mental disorders

Question 1

3 most common mental disorders

Answer 1

depression, phobias, OCD

Question 2

% of people have a phobia

Answer 2

2.6%

Question 3

% of people have depression

Answer 3

2.6%

Question 4

% of people have OCS

Answer 4

1.3%

Question 5

what is a phobia

Answer 5

• a mental disorder characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulus or group of stimuli
• interfers with normal living

Question 6

emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 6

• fear that is excessive + unreasonable
• feelings of anxiety + panic
• cued by the presense or anticipation of a certain object or situation
• out of proportion to the actual danger

Question 7

behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 7

• avoidance of the object or situation
• freeze or even fainting (often described as ‘fight or flight or freeze’
• interfere with everyday living

Question 8

freezing

Answer 8

an adaptive response as a predator may think the prey is dead

Question 9

what is the difference between a phobia and a fear

Answer 9

• phobias interfere with everyday living where as a fear you can still do daily task but just feel uncomfortable

Question 10

cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 10

• irrational nature of the persons thinking
• resistance to rational arguments
• they believe their fear is unreasonable or excessive - may be absent in children

Question 11

what distinguishes between a phobia and a mental illness

Answer 11

with mental illnesses the individual doesn’t believe the way their behaviour is unreasonable where as with phobias the individual knows their behaviour is excessive and unreasonable

Question 12

depression

Answer 12

a mood disorder where an individual feels sad and/or lacks interest in their usual activities

Question 13

characteristics of depression

Answer 13

• irrational negative thoughts
• raised/lowered activity levels
• difficulties with concentration
• difficulties sleeping (oversleeping/insomnia)
• difficulties eating (over eating/not eating)

Question 14

what is the difference between major depressive order and persistant depressive order

Answer 14

persistant depressive order is longer term and is recurring

Question 15

emotional characteristics of depression

Answer 15

• sadness - feeling empty, depressed state, worthless, hopeless, low self esteem (negative emotions)
• loss of interest/pleasure in hobbies - feelings of despair/lack of control
• anger - directed to others or themselves

Question 16

behavioural characteristics of depression

Answer 16

• shift in activity level - either hyper/ restless or no energy, lethargic
• affected sleep - either sleep too much or dont sleep at all (insomnia)
• affected appetite - either reduced or eat too much

Question 17

cognitive characteristics of depression

Answer 17

• negative thoughts (negative self concept, self beliefs, guilt, worthlessness etc)
• negative view on the world - expect things to turn out badly
• negative self beliefs
• all negative thoughts are irrational - do not reflect reality