Understanding and Types of Psychological Disorders Flashcards
7.1 Psychological Disorders AND 7.2 Types of Psychological Disorders AND 3.2
biomedical approach to psychological disorders
Biomedical therapy emphasizes interventions that rally around symptom reduction of psychological disorders. In other words, this approach assumes that any disorder has roots in biomedical disturbances, and thus the solution should also be of a biomedical nature. This view is thought of as narrower than other approaches because it fails to take into account many of the other sources of disorders, such as lifestyle and socioeconomic status. For example, heart disease clearly has roots within the mechanisms of the cardiac muscle, but the causes of these malfunctions have as much to do with biomedical causes (such as genetics) as they do with lifestyle causes (such as a diet rich in salty, fatty foods; smoking; and alcohol use)
biopsychosocial approach
this method assumes that there are biological, psychological, and social components to an individual’s disorder. The biological component of a disorder is something in the body, like having a particular genetic syndrome. The psychological component of a disorder stems from the individual’s thoughts, emotions, or behaviors.
direct therapy - individual, medication, meetings
indirect therapy - increase social support in family
prevelance of mental disorders overall and the highest disorders
18.3 percent - 44.7 million
specific phobia, social anxiety, MDD, PTSD, BP, Generalized anxiety disorder, panic, BPD, OCD, Agoraphobia, anorexia, schizophrenia
psychotic disorder
one or more of the following symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought, disorganized behavior, catatonia, and negative symptoms. Like most psychological categories, psychotic disorders are on a spectrum. To delineate the psychotic disorders as described in the DSM-5, psychotic symptoms must be understood.
Psychotic symptoms are divided into positive and negative types.
What are positive and negative examples
positive - behaviors, thoughts, feelings added to normal behavior not present in normal population
(psychotic dimension - delusions, hallucinations,
*disorganized dimension - thought, disorganized or catatonic behavior)
negative symptoms - involve absence of normal behavior like disturbance of affect and avolition
What are delusions and examples of them?
Delusions are false beliefs discordant with reality and not shared by others in the individual’s culture. These delusions are maintained often in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.
Delusions of reference involve the belief that common elements in the environment are directed toward the individual. For example, people with delusions of reference may believe that characters in a TV show are talking to them directly.
Delusions of persecution involve the belief that the person is being deliberately interfered with, discriminated against, plotted against, or threatened
Delusions of grandeur, also common in bipolar I disorder, involve the belief that the person is remarkable in some significant way, such as being an inventor, historical figure, or religious icon
what is thought broadcasting, thought withdrawl, thought insertion?
thought broadcasting, which is the belief that one’s thoughts are broadcast directly from one’s head to the external world
thought withdrawal, the belief that thoughts are being removed from one’s head
thought insertion, the belief that thoughts are being placed in one’s head.
hallucinations
Hallucinations are perceptions that are not due to external stimuli but which nevertheless seem real to the person perceiving them. The most common form of hallucination is auditory, involving voices that are perceived as coming from inside or outside the patient’s head. Visual and tactile hallucinations are less common, but may be seen in drug use or withdrawal.
disorganized thought
Disorganized thought is characterized by loosening of associations. This may be exhibited as speech in which ideas shift from one subject to another in such a way that a listener would be unable to follow the train of thought. A patient’s speech may be so disorganized that it seems to have no structure—as though it were just words thrown together incomprehensibly. This is sometimes called word salad. In fact, a person with schizophrenia may even invent new words, called neologisms.
word salad is seen in what disorders
schizophrenia, and wernickes receptive aphasia
neologisms
inventing words
common in schizophrenia
disorganized behavior
efers to an inability to carry out activities of daily living, such as paying bills, maintaining hygiene, and keeping appointments
catatonia
catatonia refers to certain motor behaviors characteristic of some people with schizophrenia. The patient’s spontaneous movement and activity may be greatly reduced or the patient may maintain a rigid posture, refusing to be moved. At the other extreme, catatonic behavior may include useless and bizarre movements not caused by any external stimuli, echolalia (repeating another’s words), or echopraxia (imitating another’s actions).
echolalia and echopraxia
echolalia - repeating another persons words
echopraxia - imitating another persons actions
affect
.Affect refers to the experience and display of emotion, so disturbance of affect is any disruption to these abilities.
