Unit 12 - Psychological Disorders and Treatment Flashcards
point prevalence vs lifetime prevalence
point: percentage of people in a given population who have a given psychological disorder at a particular point in time
lifetime: percentage of people in a certain population who will have a given psychological disorder at any point in their lives
psychological disorder
“clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a psychological disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not psychological disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above.”
ADHD
- disorder that involves impulsivity, hyperactivity (e.g., fidgeting, inability to sit still), and difficulty shifting attentional focus
- Is there too much emphasis on individual interventions instead of structural societal changes?§More opportunities for play, accommodation for range of temperaments & behaviours
- Why does it matter?
- Labels carry stigma, can contribute to social exclusion, stereotyping, discrimination, shift in self-concept & potential for self-fulfilling prophecies
- Once a label is applied, all subsequent behaviour is interpreted through that lens
- Pharmacological treatments may pose risk of side-effects
- ADHD treated with stimulant methylphenidate, which can be addictive and pose long-term side effects
clinical assessment
- procedure for gathering the information to evaluate an individual’s psychological functioning and to determine whether a clinical diagnosis is warranted
- clinical interview: interview in which a clinician asks the patient to describe his or her problems and concerns
- Self-report measures: standardized clinical assessment consisting of fixed set of questions that a patient answers
- projective tests: A form of clinical assessment in which a person responds to unstructured or ambiguous stimuli; it is thought that responses reveal unconscious wishes and conflicts
diathesis-stress model
- A model of clinical disorders suggesting that certain factors provide a susceptibility for a disorder that will manifest as symptoms only in certain circumstances (under certain levels of stress)
- Diatheses and stressors vary in their origin and form
comorbidity
- occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual at a given point in time
concordance rate
- probability that a person with a particular familial relationship to a patient has the same disorder as patient
- Concordance rate 5X higher for identical twins (100% shared DNA) than for fraternal twins or ordinary siblings (50% shared DNA
specific phobia
- a pronounced fear of or anxiety about a particular object or situation (e.g., spiders, snakes, heights, blood, flying)
- classical conditioning: traumatic situation where they acquired the fear
- observational learning: may develop phobias through observation and imitation, and preparedness
social anxiety disorder
- an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme fear of being watched, evaluated, and judged by others
panic disorder
- anxiety disorder characterized by repeated panic attacks & debilitating fear of future attacks
agoraphobia and panic disorder
- fear of being in situations in which help might not be available or escape might be difficult or embarrassing
- E.g., fear of being outside of home or other designated “safe” places, using public transportation, standing in line or in a crowd
- Common outcome of panic disorder
generalized anxiety disorder
- anxiety disorder characterized by continuous, pervasive, and difficult-to-control anxiety that is not correlated with particular objects or situations
- Decreased inhibition of amygdala reactivity by prefrontal cortex (Bishop, 2009)
- Hypervigilance for threat observed in many individuals who experienced unpredictable, traumatic experiences in early life
- Other research shows that hypervigilance for threat predates onset of GAD
- Cognitive perspective: worrying as a coping strategy for anxiety
obsessive compulsive disorder, obsession, compulsion
- ocd: an anxiety disorder that manifests itself through obsessions and compulsion
- obsession: a recurrent unwanted or disturbing though
- compulsion: a ritualistic action performed to control an obsession
post-traumatic stress disorder ptsd
- psychological disorder triggered by an event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence
- Potential predisposing factors:§Smaller hippocampal volume
- Cause or effect (or both)?
- Variation in emotion regulation ability
- Lack of social support
major depressive disorder
- mood disorder characterized by prolonged feelings of sadness, worthlessness, emptiness, and anhedonia
Cognitive factors:
- Rumination= continuously focusing on emotional pain without active problem-solving
- Explanatory style= cognitive style that determines how individuals explain adverse events
- Internal:blaming oneself (“it’s my fault”)
- Global: generalizing problem to all aspects of life (“everything is ruined”)
- Stable: believing problem is unchangeable (“it will always be like this”)
- Social & environmental factors:
- Stressful experiences interact with individual predisposition factors (diathesis-stress model)
- Biological factors:
- Serotonin long-considered key player in mood regulation, but precise role is debated
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) effective for treating depression(effective for anxiety as well)
- BUT: delayed effects—what is the mechanism?
- Cortisol-induced inhibition of growth processes, brain shrinkage
- Reward deficit—dopamine, opioids
-Some antidepressants target dopamine neurotransmission
- Heighted inflammation
anhedonia
- diminished interest or pleasure in nearly all of the activities that usually provide pleasure