Current - Psychological disorders Flashcards
What are family resemblance views?
The ambiguity of what constitutes of a mental disorder and we look for different features throughout the family
What is a Mental Disorder?
May involve dysfunctional patterns of cognition, emotionality, and/or behaviour
Considered deviant in the person’s society/culture.
What are the important criteria in describing mental disorders? Briefly describe each criteria.
- Statistical rarity (this is the issue is uncommon in the population. This is not something that we all do)
- Subjective distress (the stress that is caused to the individual from their disorder)
- Impairment (this is the interference with everyday life that causes different affects that can be measured)
- Biological dysfunction (structural or psychological issues)
- Deviance (We tend to deviate from different aspects of society)
Family resemblance view suggests that mental disorders share some, but not all, features.
What are the three general historical perspectives of mental illness? Briefly describe each perspective.
- Supernatural theories
- Somatogenic theories (these are theories that focus on different aspects of reality)
- Psychogenic theories (this focus on learning experiences and our psychological aspect)
These theories attribute mental illness to various causes including supernatural, bodily, and psychological origins.
What does the Medical Model suggest about mental illness?
Suggested mental illness is a physical disorder
*
Includes the historical use of asylums and unscientific treatments.
What is the DSM-5?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (this is a book of all of the recognized disorders from the American psychological organization)
* One key note is that our life contexts will change a diagnosis of our symptoms
Originated in 1952 and now in its 5th edition, includes diagnostic criteria for all clinically recognized disorders.
What are Culture-bound Syndromes?
Mental illnesses that are specific to one or a few societies
* These are effectively particular in cultural manifestation off different mental illness (these things are not just unique in these groups but they just cause different problems by expressed cultural values)
* It was thought that these are just outside people opposing things onto a specific culture
May represent unique, culture-related expressions of more general mental illness.
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Continual feelings of worry, anxiety, physical tension, and irritability across many areas of life functioning (excessive worries across all events in their lives and tend to worry moving from one thing to the next)
* This is thought to be the core anxiety disorder and around 3% of people over their lifetime (usually females tend to be diagnosed with these conditions)
Can adversely affect work, school, social interactions, and sleep.
What characterizes Panic Disorder?
Repeated and unexpected panic attacks, with persistent concerns about future attacks
* These tend to be a result of other anxiety conditions
* this also affects about 3.7% of people in the population across their lifetimes
* Individuals who contain this condition have 33% of also developing agoraphobia
Panic attacks can result from specific situations or arise unexpectedly.
What is Agoraphobia?
Fear of being in situations where escape is difficult or embarrassing
*
Often an outgrowth of panic disorder.
What are Specific Phobias?
Intense fear of an object or situation greatly out of proportion to its actual threat
* these tend to result in panic brought on by animals and insects
Examples include fear of animals, natural environments, and blood.
What is Social Anxiety Disorder?
Intense fear of negative evaluation in social situations
* this is when worrying begins to interrupt our routines
* this affects about 8-13% of people over their life times
Causes significant disruptions to daily routine.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
Marked emotional disturbance after experiencing or witnessing a severely stressful situation
* This is a long lasting trauma response that is a result of reliving certain events of situations through stimuli in the individual’s everyday life
* this causes a sense of deattachment from society and the people around them
* This affects about 6.5-8% of the population over the span of a lifetime
Characterized by vivid memories, rumination, and attempts to avoid reminders of the trauma.
What defines Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
Condition marked by repeated immersion in obsessions, compulsions, or both
* These compulsions can be mental actions that are used to relieve stress
* This affects about 1.6% of the population over the span of a lifetime
Obsessions are unwanted thoughts; compulsions are repetitive behaviors.
What are the two basic categories of Mood Disorders?
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- These disorders have a 20% prevelance over a lifetime
Mood disorders have a 20% lifetime prevalence.
What is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)?
Chronic state of low mood, diminished interest, and other symptoms like low self-esteem
* These tend to be re-occuring problems what tend to pop up 5 to 6 episodes over a lifetime and can very in lengths of these episodes
* There is a 16% prevalance over the span of a life time
MDD is a major risk factor for self-harm and suicide.
What are the risk factors for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)?
- Females (this is because woman tend to report it and attempt to seek out help and they tend to remuniate more then males)
- Indigenous Canadians
- Younger age
- Fewer social connections
- Substance use
- Stress/trauma
- there has been a rise in this diagnosis over the past 100 years due to changes in new information and findings
MDD has risen in the last 100 years.
What characterizes Bipolar Disorder?
History of at least one manic episode causing intense shifts in mood and behavior
* These are cycles that switch between mania and depression
Includes cycling between depression and mania.
What is a Manic Episode?
Marked by dramatically elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, and increased energy
* Thinking patterns also change
* individuals also become a lot more impulsive
* these episodes also cause an inhibitory response in the brain
Can include irresponsible behavior and inflated self-esteem.
What is the second leading cause of death in youth and young adults in Canada?
Suicide
* woman tend to try to attempt suicide 3x more then men however men use more lethal methods of suicides
* Male tend to die via this method more then woman (and indigenous individuals or lower socially economic individuals, individuals who abuse substances, or unemployed individuals)
* Individuals tend to commit suicide between the ages of 35 to 65
* having a mental disorder or a modd disorder will increase the odds that one commits suicide
Approximately 4500 deaths per year, with 3x more men than women.
What defines a Personality Disorder?
