Psychological Disorders Flashcards
(25 cards)
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
Bulimia
- recurrent episodes of binge eating
- recurrent, inappropriate, compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain
Borderline Personality Disorder
- people on the border between neurotic and psychotic
- 6% of population
- instability, very hot and cold, impulsive behaviors
- indenting disturbance: confused about values
- suicidal, self mutilating gestures
Explanations:
-disturbed childhood relationships and history of abuse
Linehan’s Biosocial Development Theory:
- predisposition to be sensitive, impulsive, experience negative emotions
- parents don’t teach children how to handle negative emotions properly
Dissociative Identity Disorder
- multiple personality disorder
- very different from schizophrenia
- 4 to 9x more common in women
- average 13 personalities
- some don’t believe in disorders
- may be caused by childhood abuse
Schizophrenia
- 1%
- emerges in adolescence
- starts with decreasing function, unusual behavior
- split personality
- not violent
Three Categories of Symptoms
- Positive: presence of something normally absent (delusions, hallucinations)
- Negative: absence of something that should be present (no emotional expression, limited speech, inability to persist in goals
- Disorganized speech
Explanations:
- genetic
- biological: excess of dopamine, underactive frontal lobe, enlarged ventricles, loss of gray matter, exposure to virus at birth, advanced age of father
- social class
Generalized Anxiety Disorders
-global, persistent, chronic, excessive anxiety
Explanations:
- brain is wired for anxiety
- problematic relationships
- stressful experiences
Does Smoking Cause Mental Illness?
- people with mental Illness are 2x more likely to smoke
- used as a self medication
- could also be a trigger for mental illness, more research needed
Culture Bound Syndromes
- hikikomori (Japan)
- anorexia nervosa (US, Western Europe)
Antisocial Personality Disorder
-1 to 4% of population, more men
Symptoms
-deceiving and manipulating for personal gain
-seem to lack conscience
-disregard the rights of others
-high rates of alcohol and substance abuse
Dissociative Amnesia
- partial or total inability to recall important information that is nit due to a medical condition
- person develops amnesia for personal events and information, rather tan general knowledge or skills
