Psychological Disorders Flashcards
1
Q
Psych Disorders: Global Problem
A
- WHO: 450 million people suffer from mental/behavioral disorders
- Rates/symptoms vary culture to culture
- Different ways they diagnose them
- Universal disorders:
- Depression: USA=emotions and feelings of sadness, Collectivist=physical symptoms (lack of energy, lethargy)
- Schizophrenia
2
Q
Psychological Disorder
A
-A syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion, regulation, or behavior
3
Q
Significant Disturbance
A
- 3D definition
- Behaviors are:
- Deviant
- Distressful
- Dysfunctional
- Significant if meets all 3
4
Q
Deviance
A
- Being different
- Standards vary according to time and culture (context)
- Mass killing: spree or war hero
- Hearing voices: connection with God?
- Same intrinsic behavior, different reasoning
- 1973: Homosexuality dropped by APA as disorder
- Not only criterion
5
Q
Distressful
A
- Deviance not always a disorder
- Exceptional behavior (straight As, perfect SAT)
- Must also cause person/ society distress
- Attacking their hold on reality
6
Q
Harmful dysfunction
A
- Must impair your life and normal functioning
- Fear vs. Phobia
- Scared of spiders vs. extreme fear, impossible to function
- Fear vs. Phobia
7
Q
Historical perspectives of psych disorders
A
- Astrology (lunar cycles)
- Evil spirits (Possessed)
- Satanic possessions
8
Q
Historical treatments of psych disorders
A
- Trephination: Method of releasing evil spirits from skull by drilling a hole
- Cages
- Beatings
- Burning
9
Q
Philippe Pinel
A
- French reformer
- Moral treatment of people exhibiting disorders
- Brutality replaced by compassion
- Viewed madness as illness
- Wanted to give people more freedom, treat them like humans
10
Q
Syphilis
A
- Infects brain
- Kickstarted medical model for psych issues
- Clear-cut physical cause for behavioral change
- Eats away at soft tissue,starts to eat away at brain if not treated
11
Q
Dorothea Dix
A
- Nurse
- Known for starting mental asylum movement
- No longer need to hide people
- Started state-run institutions
12
Q
Nellie Bly
A
-Pretended she was insane to expose mistreatment in asylums
13
Q
Medical Model
A
- Concept that disease, in this case psych disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and cured
- Ignores that we are biopsychosocial systems
- Needs more wholistic view
- Good for time period
14
Q
Anxiety Disorders
A
- Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
- General anxiety disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Phobias
15
Q
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
A
- Continually, unexplainably:
- tense
- apprehensive
- state of autonomic NS arousal
16
Q
Symptoms of General Anxiety Disorder
A
- Unfocused, out of control negative feelings
- Persistent heart palpitations
- Sweaty palms
- Ringing in ears
- Edginess
- Shaking
17
Q
What is the cause of anxiety?
A
- Hard to identify
- Anxiety= “free floating”
- Therefore, can’t deal with or avoid its cause
18
Q
Anxiety’s physical problems
A
- Ulcers
- High blood pressure
19
Q
Target population of GAD
A
- 2/3 female
- By age 50, GAD= rare
- Mellows out with age
20
Q
Panic Disorders
A
- Unpredictable, minute long episodes of:
- Intense dread
- Terror
- Chest pain
- Choking
- Other frightening sensations
- Overwhelming panic
21
Q
Anxiety Tornado (Panic Disorder)
A
- Anxiety escalates into a panic attack
- Unpredictable, wreaks havoc, gone
- Intense fear that something horrible is about to happen
- Affects 1 in 75 people
- Smokers risk= doubled
22
Q
Phobia
A
-Persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation
23
Q
Specific Phobia
A
- Single focus of phobia
- Not all phobias have specific triggers
- Ex: social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
- Intense fear of being scrutinized by others
- Ex: social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
- Ex: Agoraphobia: fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open spaces, where one has felt loss of control and panic
24
Q
Treatments to Phobias
A
- Flooding
- Exposed to phobia all at once (Overwhelmed)
- Systematic desensitization
- Taught relaxation techniques (biofeedback)
- Paired w/ gradual exposure to phobia
- Taught relaxation techniques (biofeedback)
- Behavioral therapy
25
Obsessive-Compulsive New Disorders
- Hoarding
- Excoriation (skin picking)
- Substance/medication- induced OCD/related disorder
- OCD and related disorders due to another medical condition
26
Trichotillomania
- Hair-pulling disorder
| - Impulse control disorder= OCD/related disorder
27
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions)
- Ex: concern w/ germs
- Unwanted repetitive actions (compulsions)
- Ex: hand washing
* Obsessions can lead to compulsions
28
Survivor resiliency
- Positive Psych of PTSD
- Those people who do not suffer from PTSD after trauma
- Peter Suedfeld studies resilience of Holocaust survivors
- Often correlated with higher levels of compassion and empathy
29
Post-Traumatic Growth
- Positive Psychology of PTSD
- Changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises
- Ex: facing cancer--> greater appreciation for life, changed priorities, richer spirituality
30
OCD Target Population
- Affect 2-3%
- More common among teens and young adults
- Symptoms mellow w/ age
31
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- PTSD
- A disorder characterized by:
- Haunting memories
- Nightmares
- Social withdrawal
- Jumpy anxiety
- Numbness of feeling
- Insomnia
- Symptoms linger for 4 weeks or mor after traumatic experience
- "She'll shock" or "battle fatigue"
- Common in soldiers
- Also seen in survivors of accidents, disasters, sexual assaults
32
PTSD Etiology
- Etiology= what creates a disorder
- Sensitive Limbic system increases vulnerability
- Floods body w/ stress hormones
- Debriefing victims can be ineffective and even harmful (revisit memory= more likely to develop PTSD)
- Greater emotion distress during trauma= higher risk for PTSD
* Higher frequency of assault experience= more adverse long-term outcomes
- 2/3 prostitutes report PTSD (more likely to have traumatic experience)
33
Treatment of PTSD
- Service animals
| - Can sense chemical changes of stress, and then help owner
34
Learning Perspective/ Behavioral Perspective of Anxiety Disorders, OCD, PTSD
- Anxiety is a conditioned response to fear stimuli
- Stimulus generalization (fear of a spider-> fear of all spiders)
- Reinforcement upon avoidance (agoraphobia and maladaptive coping)
- Observational learning
- Learn to fear by watching others (Mineka)
35
Mineka
- Monkeys in captivity
- Not afraid of snakes
- Monkeys learned how to be afraid of snakes by watching a video
- Fears that can be learned must have a biological predisposition
36
Biological Perspective of Anxiety Disorders, OCD, PTSD
- Natural selection
- Ancestral fears- spiders, snakes
- Adaptive compulsions
- Genetic predisposition of anxiety disorders
- Brain:
- Overarousal in areas for impulse control and habitual behaviors
- Anterior cingulate Gyrus (OCD)
37
Mood disorders
- Psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes
- Depressive disorders
- Bipolar and related disorders
38
New Depressive Disorders
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- Dysthymia
- Conceptualizes chronic forms of depression in a somewhat modified way
39
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
- Created to avoid over-diagnosis/ over-treatment of bipolar disorder
- Included for children up to 18 years old
- Exhibit persistent irritability and frequent episodes of extreme dyscontrol
40
Dysthymia
-Includes chronic major depressive disorder and the previous dysthymic disorder
41
Major Depressive Disorder
- Person experiences, in the absence of drugs or medical condition, 2 weeks or more of:
- Significantly depressed moods
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Anhedonia: absence of pleasure, "numb"
- At least 5 signs of depression need to be present
