Psychological Disorders Flashcards
What is a mental disorder defined as (broadly)
Clinically recogniseable set of symptoms and behaviours that disrupt wellbeing and impair functioning at home/work/school. They cause distress to the person or others and usually require treatment
What are the four different contexts of psychopathology
Historical
Social
Cultural
Theoretical (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioural, biological, systems, evolutionary)
What are the five different perspectives on psychological illness
Psychodynamic perspective
Cognitive-behavioural perspective
Biological perspective
Systems perspective
Evolutionary perspective
How does the psychodynamic perspective approach psychopathology?
Recognises three types of psychopathology
1. neuroses – issues in living that involve anxiety/interpersonal conflict (primarily environmental)
2. personality disorder – chronic, severe disturbances, alter capacity to work and relationships (environmental or genes)
3. psychoses – marked disturbances of contact with reality (primarily gene vulnerability)
How does the cognitive-behavioural perspective approach psychopathology?
Integrates classical and operant conditioning with cognitive-social perspective
Cognitive – many psychological problems reflect disfunctional attitudes, beliefs and cognitive processes
Behavioural – many psychological problems arise from conditioned emotional responses
How does the biological perspective approach psychopathology?
Roots of abnormal behaviour lies within brain
- neurotransmitter dysfunction
- abnormality of brain structures
- disrupted neural pathways
- genetics
- diathesis-stress model (underlying vulnerability with symptoms appearing under stress)
How does the systems perspective approach psychopathology?
Roots of abnormality lies in context of a social group
- each person a member of a system
- group functions as a system (each part of the system independent)
- what happens in one part influences the group
How does the evolutionary perspective approach psychopathology?
Focus on genotypes
Random variations in genotypes can lead to less adaptive phenotypes
What are the main differences between the DSM-5 and ICD?
DSM – applies to only mental disorders, ICD – all illness
DSM – by the APA, ICD – by the WHO
DSM – for profit, ICD – not-for-profit
DSM – used for researchers and US clinicians
ICD – clinicians outside US and front-line workers
What are the two types of symptoms experienced with schizophrenia?
Positive symptoms
Negative symptoms
What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia and some examples?
Something (the symptom) is present
- Delusions – false beliefs without objective evidence
- Hallucinations – false sensory perceptions, experienced as real but not based on external stimuli
- Disorganised speech or behaviour
What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia and some examples?
Absence / lack of normal behaviour
- Emotional flattening
- apathy
- social withdrawal
- lack of spontaneous movement
What are the different types of delusions?
Persecutory (most common)
Grandiosity
Delusions of control
Delusions of reference
Somatic
Thought broadcasting
Thought withdrawal
What are the different types of hallucinations?
Auditory (most common)
Visual
Somatic
Tactile
Olfactory (smell)
Gustatory (taste)
What is a thought disorder defined as?
Disorganised way of thinking that leads to abnormal ways of expressing language when speaking or writing
(Primary symptom of schizophrenia)
What are some symptoms of a thought disorder?
Disturbances in speed or amount or coherence of thinking?
- poverty of content
- flight of ideas
- word salad
- tangentiality (slip off track)
- circumstantiality (delay reaching goal)
Negative symptoms
- flattening affect (limited emotional expression)
- alogia (decreased quantity of speech, no spontaneous)
- avolition of speech (lack of drive or motivation)
- catatonia (abnormal movement or behaviour)
What are some theories for schizophrenia?
The cause is unclear
Diathesis-stress model –> underlying biological vulnerability compounded by stress
Neurodevelopmental hypothesis –> disruption in brain development affects adult life later on.
“Dopamine hypothesis” –> Greater release of dopamine/number of receptor sites
Enlarged ventricles, neuron loss
What are the three types of bipolar (recognised)
Bipolar I –> major depression and mania
Bipolar II –> major depression and hypermania (less severe mania)
Cyclothymia –> hypomania and mild depression
How is bipolar characterised
Disturbances in emotion and mood
How are depression disorders characterised?
Characterised by mood disturbance and emotion
What are examples of symptoms needed to be diagnosed with a depressive disorder?
NECESSARY (one of two)
- Persistent sad mood
- Anhedonia -> loss of interests
ANY OF THESE TOO
Increase/decrease appetite or weight
Increase/decrease sleep
Psychomotor agitation or retardation
Fatigue
Worthlessness or guilty feelings
Difficulty concentrating
Indecisiveness
Recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal thoughts
How are anxiety disorders characterised?
Frequent, intense or irrational anxiety or apprehension
How is a phobic disorder characterised?
Irrational fear of object or situation
Out of proportion to actual danger
There can be social phobia (fear of public situations etc.) or specific phobias (e.g arachnophobia)
How is a panic disorder characterised?
Intense attacks of fear and terror not justified by situation
Both external and internal triggers
What are some physical symptoms of panic disorders?
heart rate increase, sweating, shortness of breath
How is Generalised Anxiety Disorder characterised?
Nonspecific fear and anxiety
