Psych/Soc Class 5 Flashcards
Mental disorder
AKA Psychological disorder
A set of behaviour or psychological symptoms that are not in keeping with social norms & are severe enough to cause significant personal district or impairment to social, occupational or personal functioning
Biomedical vs Biopsychosocial
Biomedical
- treat with medication, the cause is organic pathology, disabilities, genetics
Biopsychosocial
- treatment would be hollistic, possibly include medication and/or therapy, cause is genetics, SES, economic factors, etc
Level 1 Disorders
Anxiety Disorders Depressive disorders Bipolar & related disorders Schizophrenia spectrum & other psychotic disorders Trauma and stress related disorders Personality disorders OCD Somatic Symptom disorders Dissociative disorders
Anxiety Disorder Symptoms
- Excessive fear and/or anxiety
- Avoidance behaviours
- Sympathetic activation in the absence of threat
Specific anxiety disorders
Phobias
General anxiety disorder
Panic disorder
Social anxiety disorder
Phobias
A very specific fear
Generalized anxiety disorder
excessive anxiety without a specific cause
Social anxiety disorder
fear/anxiety around social situations or interaction w/ specific people
Panic disorder
Involves constant anxiety about reoccurring panic attack
Depressive Disorders
Sad, empty and/irritable mood
Not related to normal grief
Depressive Disorder symptoms
Must have at least 5 symptoms for 2 weeks or more:
- insomnia or hypersomnia
- weight gain or weight loss
- restlessness or feeling slowed down
- reoccurring thoughts of death or suicide
- loss of interest of all activities
- fatigues/loss of energy
- depressed or irritable mood
- Impaired concentration, indecisiveness
- feelings of worthlessness or guilt
Anhedonia
Loss of interest of almost all activities
Monoamine hypothesis
Predicts that underlying basis of depression is depletion of levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and/or dopamine in CNS
Bipolar Disorders
Bridge bw Psychotic and Depressive disorders
- involves cycles or oscillations or breaks between manic and depressive phases
Specific Bipolar Disorder diagnoses
Bipolar I Disorder - spend more time in manic phase > depressive phase
Bipolar II Disorder - spend more time in depressive phase > manic phase
Cyclothymic Disorder - average of B I & II disorder
Bipolar Disorder Symptoms
Manic Phase
- high energy
- high self esteem
- irritable
- quick talking
- impulsive
- racing thoughts
Depressive Phase
- low energy
- low self esteem
- lack of concentration
- lack of interest
- helplessness
- suicidal thoughts
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
- Delusions & hallucinations
- maybe “negative” symptoms
- involve general detachment from reality
- disorganized speech & thoughts
Specific Schizophrenia Disorder diagnoses
Delusional Disorder
Brief Psychotic Disorder
Schizophreniform Disorder (brief - avg)
Schizophrenia (life long) - affects 1%, characterized by +/- symptoms
Schizoaffective Disorder (combo of bipolar & schiz)
Positive Symptoms
Psychotic behaviours not seen in healthy people
- hallucinations, delusions (false beliefs), disorganized speech & thought
Negative Symptoms
Disruptions of normal emotions & behaviours, absence of normal patterns
- avolition (lack of motivation), reduced speech and/or interactions, flattened effect
Cognitive Symptoms
Thought patterns make it hard to lead normal life & cause emotional distress
- poor executive functioning, trouble focusing or paying attention, problem with working memory
Specific Diagnoses of Trauma & Stressor Related Disorders
Adjustment disorder
Post traumatic stress disorder
Acute Stress Disorder
Personality Disorders
Enduring (often lifetime) patterns of inflexible behaviours across a range of settings & relationships
- diagnosis begins in adolescence or early adulthood
- high comorbidity
Cluster A Personality Disorder
“Odd/eccentric”
Paranoid PD - manifests the paranoid tendencies
Schizoid PD - manifests the social withdrawal & flattened effect
Schizotypal PD - manifests milder hallucinations & delusions
Cluster B Personality Disorder
“Dramatic/erratic”
Antisocial PD - sociopathy, with no regard for right or wrong or others’ rights
Borderline PD - severe abandonment anxiety & emotional turbulence
Histrionic PD - overdramatic attention seeking & emotional overreaction
Narcissistic PD - inflated sense of self & lack of empathy
Cluster C Personality Disorder
“Fear/anxiety”
Avoidant PD - presents as very extreme shyness & feat of rejection
Dependent PD - presents as over-dependance on others to meet needs