- "Combination of anguish of grief with the sluggishness of jet-lag"
42
Depression Statistics
- #1 reason people seek mental health services
- US: 13% of adults suffer at some point in their lives
- WHO (2002):
- Leading cause of disability leave at work
- Per year: a depressive episode will affect 5.8% of men, 9.5% of women
43
Significant loss and Depression
- 1 in 4 people struggling will significant loss
- Serves as projective function
- Slows us down, defuses anger, restrains risk-taking
- We can reprioritize and change direction for positive
44
Symptoms of Depression
- Insomnia
- Apathy (lack of caring)
- Distant w/ family, friends, activities (loss of interest)
- Symptoms= amplified by alcohol
45
Schizophrenia
- Means "split mind"
- Split from reality, not multiple personality split
- Group of severe disorders characterized by
1. Disorganized and delusional thinking
2. Disturbed perceptions
3. Inappropriate emotions and actions
46
Disorganized Thinking and Delusional Thinking
- Fragmented, bizarre thinking
- Delusions: false beliefs, often of persecution (people out to get me) or grandeur (I'm the queen of England)
- Word Salad
47
Word Salad
- Jumbled ideas create this
- Etiology:
- Breakdown in selective attention
- Distracted by irrelevant, minute stimuli
48
Disturbed perceptions
- Hallucinations
| - Sensory experiences w/ sensory stimulation (Mostly auditory/ voices)
49
Inappropriate emotions and actions
- Emotions
- Laughing at funeral
- Angry for no reason
- Crying at party
- Flat Affect: emotionless state
- Actions:
- Senseless, compulsive acts
- Ex: rocking, rubbing
- Catatonia: motionless state
50
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
- Positive: presence of inappropriate behaviors
- Ex: Hallucinations, inappropriate emotions, disorganized speech
- Negative: absence of appropriate behaviors
- Ex: lack of emotion and behaviors
51
Target Population
- Emerges in late teens, early 20s
- Global/ universal
- Males and females
- Men slightly more impacted
- .3 to .7% population
52
Onset of Schizophrenia
-Gradual or sudden
53
Gradual onset of Schizophrenia
- Chronic/ process schizophrenia
- Recovery= doubtful
- Negative symptoms
54
Sudden onset of Schizophrenia
- Acute/ reactive schizophrenia
- Stress reaction
- Recovery= more likely
- Positive symptoms
55
Brain abnormalities of Schizophrenia
- Dopamine overreactivity
- Glutamate
- Low brain activity in frontal lobes
- Out-of-sync neural firing in frontal lobes
- Disrupts neural network functioning
- Enlarged, fluid-filled areas and shrinkage of cerebral tissue (thalamus)
* *Found in people who already have or will be diagnosed with Schizophrenia**
56
Dopamine overactivity in schizophrenia
- Excess of dopamine receptors
- Intensifies brain signals --> positive symptoms
- Drugs that block dopamine receptors lessen positive symptoms
- Drugs that increase dopamine (amphetamines, cocaine), amplify symptoms
57
Glutamate and Schizophrenia
- Chemical
- Impaired glutamate activity linked with negative symptoms
- Deficit in receptors
58
Dissociative Disorders
- Conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings
- Includes possession-like symptoms seen in some cultures
- Breaks in memory for both traumatic and every day occurrences
59
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
- Rare
- Person exhibits 2 or more distinct and alternating personalities
- AKA multiple personality disorder, split personality disorder
60
Facts about DID
- Handedness switches between personalities
- Unique personalities
- Unique brain patterns for each
- Shifting visual acuity
- Accents when speaking change
61
Skepticisms about DID
- Disorder is localized in space and time
- 1980s- diagnoses from 2 per decade to 20,000 (increase)
- Virtually non-existent in many other cultures outside of NA
- Clinicians amplify the ability to mold our personalities for given situation
- Sole-fulfillment
62
Dissociative Amnesia
- Loss of memory (repression?)
