Chapter 1 Flashcards
- A breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning.
- Not Properly Functioning - relative to a person’s usual functioning.
Psychological Dysfunction
- The individual is extremely upset of personal, social, or occupational functioning is disrupted.
- Disrupted studies/work/daily functioning (social networks in general)
Distress or Impairment
is the scientific study of psychological disorders. Within this field are specially trained professionals, including:
Psychopathology
Scientist-Practitioner Model
The mental health professional may function as scientist practitioners in one or more of 3 ways:
Consumer of science - It is using knowledge gathered from scientific research.
Evaluator of science - see if something is effective or not (evidence-based).
Creator of science - they do research and information is discovered
- These are unique combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that make up a specific disorder.
- Objective: Specifies what makes the disorder different from normal behavior or from other disorders. Here are some clinical descriptions:
Clinical Descriptions
The reason why the person came to the clinic.
Presenting Problem
A traditional shorthand way of indicating why the person came to the clinic.
Presents
Refers to how many people in the population as a whole have the disorder.
Prevalence
- Number of new cases that occur during a given period.
E.g. During the pandemic, there’s a surge of new cases of depression.
Incidence
The percentage of males and females who have the disorder.
Sex Ratio
The average or most common age at which a particular condition or disorder first appears or becomes clinically evident in individuals.
- Autism Spectrum (Early Childhood)
- Major Depressive Disorder (Adolescence to
- Alzheimer’s Disease (older adulthood)
Typical Age of Onset
The disorder tends to last a long time, sometimes a lifetime
- For example:
- Schizophrenia - a serious mental illness that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves.
- Bipolar disorder - experience recurring episodes of mania and depression throughout their lives
Chronic Course
Likely to recover within a few months only to suffer a recurrence of the disorder at a later time; the pattern may repeat throughout a person’s life.
- For example:
- Major depressive disorder - individuals with depressive disorder will experience episodic episodes of depressive symptoms, with periods of remission in between
- Panic disorder- may have episodic panic attacks separated by periods of lesser or no symptoms
Episodic Course
The disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period with little or no risk of recurrence.
- For example:
- Adjustment Disorder - typically occurs in response to a specific stressor and tends to improve once the stressor is removed or resolved.
- Acute Stress Disorder - similar to adjustment disorder, occurs in response to a traumatic event but typically resolves within a few weeks to a month
Time-Limited Course
Begins suddenly
- Ex. Panic Attack - often have an acute onset with sudden and intense feelings of fear or discomfort.
Acute Onset
Develop gradually over an extended period.
- For example:
- Alzheimer’s Disease - typically developed slowly and progressively worsens over several years
- Personality Disorders - maladaptive personality traits gradually becoming more pronounced over time.
Insidious Onset
Why is it important to understand the typical course of a disorder?
- So that we can know what to expect in the future and how best to deal with the problem.
- It also helps clinicians anticipate the progression of symptoms, plan appropriate interventions, and provide support tailored to the individual’s needs.
It is the anticipated course of disorder. This is the estimate of the future of someone or something, especially about whether a patient will recover from an illness.
Prognosis
The study of the origins of the disorder; includes biological, psychological, and social influences/dimensions. There is typically an interaction between nature and nurture. Here are different aspects of possible outcomes (3P’s):
Etiology
Factors that put an individual at risk of developing a disorder
- Ex: genetics (genome/phenome), life events (childhood trauma; adverse life events), temperament, personality traits.
Predisposing factors
Events that stimulate a particular problem; stressors or triggers
- Ex: significant events during the premorbid period (Morbidity: Panic Attack; Premorbid: Period before the panic attack happened, what triggers the panic attack?)
Precipitating factors
Factors that help maintain the problem
- Ex: Substance Abuse, Alcohol
Perpetuating factors
Type of treatment
drugs/medications; the focus is on biological causes
Pharmacological
Type of treatment
nonmedical treatments; focus on psychological, social, and cultural factors
Psychosocial
