Psychological Disorders Flashcards
Psychological Disorders
•Refers to a condition characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Psychopathology
•The study of psychological disorders, including their symptoms, etiology (i.e., their causes), and treatment
Atypical
•Describes behaviors or feelings that deviate from the norm
Jerome Wakefield
•Suggests that mental disorders are most aptly conceived as “harmful dysfunctions” involving two distinct and separable components:
- occurs when an internal mechanism breaks down and can no longer perform its normal function
- must be harmful in that it leads to negative consequences for the individual or for others, as judged by the standards of the individual’s culture
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Definition of Psychological Disorder
- There significant disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- The disturbances reflect some kind of biological, psychological, or developmental dysfunction
- The disturbances lead to significant distress or disability in one’s life
- The disturbances do not reflect expected or culturally approved responses to certain events
Diagnosis
•Appropriately identifying and labeling a set of defined symptoms
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
•The taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association
Comorbidity
•Refers to the co-occurrence of two disorders in the same individual
International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
- Developed in Europe
- Used for clinical purposes; examine the general health of populations and to monitor the prevalence of diseases and other health problems internationally
Supernatural Perspectives of Psychological Disorders
- For centuries, psychological disorders were viewed from a supernatural perspective – attributed to a force beyond scientific understanding
- Those afflicted were thought to be practitioners of black magic or possessed by spirits
Biological Perspectives of Psychological Disorders
- Biological perspective views psychological disorders as linked to biological phenomena, such as genetic factors, chemical imbalances, and brain abnormalities
- Evidence from many sources indicated that most psychological disorders have a genetic component; in fact, there is little dispute that some disorders are largely due to genetic factors
Diathesis-stress Model
- Integrates biological and psychological factors to predict the likelihood of a disorder
- Suggests that people with an underlying predisposition for a disorder are more likely than others to develop a disorder when faced with adverse environmental or psychological events
Anxiety Disorders
•Characterized by excessive and persistent fear and anxiety, and by related disturbances in behavior
Specific Phobia
•Individuals experience excessive , and persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object or situations
Acrophobia
•Fear of heights
Aerophobia
•Fear of flying
Arachnophobia
•Fear of spiders
Claustrophobia
•Fear of enclosed spaces
Hematophobia
•Fear of blood
Ophidiophobia
•Fear of snakes
Taphophobia
•Fear of being buried alive
Trypanophobia
•Fear of injections
Xenophobia
•Fear of strangers
Agoraphobia
- Listed in the DSM-5 as a separate anxiety disorder
- Characterized by intense fear, anxiety, and avoidance of situations in which might be difficult to escape or receive help
Rachman’s First Learning Pathways of Phobias
- Classical conditioning
- A form of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that reflectively elicits an unconditioned response (UCR), eliciting the same response through its association with the unconditioned stimulus. The response is called conditioned response (CR)
Rachman’s Second Learning Pathways of Phobias
•Vicarious learning, such as modelling
Rachman’s Third Learning Pathways of Phobias
•Verbal transmission or information
Social Anxiety Disorder
•Characterized by extreme and persistent fear or anxiety and avoidance of social situations in which the person could potentially be evaluated negatively by others
Safety Behaviors
•Mental or behavioral acts that reduce anxiety in social situations by reducing the chance of negative social outcomes
What does safety behaviors include?
- Avoiding eye contact
- Rehearsing sentences before speaking
- Talking only briefly
- Not talking about oneself
Behavioral Inhibition
•A personality type that shows a tendency toward distress and nervousness in new situations
Panic Disorder
•Refers to sudden and repeated panic attacks – episodes of intense fear and discomfort that reach a peak within a few minutes
Panic Attack
•Defined as a period of extreme fear or discomfort that develops abruptly and reaches a peak within 10 minutes
Symptoms of Panic Attack
- Accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Choking sensations
- Hot flashes or chills
- Dizziness
- Fear of losing control
Locus Coeruleus
- Located in the brainstem
* The brain’s major source of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
•A relatively continuous state of excessive, uncontrollable, and pointless worry and apprehension
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
•Individual experience thoughts and urges that are intrusive and unwanted (obsessions) and/or the need to engage in repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions)
Compulsions
•Repetitive and ritualistic acts that are typically carried out primarily as a means to minimize the distress that obsessions trigger or to reduce the likelihood of a feared event