Psychological Disorders Flashcards
What are the three social construct D’s when identifying what “abnormal” is?
1) Distressing to self or others
2) Dysfunctional for person or society
3) Deviant: violates social norms
Causation and developmental history of an illness or disorder is defined as?
Etiology
Probably course of illness or disorder is defined as?
Prognosis
Proportion of a population with a disorder at a given time is defined as?
Prevalence
What is the demonic model?
Abnormal behaviour is the result of supernatural forces
What is the medical model?
Abnormal behaviour is the result of bodily processes - disorders as diseases
What defines early biological views?
That mental illnesses are diseases like physical illness that effect the brain
What is institutionalization?
The movement to relocate mentally ill individuals into asylums or institutions
What is deinstitutionalization?
The movement to remove mentally ill individuals from institutions and instead integrate them into communities
What is the vilnerability-stress model?
The development of disorders is influenced by the complex interaction between genes and environment
How do genes influence the development of disorders?
Genes provide an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) to a given disorder
How does the environment influence the development of disorders?
Environmental stressors can influence the likelihood of developing that disease
How is reliability defined in diagnostic considerations?
Means that clinicians using the system should show high levels of agreement in their diagnostic decisions
How is validity defined in diagnostic considerations?
Means that the diagnostic categories should accurately capture the essential features of the various disorders
What are the three sections in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)?
Section 1) History of revisions and changes
Section 2) Criteria for main diagnostic categories and other disorders
Section 3) Assessment measures, criteria for disorders that need further research
What are the social and personal considerations when having issues with diagnostic labels?
Becomes easy to accept a label as a description of the diagnosed individual meaning they assume the individual fits stereotype of the disorder - this may develop further where the individual has an expected role and outlook
What are the legal concequences when having issues with diagnostic labels?
- Involuntary commitment
- Loss of civil rights
- Indefinite detainment
What are the legal considerations when having issues with diagnostic labels?
- Competency
- State of mind at time of a judicial hearing
- Insanity
- State of mind at time crime was committed
Many disorders are found across multiple cultures with similar symptoms is defined as:
Culture Universality
Disorders only found in certain cultures or specifc contexts is defined as:
Culture-Bound Disorders
What are 5 types of anxiety disorders?
1) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
2) Panic Disorder
3) Phobias
4) Obsessive-Complusive Disorder (OCD)
5) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
How do you define anxiety disorders?
Frequency and intensity of anxiety responses out of proportion to situations that trigger them - marked by feelings of excessive apprehension
Out of proportion responses have what components to them?
Emotional, physiological, behavioural, and cognitive components
Describe Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
- Chronic, high levels of diffuse anxiety that are not tied to any specific threat
- Constant feelings of dread
- Starts earlier than other anxiety disorder
- More common in women than men
What are the physical symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder?
Dizziness, trembling, muscle weakness, heart palpitations, exhaustion
Describe phobias (phobic disorders)
- Intense, persistent, and irrational fears of objects or situations tha pose no real threat
- Often develop during childhood or adolescence (persistent over time)
- Degree of impairment depends on how often condition is encountered
- More common in women than men
What are the most common phobias in western society?
- Agoraphobia: fear of open spaces and public places
- Social phobias: fear of certain situations
- Specific phobias: fear of specific objects such as animals or situations
Unexpected anxious feelings that can ramp up in intensity to fear or even terror is defined as:
A panic attack
This type of attack is triggered by a certain stressor:
Anxiety attack
What are the biological factors involved in anxiety disorders?
- Monozygotic twins more similar than dizygotic twins
- Low levels of GABA correlate to more reactive nervous system
What are the cognitive factors involved in anxiety disorders?
- Maladaptive thoughts and beliefs
- Things appraised
‘catastrophically’
What are the environmental factors involved in anxiety disorders?
- Classical conditioning: associating an object or situation with pain and trauma
- Modeling: learning by watching others
What are the sociocultural involved in anxiety disorders?
- Culture defines what is important therefore influences what people worry about
What are the sex differences in anxiety disorders?
- Women exhibit more anziety disorders than men
Describe obsessive-compulsive disorder?
- Persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts and urges to engage in ritual behaviours
- Obsessions = cognitive component
- Compulsions = behavioural component
- Equal prevalence between the sexes
What areas of the brain are involved in OCD?
- Cingulate
- Caudate nucleus
- Prefrontal cortex
- Orbitofrontal cortex
- Thalamus
What are the types of mood (affective) disorders?
- Depression (major depressive disorder and chronic depressive disorder)
- Bipolar disorder
- Seasonal affective disorder
Frequency, itensity, duration of symptoms is out of proportion to the situation is defined as:
Clinical depression
Persistent feelings of sadness, despair, and loss of interest in activities that used to bring enjoyment which lasts for weeks, months, or years is defined as:
Major depressive disorder
Reduced ability to experience pleasure is defined as:
Anhedonia
Describe bipolar 1 disorder:
- Periods of depression alterante with mania
- Manic state (opposite to depressive state)
Describe bipolar 2 disorder:
Periods of depressions alternate with hypomania (less severe than mania)
What are the differences between emotional manic episodes and emotional depressive episodes?
Manic: elated, euphoric, high sociability, impatient
Depressive: gloomy, hopeless, socially withdrawn, irritable
What are the differences between cognitive manic episodes and cognitive depressive episodes?
Manic: racing thoughts, need for action, impulsive, talkative, self-confident
Depressive: slow-thinking, obsessive worrying, indecisiveness, negative-self image, self-blame, delusions of guilt and disease
What are the differences between motor manic episodes and motor depressive episodes?
