Myers Abnormal Psychology Flashcards
Elizabeth Cochran
Went undercover as Nellie Bly and discovered poor conditions in mental hospitals
3 Ds of psychological disorders
Deviant
Distressful
Dysfunctional
David Rosenhan
Sent in pseudo patients (1973)
Medical model
Psychological disorders have physiological causes
Biopsychosocial approach to mental disorders
Most accepted today
Bio
Psych
Soc-cul
DSM-V
(2013)
Goals: Identify, classify and determine prevalence.
Doesn’t discuss treatment
Neurotic vs psychotic
Neurotic: distressing, still able to function.
Psychotic: loses contact with reality.
What is the new term for childhood bipolar disorder?
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
Dorothea Dix
Advocates for human treatment in American mental hospitals
Pros and cons of labeling
Pros: discern treatment
Cons: self fulfilling prophecy
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessions: unwanted reoccurring thoughts or ideas.
Compulsions: repetitive behaviors.
GABA, glucose levels in frontal lobe.
- body dysmorphia
- hoarding
- trichitillomania
- excoriation (skin picking)
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Excessive or unrealistic worry about life circumstances (lasting 6 months or more)
Panic disorder
Marked by unpredictable minute(s) long episodes of intense dread.
Chest pains, chocking, terror.
Fight or flight response.
Can be caused by persistent stress or previous psychological trauma. May be a genetic predisposition.
Agoraphobia
Fear or avoidance of situations, where one has felt loss of control and panic.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Involves persistent feelings of anxiety that are caused by traumatic experience.
This was added to the DSM after the Vietnam war.
Previously called “shell shock” or “battle fatigue”
Post traumatic growth
Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crisis.
Anxiety
General state of dread or uneasiness that occurs in response to a vague or imagined fear
Social anxiety disorder
Intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such.
Phobias
Persistent, irrational fears of specific objects, activities or situations.
Leads to avoidance behavior.
Learning and biological perspective regarding anxiety disorders
Learning (behavioral) perspective: John B. Watson, stimulus generalization, anxiety is solidified through reinforcement. Observational learning.
Biological perspective: natural selection. Too much or too little of certain neurotransmitters.
Where in the brain of people with anxiety show overarousal?
Areas that deal with impulse control and habitual behaviors
Dissociative disorders
Dissociative disorders: conscious awareness becomes separated from previous memories, thoughts and feelings.
Dissociative identity disorder
A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities.
Somataform disorders
Psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause.
Conversion disorder
A rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no psychological basis can be found.
Hypochondriasis
Person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease
Mania
A mood disorder marked by a hyper active, wildly optimistic state.
Major depressive disorder
Five signs of depression for at least two weeks
Mood disorders
Characterized by emotional extremes and challenges in regulating mood.
Bipolar disorders
Periods of depression and mania.
May hear voices and experience hallucinations and delusions.
Bipolar I: (most extreme) one or more manic or mixed episode.
Bipolar II: (less extreme) highs that are never more severe than hypomania, major depressive episodes.
Cyclothemic: (least extreme) frequent episodes of hypomania and mild depression over a two year period.
Brain chemistry during manic and depressive states
Norepinephrine is severely lacking during a depressive state and highly active during manic episodes.
Low serotonin levels are present during depressive states.
Dysthymic disorder
Suffering from mild depression everyday for at least two years- lies between blue mood and major depressive disorder.
Suicide
More suicide is committed during manic episodes.
White people are two times more likely than black.
More women attempt suicide, more men commit suicide.
Suicide rates have doubled within the last 40 years.
More likely to commit suicide: rich, single/divorced, white, non religious and teens/elderly.
Vicious cycle of depression
- Stressful experiences
- Negative explanatory style
- Depressed mood
- Cognitive and behavioral changes
Rates of depression in twins
Fraternal: 20%
Identical: 50%
Schizophrenia
- complex spectrum of disorders
- psychosis
- 2 million in US and 24 million around the world
- break down in selective attention
Positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Positive: present inappropriate symptoms (dopamine)
Negative: missing appropriate symptoms (generics)
Chronic/process schizophrenia
Symptoms develop gradually as a result of social inadequacy, recovery is unlikely.
Acute/reactive schizophrenia
Symptoms develop suddenly because of stress, tend to respond to drug therapy.
Ten subtypes of schizophrenia
- Paranoid: Preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations.
- Catatonic: flat effect, waxy flexibility, repetition.
- Undifferentiated: many and varied symptoms.
- Disorganized: disorganized speech, behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotions.
- Residual: withdrawal following long stage of hallucinations.
- Delusional disorder
- Brief psychotic disorder
- Schizoaffective disorder
- Schizophreniform disorder
- Substance/medication induces psychotic disorder
Causes of schizophrenia
Psychoanalytic: Overwhelmed id
Biological: too much dopamine, low frontal lobe activity, genetics, maternal virus.
Environmental: (diathesis model- stress could bring out on set schizophrenia.)
Personality disorders
Marked by inflexible, disruptive and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.
Antisocial personality disorder
Exhibits a lack of conscience for wrong doing.
Sociopathy-Psychopathy
Typically male.
Usually discovered before age 15.
Biological:
Cluster A personality disorders
Odd or eccentric personality characteristics.
- Paranoid
- Schizoid: avoid relationships.
- Schizotypal
Cluster B personality disorders
Dramatic, emotional or impulsive personality characteristics.
- Narcissistic
- Histrionic: center of attention.
- Antisocial: psychopathy and sociopathy.
- Borderline: learned behaviors and emotional responses to traumatic or neglectful environments.
Cluster C personality disorders
Anxious, fearful or avoidant personality characteristics.
- Avoidant
- Dependent
- Obsessive-Compulsive