Obsessive-compulsive PD - presents as milder form of OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- obsessions (thoughts or urges) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviours)
Specific Diagnoses of OCD
- OCD
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder
- Hoarding Disorder
- Trichotillomania
Somatic Symptom Disorders
Excessive and/or medically unexplainable symptoms
Specific Diagnoses Somatic Symptom Disorder
- Somatic Symptom Disorder (vagueness of symptoms)
- Illness Anxiety Disorder (reoccurring specific fear of getting a specific disease
- Conversion Disorder
- Factitious Disorder (falsification)
Dissociative Disorders
Disruptions and/or discontinuities in core identity
- Abnormal integration of consciousness, identity, emotion
Specific Diagnoses Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Identity Disorder
- multiple consciouses
- different handwriting talents
- only exhibit 1 type of personality
Dissociative Amnesia
- lost significant amount of biographic information
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
- can be seen in PTSD
- depersonal (separate of what they’re feeling)
- derealization (thinking the place they’re in is surreal)
Level 2 Disorders
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Neurocognitive disorders
Sleep-wake disorders
Substance-related disorders
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- manifest early in development (early on-set), usually before grade school
- appear as deficits, generally difficult to treat
- characterized by intellectual disability, communication disorders
Specific Diagnoses Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- -> affects 2-4% of school aged children, motor –restlessness, difficulty paying attention, distractibility, impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Tourette’s syndrome (ticks, cussing, random yelling
Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behaviour
- Prevalence is 1/88 children, males 4x more likely than females
Signs: - impaired social interaction
- avoiding eye contact with others
- difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling
- may lack empathy
- repetitive movements such as rocking
- inability to play interactively with other children
Neurocognitive Disorders
Cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in comlex attention, executive function, learning, memory, lagnuage, perceptual motor or social cognition
- symptoms may interfere significantly with a person’s everyday independence in MAJOR neurocognitive disorder but no in MILD neurocognitive disorder
Specific Diagnoses Neurocognitive Disorders
- Traumatic Brain Injury (CTE)
- Huntington’s Disease
- Major/Mild Neurocognitive Disorder due to Alzheimer’s Disease
- Major/Mild Neurocognitive Disorder due to Parkinson’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
2 abnormal structures in the brain:
- Amyloid plaques - clumps of protein fragments that accumulate outside of cells
- Neurofibrillary tangles - clumps of altered proteins inside cells (also known as tau tangles)
- destruction & death of nerve cells that cause memory failure, personality changes, problems carrying out daily activities & other symptoms
- healthy people also have this but with Alzheimers it is at a faster rate
- avg duration 8 years
Parkinson’s Disease
Primarily caused by abnormally low dopamine levels
- Dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra of the basal ganglia die off, making it harder to control movements
- dopamine involved in sending messages to areas of brain that control coordination & movement
- abnormal aggregates of protein called Lewy body develop inside neurons
Sleep-wake disorders
Disturbance in quality, amount and timing of sleep
Specific Diagnoses of Sleep-Wake Disorders
Dyssomnias: abnormalities in the amount, quality or timing of sleep
- Insomnia - inability to fall or remain asleep
- Narcolepsy - periodic, overwhelming sleepiness during waking periods
- Sleep apnea - intermittent cessation of breathing during sleep, which results in repeated awakenings
Parasomnias: abnormal behaviours that occur during sleep
- Somnambulism: sleep walking
- tends to occur during slow wave sleep (stage 3)
- usually happens during the first third of the night
- many children experience sleep-walking and eventually grow out of it - Night terrors: appearing terrified, babbling, screaming while deep asleep
- usually occur during stage 3 (unlike nightmares which happening during REM)
Substance Related & Addictive Disorders
- drugs separated into 10 classes
- involves brain’s reward system
- tolerance & withdrawal
Specific Diagnoses of Substance related & addictive disorders
- substance use disorders
- alcohol related disorders