Manic: hyperactive, tireless, needing less sleep, increased sex drive, changes in appetite
Depressive: less active, tired, difficulty with sleeping, reduced sex drive, decreased appetite
Describe seasonal affective disorder:
- Pattern of depression that rises and falls with the seasons
- Leads to excessive sleep and increased appetites
- Shorter days and reduced daylight appear to be important in winter depression
Patient sits in front of high-intensity lights for a couple hours a day is defined as:
Phototherapy
What are biological factors involved in mood disorders?
- Monozygotic twins more similar than dizygotic twins
- Underactivity of norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin for depression
What are the psychological factors in mood disorders?
- Personality-based vulnerability: negative thought patterns, self-perceptions
- Psychodynamic view: early traumatic losses/rejections create vulnerability
- Humanistic view: define self-worth in terms of individual attainment, react more strongly to failures due to inadequecies
What are the cognitive factors involved in mood disorders?
- Depressive cognitive triad: negative thoughts concerning the world, oneself, and the future
- Cannot express negative thoughts (Recall more failures vs. successes
- Depressive attributional pattern: sucess = factors outside self; negative outcomes = personal factors
What are the environmental factors involved in mood disorders?
Learned hoplessness - expect bad events will occur and actions won’t help
What are the sociocultural factors involved in mood disorders?
- Prevalence of depressive disorders
- Feelings of guilt and inadequacy
Feeling separated from your body is defined as:
Depersonalization
A sense that the world is strange/unreal is defined as:
Derealization
Forgetting and fleeing their stressful life is defined as:
Dissociative Fugue
Dissociative amnesia is described as:
Experiencing extensive memory loss following trauma
Describe dissociative identity disorder:
- Presence of two or more distinct personality states
- Each identity is unique with their own set of memories, ideas, and thoughts
What causes DID?
Trauma-dissociation theory/postraumatic model
- DID generally results from severe traumatic experience during early childhood
What are the different types of personality disorders?
- Anti-social PD
- Narcissistic PD
- Borderline PD
- Avoidant PD
- Obsessive-Compulsive PD
- Schizotypal PD
What are the qualities of antisocial PD?
- Thought to be the most destructive to society
- Exhibit little anxiety or guilt (no conscience)
- Tend to be impulsive
- Unable to delay gratification of their needs
- Often manipulative
What are the characteristics of narcissistic PD?
- Individuals display grandiose fantasies
- Lack of empathy for others
- Oversensitivity
What are the characteristics of boderline PD?
- Instability in behaviour, emotion, identity
- Emotional dysregulation (inability to control negative emotions)
- Intense and unstable personal relationships
- Impulsive behaviour
What are the characteristics of avoidant PD?
- Extreme social discomfort and timidity
- Feeling inadequate
- Fear of being negatively evaluated
What are the characteristics of obsessive-compulsive PD?
- Extreme perfectionism, oderliness, and inflexibility
- Preoccupied with mental and interpersonal control (often have rules, lists, schedules, etc.)
What are the characteristics of schizotypal PD?
- Extreme discomfort in social situations
- Difficulty with close relationships
- Often display superstitious and unusual behaviours (seen as eccentric or odd)
What are the different types of somatic system disorders?
- Hypochondriasis: unduly alarmed about symptoms, always thinking they are ill
- Pain disorder: experience pain out of proportion to any stimulation
- Conversion disorder: (neurological symptom disorder) sudden paralysis, blindness, loss of sensation
What are the different types of neurodevelopmental disorders?
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
What are the different characteristics of austism sepctrum disorder?
- Poor communication skills (language development can be impaired)
- Lack of social responsiveness (difficulty with eye contact)
- Repetitive and stereotypes behaviours (routines can be esstential)
- Atypical thought patterns
What are the characteristics of ADHD?
- Two categories of symptoms: attentional difficulties or hyperactivity-impulsivity
- Correlates with occupational, family, emotional, and interpersonal problems
- Genetic predispositions
What are delusions in the context of schizophrenia?
False beliefs sustained despite evidence that would usually dispel them
Overestimating the importance is defined as what in the context of schizophrenia?
Delusions of Grandeur
When an individual thinks someone is out to get them is defined as:
Delusions of Persecution
False perceptions that feel real are defined as:
Hallucinations
Describe the subtype Type 1 of schizophrenia:
- Predominance of positive symptoms
- Pathological extremes
- Delusions, hallucinations, disordered speech and thought
Describe the subtype Type 2 of schizophrenia:
- Predominance of negative symptoms
- Absence of normal reactions
- Lack of emotion, expression, motivation
What is the dopamine hypothesis when looking into the biological factors of schizophrenia?
Dopamine hypothesis is the theory that schizophrenia involves high dopamine activity
What is the aberrant salience hypothesis when looking into the biological factors of schizophrenia?
It suggests that heightened levels of dopamine increase attentional and motivational circuits to make ordinary environmental features seem significant
Involuntary movements due to long-term blocking of dopamine receptors in the context of schizophrenia is defined as:
Tardive dyskinesia
What is the glutamate theory?
Hypofunction of NMDA receptors > increases in glutamate > increases dopamine
- Produce positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia
What are the environmental factors involved in schizophrenia?
- Stressful life events interact with other vulnerabilities
- High reactivity correlates with psychotic behaviours
- Negative family dynamics can increase liklihood (especially in homes high in expressed emotion)
What are the sociocultural factors involved in schizophrenia?
- Social Causation Hypothesis: higher levels of stress among low-income populations
- Social Drift Hypothesis: as functioning deteriorates, individuals drift down socio-economic ladder
- Minimal differences between cultures