**
Affective symptoms may include blunting, in which there is a severe reduction in the intensity of affect expression; emotional flattening (flat affect),** in which there are virtually no signs of emotional expression; or inappropriate affect, in which the affect is clearly discordant with the content of the individual’s speech. For example, a patient with inappropriate affect may begin to laugh hysterically while describing a parent’s death
avolition
marked by decreased engagement in purposeful, goal-directed actions.
what does schizophrenia mean?
Schizophrenia is the prototypical psychotic disorder in this category of disorders. Schizophrenia is characterized by a break between an individual and reality. In fact, the term schizophrenia literally means “split mind.” Eugen Bleuler coined the term in reference to the splitting of one’s mind from reality. To be given the diagnosis of schizophrenia, an individual must show continuous signs of the disturbance for at least six months, and this six-month period must include at least one month of positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech).
downward drift hypothesis
schizophrenia causes a decline in socioeconomic status, leading to worsening symptoms, which sets up a negative spiral for the patient toward poverty and psychosis. This is why rates of schizophrenia are much, much higher among homeless and indigent people.
phases of schizophrenia
prodromal - before diagnosis- deterioration, social withdrawl, role functioning impariment, peculiar behavior, inappropriate affect, unusual expierences
active phase - pronounced physcotic symptoms are displayed. If onset is slow the correct diagnosis is hard and prognosis is low. If onset is intense and sudden, diagnosis is fast and prognosis is better. (diagnosis usually occurs here)
residual phase / recovery phase - after an active episode that has mental clarity resulting in concern or depression as the individual becomes aware of previous behavior
psychotic disorders other than schizophrenia
they are less severe
schizotypical personality disorder - personality then psychotic symptoms
delusion disorder - only delusions at least a day, less than a month
brief psychotic disorder - positive psychotic symptoms for at least a day, less than a month
schizophreniform disorder - same diagnostic criteria as schizophrenia except only required for a month
schizoaffective disroder - major mood episodes (MDD, manic) with psychotic symptoms
what are depressive disorders and the 9 symptom acronym sadness + SIG E. CAPS
Depressive disorders, in contrast, are conditions characterized by feelings of sadness that are severe enough, in both magnitude and duration, to meet specific diagnostic criteria.
Sadness: **Depressed mood, feelings of sadness and emptiness
Sleep: Insomnia or hypersomnia
Interest: Loss of interest and pleasure in activities that previously sparked joy, termed anhedonia
Guilt: A feeling of inappropriate guilt or worthlessness
Energy: Lower levels of energy throughout the day
Concentration: Decrease in ability to concentrate (self described, or observed by others)
Appetite: Pronounced change in appetite (increase or decrease) resulting in a significant change (5%+) in weight.
Psychomotor symptoms: Psychomotor retardation (slowed thoughts and physical movements) and psychomotor agitation (restlessness resulting in undesired movement)
Suicidal thoughts: Recurrent suicidal thoughts
what does SIG E. CAPS mean?
Sadness +
Sleep
Interest
Guilt
Energy
Concentration
Appetite
Psychomotor symptoms
Suicidal thoughts
what is major depressive disorder (MDD)
The key diagnostic feature of major depressive disorder (MDD) is the presence of major depressive episodes. A major depressive episode is defined as a 2-week (or longer) period in which 5 of the 9 defined depressive symptoms are encountered, which must include either depressed mood or anhedonia (inability to feel and anticipate pleasure). In addition, the symptoms must be severe enough to impair one’s daily social- or work-related activities.
persistent depressive disorder (PDD) or dysthymia
persistent depressive disorder (PDD), also known as dysthymia, is given when an individual experiences a period, lasting at least 2 years, in which they experience a depressed mood on the majority of days. With the primary diagnostic feature of PDD being time, a patient can receive both the PDD and MDD diagnosis if they meet both the duration and severity requirements of both disorders.
not a weaker MDD and often occurs with MDD
