Psychological Disorders - Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, DSM Model Flashcards
Personality disorders - general
Lifelong or long-standing patterns of malfunctioning
> Behaviour is mapadaptive to self or others
> Behaviour is seen across many situations, for long periods of time
Often don’t see there’s a problem - seldom seek treatment by self
Antisocial personality disorder
Impulsive, disregard rights of others without remorse or guilty; psychopath or sociopath
> Correlated with criminal behaviour/incarceration
> May be charming and manipulative
One of the most common personality disorders - more men than women.
Biological factors: genetic, lower serotonin, higher testosterone
Psychological/social factors: conflict-filed childhood
Schizophrenia - positive symptoms
> Between 50-70% experience positive symptoms Examples > Hallucinations (auditory most common) > Delusions of grandeur > Delusions of persecution
Dissociative identity disorder
> Existence of two or more separate personalities in same individual
Separate personalities (alters) may not be known to ‘host’ personality
Frequent blackouts or amnesia episodes common
Chronic childhood physical/sexual abuse may be casual factor
Validity of DID? May just be extreme PTSD
Dissociative disorders
Relatively rare
Dissociation - to break/pull apart
> Extreme dissociation typically linked to severe stress or emotional trauma
Dissociative fugue
Schizophrenia - negative symptoms
> Avolition - inability to persist in daily activities (unable to groom, shower, etc.)
Alogia - relative absence of speech
Anhedonia - loss of pleasure/interest
Affective flattening - show almost no emotion, even when you’d expect a strong emotional display
Schizophrenia - general
> Affects 1-2% population in lifetime
Strong biological component (identical - monozygotic - twins around 50%)
Hard to differentiate between schizophrenia or mood disorder with psychotic features
Schizophrenia - disorganised symptoms
> Disorganised speech, thought process
Tangential thought process
‘word salad’/poverty of content
How useful is the DSM model?
> Reliability (consistency) and validity (accuracy)
Standard criteria does not necessarily mean accurate diagnoses will be made - judgements of clinicians can be skewed by gender, race or culture, consciously or unconsciously
> Some feel DSM model of labelling leads to negative effects – self-fulfilling prophecy
Dissociative fugue
Episodes of amnesia with inability to recall or confusion about identity; new identity may be established
Return to original identity causes distress
Schizophrenia - types of symptoms
Positive and negative symptoms exist
> Positive - increase in behaviours (unusual perceptions, thoughts, behaviours)
> Negative - loss of behaviours (motor movements, social withdrawal, etc.)
> Better outcome in treatments when there’re mostly positive symptoms
Types of schizophrenia
Catatonic Disorganised Paranoid Undifferentiated Residual
Schizophrenia - criteria
2 or more of:
> Delusions
> Hallucinations
> Disorganized speech
> Grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour
> Negative symptoms (affective flattening, alogia, avolition)
Only one criteria needed if - bizarre delusions, voice peeing commentary of person’s behaviour and thoughts, two or more voices conversing together
Borderline personality disorder
Instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behaviour
- this disrupts relationships, careers and identity
- higher risk of self-injury and suicide
Often diagnosed with other disorders
2% more in young women
Biological: low serotonin, abnormal brain functioning
Psychological/social: family history of abuse or neglect
