Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Psych 305 > Psychological Disorders > Flashcards

Psychological Disorders Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

psychological disorder

A
  • Pattern of behaviour or experience that is distressing and painful to the person
    • leads to disability or impairment in important life domains (whether visible or not)
    • associated with increased risk for further suffering, loss of function, death, or confinement
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Abnormal/clinical psych

A
  • study of mental disorders

- aka psychopathology

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Defining abnormal

A
  • DSM = leading text for defining “abnormality” and diagnosing it; ICD-10 Classification is the text published by the WHO that is also sometimes used
  • Can be culturally/socially defined; (ie. what’s unacceptable?); being defined as abnormal might lead to stigma or a self-fulfilling prophecy; but also improves research
  • Can be statistically defined (ie. what’s rare? ex. colour blindness)
  • The psychological definition is not the same as being “weird”
    • Abnormality = “statistical infrequency” (more than 2 standard deviations above or below the mean)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Personality vs. Disorder

A

Most psychologists believe that mental illness/disorder is not a part of personality; separate construct that should be managed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Personality Disorder (generally)

A
  • Extreme and problematic degree of one or more aspects of personality
    • Ie. Extremely high levels of neuroticism, introversion, etc.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Personality Disorder (according to DSM-5)

A
  • Enduring pattern of experience and behaviour that differs greatly from expectations of a person’s culture; displayed across a variety of situations with long history
  • Symptoms of personality disorders can be viewed as maladaptive variations within the domains of traits, emotions, cognitions, motives, and self-concept
  • Lead to distress in key areas of life, such as work and relationships; all personality disorders have impaired social relations
  • Pattern must not be attributable to drug abuse, medication, or other medical condition
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

General Personality Disorder

A

personality change due to another medical condition – ie. Frontal lobe lesion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Personality Disorders: Cluster A

A
  • The “eccentric” cluster
  • Persons with these disorders appear odd and eccentric; do not get along well with others
  • paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Paranoid personality disorder

A
  • Cluster A
  • More common in males
  • suspects deceit or malicious intent, preoccupied with doubts about others’ trustworthiness, bears grudges, perceived attacks on character, recurrent suspicions
  • Unabomber may have had this
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Schizoid personality disorder

A
  • Cluster A
  • more common in males
  • neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, prefers to be alone, detached, indifferent to praise/criticism of others
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Schizotypal personality disorder

A
  • Cluster A
  • more common in males
  • want social relationships but can’t enter them to to excessive social anxiety, odd beliefs/behaviours, lack of close friends
  • mostly due to genetic causes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Personality Disorders: Cluster B

A
  • The “erratic cluster”
  • Persons with these disorders appear erratic and emotional; have difficulties getting along with others
  • Antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A
  • Cluster B
  • more common in males
  • Failure to conform to social norms, lying, deceitfulness, impulsivity, aggressiveness, disregard for safety of self or others, lack of remorse, irresponsible
  • Must be 18; must have evidence of conduct disorder before age 15
  • Up to 70-100% of men in prison meet criteria for APD
  • Extreme APD -> psychopathy/sociopathy
  • Unabomber could have been diagnosed with this, but he didn’t display symptoms prior to age 15
  • environmental and genetic causes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Borderline Personality Disorder

A
  • Cluster B
  • more common in females
  • INSTABILITY -> Pattern of unstable & intense relationships, unstable self-image, frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, recurrent suicidal or self-harm behaviour, emotional instability/reactivity, strong emotions -> ex. inappropriate/intense anger
  • largely due to environment, not genes - childhood neglect
  • Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader may have BPD
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Histrionic Personality Disorder

A
  • Cluster B
  • more common in females
  • EXCESSIVE ATTENTION SEEKING, EMOTIONALITY, uncomfortable when not centre of attention; inappropriate, sexually seductive/provocative behaviour; shallow emotions; theatricality; suggestible, easily influenced
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A
  • Cluster B
  • more common in males
  • Grandiose sense of self-importance, believe they’re special/unique, requires excessive admiration, interpersonally exploitative, lacks empathy, envious of others
  • Trump may not actually have this disorder -> doesn’t necessarily suffer from distress due to narcissism
17
Q

Psychopathy & Sociopathy: nature vs. nurture

A
  • Nature: Evidence for reduced fear response (low amygdala activity) and guilt/empathy response (low prefrontal cortex activity); brains show functional and structural differences; heritability of APD/psychopathic traits estimated at 69%
  • Nurture: Individuals with APD/psychopathy more likely to have been abused early in life
18
Q

Psychopathy

A
  • Not present in DSM, but an extreme form of Antisocial personality disorder
  • emphasizes more subjective traits, such as incapacity to experience guilt, superficial charm (glib), and callous social attitudes
  • Only 25-28% of men in prison would be diagnosed with psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist
  • 21% of corporate professions have clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits -> “successful psychopaths”
  • Robert Hare developed psychopathy checklist with 2 main clusters of traits: emotional/interpersonal traits and social deviance
  • Tends to decline with age
19
Q

Sociopathy

A
  • Not present in DSM, but an extreme form of Antisocial personality disorder
  • compared to psychopaths, some suggest they’re less organized/more apparent in their behaviour, less violent, and maintain some emotions; result from early life experiences, while psychopathy is more innate
20
Q

