Psychological Disorders pt.2 Flashcards
How should we define psychological disorders?
a syndrome marked by a “clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion, regulation, & behavior”
What does it mean when a psychological disorder is a syndrome?
a collection of symptoms
What was the innovation of the medical model around 1900?
-1890: discovery that syphilis invades the brain and distorts mind
-triggered search for physical causes of mental disorders
-mental health movement born
What is the double purpose of classification?
- aims to order and describe symptoms
- aims to predict a disorder’s future course, suggest appropriate treatment, and prompt research into its cause
What is DSM? What are its limitations?
Book which includes diagnostic codes from the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Limitations: Clinical agreement, too general
What are the factors that increase/decrease vulnerability to mental disorders?
Increase: Bad childhood, academic failure, basically any complications in life
Decrease: healthy, community, economically well, any positive in life.
What are the 5 types of disorders in the DSM?
- Anxiety-Related Disorders
- Depressive Disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Dissociative, Personality, and Eating Disorders
- Neurodevelopmental Disorder
What are the 4 anxiety-related disorders?
- Anxiety disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Somatic symptoms disorders
What are the 3 specific anxiety disorder?
- Generalized Anxiety disorder
- Panic Disorder (panic attacks)
- Specific phobias
What does it mean that people can have a generalized anxiety disorder?
Generalized Anxiety disorder: everyday anxiety, constant tension, accompanied by high blood pressure and depression
What is a panic disorder?
Panic Disorder (panic attacks):
- minute-long episode of fear that strikes suddenly
- basis of agoraphobia (fear of public situations)
- irregular heartbeat, chest pain, shortness of breath, shaking
What are phobias?
Specific phobias: irrational fear of some object, activity, or situation
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
obsessive thoughts that are unwanted and unending, compulsive behaviors are responses to these thoughts.
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
- Survivors of torture, rape, earthquake have exhibited PTSD
-more sensitive limbic system, more stress hormones
-females>males
-the higher the distress, the greater the risk of PTSD - The hallmark symptom is recurring: vivid memories or nightmares
-social withdrawal
-jumpy anxiety
-trouble sleeping - Trauma victims may experience post-traumatic growth
What are somatic symptoms disorders?
- Distressing symptoms take a bodily form without apparent physical causes
- Illness anxiety disorder
-interpreting normal sensations as symptoms of a dreaded disease
What is the illness anxiety disorder?
aka hypochondriasis; interpreting normal sensations (a stomach cramp today, a headache tomorrow) as symptoms of a dreaded disease
What are depressive disorders?
1.Feeling deeply discouraged about the future, dissatisfied with one’s life, or socially isolated
-lack of energy
-inability to concentrate, eat, or sleep
2.Depression and Sadness have benefits
-conserve energy
-redirect energy
-help process facts more accurately
-pay more attention to details
! but leading cause of disability worldwide
What are the 2 types of depressive disorders?
1.Major Depressive Disorder
2.Bipolar Disorder
What is major depressive disorder?
Symptoms: at least 5 symptoms over a 2 week period
-depressed mood
-reduced interest or enjoyment in activities
-physical agitation
What does it mean that its thinking patterns are stable, global, and internal?
In a breakup–
Stable: ex. never getting over their ex
Global: ex. thinking they’re nothing without their ex
Internal: ex. thinking it was all their fault
What does it mean that depression can be a feedback loop? (slide 29)
Stressful experience –> Negative explanatory style –> Depressed mood –> Cognitive and behavioral changes (repeat)
What is bipolar disorder?
Bounce from one emotional extreme to the other
What is bipolar cycling?
When a depressive episode end, a euphoric, overly talkative, wildly energetic, and excessively optimistic state follows
What is the difference between bipolar I and bipolar II?
Bipolar I disorder: extreme swings
Bipolar II disorder: move between depression and milder hypomania
What are the characteristics of a state of mania?
