Chapter 15 - Psychological Disorders Flashcards
What is a psychological disorder?
Patterns of thoughts, feelings, or actions that are deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional.
For there to be distress and dysfunction, symptoms must be sufficiently severe to interfere with one’s daily life and well being.
Deviant means to differ from the norm.
Is ADHD a disorder?
Is it deviant?
Do some people have a level of inattentiveness, impulsiveness, or restlessness that goes beyond laziness or immaturity?
Is it distressful?
Does the person enjoy being energetic or are they frustrated that they can’t sustain focus?
Is it dysfunctional?
Are the symptoms harmless fun or do they negatively impact work and relationships?
Why are disorders diagnosed?
To make decisions about treating the problem.
What was Pinel’s new approach?
Philippe Pinel proposed that madness is not a demonic possession but a sickness of the mind. He emphasized moral treatment.
Humane environmental interventions often improved lives but not the mental illness itself.
The discovery that syphilis causes mental symptoms (by infecting the brain) suggested a medical model for mental illness.
What is the biopsychosocial approach to treating mental disorders?
Mental disorders can arise in the interaction between nature and nurture caused by biology, thoughts, and the sociocultural environment.
How many classifications of mental disorders are there and what is used to diagnose them?
There are 16 categories of disorders and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is used to diagnose patients.
It is easier to count cases if we have a clear definition of a disorder. The DSM is also used to justify payment for treatment of these disorders. It is consistent with diagnoses used by medical doctors worldwide.
What are some symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Emotional cognitive symptoms - persistent and uncontrollable anxiety and worry.
Physical symptoms - autonomic arousal (trembling, sweating, fidgeting, agitation, and sleep disruption)
Functional impairment.
What is panic disorder?
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks.
Minutes long episode of intense fear which many include feelings of terror, chest pains, trembling, feeling faint, and other frightening sensations.
A feeling of a need to escape.
Also involves a fear of the next attack and a change in behavior to avoid panic attacks.
What is specific phobia?
Persistent and unreasonable fear of an object or situation and an intense desire to avoid it.
Causes functional impairment.
What is agoraphobia?
Fear or avoidance of situations in which escape might be difficult when panic strikes.
What is social phobia?
An intense fear of being watched and judged by others.
What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?
Persistence of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals (compulsions) that cause distress.
Compulsions are done to lower obsessions.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
About 10 - 35% of people who experience trauma have four weeks to a lifetime of:
Intrusive distressing recollections of the event.
Nightmares.
Social withdrawal.
Jumpy anxiety or hyper vigilance - easily startled and super aware.
Sleep problems.
Talk about classical conditioning and anxiety.
Learned associations - a certain object / place and feeling of fear. Sometimes such a conditioned response becomes over generalized.
Ex. Little Albert’s fear of white rats turned into a generalized fear of all white animals.
Talk about operant conditioning and anxiety.
Avoidance reduces anxiety and reinforces it. If you always avoid something, you’re always afraid of it.
Talk about observational learning and anxiety.
Humans and monkeys learn fears by observing others.
Talk about cognition and anxiety.
Worried thoughts as well as interpretations, appraisals, beliefs, predictions, hyper vigilance, and ruminations.
What are some things that can worsen anxiety?
Cognitive errors - believing that we can predict that bad events will happen.
Irrational beliefs - “bad things happen to bad people and I was hurt so I must be bad.”
Mistaken appraisals - seeing aches as diseases, noises as dangers, and strangers as threats.
Misinterpretations - of facial expressions and actions of others, like thinking people are talking about you.
Talk about biology and anxiety.
Human are naturally phobic of snakes, heights, closed spaces, and darkness - being weary of these objects kept our ancestors alive to reproduce. There are also dangerous objects that we are not phobic of, but are likely to become cautious of, like guns, cars, and electricity.
Talk about fear and the brain.
Traumatic experiences can burn fear circuits into the amygdala; these circuits can later be triggers / activated more easily.
What are two examples of mood disorders?
Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.
What is the criteria that must be met in order to be diagnosed with depression?
One or both of the first two and at least three of the others.
Depressed mood for most of the day.
Markedly diminished interest and pleasure in activities.
Significant increase / decrease in appetite / weight.
Change in sleep - too much or too little.
Lethargy or physical agitation.
Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.
Worthlessness or excessive / inappropriate guilt.
Daily problems in thinking / concentrating / making decisions.
Recurring thoughts of death or suicide.
What percentage of people worldwide suffer from depression?
Depression is the number one reason people seek mental health services and appears worldwide in 6% of males and 9% of females every year.
A woman’s risk of depression is nearly double that of men.
Depression is more common in individualistic cultures.
What are bipolar disorder’s two opposing moods?
Depression and manic.
