Unit 15: Clinical Disorders Flashcards
What’s considered an abnormality?
- Something that’s not typical, follows a developmental trajectory that isn’t common.
What are the three criteria that must be met in order for something to be considered an abnormality?
- Deviance (unique)
- Distress (to those and those around you)
- Maladaptive (not healthy, not helping you)
What are some major topics discussed in the history of Mental Illness?
- Superstition - mental illness was initally treated with a lot of superstition, which meant patients recieved very poor treatment, if any at all.
- Organic causes - Believed that mental illness was linked to physciological causes (ex. syphillis allowed people to experience manic episodes)
- Asylums - Facilities where the mentally ill were sent to recieve treatment. Started with good intentions but the funding became greatly reduced so the care diminshed to a point where it was considered abuse.
- Medicalization - advancements in medecine have allowed for less people to require in-person care. This includes the developments of pills.
- Compassion care - Started during the 1700s. Smaller homes/cottages used to better assist patients
What’s the medical model? What are its criticisms?
- Knowledge and methods of treating physical illnesses should be transferred to methods of mental illness. The idea that mental illness should be less stimatized and should recieve proper treatment just as physcial illness does.
- There’s obvious differences in severity and duration of mental illness in comparison to physical illnesses.
- Only looking for a cure, not focusing on prevention or building support.
- Creates a clean division between the sick and the healthy, which is not very accurate for mental illness.
- The key is maintaining mental health in order to prevent mental illness
What is the DSM-5
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which came out in 2013. 512 disorders organized into 20 groups
What is definetly not a disorder?
- Psychotic
- Insane
- Crazy
Wat are criticisms of the DSM?
- Changes when social norms change (constantly changing)
-Ignores causes, only focused on symptoms. Need to treat the causes. - Can invalidate the experiences and disorders of others
- Changing labels leads to changing diagnoses
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
- An anxiety related disorder where a person is constantly worried about different things all of the time, never satisfied with what they have gotten done
- Can lead to burn out
What is panic disorder?
- An anxiety disorder where the individual experiences recurrent panic attacks
- Very intense physiological symptoms
- Very preoccupied with preventing panic attacks that it affects your life, constantly in fear
- Start receiving treatment when it affects your everyday life as panic attacks themselves aren’t uncommon
What are phobias?
- Specific, overwhelming fears that can be anything
- They’re persistant and irrational and can take over your life if they become too much
- Very curable
- An anxiety disorder
What’s social anxiety?
- An anxiety disorder that involves excessive anticipation and distress when in social situations
- Constantly concerned about embarassing yourself and that you may disappoint others
- Must continue for at least six months
- May refrain from talking and withdrawal from social situations.
What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
- An anxiety disorder that is inflicted by trauma, where memories from the traumatic event cannot be repressed and keep reoccuring as flashbacks
- Individual is constantly reliving the experience
- Can occur long after trauma has occured (at least a month)
- Not everyone who experiences trauma will develop PTSD
- Treatment involves reliving the experience in a safe space
What’s Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)?
- An anxiety disorder characterized by constant and uncontrollable obsessions and compulsions
- Obsessions - intrusive thoughts and ideas that cannot be supressed by the mind
- Compulsions - Behaviors that are used to quiet obsessions in the mind
- If unable to complete compulsions, leads to emotional distress
- Must be long-lasting in order to be considered a clinical diagnosis
What’s hoarding disorder?
- An anxiety disorder where an individual experiences great distress over losing their items, allowing them to accumulate an insane amount of stuff
- Does not matter the matter or use, not based off of materialism
- Items do not have to have sentimental value
- House is so full you cannot move around
What’s Major Depressive Disorder?
- A mood-related disorder where an individual experiences persistent feelings of sadness.
- Loss of interest in joy or pleasure, also lacking energy and motivation
- Pessimistic view of the world, ruminating on how bad the world and life is
- Can make poor decisions
- Can be biological (including familial) and situational (involves counselling)
What is bipolar disorder?
- A mood-related disorder where the individuals moods fluctuate from depression to mania.
- Mania involves a very potent sense of euphoria. Get so energetic they become irritable that they can’t receive any feedback
- Unable to sleep during manic episodes
- Can also experience hypomania, which is not full blown mania
- Can lead to accidental self-harm when in manic episodes
Is it true to say that eating disorders can be a learned behavior?
True (from parents)
What’s Anorexia Nervosa?
- An eating disorder where an individual has an intense fear of gaining weight, so they place themselves under dangerous food restrictions
- Often involves a disturbed body-image (body dysmorphia)
- Includes purging and binging behavior
- Leads to health complications such as amenorrhea (period stops), hair loss, cardiac arrest etc.
- Leads to most fatalities
- Personalities are often perfectionist and controlling
What’s bulimia nervosa?
- An anxiety disorder characterized by binge eating and intense purging behavior
- Want to change the body quickly
- Lots of guilt and shame associated, makes it difficult to reach out
- May also take laxatives and exercise a lot
- Due to major shifts in metabolism, it places a lot on stress on the body
- Dental decay due to constant vomitting
- No weight requirement for bulimia
What’s orthorexia?
- An eating disorder that includes severe food restriction for the sake of “better health”. Want only organic and pure food etc.
- Not based on body image
- Tied to health/illness anxiety
- Leads to malnourishment
- More common in men
What’s binge eating disorder?
- Includes rapid eating, can’t stop eating or else you feel very guilty and embarrassed
- Often linked to obesity but don’t have to be obese to have it
- Very possessive over food, and very upset when you have to stop eating
- Atypical portions, eat until uncomfortably full
- Can be hormonal or emotional causes, as well as a learned behavior
What’s oppositional Defiant Disorder?
- A conduct disorder that can only be diagnosed during childhood
- Child loses temper very easily and is easily annoyed
- Often argues with authority figures such as teachers and parents
- Deliberately annoys and harrasses others, gets pleasure out of it
- Spiteful and vindictive
What is Conduct disorder?
- Can only be diagosed in late adolescence (after oppositional defiance disorder)
- Bullies, threatens, intimidates others
- Initiates physical fights with others
- Physically cruel to people and/or animals
- Deliberately destroys property
What are manias?
- A type of conduct disorder where an individual receives intense pleasure and gratification out of socially unacceptable acts that can be dangerous and harmful
- Not motivated by money
- Pyromania - the enjoyment of lighting fires. Will light fires in unaccetable environments
- Kleptomania - Intense desire to steal things. Not motivated by money, just the pleasure to steal
- Very impulsive, receive instant gratification
- Usually a response to some sort of trauma, and attempting to navigate the world