Mental Illness Flashcards
1
Q
Disordered/abnormal behavior
A
- Atypical = doesn’t happen very often
- Disturbing = bothersome to self or others (violates social norms)
- Maladaptive = prevents you from living a happy, healthy life
- Unjustifiable = there is no reason to engage in this behavior
2
Q
Medical model
A
- The concept that diseases (in this case psychological disorders) have physical causes that can diagnosed, treated, and in most cases cured
- Phillipe insisted that madness is not demon possession but a sickness of the mind caused by sever stress
- Moral treatment: boosting morale
3
Q
Anxiety disorders
A
- Extreme fear or worry
- Treatment:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy, medication
4
Q
Generalized anxiety disorder
A
- Constant worry and stress that interferes with daily life
5
Q
Panic disorder
A
- Spontaneous seemingly out-of-the-blue panic attacks and are very preoccupied with the fear of a recurring attacks
- Panic attack: a brief episode of intense anxiety, which causes the physical sensations of fear
6
Q
Obsessive compulsive disorder
A
- Obsessions are intrusive and unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that cause distress or anxiety (impulses, need for symmetry)
- Compulsions are behaviors that the person feels compelled to perform in order to ease their distress or anxiety ( washing, cleaning, arranging)
7
Q
PTSD
A
- Re-experiences trauma through recollections of the event
8
Q
Social anxiety
A
- Intense fear of being judged, avoid social situations, fear of doing everyday things in front of others
9
Q
Dissociative identity disorder
A
- A person exhibits two or more distinct personalities
- Multiple personality disorder (suggests that all of the personalities are real)
- DID suggests that the healthy person dissociates and other personalities fill the void (separate from oneself)
10
Q
Dissociative identity disorder: causes
A
- Almost always traumatic childhood abuse
- Children have a much easier ability to dissociate
- Makes it seem like the abuse is happening to someone else
- Average age of onset = 5.9 years
- Often misdiagnosed with depression, anxiety, conduct problems
11
Q
Dissociative identity disorder: symptoms
A
- People generally seek treatment for amnesia - blocks of time they cannot account for
- Keep encountering people who seem to know them, but they don’t recall meeting them
- Find things they don’t remember purchasing
- Often have a co-morbid diagnosis of depression (+ suicidal)
- ⅓ report “voices in their head”
- Presence of multiple, distinct personalities (2-100)
12
Q
Dissociative identity disorder: faking?
A
- Rare diagnoses almost exclusively in Western culture
- 50% of therapists unsure if DID is a legit mental disorder
- Physical evidence:
- personalities frequently remain stable for a long time
- different physical characteristics (eyeglass prescriptions, right/left handedness, allergies)
13
Q
Dissociative identity disorder: treatment
A
- No medication available
- Almost always psychotherapy with hypnosis
- Goal is to integrate separate personalities
- Uncover/work through childhood memories
14
Q
Personality disorders
A
- Deeply ingrained disruptive and enduring patterns of thinking and perceiving that impair multiple facets of social functioning
- Must persist over a long period of time and impact more than one area of functioning (home and work)
15
Q
Personality disorders: difference from other disorders
A
- The assumption for other disorders (like depression) is that there is a healthy person who has gotten sick
- If the sickness is treated, the core healthy person will then be able to function normally
- However with personality disorder there is no “healthy person”
- The basic/fundamental way that the person interacts with the world - their “baseline” thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are disordered
16
Q
Personality disorders: treatment
A
- Very hard to treat
- The person has to learn all new patterns of interaction, rather than simply removed the problematic patterns to get to the underlying healthy behavior
17
Q
Personality disorders: etiology
A
- Largely influenced by childhood experiences
- Childhood trauma and/or abuse is highly correlated with the later development of personality disorders
- Possible there is an underlying genetic susceptibility that make certain people more likely to get it
18
Q
avoidant personality disorder
A
- Have long standing feelings of inadequacy and therefore don’t interact with others for fear of being judged
- Reluctant to take personal risk/try something
19
Q
narcissistic personality disorder
A
- Having an overinflated sense of importance, often where circumstances do not support that belief
- Highly sensitive to criticism
- Entitled - believing that people owe them things and they should be treated better than others
- Preoccupation with the idea that they are special, unique or deserve to be famous, people are watching them and are interested in what they do
