Exam 5 Psych Disorders Flashcards
What is a psychological disorder?
“…a syndrome characterized by a clinically significant disterbance in an individual’s cognitive, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental process underlying mental functioning.”
“Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities.”
What is the medical approach to psychological disorders? What are the implications of it?
Medical approach: In the 20th century, mental health began to be treated as a medical condition.
Psychological disorders have physical and NOT supernatural causes.
Mental illness can be diagnosed using symptoms which can then guide therapeutic treatments.
Recent research on genetically influenced brain abnormalities in brain structure and biochemistry support this approach.
What is the biopsychosocial approach to psychological disorders? What are the implications of it?
Biopsychosocial approach: Today, mental health problems are also explained using biological, psychological, and social explanations
The BPA proposes that biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors play significant roles in human functioning
These factors all play a significant role in mental health
Biological = brain structures.
Psychological = cognitions.
Social = stress.
What is a diagnosis of a psychological disorder?
An attempt by a professional psychologist or psychiatrist to identify a psychological disorder that you may be experiencing.
Diagnoses are made after meeting with clients or patients and giving them appropriate psychological tests
What is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders?
provides a comprehensive list of all psychological disorders and criteria that must be met to diagnose someone with a disorder.
Why do we need diagnoses?
We can study people with similar diagnoses in order to better understand causes or treatments of the disorder.
We can better select treatment options by using therapies that have worked with people who have the same diagnosis.
How many people are diagnosed with psychological disorders?
One-in-four Americans will experience a psychological disorder this year.
Are people with psychological disorders dangerous?
No! Most people with psychological disorders are generally nonviolent and unlikely to harm anyone.
People with psychological disorders are more likely to be the victums of violence, not the perpetrators.
What defines anxiety disorders?
People with anxiety disorders experience persistent, distressing anxiety and often do maladaptive things to cope with it.
It can be difficult to identify what’s causing the anxiety
What is generalized anxiety disorder?
Person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal
About 3 % of adults have had GAD in the past year.
What is panic disorder?
An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations.
People with panic disorder often live in fear of when the next attack might strike.
About 2.5 % of U.S. adults had panic disorder in the prior year.
What is a phobia?
A phobia involves a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.
Some phobias are harmless, but some can significantly interfere with a person’s well-being
About 10 % of adults have phobias.
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?
Characterized by persistent and repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both.
Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors interfere with everyday life and cause distress
About 1 % of adults had OCD in the previous year.
What’s the difference between obsessions and compulsions?
Obsessions - repetitive thoughts
Compulsions - actions to stop those thoughts
What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia lingering for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience
About 3.5 % of adults have had PTSD in the prior year.
What are potential causes of anxiety disorders? (genetics; classical conditioning; negative reinforcement; observation)
Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD are partially caused by your genes.
People can be classically conditioned to experience anxiety and fear.
Operant conditioning can maintain fears through negative reinforcement
You can develop anxiety by observing other people who have anxiety.
What is major depressive disorder?
intense bouts of depression that come and go.
The person experiences 2 or more weeks with five or more symptoms of depression, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.
About 10 % of Americans experience and episode of MDD each year.
About 20 % of Americans experience episodes of MDD during their lifetime
What is persistent depressive disorder?
lower levels of depression that last for years.
The person experiences mildly depressed mood more often than not for at least 2 years, along with at least two other symptoms of depression (which are less intense in PDD).
Also known as dysthymia
Double depression: Major depressive episodes can occur during persistent depressive disorder.
About 1.5 % of Americans experience PDD each year.
What is bipolar disorder?
cycling between the lows of depression and the highs of mania.
People with BD experience intense shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels that can last for months
Experience periods of lethargy of depression.
Experience periods of energy and euphoria.
About 2.8 % of U.S. adults experienced BD in the past year.
What is the manic phase of bipolar disorder?
A person in mania phase may talk quickly, rarely sleep, and demonstrate hyperactivity
Manic people are wildly optimistic and can experience feelings of being all-powerful and invincible.
Can lead to very poor judgements. Often associated with risky sex and other reckless behaviors.
What are potential biological causes of depression?
Depressive disorders are partially caused by genes.
Depressed brains are less active, and norepinephrine and serotonin levels decline.
How can thoughts lead to feeling depressed? (all-or-nothing thinking; explanatory style; rumination)\
All-or-nothing thinking: everything is either fantastic or terrible
Explanatory style: how do you explain good and bad events?
Rumination: repeated, negative thinking that can fuel depression.
What is schizophrenia?
Psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression
Schizophrenia usually emerges in people in their late teens to early 30’s.
About .5 % of U.S. adults have Schizophrenia.
Positive symptoms or schizophrenia
(those abnormally present) hallucinations, such as hearing voices or seeing things that do not exist, paranoia and exaggerated or distorted perceptions, beliefs and behaviors.
