Psychological Disorders Flashcards
What is psychopathology?
The study of abnormal behaviour and psychological dysfunction, it involves characterising symptoms, understanding etiology (causes) and developing effective treatments.
What are the 3 main elements of defining abnormality?
Statistical Definition or Social Norm Deviance
Subjective Discomfort
Inability to Function Normally or Maladaptive Thinking & Behaviour
What is a psychological disorder?
Psychological disorder is defined as any pattern of behaviour or psychological functioning that causes people significant distress, causes them to harm themselves or others, or harms their ability to function in daily life.
Can variation in human behaviour be considered a psychological disorder?
Only if the variation is taken to an extreme, behaviours and thoughts can be seen on a continuum, ranging from absence to extreme or severe expression across various indicators (intensity, frequency).
What is the biological model of abnormality?
The model proposes that psychological disorders have a biological or medical cause, changing behaviour is caused by biological changes in the chemical, structural, or genetic systems of the body.
In the biological model of abnormality, how are disorders diagnosed?
By symptoms, etiology, course and prognosis.
If a psychologists describes psychological disorders based on factors such as: faulty neurotransmitter systems, genetic problems, brain damage and dysfunction. They are describing abnormal behaviour in terms of the ______________ model of abnormality.
biological
What are the 3 main psychological models of abnormality?
Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Cognitive
What is the psychodynamic view of abnormality?
It assumes that disordered thinking and behaviour are the result of repressing one’s threatening thoughts, memories and concerns in the unconscious mind.
When a woman has thoughts of sleeping with her brother and she feels “dirty” she may feel compelled to wash her hands to symbolically rid herself of the “dirty” thoughts. Which model of abnormality is the previous sentence based on?
Psychodynamic
What is the behavioural model of abnormality?
Behaviourists define disordered behaviour as being learned just like normal behaviour, either through conditioning or reinforcement.
A spider dropped onto a girl’s leg, causing her to scream and react with fear. Her mother then gave her a lot of attention. The next time she saw a spider, she screamed again to draw attention to herself. Which model of abnormality is this an example of?
Behavioural
What is the cognitive model of abnormality?
Cognitive psychologists see maladaptive functioning as a result from illogical thinking patterns. Abnormal thinking, and behaviour, stems from irrational beliefs and illogical patterns of thought.
A girl has the distorted thinking that all insects, even ants, are venomous and that she would die after being bit by one. Some will say that such illogical thinking patterns put her at higher risk of depression and anxiety. Which model of abnormality is this thinking from?
Cognitive
What is the sociocultural perspective of abnormality?
A perspective that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture; in psychopathology, perspective in which abnormal thinking and behavior (as well as normal) is seen as the product of learning and shaping within the context of the family, the social group to which one belongs, and the culture within which the family and social group exist.
The need to consider the unique characteristics of the culture in which behaviour takes place to be able to correctly diagnose and treat the disorder is called __________ __________.
cultural relativity
_______________ __________________ are sets of particular symptoms of distress found in particular cultures, which may or may not be recognised as an illness within the culture.
Cultural syndromes
What is the biopsychological perspective of abnormality?
The perspective in which abnormal behaviour is seen as the result of the combined and interacting forces of biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences.
A person may have a genetically inherited tendency for a type of disorder, such as anxiety, but may not develop a full-blown disorder unless the family and social environments produce the right stressors at the right time in development. Which perspective of abnormality is the previous statement based on?
Biopsychological
A study on depression reported that Chinese & Japanese American individuals frequently reported having a poor appetite whereas European American individuals reported having the urge to eat more frequently. This is linked to the ________________ perspective of abnormality on how different background or external factors such as family or upbringing can affect behaviour and thinking.
sociocultural
Diagnosing psychological disorders is a challenge as there are no specific ____________ to determine whether a certain psychological disorder is present in an individual.
biomarkers
Why is it important to have a standardised method of describing psychological and behavioural symptoms?
To correctly identify and diagnose the disorder and to facilitate communication among and between psychological professionals and other healthcare providers.
