chapter 15 - psychological disorders

Question 1

psychological disorders

Answer 1

collection of symptoms (syndrome) that are marked as a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

atypical, unusual, or infrequent
socially unacceptable/deviant
maladaptive
personal distress
self defeating and/or dangerous

Question 2

DSM-5

Answer 2

diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

Question 3

anxiety, OCD, PTSD

Answer 3

fight or flight in overdrive

possible causes:

• genetic predisposition
• neuronal dysfunction
• conditioning
• irrational thinking as a result of experience

anxiety:
- general anxiety disorder (GAD): continually tense and on edge; state of ANS arousal
- panic disorder
- phobias: specific, social, agoraphobia (may be result of panic disorder)

OCD:

• obsessive: unwanted and repetitive it seems they will never go away
• compulsion: responses to those thoughts
  (examples: hoarding, body dysmorphia, excessive hair pulling or skin picking)

PTSD:
experienced after traumatic events
-accidents, disasters, sexual and violent assaults
other influences on the development of PTSD
-more sensitive emotion processing limbic system floods the body with stress hormones
-genes
-gender (women are about 2x more likely to suffer from PTSD)

Question 4

depressive disorders

Answer 4

rumination: overthinking our problems and their causes
state dependent memory

-> depressed mood -> cognitive, behavioral, and coping changes -> stressful experience/event ->negative explanatory style -> depressed mood -> cognitive, behavioral, and coping changes (and repeat)

• major depression disorder: 5 signs of depression last two or more weeks
• adults diagnosed with dysthymia must experience 2 symptoms laid out by the APA

Question 5

bipolar

Answer 5

two headed beast

bouncing from one emotional extreme to another
-lethargy and depression to mania and extreme optimism

Question 6

schizophrenia

Answer 6

“split mind”

psychotic disorder

• delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and diminished or inappropriate emotional expression
• factors influencing the development
  
  • brain abnormalities
  • prenatal environment
  • genetic and environmental factors

Question 7

DID, personality, and eating disorder

Answer 7

DID:
dissociative identity disorder
-2 or more distinct and alternating personalities
both psychodynamic and learning perspectives look at DID as a way of coping with anxiety
-some clinicians believe it belongs under PTSD

eating disorders:
anorexia nervosa - maintaining a starvation diet despite negative health outcomes
bulimia nervosa - binge-eating followed by inappropriate weight-loss
binge-eating disorder - bouts of overeating followed by remorse, regret, and guilt

people with eating disorders suffer from the spotlight effect, thinking they are constantly being looked at and judged