Psychology - Mental Disorders (Pt. 3)

Question 1

Somatoform Disorders

Answer 1

• Psychological problems that appear through physical complaints or BODILY symptoms
• Not the same as Psychosomatic Disorders in which mental conditions lead to actual physical disease
• Includes: Conversion Disorder, Hypochondriasis, and Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Question 2

Conversion Disorder (Part of Somato)

Answer 2

• Involves unexplained symptoms that suggest a neurological or other medical condition
• Symptoms:
  Show up after stress or conflict
  Are not intentionally produced
  Can’t be explained by a medical condition

Question 3

Hypochondriasis (Part of Somato)

Answer 3

• A preoccupation with the fear of having, or the idea that one has, a serious disease
• Based on the person’s misinterpretation of bodily symptoms or functions
• The fear continues despite reassurance from doctors, medical tests, ect.

Question 4

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (Part of Somato)

Answer 4

A preoccupation with an imagined or exaggerated defect in appearance.
Causes significant distress or impairment.
Common complaints include thinning hair, wrinkles, scars, acne, facial asymmetry, size or shape of specific body parts, ect.
BDD sufferers go to great lengths to ‘fix’ the problem.

Question 5

Factitious Disorder

Answer 5

Includes Munchausen’s and Munchausen’s by Proxy (doing it to someone else)
Suffers intentionally produce physical or psychological signs or symptoms
Can include:
- Complaints of pain when there is none
- Manipulating a thermometer to show fever
- Ingesting or injecting something to cause a physical symptom (like vomiting, skin abbesses)
Motivation is to assume the sick role (no external incentives)

Question 6

Dissociative Disorders

Answer 6

• Involves a disruption in the functions of memory, consciousness, identity, or perception.
• Includes: Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue, and Dissociative Identity Disorder

Question 7

Dissociative Amnesia

Answer 7

A purely psychological form of amnesia resulting from a traumatic or very stressful experience.
Marked by an inability to recall important personal information that is too excessive to be considered ordinary forgetfulness.

Question 8

Dissociative Fugue (flight)

Answer 8

• Sudden, unexpected travel away from home with the inability to recall some or all of one’s past
• Involves confusion about personal identity or assumption of a new identity
• Usually only last a few hours or days
• More likely to happen during extremely stressful events (like wartime)

Question 9

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Answer 9

Formerly called ‘Multiple Personality Disorder’
The presence of two or more distinct personalities or identities that control one’s behavior.
Each personality may have a different personal history, self-image, name, age, gender, ect. and emerge in specific circumstances.
‘Host’ = primary identity
Most individuals with DID experienced severe physical or sexual abuse as children. (Think of Barb as an example to all of this)

Question 10

Schizophrenia

Answer 10

• ‘Split mind’: a split from reality
• A range of cognitive and emotional dysfunctions that impair occupational and social functioning
• Includes positive (excess) and negative (loss) symptoms
• Positive: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior
• Negative: restrictions in emotional expression (poor eye contact, unresponsive face, reduced body language), decreased fluency, inability to work towards goals

Question 11

Types of Schizophrenia

Answer 11

• Paranoid Type: presence of delusions or auditory hallucinations, usually organized around a theme (like being persecuted or watched)
• Disorganized Type: involves disorganized speech and abrupt, inappropriate behavior. Can lead to inability to perform normal activities like showering or feeding oneself. Includes hallucinations and delusions. Most severe type of schizophrenia.
• Catatonic Type: marked by psychomotor disturbances (like remaining in a statue position).

Question 11

Causes of Schizophrenia

Answer 11

• Old Freudian View: defective parenting or repressed childhood trauma.
• Modern view: brain disorder
  Neurotransmitter functioning: dopamine, glutamine
  Genetic link: identical twin = 50%
  ‘Diathesis-stress hypothesis’: biological factors make you predisposed, but environmental stressors turn it into an actual disorder.

Question 12

Sexual Disorders

Answer 12

Recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving

• Nonhuman objects
• The suffering/humiliation of oneself or partner
• Children or non-consenting people

Has to cause either the individual distress or the non-consenting person distress.
They NEED these things to be aroused.

Question 13

Paraphilias (Sexual Disorders)

Answer 13

• Exhibitionism: “flashers”
• Fetishism: Obsessed with a certain thing such as feet, high heels, ect.
• Pedophilia: Obsessed with prepubescent children.
• Sexual Masochism/Sadism: Sadism is the act of abusing or humiliating another person to feel arousal. Masochism is the opposite. They are aroused by being hurt or humiliated.
• Voyeurism: “peeping toms”

Question 14

Gender Identity Disorder (Sexual Disorders)

Answer 14

• Strong and persistent identification with the opposite gender
• Involves the desire to be, or the insistence that one is, of the other sex
• Causes clinically significant distress and impairment in functioning

These people often get sex changes

Question 15

Impulse Control Disorder

Answer 15

• Involves the failure to resist an impulse, drive, or temptation to perform an act that is harmful to oneself or others
• The person feels tension and arousal before and after committing the act.

Includes: 
•Intermittent Explosive Disorder: Outbursts.
•Kleptomania: 
•Pyromania: Lighting things on fire.
•Pathological Gambling
•Trichotillomania: Pulling hair out.

Question 16

Adjustment Disorder

Answer 16

• Emotional or behavioral symptoms that appear in response to an identifiable stressor within 3 months
• Causes significant distress and impairment in social or occupational or academic functioning
• Individual does not meet any other disorder
• A kind of ‘catch-all’ diagnosis