- Lack of sleep
- Fewer sexual inhibitions
- Persistent positive emotions
- Loud speech, flightily, hard to interrupt
- Risk taking (reckless spending, unsafe sex, …)
What disorders are more heritable? (slide 38)
- Biopolar disorders
- Schizophrenia
What is schizophrenia?
“Mind’s split from reality”
- loss of contact with reality
- disturbed perceptions and beliefs
- disorganized speech
- diminished, inappropriate emotions (and actions)
- breakdown of elective attention
What are hallucinations and delusions?
hallucinations: false perceptions
delusions: (paranoid beliefs) false beliefs
What are three characteristics symptoms of schizophrenia? (slide 45)
- Disorganized speech
- Diminished and inappropriate emotions
- Impaired motor behavior
Which genetic and environmental factors increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia?
- birth complications
- inherited
- separation from parents
- short attention span and pros muscle correlation
- childhood abuse
- emotional unpredictability
- poor peer relations
- disruptive or withdrawn behavior
What are dissociative disorders?
A person’s conscious awareness dissociates (separates) from sinful memories, thoughts, and feelings
What is a dissociative fugue state?
sudden loss of memory or change in identity
What is dissociative identity disorder?
two or more distinct identities - each with its own voice and mannerisms - seem to control a person’s behavior at different time
Why is DID controversial?
- 1930-1960: 2 diagnosis per decade, after DSM inclusion (1980s) 20,000
- Average number of identities also mushroomed - from 3 to 12 per patient
- Disorder much less prevalent outside North America
- Some include it under the umbrella of PTSD
- Others believe it is real disorder in itself
What are personality disorders?
Inflexible and enduring behavioral patterns that interfere with social functioning
What are 3 clusters?
Cluster A: eccentric
Cluster B: erratic
Cluster C: anxious
What are the 10 personality disorders and their features? (slide 52)
- Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal
- Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic
- Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive
What are the 3 eating disorders in the DSM?
- Anorexia nervosa
- Bulimis nervosa
- Binge-eating disorder
What is anorexia nervosa?
begins as an attempt to lose weight but the dieting becomes a habit and people starve themselves
What is bulimia nervosa?
cycles of repeated episodes of COMPLUSIVE binge eating alternated with cycles of behaviors to compensate (e.g., vomiting, fasting, excessive exercise); marked by weight fluctuations
What are binge-eating disorders?
engage in significant amounts of bingeing, followed by remorse. They do not purge, fast, or exercise excessively.
What factors contribute to eating disorders?
- …competitive, high-achieving, and protective family environments
- …high perfectionist standards, ruminate about falling short of expectations
- …heredity–identical twins share the disease more often than fraternal twins
- …cultural ideals
- …exposure to unrealistic beauty standards
- …peer influences
What are neurodevelopmental disorders?
Central nervous system abnormalities, typically in the brain, that result in altered thinking and behavior
What is intellectual disability? And what are its 2 diagnostic criteria?
disability that affects the acquisition of knowledge and skills
Two diagnostic criteria:
* Low intellectual functioning as reflected in a low intelligence score (<70)
* Difficulty adapting to the normal demands of independent living in three areas: conceptual (language, reading), social (follow basic rules, social responsibility), and practical (health and personal care, travel)
What is autism spectrum disorder?
- Social-emotional disorder marked by social deficiencies and repetitive behaviors
- Poor communication between brain regions that normally work together to let us take another person’s viewpoint (Impaired theory of mind)
- Likely to experience depression as a consequence of social isolation
- Different levels of severity
What is Asperger syndrome?
high level functioning, normal IQ + exceptional skill
Which factors increase the likelihood of developing autism spectrum disorder?
- Prenatal environment:
- maternal infection
- psychiatric drug use
- stress hormones - Genes:
- hereditability at 80%
- if one identical twin is diagnosed, chances are 50-70% for the other twin - Men’s age
- the higher the age of conception, the higher the risk
What are attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders?
Symptoms include inattention and distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity
Why are ADHDs controversial?
- Skeptics: energetic child + boring school = ADHD overdiagnosis
- Supporters: “ADHD is a real neurobiological disorder”
