Chapter 6 Flashcards
Define dissociation
When different parts of a person’s psychological functioning don’t work together as they normally would.
(Normally there is a unity in our consciousness that gives rise to our sense of self, but for ppl with dd, this is disturbed and unintegrated)\
What are the types of dissociative disorders and their subtypes? Provide a general description of each.
Dissociative Amnesia (subtype: Dissociative Fugue)
- Inability to recall important personal information
- DF: ppl unexpectedly leave home and may turn up in a distant city with no memory of their past
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
- Feelings of being detached from oneself and one’s physical and social environment
Dissociative Identity Disorder
- Presence of two or more personality states
Dissociative Amnesia: Etiology
- Traumatic event; ex. War trauma/torture
Dissociative Amnesia: 5 patterns of memory loss
More common:
1. Localized amnesia: failing to recall info from a very specific time period (events surrounding trauma)
2. Selective amnesia: only parts of the trauma are forgotten
Less common (more significant psychopathology):
3. Generalized amnesia: a person forgets all personal info from their past
4. Continuous amnesia: forgetting info from a specific date to the present
5. Systemized amnesia: person only forgets certain categories of info (certain ppl/places)
Define depersonalization and derealization
Depersonalization: when individuals have a distinct sense of unreality and detachment from their self
Derealization: feelings of unreality and detachment with respect to one’s surroundings; may even have visual distortions
What are alters? What is the host? What is switching?
Host: the primary personality state
Alters: the alternate personality states with different memories, personal histories, mannerisms.
Switching: the process of changing between personality states; occurs in response to a stressful situation (or if requested by therapist while hypnotized)
DID Etiology: Trauma Model
Trauma model: DDs are a result of a combination of
1. severe childhood trauma
2. personality traits that predispose ppl to employ dissociation as a defence mechanism/coping strategy
DID Etiology: Socio-cognitive model
Socio-cognitive model:
1. DID is “iatrogenic”: caused by treatment.
- They think this because cases should begin in childhood but most don’t.
Describe the general idea of somatic symptom disorders
Disorders where ppl say they have physical symptoms suggestive of medical illness, along with significant psychological distress and functional impairment
List the types of somatic symptom and related disorders, with a brief description of each
Somatic symptom disorder—real physical symptoms + excessive worry about them.
Illness anxiety disorder—no/little symptoms + extreme fear of having a serious illness.
Conversion disorder—sudden neurological symptoms (e.g., paralysis, blindness) with no medical cause
Psychological affecting other medical conditions—A real illness worsened by stress or mental factors.
Factitious disorder—Faking illness to be seen as sick
Signs of Conversion Disorder: glove anaesthesia, la belle indifférence
Glove anesthesia: people with CD experienced loss of sensation in their entire hand cut off at the wrist, which isn’t what is expected with real nerve damage.
La belle indifférence: lack of concern abt the nature and implications of one’s symptoms; however isn’t a reliable tell.
Describe factitious disorder. How is it distinguished from other acts of feigning sickness?
Deliberately faking the symptoms of an illness/injury (medical or psychological) to gain attention/sympathy.
There is NO obvious external reward for this behaviour (insurance money, evading military service)
Etiology of SSrDs: the integrative biopsychosocial model
A number of psychological biological and social factors may interact with different SSD’s resulting from different patterns of interaction.
Bio: chronic stress from HPA axis; increased cortisol
Psych: excessive attention to small sensations, somatic amplification, high hlth anxiety
Social: Early childhood abuse, reinforcement of the “sick” role
Etiology of SSrDs: cognitive-behavioural model
- We develop beliefs & attitudes abt our wellbeing thru exp w illness and info from others abt their exp.
- Dysfunctional beliefs abt illness leads ppl to become biased it interpret info in a self-alarming manner
- Distorted interpretation of bodily symptoms causes anxiety
- Anxiety causes people to engage in safety-seeking behavs
Treatments for SSrDs
Medication: antidepressants
Psychotherapy: more CBT to restructure dysfunctional:
- thoughts
- interpretations
- preoccupations
(in relation to bodily symptoms)
