Lecture 17: Psychopathology Flashcards
Misconceptions
- Mental Disorders are not “real” pathologies
- Lazy whiners
- How society labels non conformists - Mental Disorders are the same as physical pathologies
- Are able to identify organic malfunctions in the brain
- Simple identifiable causes(Gene, life, experience)
* Mental disorders are real but they are poorly understood*
Measuring Psychopathology
-Disorders vary on a spectrum
~fear and anxiety-neurotic personality-phobia panic disorder
~Attention and competence-conscientiousness-anal retentive-obsessive compulsive disorder
-Projective and Objective tests-similar to personality test
-Symptom checklist
DSM IV
-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological Association
-350 disorders
Mixed Status
-Convenient
-Scientific- Supports generalizations
-Economic( insurance reimbursement categories)
-Catergorical even though psychological disorders are family resemblance categories
May be dimensional rather than categorical
Two Axes of DSM IV
Axes 1- Major Clinical Disorders- Different ways of being crazy
Axis 2- Personality Disorder- Different ways of being annoying
Antisocial (Psychopathy, sociopath)
Axes 2 Disorder
Having no regard for others rights and emotions
impoverished in moral compass or conscious
Paranoid
Axes 2 Disorder
- long standing suspiciousness or general mistrust of others
- Hypersensitive, easily feel slighted
Histrionic
Pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, includes an excessive need for approval
4x more in women than in men
Narcissistic
Pervasive need of admiration, lack of empathy
Seen in depots and tyrants
Borderline
- Instability of interpersonal relationships, self image, and marked impulsivity
- Frantic efforts to avoid real or perceived abandonment
- Alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation
Anxiety Disorder
Axis 1 or Axis 2 Axis 1 General Anxiety Phobia (Specific- spider, heights) Agorophobia- Social phobia Axis 2 PTSD OCD- rituals, ruminations, checking
Mood Disorder
Major Depression
- sadness
- loss of energy and motivation
- hopelessness
- self doubt
- Vicious cycle, Depression= withdrawal, loss of interest in life= Depression
Bipolar Disorder
-Depression altering with mania(energy confidence euphoria), risk taking, sometimes delusions of grandeur
Psychotic Disorders
Schizophrenia Positive Symptoms -Disordered thought and speech - Delusions, Halucinations Negative Symptoms Flattened affect
Developmental Disorder
- Down Syndrome
- ADHD/Hyperactive
- Autism
- Specific Language Impairment
Normal vs Pathology
- over a long period of time
- behaviors not appropriate to society
- pervasive across many situations
- causes suffering
- indicates an internal malfunction
- interferes with everyday function
Causes of Mental Disorders FALSE
-cold mother= autism
-Double bind= schizophrenia
-Pavlonians theory of phobia (Little Albert)
False biological theories
-Environmental toxins= autism
- Parasite from cats= schizophrenia
Cause of Mental Disorder
-Simple biological causes for only a few diseases(Eg. Down Sydrome)
-Many Follow “Stress-diathesis” model
genetic predisposition(diathesis) + environmental stress
Behavioral Genetic Techniques
- MZ vs DZ
- Biological vs Adopted
- MZ separated at birth
First Law of Behavioral Genetics
All behavioral traits are heritable (variation in a population partially due to genetics)
- intelligence
- personality
- virtually all mental disorders
3 Puzzles of Genetic Basis
- Environmental Puzzle
- Genetic Puzzle
- Evolutionary Puzzle
Environmental Puzzle
What are the non genetic causes of psychopathology?
- Why do identical twins only correlate .5?
- What is stress? Not independently identified
~Problems with retrospective accounts
~People with psychopathology could account past experiences as more stressful
-Perhaps random developmental and life events (non shared events)
Genetic Puzzle
What genes cause these disorders?
-Few have been linked to personality variation
Dopamine receptor- sensation seeking, extroverted
Seratonin transporter- susceptibility to depression
-Simple neurotransmitter theories false
-Prozac takes weeks to have effect
-Genes found account for tiny % of variation
“Missing Heritability Paradox”
IQ, personality disorder are highly heritable, yet it is difficult to find the genes that account for these differences
- Generally complex diseases- non mendelian
- Possible compilation of multiple genes result in personality
- Genes with large effect could only be seen in sub-populations
Evolutionary Puzzle
Why do susceptibility genes persist in the population?
-Should have been selected against and gone extinct a long time ago because they are harmful(low mate attraction and reproduction) and heritable
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