- caffeine, cannabis, hallucinogen, etc related disorders
- gambling disorders
Tolerance
Occurs when an individual must use more of a drug to achieve the desired effect
Dependence
Develops when a person needs to use a drug in order to function normally
Withdrawal
Describes the group of symptoms that occur when a person who has formed a dependance to a drug suddenly discontinues or decreases use of that drug
- symptoms are drug-specific & dose dependent
Addiction
Compulsive drug use despite harmful consequence & inability to stop using a drug
Psychological Dependence vs Physical Dependence
Psychological
- occurs when drug becomes central to person’s thoughts, emotions & activities
- demonstrated by strong urge to use drug, despite being aware of its harmful effects
- not all drugs lead to physical dependence, it’s possible for any drug to lead to psych dependence
Physical
- demonstrated by presence of withdrawal symptoms when drug is not consumed
- person depends on drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms & to fx normally
- often follows heavy daily use over several weeks or longer
Psychoactive drugs
Work by altering actions at neuronal synapse
- enhance, suppress or mimic activity of neurotransmitter
Drug Classes & Effects
Depressants
Examples: alcohol, barbiturates, opiates
Action: Depresses CNS (Esp F/F)
Effect: impaired motor control, organ failure from overose
Stimulants
Examples: caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine
Action: Increases availability & action of neurotransmitters
Effect: Sympathetic activation; rush or high followed by a crash
Hallucinogens
Examples: THC, Marijuana, LSD
Action: Distorts perception
Effect: Hallucinations, impaired judgement, slowed rx time
Consciousness
Awareness we have of ourselves, our internal state & environment
- imp for reflection & directs our attn
- needed to complete novel & complex tasks but little awareness for practiced & simple tasks
States of consciousness
Alert
Sleep
RAS
Reticular activating system
- controls alertness & arousal
- is a network of nerve pathways in brain stem that connects spinal cord, cerebrum & cerebellum
- mediates overall level of consciousness
Electroencephelograph
Documents different wave lengths
Waves, frequencies & characteristics
Alpha - 7 to 14 Hz
- associated with relaxed normal consciousness
Beta - 15 to 30 Hz
- higher frequency than alpha, more alert consciousness
Theta - 4 to 7 Hz
- seen in young children, meditative states & stages 1 sleep
Delta - Less than 4 Hz
- occurs during slow wave sleep
Circadian rhythm
Controls increases & decreases in alertness in predictable ways over 24-h cycle
12 am - 6 am –> sleep
6 am - 10 pm –> slow increase in sleep need
10 pm - 12 am –> sleep
12 am - 12 pm –>sleep urge decreases
After 12 pm & 8 pm sleep urge increases
3 physiological indicators of mammal’s circadian rhythm
- Melatonin levels released by pineal gland (during day it is inactive)
- Body temperature controlled by hypothalamus (36-38 degrees celsius)
- Cortisol controlled by adrenal cortex
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
- found in hypothalamus
- controls sleep, melatoin production & body temp
- cortisol release is controlled by multiple things, only one is SCN
Sleep Stages
Stage 1 (theta waves)
EDG- slow rolling eye movements
EMG- moderate body activity
Characteristics - fleeting thoughts, non-REM sleep
Stage 2 (sleep spindle, K-complex)
EDG- no eye movement
EMG- moderate body activity
Characteristics - increased relaxation, decreased temp, heart rate & respiration
Stage 3 & 4 (delta waves)
EDG- no eye movement
EMG- moderate body activity
Characteristics - heart & digestion slow, growth hormones secreted, deepest level of sleep
REM (similar to beta waves but more jagged; low intensity, high frequency)
EDG- bursts of quick eye movements
EMG- almost no body activity (paradoxical sleep bc no body activity but brain is active)
Characteristics - when dreams occur
Hypnosis
Attention is more focused and peripheral awareness is reduced
- more low frequency > high frequency
- decrease in left hemisphere activity & increase in right hemisphere activity
Meditation
Practice in which individual induces mode of consciousness for some purpose
- effective for stress reduction
- increases activity in left frontal lobe (area active in most optimistic people)
- improved concentration, lowered bp, & better immune fx
- lower frequency alpha & theta waves
- if meditated for a long time, lots of brain areas appear to be altered esp in left hemisphere
Most prevalent disorder in US
Anxiety disorders (18%)
Lease prevalent disorder in US
Psychotic disorders (2%)
