MENTAL DISORDERS

1.5 million hospitalized; additional 4-5 million seek help

Depictions of mental disorders are often inaccurate

Statistically, mental patients are less violent than those in the “normal” population
What constitutes abnormal behavior?
1. Person suffers from discomfort more or less continuously. (Shows up as extreme anxiety, endless
worry, or long periods of depression; feels something is wrong w/ his/her life more than the average
person does)
2. Person is behaving in a bizarre fashion. (Misinterprets what is going on or what others are
doing/saying; afraid to go to work or school; frequently comes completely apart over minor things or
sinks into a depression about them)
3. Person is very inefficient and is therefore unable to perform their life roles properly.
Characteristics of Abnormal Behavior:
1. Inflexible in their responses to almost everything (Ex: Shy, withdrawn man goes to a party and a
few people are nice to him; instead, he thinks they only “feel sorry” for him)
2. Constantly see a threatening environment (Ex: See danger, rejection, and failure around every
corner)
Disorder
Subsets
-Panic Disorder
Description
-Frequent and overwhelming attacks of anxiety (Ex: Occur
1
while under stress)
ANXIETY DISORDERS
(most common)
-Phobic Disorders
-Disabled and overwhelmed by fear in the presence of
certain objects/events (Ex: Fear of leaving familiar
environment/home)
-Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
-Endless preoccupation with an urge or thought combined
with a symbolic, ritualized behavior that a person must
keep acting out to avoid anxiety (Ex: Excessive hand
washing, checking locks, compulsive gambling)
-Conversion Disorders
-Serious psychological trauma is unconsciously
changed/converted to symbolic physical dysfunction; very
SOMATOFORM
DISORDERS
(expressed in bodily
symptoms)
rare (Ex: Person who has witnessed a horrific murder may
not be able to see; visual system shuts down)
-Hypochondriasis
-Overly concerned about health (Ex: See cough as a
symptom of brain cancer and sniffles as really pneumonia)
-Amnesia
-Memories related to a terrible trauma “disappear” and are
cut off from consciousness (Ex: Soldier selectively forgets
DISSOCIATIVE
DISORDERS
(disconnects or disassociates
certain events/behaviors
from one another; very rare)
the part of his identity connected with the horror of war
but doesn’t forget simple things like how to tie his shoe,
etc.)
-Fugue
-Extensive, complicated version of amnesia; starts new life
somewhere else; does not remember the fugue state when
2
-Dissociative Identity
they “come out of it”
Disorder
-Instead of forgetting specific events, they “forget” a
portion of themselves; divides self into 2 or more separate
personalities that can act independently; extremely rare
(Ex: Individual who has experienced a history of traumatic
events splits into good and evil sides to deal with
guilt/desires/pain)
-Dysthymic Disorder
-Moderate depression that usually clears up w/ no
treatment; “common cold of mental health”; serves a
“function” (Ex: Occurs in someone who has just lost a
friend or relative)
MOOD DISORDERS
(deal with one’s emotional
state)
-Major Depression
-Very slow speech, loss of appetite and sleep, lack of
energy, sense of hopelessness, extreme feelings of
worthlessness, frequent thoughts of death or suicide; lasts
-Mania
from couple of weeks to months
-Extreme agitation, restlessness, rapid speech, trouble
-Bipolar Disorders
concentrating; extreme up moods where one might have
(Manic Depression or
delusions of grandeur
Manic Depressive
Psychosis)
-Experience swings from the downs of major depression
and the ups of mania; may experience hallucinations; high
levels of serotonin linked to mania and low levels linked to
major depression
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-Schizophrenia
-Most serious mental disturbance; schizophrenia affects
about 1% of the population; often arises in late
adolescence or early adulthood; word salad (incoherence)
and clang associations (rhymes); cycles of lucidity and
psychosis; heredity does not seem to be the key factor
PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS
(Thought disorder,
hallucinations, delusions,
inappropriate emotional
responses)
(90% of patients do not have members in their immediate
family who suffer from it); environment may contribute to
the development for those who have a predisposition;
-Catatonic
linked to high levels of dopamine
Schizophrenia
-Disturbances of movement; does not speak or says little;
appears to be in a stupor; may rigidly hold strange posture
and may not move for hours
-Paranoid
Schizophrenia
-Strong feelings of persecution or suspiciousness;
delusions
-Undifferentiated
Schizophrenia
-Lacks distinguishing symptoms
-Antisocial Personality
-Lack of conscience; often in conflict w/ the law and show
(Psychopaths and
PERSONALITY
DISORDERS (Personalities Sociopaths)
are “off-center”)
-Borderline Personality
little or no concern, guilt, or anxiety; sometimes have a
family history of neglect and rough treatment
-Created in 1980; characterized by intense and unstable
relationships w/ others; very dependent; self-destructive
behavior to manipulate others; suspicious and therefore
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difficult to treat
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