women ages 18 to 65, about 11 percent of women and 7.5 percent of men admitted some degree of binge eating

Question 23

Anorexia, Bulimia, and the Body

Answer 23

Question 24

Eating Disorder Comparisons

Answer 24

Question 25

Dissociative Disorders

Answer 25

• Psychological disorders that involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity
• Conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from painful previous memories, thoughts, and feelings
• Symptoms:

1. Having a sense of being unreal
2. Being separated from the body
3. Watching yourself as if in a movie

• **Cause: **extreme stress, shock, trauma
• Often will occur in those suffering from PTSD symptoms or diagnosis
• Support: lower level functioning in hippocampus and amygdala

Question 26

Dissociative Amnesia

Answer 26

• Extreme memory loss that is caused by extensive psychological stress
  
  • Forget only aspects of their identify and autobiographical experiences
  • War, abuse, accidents, natural disaster, etc….”long term” impact

Question 27

Dissociative Fugue

Answer 27

• Develops amnesia but also unexpectedly travels away from home and assumes a new identify
  
  • Bourne Identity (ex: Bourne Identity)
  • Black outs (drug induced)

Question 28

Perscription Drugs

Answer 28

• Minimal to zero
  
  • Lexapro, ambien, etc

Question 29

Dissociative Identity Dissorder

Answer 29

• Two or more distinct personalities or selves, each with its own memories, behaviors, and relationships
  
  • Severe sexual and physical trauma (even then, most don’t have DID)
  • Social construct (category people adopt to make sense of their experiences)
  • Therapy created? Controversial!

1. Amnesia or memory problems involving difficulty recalling personal information
2. Depersonalization or a sense of detachment of disconnection from one’s self. A common feeling associated with depersonalization is feeling like a stranger to one’s self
3. Derealization or a sense of disconnection from familiar people or one’s surroundings
4. Identity confusion or inner struggle about one’s sense of self/identity
5. Identity alteration or a sense of acting like a different person

Question 30

Schizophrenia

Answer 30

• Highly disorganized thought processes
  
  • Voices, visions, bizarre behavior, inappropriate emotion, socially withdrawn, isolated
  • Suicide rate is 8x higher than general population, relapse is common (similar to bipolar)
• Hallucinations: sensory experiences that occur in the absence of real stimuli
  
  • Auditory (most common)
  • Visual, smells & tastes (least common)
• Delusions: false, unusual, magical beliefs
  
  • Thought disorder: bizarre thought processes that are characteristic positive symptoms of schizophrenia
  • Referential thinking: giving personal meaning to completely random events
  • Catatonia: immobility and unresponsiveness
• Flat affect: display of little or no emotion, common negative symptom
• Causes: 18-25 adolescents, genetic, brain abnormalities, problems in neurotransmitter regulation, (ex: dopamine)
  
  • Diathesis stress model: combination of biogenetic disposition and stress causes the disorder (ex: Vietnam veteran)

Question 31

Personality Disorder

Answer 31

• Chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are thoroughly integrated into an individual’s personality

Question 32

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 32

• Failure to conform, guiltless, remorseless, lying, reckless disregard for others, indifference to pain of others

Question 33

Borderline Personality Disorder

Answer 33

• Instability in interpersonal relationships, self image, and emotions, and of marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts
  
  • Wild mood swings, sensitive to how others treat them
  • Black/white thinking, all or nothing
  • Self harming behavior, cutting
  • Insecure, impulsive, emotionally unstable