Condition with inflexible, stable personality traits leading to distress or impairment
* these are the least reliable diagnosed disorders
* these disorders descriptions tend to boarder mental or mood disorders
Least reliably diagnosed psychological disorders.
What is Borderline Personality Disorder?
Marked by extreme instability in mood, identity, and impulse control
* This means that individuals have a difficult time controlling their emotions and moods
* These individuals tend to have more unstable relationships and have an intense fear of abdonment or an unstable self image
* this disorder tends to have a prevalance rate of 1-2% over an individuals lifetime and they tend to be higher diagnosed in females and individuals who suffer abuse (Males just tend to be more diagnosed with other conditions than females over this condition)
Characterized by maladaptive behaviors like self-harm and recklessness.
What is Psychopathic Personality?
Marked by superficial charm, dishonesty, and lack of empathy
* This disorder tends to overlap ASPD and is seen as a specifier for ASPD
* these individuals tend to have a greater success of getting what they want
* these disorders tend to have a prevalance rate of 4.5% over an individuals lifetime (however individuals think that it is closer to a 1.2% prevalance rate)
* Parts of the brain that control the different fear apsects are hindered in function
* Males tend to be higher diagnosed with this condition
Overlaps with antisocial personality disorder.
What are Dissociative Disorders?
Involve disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, or perception
Contentious diagnoses/disorders.
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?
Condition characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states
* this disorder tends to be like living in a character or in a movie and we feel deattached from our actual selves
* these individuals think that the external world tends to be very strange and unreal
* different “alters” take over ones selves sense of identity which can lead to the alter being any state (this includes different ethnicities, different genders, and different species)
These states recurrently take control of the person’s behavior.
What characterizes Schizophrenia?
Severe disorder of thought and emotion associated with a loss of contact with reality
* This is characterized as having a fragmented personality (not completely split different persoanlities)
* for one to be considered to be schizophrenic, they must be either or have a combination of delusions (fixed beliefs that are not held as true within society), hallucinations, and disorganized speech (skipping from subject to subject having lost assoiations)
* The prevelence of these disorders are around 0.4 to 0.7% of the population across a lifetime
* environmental triggers tend to kick this process off
Symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech.
What are Autism Spectrum Disorders?
A category that includes autistic disorder and Asperger’s disorder
Characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication, and behavior.
What is Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
Marked by excessive inattention, impulsivity, and activity
Can affect ability to pay attention and follow directions.
What are the different ancient perspectives? Briefly describe each method
- Trephanation: individuals would drill a hole into the skull to release to evil spirit form the head
- Ancient Chinses medicine: mental and physical illness were an inbalance of negative and positive forces (the idea of ying-yang)
- Egypitians: this
What is one thing to keep in mind about the progression of mental illness?
- That this progression shouldn’t be considered to linear. This is because we move across different fields of focus starting at physical conditions and then moves into spiritual aspects
What is the demonic Model?
- This is the thought that mental illness produce behaviours as a result of the spirtual influences or voices. This tends to be more present in females rather than males and this lead to a published mannual that was used to identify if someone was a witch
What was the main work of Dix and Pinel?
they promoted the proper care for individuals with people with mental disorders. They wanted individuals to be treated with dignity, respect, and have the ability to build a social connection
List the important Features of the DSM
- We must be able to rule out other physical conditions before diagnosing a mental disorder
- Provides information about the characteristic and prevalence of these mental disorders
- Individuals are more than their disorders ( there is a complex relationship between psychological, biological, and sociological influences and mental disorders)
- Reconginition of diversity in ethnicities, cultures, sexual identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds must be identified (this is because symptoms will be part of their life contexts)
List and explain the criticisms of the DSM:
- some diagnosis have been well developed and are proven to be the best possible way to treat a condition (some other diagnosis have been based off of a committee oriented decisions)
- many psychological disorders overlap making it hard when one is diagnosed under many different disorders at the same time (are these things in the question seperate or is it just a lack of being able to pin point)
- mental disorders are seen to be individuals who are not able to function normally
- medicalization of normality (this is the processing human varaibilty (gendered differences, cultural differences, or age differences) as different mental conditions
what is comorbidity?
- this is the process of telling distinct issues or underlying conditions
What is the categorical model
- A model in which a mental disorder differs from normal functioning in kind rather than degree
Who is commonly affects/at risk for developing anxiety?
- young adults and those who are female tend to develop a diagnosis of the mental disorder/illness of anxiety
What are symptoms/characteristics of anxiety?
- racing heart and high blood pressure
- muscle tension
- increased breathing
- almost all sympathetic nervous system responses
What is the key take away from learning about anxiety?
- Anxiety is completely normal and is a natural response and is adaptative in terms of survival
- Anxiety can also be used as a motivator that can be used to increase different performances
What are explainations of the development of anxiety-related disorders? Briefly describe all of the cases.
- Biological aspects: disorders have a genetic component since some of these disorders tend to impact the structural and functions of the brain and its neurotransmitters
- Learning aspects: operate conditioning aspects and learning that avoidence can be used to prevent stressful stimuli
- Adverse childhood experiences: these are usually the cause to why different anxiety disorders arise. These can be used in order to find out different coping mechanisms and learn emotional regulation
What is hypomania?
- This is a less server form of mania however people experience the high but are less impulsive
- These episodes can also vary in length and can take place over many years. These episodes are also followed by a depression wave
- Disorders are equally common in all genders and have a 2% prevalance over the span of a lifetime
- This condition is commonly a larger factor of inheritable conditions (85% of cases are inheirted)