Personality Disorders: Cluster C

A
  • the “anxious” cluster
  • Persons with these disorders appear anxious, fearful, and apprehensive; have trouble with social relationships
  • avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
21
Q

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A
  • Cluster C
  • more common in females
  • Avoids activities over fears of criticism and rejection, restraint in relationships, inhibited, views self as socially inept and inferior, fear of embarrassment
  • Unabomber may have had this
22
Q

Dependent personality disorder

A
  • Cluster C
  • more common in females
  • Difficulty making decisions on one’s own, difficulty expressing disagreement, difficulty working or doing things on one’s own, uncomfortable or helpless when alone, fears of being left to care for him/herself, seeks constant reassurance
23
Q

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

A
  • Cluster C
  • more common in males
  • NOT the same as OCD
  • Preoccupied with details; detrimental perfectionism; excessively devoted to work; overly conscientious and inflexible; rigidity and stubbornness
24
Q

Prevalence of Personality Disorders

A
  • Estimated total prevalence rate for having at least one personality disorder is between 9-13%
  • Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder is most common; dependent least common
  • Majority of personality disorders are more common in males; overall prevalence fairly equal
  • 25-50% of people with personality disorder have another disorder (comorbidity) -> makes “differential diagnosis” (looking for support of 1 diagnostic category over others) difficult
25
Q

Personality disorders: evidence for a dimensional approach (tied in with Big 5)

A
  • Borderline = high neuroticism
  • Schizoid = extreme introversion + low neuroticism
  • Schizotypal = introversion + high neuroticism + low agreeableness + extreme openness
  • Avoidant = extreme introversion + high neuroticism
  • Histrionic = extreme extraversion
  • Obsessive-compulsive = extreme conscientiousness
26
Q

Revised approach to personality disorders

A
  • Four traditional personality disorders removed because they’re not common or distinct enough (shizoid, histrionic, dependent, paranoid)
  • Clusters also removed; everything else categorized as “personality disorder-trait specified”
  • Though DMS-5 still takes categorical approach, it’s been suggested that clinicians should assess patients according to 5 trait domains (dimensional approach that captures greater specificity than categorical approach)
27
Q

Revised approach to personality disorders: 5 trait dimensions

A
  • Negative Affectivity – feeling negative emotions (*High Neuroticism)
  • Detachment – emotional withdrawal/avoidance (*Low Extraversion)
  • Antagonism – deceitfulness, manipulativeness (*Low Agreeableness)
  • Disinhibition – carelessness, impulsiveness (*Low Conscientiousness)
  • Psychoticism – bizarre thoughts or experience (*High Openness)
28
Q

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

A
  • Previously Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)
  • Disruption of identity characterized by 2 or more distinct personality states (“alter egos”) which may be described in some cultures as an experience of possession
  • Not a personality disorder, but alter egos often encapsulate a variety of severe personality disorders or features of personality disorders
  • Classified in Dissociative Disorders in DSM-5, with Dissociative Amnesia and Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
29
Q

DID: prevalence, triggers, antecedents

A
  • Prevalence estimated to be 1.5% in adults
  • Alter egos can be triggered or brought out by certain stimuli
  • 90% of cases associated with overwhelming experiences, traumatic events, or childhood abuse
30
Q

DID: symptoms

A
  • discontinuity in sense of self
  • alterations in:
    • Affect/emotion
    • Behaviour
    • Consciousness
    • Perception
    • Cognition
    • Sensory-motor functioning
    • Memory (recurrent memory gaps)
    • May be observed by others or reported by the individual
31
Q

Controversy re: disorders

A
  • Are personality disorders true disorders, or just how we deal with people who don’t fit the norm?
  • What are the potential implications of suggesting that some personalities are abnormal/disordered?
  • Pathologizing “bad ways to be” -> where do we draw the line?
    • Ie. Should we pathologize extreme biases (ie. Extreme racism or homophobia?)
  • Labelling: helpful in some settings, but can be stigmatizing
  • “Abnormal” = less of a sharp divide than previously assumed (dimensional vs. Categorical approach)
    • Growing consensus that there exists no sharp divide between normal and abnormal behaviours
32
Q

what should be considered before diagnosing someone with a personality disorder?

A
  • culture (norms differ in different cultures)
  • age (teens often “try out” different identities)
  • life circumstances (may be reacting to traumatic life event)
  • gender (some disorders experienced more frequently in males vs. females)
33
Q

Psychopathy and the eye-blink startle method

A
  • when people are anxious/started, they blink more
  • psychopaths blink less when shown distressing images, even though they’ll say they were distressed -> report feeling emotions, but don’t actually feel them
  • antisocial prisoners display reduced fear response to scary images
  • this supports theory that psychopathy is mainly deficit in fear response
34
Q

ambiguous facial expressions and BPD

A
  • people with Borderline Personality Disorder struggle to identify neutral or mildly emotional faces
  • suggests people with BPD may misperceive facial expressions as having no emotion, contributing to the symptoms of the disorder
35
Q

neurotic paradox

A

although a behaviour solves one problem, it may also create a more severe problem

36
Q

alexithymia

A
  • difficulty identifying feelings, describing feelings
  • externally bound cognitive style
  • deficit in experiencing positive emotions and empathy
  • people with this often go on to develop avoidant, dependent, and schizotypal disorders

Psych 305 (18 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions