Mental and Physical Health - Psychological Disorders

Question 1

definition of psychological disorder

Answer 1

“A syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning”

Question 2

biomedical model

Answer 2

Posits that mental disorders are brain diseases and emphasizes pharmacological treatment to target presumed biological abnormalities
- Implies that it is not the fault of the person, but doesn’t necessarily reduce stigma or discrimination

Question 3

diathesis-stress model

Answer 3

The combination of genetic predisposition and environment to determine how likely someone is to develop a mental disorder

Question 4

assessment and diagnosis

Answer 4

• Assessment involves examining a person’s mental state in order to diagnose (and treat) possible psychological disorders
• Use of DSM

Question 5

problem with diagnosing disorders

Answer 5

There is no sharp line between “normal” and “abnormal” behavior

Question 6

maladaptive behaviour

Answer 6

The behaviour must interfere with at least one important aspect of the person’s life

Question 7

treatment

Answer 7

• Always involves interactions between practitioner and client/patient
• Increased understanding of the causes of a mental disorder does not necessarily lead to more effective treatment strategies

Question 8

psychotherapy

Answer 8

• Any psychological service provided by a trained professional that primarily uses forms of communication and interaction to assess, diagnose, and treat dysfunctional emotional reactions, ways of thinking, and behaviour patterns
• Ex. Psychodynamic therapy, humanistic therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy

Question 9

psychoanalytic therapy

Answer 9

• Focus on bringing unconscious struggles into consciousness (free association, dream analysis)
• Insight: increase patient’s understanding of their own psychological processes

Question 10

person-centred (humanistic) therapy

Answer 10

• Encouragement of personal growth through self-understanding -> congruence
• Safe and comfortable setting, empathy, reflective listening

Question 11

cognitive therapy

Answer 11

• Attempts to modify maladaptive thought patterns
• Ex. cognitive restructuring

Question 12

behaviour therapy

Answer 12

• Beck
• Attempts to modify maladaptive behaviours and the environments that trigger them (reconditioning)
• Ex. systematic desensitization (fear hierarchy, relaxation training, exposure therapy)

Question 13

cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)

Answer 13

• Incorporates techniques from both cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy to correct faulty thinking and change maladaptive behaviours
• Very successful at treating anxiety and mood disorders, particularly over the long term

Question 14

cognitive restructuring

Answer 14

Recognizing automatic thoughts
Identify cognitive distortions (ex. personalizing)
Challenge or dispute the thoughts
Replace with healthier/more functional thoughts

Question 15

psychotropic medication

Answer 15

Drugs that affect mental processes

Question 16

anxiolytics

Answer 16

Treatment of anxiety (ex. benzodiazepines, increase GABA activity)

Question 17

antidepressants

Answer 17

Treatment of depression Ex. SSRIs (increase serotonin levels)

Question 18

antipsychotics

Answer 18

Block dopamine, reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia (ex. hallucinations, delusions

Question 19

schizophrenia

Answer 19

• A mental disorder characterized by alterations in perceptions, emotions, thoughts, or consciousness
• Used to be classes into different subtypes (removed from DSM-5): paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, residual type

Question 20

schizophrenia symptoms (pos. + neg)

Answer 20

Can be categorized as positive or negative
- Positive symptoms
Excesses in behaviour
-> Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behaviour
- Negative symptoms
Deficits in functioning
-> Isolation, withdrawal, apathy, blunted emotion, slowed and monotonous speech
Generally more difficult to treat than positive symptoms, different underlying causes

Question 21

schizophrenia symptoms (bio + env)

Answer 21

• Genetic component
• Structural and functional differences in the brain
  Frontal lobe dysfunction
• Environmental stress
  Socioeconomic status, prenatal environment
• Drug use (THC)

Question 22

treatment for schizophrenia treatment

Answer 22

Pharmacological treatments are the most effective
- Neuroleptics revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenia
but… Significant side effects -> tardive dyskinesia
- Atypical (second generation) antipsychotics
- Little to no effect on negative symptoms in the long-term

Question 23

bipolar disorders

Answer 23

• Manic episodes
  Elevated mood, increased activity, diminished need for sleep, grandiose ideas, racing thoughts, and extreme distractibility
• Different subtypes based on nature of manic (or hypomanic) and depressive (or neutral) episodes

Question 24

major depressive disorder (MDD)

Answer 24

• One of the most frequently diagnosed disorders (~7% of the adult population each year)
• More common amount young adults 18-29 years old and women
• Diagnosis requires presence of depressed mood and/or anhedonia, along with other physical or cognitive symptoms

Question 25

potential causes of depression

Answer 25

• Learned helplessness
• Depressive attributional style: attribute failures to internal, global, stable causes
• Many different areas of the brain are impacted by depression
• The experience of severed stress frequently occurs just before the onset of a depressive episode
• Heritability of depression

Question 26

Beck’s cognitive triad

Answer 26

Negative views of the self, the world, and the future

Question 27

heritability of depression

Answer 27

Estimated to be around 40%
- Genes affecting serotonin function
- Genes affecting circadian rhythms

Question 28

treatment for depression

Answer 28

• Antidepressants
• Cognitive-behavioural therapy
• Alternative treatments: phototherapy, aerobic exercise, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), deep brain stimulation (DBS)

Question 29

anxiety disorders

Answer 29

• Characterized by excessive anxiety in the absence of true danger (1 in 4 Canadian adults during lifetime)
• Common symptoms (across disorders) include autonomic system arousal, worry/anxiety/tenseness, restlessness, excessive startle response

Question 30

cognitive potential causes of anxiety disorders

Answer 30

• Attention to and perception of threat
• Ambiguous stimuli
• Interpretation of bodily sensations (panic disorder)

Question 31

biological potential causes of anxiety disorders

Answer 31

• Genetics: inhibited temperamental style
• Fear circuitry dysfunction (amygdala, prefrontal cortex)

Question 32

treatment of anxiety disorders

Answer 32

• Anxiolytics (ex. Xanax increases GABA)
• Cognitive-behavioural therapy
  Exposure therapy (phobias)

Question 33

obsessive compulsive disorder

Answer 33

Involves frequent intrusive thoughts and/or compulsive actions: anticipate catastrophe and loss of control

Question 34

obsessions

Answer 34

Recurrent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts or ideas or mental images; often include fear of contamination, of accidents, or of one’s own aggression

Question 35

compulsions

Answer 35

Particular acts that one feels driven to perform over and over again; often include cleaning, checking, and counting

Question 36

causes of OCD

Answer 36

• Strong genetic component
• Classical and operant conditioning processes
  Anxiety paired with event, behaviour linked with relief

Question 37

learned helplessness

Answer 37

when the person believes that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try, even when opportunities for change are available.