Test 4: Psychological Disorders Flashcards
Psychological disorders
-Disorders reflecting abnormalities of the mind.
- Disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are persistent and uncontrollable.
- Symp. are associated with significant distress or impairment
- Symp. are from internal dysfunction (biological, psychological, both)
Medical Model
the conceptualization of psychological abnormalities as diseases that, like biological diseases, have symptoms, causes, and possible cures.
-diagnosis, symptoms, syndrome.
Intervention-causation fallacy
involves the assumption that if a treatment is effective, it must address the cause of the problem.
DSM-V
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- A classification system describing diagnostic criteria, symptoms, ways to distinguish one disorder from another
- Help clinicians communicate and target treatment
For each disorder, the DSM-V gives:
- Most common symptoms
- Typical age of onset
- Predisposing factors
- Course of disorder
- Prevalence of disorders
- Sex ratio
- Cultural issues
Comorbitity
the co-occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual.
WHODAS
World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale
-36 item, self administered measure of illness disability over past 30 days, applicable to any illness
Problems with DSM-V
- Danger of Over-Diagnosis
- Power of Diagnostic Labels
- Confusion of serious mental disorder (Schizophrenia) with less significant problems (caffeine-induced sleep disorder)
- Illusion of Objectivity and Universality
Diathesis-stress model
a model suggesting that a person may be predisposed for a mental disorder that remains unexpressed until triggered by stress.
-Nature AND Nurture
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Long lasting feelings of apprehension and doom
- Chronic excessive worry accompanied > 3 of the following symptoms:
- Restlessness or keyed up or on edge
- Fatigue
- concentration problems or mind goes blank
- Irritability
- muscle tension
- sleep disturbance.
Panic Disorder (PD)
recurring attacks of intense fear/panic/terror.
- Followed by > 1 of these symptoms for > 1 month :
- Attacks followed by persistent concern about having another attack.
- Worry about implications of attack.
- Significant change of behavior related to attacks.
Phobic Disorders
disorders characterized by marked, persistent, and excessive fear and avoidance of specific objects, activities, or situations.
Specific phobia
irrational fear of a particular object or situation that markedly interferes with an individual’s ability to function.
- Animals (snakes, spiders)
- Natural Environments (height, dark, storms)
- Situations (bridges, elevators)
- Blood, injections, injury
- Other (illness, death)
Agoraphobia
- (fear of public places)
- Anxiety in places or situation where escape might be hard or embarrassing OR where help may not be available if you have a panic attack.
- Situations are avoided or endured with marked distress/panic attack.
Panic Attack
discrete period of time of panic in which > 4 symptoms develop abruptly and reach peak by 10 minutes
Social Phobia
- irrational fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed.
- Situations where they are being observed like eating in a restaurant, public speaking, party, performance
- Fear they will do or say something humiliating
Preparedness Theory
the idea that people are instinctively predisposed toward certain fears.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Obsessions: recurrent, persistent, unwanted thoughts or images
- Contamination, death, sex, disease, orderliness, disfigurement, aggression
- Compulsions: repetitive, ritualized, stereotyped behaviors that person feels must be carried out to avoid disaster
- Cleaning, checking, repeating, ordering, counting
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Trauma
- Recurrent, intrusive thoughts
- Negative alterations in cognitions or mood (neg beliefs about oneself or world, feeling alienated, blame of self or others, diminished interest)
- Alterations in arousal and reactivity (insomnia, irritability, impaired concentration)
- Avoidance
- symptoms impair functioning
- More likely to develop PTSD if:
- Poor coping skills, previous trauma, low social support, lower IQ, smaller hippocampus, low SES
Depressive Disorders
Characterized by extreme and persistent periods of depressed mood.
Major Depression
> 5 symptoms over 2 week period, must have depressed mood OR loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities (2x more common in women):
- Depressed mood
- Diminished interest or pleasure in activities
- Significant weight loss/gain OR decease/increase in appetite
- Insomnia or hypersomnia
- Psychomotor agitation or retardation (restless, slowed down)
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive inappropriate guilt
- Inability to concentrate, make decisions
- Recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation with plan, suicide attempt
Dysthymia
the same cognitive and bodily problems as in depression, but they are less severe and last longer – persisting for at least 2 years.
Double Depression
periodic major depression and dysthymia.
Postpartum Depression
after giving birth; biological, social & responsibility changes, lack of sleep/support