Module 49 (Psych Disorders)

Question 1

Psychological disorder

Answer 1

-a collection of symptoms marked by a “clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior”

Question 2

Frequency of psych disorders in U.S.

Answer 2

-21% of American adults experienced a psychological disorder in the past year
~50% of Americans experience a psychological disorder at some point in their life

Question 3

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)

Answer 3

-Guidebook published by the American Psychiatric Association on how to diagnose psychological disorders
-Gives diagnostic classifications, criteria sets, and descriptive text

Question 4

Creation of DSM-5

Answer 4

-Task force (oversees project)
-13 work groups (specific subspecialty expertise), 300 advisers
-National institute of mental health, WHO, world psychiatric association
-Scientific review committee
-Clinical and Public health committee
-Public feedback (11,000 comments)

Question 5

DSM-5 Example (Major depressive disorder)

Answer 5

> 4 symptoms during the same 2-week period that are a change from the previous functioning (e.g. depressed mood, loss of interest/pleasure, insomnia, hypersomnia, fatigue)
-Depressed mood/loss of interest/pleasure must be present
-Excludes symptoms clearly attributable to another medical condition
-Additional required criteria:
-Symptoms cause clinically significant distress of impairment
-Not attributable to physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition
-Not better explained by schizophrenia spectrum or psychotic disorders
-No history of manic or hypomanic episode

Question 6

Benefits and Drawbacks of classifying psychological disorders

Answer 6

Potential Benefits:
-Ease of diagnosis and communication across clinicians, predicting a disorder’s course, suggesting appropriate treatment, can be validating to individuals
Potential drawbacks:
-Heterogeneity and comorbidity, clinical criteria are somewhat arbitrary, can be stigmatizing

Question 7

Depression

Answer 7

-#1 reason people seek mental health services
-31% of US college students report having felt so depressed it was difficult to function
-1/10 US adults have experienced depression in the past year
-Depression is 2x as common in women
-Most people recover from depression and can later experience high levels of well-being
-Work and relationship stresses can precede depression

Question 8

Major Depressive Disorder

Answer 8

depressed mood and/or loss of interest/pleasure with other symptoms, lasting two or more weeks

Question 9

Persistent Depressive Disorder/Dysthymia

Answer 9

enerally milder depressive symptoms lasting years or more

Question 10

Bipolar disorder

Answer 10

a group of disorders that involves episodes of depression and episodes of (hypo)mania across weeks

Question 11

Anxiety

Answer 11

-Classical conditioning, stimulus generalization, and reinforcement
-Cognition and worry
-Autonomic nervous system and the brain, genetics

Question 12

Social anxiety disorder

Answer 12

persistent, intense fear or anxiety about specified social situations

Question 13

Generalized anxiety disorder

Answer 13

continuous “free-floating” anxiety and autonomic nervous system arousal

Question 14

Panic disorder

Answer 14

unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread, terror, and accompanying physical sensations

Question 15

Specific phobias

Answer 15

persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation

Question 16

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Answer 16

-Unwanted, persistent obsessive thoughts
-Concerns with dirt, germs, or toxins, fear of something terrible happening, symmetry, order, exactness
-Compulsive behaviors are a response to those thoughts
-Excessive hand washing, grooming, repeated rituals, checking doors, locks, homework
-Persistently interfere with everyday life and cause distress
-Most common among teens and young adults, gradual improvement is common

Question 17

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Answer 17

-PTSD is a response to trauma, but not everyone who experiences trauma experiences PTSD, and not all stress-related bad memories and dreams are symptoms of -PTSD
-Influenced by genes, degrees of emotional distress, other factors
-Symptoms include haunting memories and nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, social withdrawal

Question 18

Schizophrenia

Answer 18

-Hallucinations: false perceptions, often in the form of auditory voices
-Delusions: false beliefs
-Disorganized speech: e.g. word salad
-Also impacts emotion expression, motor behavior
-Affects 1% of the population, usually chronic
-Abnormal brain activity and anatomy, genetic and environmental risk

Question 19

Personality disorders

Answer 19

-An enduring and inflexible pattern of long duration leading to significant distress or impairment
-Diagnosis criteria:
-Minimum number of symptoms for PD met
-Symptoms occur in various contexts
-Not better explained by substances or medical conditions

Question 20

Example: Narcissistic PD

Answer 20

Minimum of 5 of the following:
-Grandiose self importance, idealistic fantasies, views self as special and unique, requires excessive self admiration, entitled, exploitative, lacks empathy, envious, arrogant

Question 21

Example: Schizotypal PD

Answer 21

Minimum of 5 of the following:
-Ideas and delusions of reference, magical thinking/superstitious, bodily illusions, odd/metaphorical speech, paranoid/suspicious, flat/inappropriate affect, eccentric behavior/appearance, lack of close relationships beyond family, paranoid social anxiety even with people they know

Question 22

Example: Obsessive Compulsive PD

Answer 22

Minimum of 5 of the following:
-Inflexible, perfectionist to a fault, preoccupied with details/rules/schedules, excessive productive, overconscientious (strict moral guidelines), difficult discarding stuff, difficulty delegating, miserly