Chapter 15 Flashcards
Psychopathology - Abnormal Psychology
Psychopathology (mental illness) is often seen as a failure of adaptation to the environment (maladaptive behaviour)
The failure analysis approach tries to understand mental illness by examining breakdowns in functioning
Maladaptive Behaviour
Heavy drug users who are not distressed by their behaviours?
A new relationship that concerns family members?
Having a religious conversion?
Risk-taking by extreme sports enthusiasts
Who is affected by mental illness
WHO - nearly ½ the world’s population is affected by mental illness, with an impact on self-esteem relationships and ability to function in everyday life.
The Situation in Canada (CMHA, 2021):
In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness.
By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness
Approximately 20% of Canadian youth are affected by a mental illness or disorder
In Canada, only 1 out of 5 children receive appropriate mental health services
DSM-5-TR
The DSM has grown in scope to become a major system of classification and diagnosis of mental disorders.
The DSM-5-TR includes 541 diagnostic categories and is 947 pages in length
DSM-5: Definition of a Mental Disorder
A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.
Language of Mental Illness
Mental Illness OR Mental Disorder
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (A D H D)
The D S M-5-T R states that an individual must have a minimum of six symptoms of inattention or six symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity in order to receive a diagnosis of A D H D
Mental disorder defense
Legal defense proposing that people shouldn’t be held legally responsible for their actions if they weren’t of “sound mind” when committing them
Insanity defense requires people to not know:
What they were doing at the time of crime
What they were doing wrong
People can only be committed against their will if they:
Pose a clear and present threat to themselves or others
Are so impaired they can’t care for themselves
Community Treatment Orders (CTOs)
An order issued by a physician and agreed to by an individual (and/or their Substitute
Decision Maker, under the Ontario Mental Health Act. This allows the individual to receive care and treatment in the community in lieu of detention in a hospital or psychiatric facility
Anxiety Disorders
What separates anxiety disorders from other forms of anxiety is a combination of an unjustifiable degree, duration, and source of anxiety.
Most anxieties are transient and can be adaptive
Potential Causes of Anxiety:
Can also learn fears by observing others or by hearing misinformation from others
Anxious people tend to think about the world in different ways from non-anxious people
Generalized Anxiety Disorder - GAD
Characterized by high levels of anxiety over long period, difficult to control.
Feel tense, on edge, tired, irritable, have difficulty concentrating/sleeping.
Symptoms - trembling, palpitations, sweating, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, frequent urination.