What is the DSM-5?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.
It describes about 250 different psychological disorders in terms of symptoms, the typical path of the disorders takes as it progresses (course), and a checklist of specific criteria that must be met in order for the diagnosis of that disorder to be made.
What are the benefits of the DSM-5?
It provides practitioners with a common language and standardisation of symptoms and criteria for diagnosis (labels).
Does the DSM-5 provide a form of treatment for any diagnosis?
No it does not, the manual is more of a framework for diagnosis and it does not ensure accuracy in every situation. The diagnoses are not characterised by underlying causes, and rather a classification of symptoms, hence it does not recommend any form of treatment as factors contributing to the disorder may vary.
What is the ICD-11?
The International Classification of Diseases, which is a large ontology of medical classifications published by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
How is the ICD-11 different from the DSM-5?
ICD-11 is globally used for insurance coding and is the authoritative for BOTH mental and physical illnesses.
What are the similarities in the ICD-11 and the DSM-5?
They both detail symptomatic criteria for their diagnoses.
What are some pros of the labelling of psychological disorders?
They make up a common language in the mental health community, allowing psychological professionals to communicate with each other clearly and efficiently.
Labels establish distinct diagnostic categories that all professionals recognize and understand, and they can help patients receive effective treatment.
What are some cons of the labelling of psychological disorders?
The labels can be overly prejudicial, they can bias us, affect our judgement, and give us preconceived notions that may turn out to be false.
What does David Rosenhan’s “pseudopatient” experiment tell us about the labelling of psychological disorders?
Psychological labels are long-lasting and powerful, affecting not only how other people see mental patients but how patients see themselves.
What is “psychology student’s syndrome”?
Psychology students studying abnormal behavior can also become convinced that they have some mental disorder. This may occur due to the availability bias/heuristic.
What are mood disorders?
Mood disorders are disorders in which the mood is severely disturbed. It also refers to disturbances in emotion or affective disorders.
What are depressive disorders?
Depressive disorders are characterised by depressive moods (e.g., sad, irritable, empty) or a loss of pleasure accompanied by other cognitive, behavioural or neurovegetative (i.e., directly related to the body) symptoms that significantly affect the individual’s ability to function.
When a deeply depressed mood comes on fairly suddenly and either seems to be too severe for the circumstances or exists without any external cause for sadness, what is this disorder called?
Major depressive disorder
What are some symptoms of major depressive disorder?
They are depressed for most of every day, take little or no pleasure in any activities, feel tired, have trouble sleeping or sleep too much, experience excessive guilt or feelings of worthlessness, and have trouble concentrating. Most of these symptoms occur on a daily basis.
What is a unipolar disorder?
An emotional disorder where the main emotion experienced is at one end of the emotional range, for example, sadness.
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder is when a person experiences periods of mood that can range from severe depression to manic episodes (excessive excitement, energy, and elation).
What is bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 disorder?
An individual with bipolar 1 disorder may only experience mood that spans from normal to manic and may or may not experience episodes of depression.
An individual with bipolar 2 disorder experiences spans of normal mood that are interspersed with episodes of major depression and episodes of hypomania, a level of mood that is elevated but at a level below or less severe than full mania.
What are the behavioural links to causes of disordered moods?
Behavioural theories link depression to learned helplessness, individuals blame any negative events on personal flaws or external factors, leading them to feel powerless to improve their situations.
What are the cognitive links to causes of disordered moods?
Cognitive theories see depression as the result of distorted illogical thinking, depressed people have persistent negative thoughts leading to a downward spiral, implying that that depression increases the prevalence or frequency of negative thoughts.
What are the biological links to causes of disordered moods?
Biological explanations of mood disorders look at the function of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine systems. It places emphasis on neurotransmitters and how it can affect mood.
It also looks into how hereditary influence may play part in the prevalence of mood disorders.
What are anxiety disorders?
Anxiety disorders are a class of disorders in which the primary symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety.
What are phobias or phobic disorders?
A specific anxiety disorder where there is an irrational and/or persistent fear of something.