- Dissociative fugue state
- Temporary or permanent loss of identity (foggy)
63
Somatic Symptoms and Related Disorders
- Previously Somatoform Disorders
- Psychological disorder in which the symptoms take somatic (bodily) form w/out apparent cause
- Ex: Justina Pelletier
1. Conversion disorder
2. Illness Anxiety Disorder
64
Conversion Disorder
- AKA Functional neurological symptom disorder
- Person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found
- Linked back to stressor (Part of body affected)
- Theory: anxiety is converted into physical symptom
- Rare and Freudian
65
Illness Anxiety Disorder
- Hyperchondriasis
- Person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of disease
- No amount of reassurance from doctor will calm fear
66
DID Psychodynamic and Learning Perspectives
- Symptoms= ways of dealing w/ anxiety
- Psychodynamic= defense against anxiety caused by eruption of unacceptable impulses
- 2nd personality enables these impulses
- Learning= behaviors reinforced by anxiety reduction
67
DID's relation to PTSD
- Seen as under umbrella of PTSD by some clinicians
- Natural, protective response to childhood trauma
- Physical, sexual, emotional abuse
68
Eating Disorders
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge-eating disorder
69
Anorexia Nervosa
- Eating disorder in which a person (adolescent female 9/10) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly (15% or more) underweight
- Feels fat, fears being fat, obsessed w/ losing weight, exercises excessively
- Sometimes binge-purge cycle depression (1/2 the time)
70
Bulimia Nervosa
- Eating disorder in which a person alternates between binge eating (usually high calorie foods) w/ purging (vomiting or laxative use), excessive exercising or fasting
- Triggered by weight loss diet
- Women in late teens, early 20s
- Experience depression and anxiety during and following binges
* Marked by weight fluctuations w/in or above normal range (easy to hide)
71
Binge-Eating Disorder
- Significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt
- Without the compensatory purging or fasting that marks bulimia Nervosa
72
Facts about eating disorders
- Family environments can grow eating disorders
- Low-self evaluations, set perfectionist standards, worry about falling short of expectations
- Genetic influences of eating disorders
- Cultural and gender components
- Where u live has a standard of beauty
- Most vulnerable- women and gay men
73
Personality Disorders
- Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning
1. Rigid, extreme and distorted thinking patterns (thoughts)
2. Problematic emotional response patterns (feelings)
3. Impulse control problems (behavior)
4. Significant interpersonal problems (behavior)
- Cluster A, B, and C
74
Antisocial Personality Disorders
- sometimes known as :
- sociopath
- psychopath
- usually male
- lack of conscience for wrong-doing, even w/ friends & family
- aggressive/ruthless or charming, con artist
75
Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Biological and psychological strands: no single gene code for behavior such as crime
- Genes identified that are more common in people with this
- Little autonomic NS arousal, even in stressful situations
- Stress hormones= lower than average
76
Bipolar Disorder
- Mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania
- Formerly called manic-depressive disorder
- Affects men and women equally
77
Mania
- A mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, widely optimistic state
- During this phase, people are:
- Over talkative
- over-reactive
- elated
- Little need for sleep
- Speech is loud, flirty
- Mild forms, fuel creativity
78
Behavioral and cognitive changes of depression
- Inactive and unmotivated
- More often recall negative info
- Mood improvements--> changes disappearing
79
The depressed brain
- Diminished brain activity during slowed- down depressive state
- Frontal lobes
- Bipolar disorder:
- Decrease Axonal white after
- Enlarged fluid-filled ventricles
- Neroepinephrine= scarce in depression, over abundant in mania
80
Cluster A: Personality Disorders
- Odd, Eccentric
- common features of the personality disorders in this cluster are social awkwardness and social withdrawal
- Ex: Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal
81
Cluster B: Personality Disorders
-Dramatic, Emotional, Erratic
Ex: Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder,Histrionic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder
-Disorders in this cluster share problems with impulse control and emotional regulation
82
Criminal Behavior
- most criminals do NOT fit ASPD criteria
- concern for friends/family
- lack of emotion combined with lack of fear
- serial killers
83
Cluster C: Personality Disorders
- Ex: Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive
| - These three personality disorders share a high level of anxiety
84
Borderline Personality Disorder
-Marked instability in self-image, mood, and interpersonal relationships
-Act impulsively and in self-destructive ways
-Uncomfortable being alone
-Manipulate self-destructive impulses to control r’ships
-Promiscuity, drug/alcohol abuse, threats of suicide
85
ADHD (Attention-deficit/Hyperactive Disorder)
- A psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms
- Extreme in attention
- hyperactivity
- Impulsivity
86
DSM-5
- American Psychiatric Associations's Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders
- Widely used system for classifying psychological disorders
87
Rumination
- Compulsive fretting
| - Overthinking about our problems and their causes
88
Psychosis
- A psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality
- Experiences irrational ideas and distorted perceptions
