Psychological Disorders Flashcards
Definitions of Abnormal
- maladaptive
- distressing
- different from the norm
Prevalence of Disorders
-any disorder: 46%
-alcohol or drug abuse: 15%
-anxiety disorder: 29%
-mood disorder: 21%
-schizophrenia: 1%
Comorbidity- when an individual meets criteria for more than one disorder
Four Characteristic of Stigma
- A label is applied to a group of people that distinguishes them from others
- That label is linked to deviant or desirable behaviors
- People with label are seen as different- leads to in group v. out group
- People with label may be discriminated against
Are Those With Mental Illness Violent?
- Slight increase of risk of violence only if a person has hallucinations or delusions
- those with mental illness are likely to be victims
Anxiety Disorders
- main symptom is fear that is out of portion to or inconsistent with environment
- healthy anxiety is a warning system (fight or flight)
- maladaptive anxiety is irrational, incontrolable, disruptive
Panic Disorder
-presence of panic attacks (dizziness, sweating, difficult breathing, overwhelming feelings)
Triple Vulnerabilities Model:
1. Genetics
2. Feeling out of control
3. Misinterpretation of physical feelings (attribute any instance of sweating as a panic attack)
Specific Phobia
Three Factors
- Intense fear
- Avoidance of the phobic stimulus
- Impairment/severity
-women are more likely to be diagnosed
Four Categories
- Injury or blood
- Situations
- Animals (most common)
- Natural Environment
-can arise due to classical conditioning, observational learning, operant conditioning
Social Anxiety Disorder
- persistent, irrational fear linked to the presence of other people
- onset during late adolescence
- explanations: conditioning and cognitive theory
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- obsessions are repetitive, intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts, ideas, or actions
- compulsions are actions a person feels compelled to repeat over and over
- person with OCD feels anxiety if compulsion is not performed
- explanations: neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin, brain disfunctions in frontal lobe, biological
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
-patterns of symptoms that exist long after severe, traumatic situation
Symptoms:
- Re experiencing the traumatic event
- Avoidance
- Mood and cognitive changes (loss of interest, anger)
- Increased physical arousal (trouble sleeping, difficult concentrating)
Explanations:
- severity of stressor
- role of social support and hardiness
- personal or family history of emotional problems
- more likely after human induced trauma
Unipolar (Major Depressive Disorder)
-10% of men, 20% of women
Symptoms:
- sad afect, feelings of worthlessness
- loss of interest in usual activities
- weight changes
- sleep disturbances
- loss of energy
- difficulty concentrating
- suicidal thinking
- at least 2 week duration
Gender Differences:
- women: ruminative responses (thinks and talks about it all the time)
- men: distracting responses (sports, hobbies)
Bipolar (Manic Depressive Disorder)
- 1% of population, no gender differences
- alters between depression and mania
Symptoms of Mania:
- elevated, euphoric mood
- increase in activity level
- racing thoughts
- rapid speech, talkativeness
- inflated self esteem (believe they’re the best at everything)
Cognitive Explanations for Depression
- Unipolar
- pessimistic (internal, stable, global
- depressed people tend to see the world more accurately because non depressed people have positive illusions
Becks Cognitive Triad: negative views about world, future, self
-research suggests negative thoughts come first
Biological and Genetic Explanations for Depression
- both unipolar and bipolar
- problem with neurotransmitters
- people may inherit predisposition
Anorexia
- restriction of food that leads to very low body weight
- intense fear of gaining weight
Explanations:
- neurochemical differences
- genetic personality traits (perfectionism, obsessive worrying, rigid thinking, persistence)
- culture