*****Lecture 9 - Clinical disorders of the self Flashcards
What counts as a disorder?
Distress + length of time
What are the criticisms of the DSM?
X – no biological basis – don’t know root cause, only symptoms
X – no recognition of sociological factors (Public services, infrastructure, employment, poverty)
X– money making machine - insurance & Healthcare
X – 2 people with same diagnosis, may have completely different symptoms – reducing effectivness of treatment
What are the good/ bad things about being diagnose?
√ - relief
√ - shows youre not alone
√- suggests treatment
√- shows they’re not crazy
X - Stigma
X - concerns they will ’freak out’
X - behaviours not seen as normal
X - Trust erodes
How do disorders relate to self?
All mental disorders involve some lack of control/ awareness of thoughts
- though spirals
- dissociation or hallucinations
Self-regulation is challenged (socially/ physically) but illness
Disorder leads to identity concerns
- am i crazy?
- am I just my ilness? Is it who I am or temporary?
Define Depression
- Persistent low mood over 2+ weeks, with decreased energy, appetit, interest, & pleasure in normal activities
- most common mental illness - 1/5 in UK
What are the symptoms of depression?
Symptoms:
- Low mood
- low energy, interest, appetite, pleasure
- fatigue, insomnia or hypersomnia
- weight loss/ gain
- difficulty concentrating
What are the the treatments of depression?
Treatment
- CBT – skills to change habitual responses
- ’Talk’ therapy – uncover subconcious/ emotional root causes
- SSRI’s
How does depression relate to self?
ABM
- Persistent rumination of events
- overgeneralised ABM’s, black and white thinking - memory is either good or bad
Self-esteem
- Ignore positive events
- Focus on failure
- underestimate how much others like them & perceived control in own life
Self-awarenss (Taylor & Brown, 1988)
- Lack of normal positive illusions (needed to maintain positive SE)
- Lackof normal, unrealistic optimism
What are the 4 body awareness disorders (not in DSM)
Body dysmorphic disorder – obsessively think something is wrong about a facial feature
Eating disorders - Severe disturbances in eating behaviours
Somatoparaphrenia - denial of ownership of body part
Alien hand syndrome - lacking control over body part
Define body dysmorphic disorder
Definition: Preoccupation with imagined defect in appearance
- related to OCD
Think there is something wrong with you, you become obsessed with it – my ears are huge
Causes distress and intense behaviour to fix it
What is the epidiemology of BDD
Epidemiology:
- Usually onset late teens
- lifelong condition - whhen fixed you just change to a new part
- Equally in males and females
What are the symptoms of BDD
Symptoms:
- obsess over defect
- try to fix it (may be unhealthy)
What is a varaition of BDD where you work out loads>
Muscle dysmorphia (bigorexia) – work out loads
- Obsessing about being too small/ weak
- Constant training – don’t socialise/ work
- More common in men
- risky behaviour (steroids)
- think you are healhty
What is the treatment for BDD?
Plastic surgery to fix the defect
- rarely succesful as they don’t believe its fixed or switch defect
SSRI’s
- can reduce feelings of distress (depression is also often comorbid)
CBT
- helps recognise and alter unhealthy thoughts
Define eating disorders
Definition: Severe disturbances in eating behaviours
What are the problems/ symptoms with anorexia nervosa?
- obsession with being thin – distorted sense of appearance
- Extreme control & Limitation of food intake (maybe excessive excersise)
- Reduced nutrition leads to other ilness, even death (highest morbidity rate of mental illness)
What is the epidimiology of anorexia?
- Mostly women, but some men
- Mostly puberty, but some old age
What is the treatment of anorexia?
- re-nutrition
- CBT
- hospitalisation
Define somatoparaphrenia
denial of ownership of body part
- aka Body integrity identity disorder
What is the epidimiology of somatoparaphrenia
- Rare
- some association with brain damges, not all cases though
What is the symptoms of somatoparaphrenia
- Feeling that a body part isnt actually ours, it doesn’t belong to us
- May neglect body part – not wash, groom or exercise it
- Paralysis or lack of motor control in body part