1
CHAPTER 12 NOTES: MENTAL DISORDERS – Page 462
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association



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 Inflexible in their responses to almost everything (Ex: Shy, withdrawn man goes to a party and a few people are nice to him; instead,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
Hyperactivity
First diagnosed in
infancy,
Autism
childhood, or
adolescence
Delirium
Cognitive
Dementia
Disorders
Amnesiac
Alcoholism
SubstanceRelated Disorders Chemical abuse
-Schizophrenia
Description
lacking the ability to concentrate for any length of time,
especially as a result of attention deficit disorder
Affect social, behavioral, and language development.
Problems that cause physcial deterioration of the brain due
to aging, diseases, drugs, or other chemicals. Loss of
memory.
Pyschological behavioral physical social or legal problems
that cause dependeence on or abuse of. (Substance drugs)
-Most serious mental disturbance; schizophrenia affects
Comments/Connections/Questions (CCQ)
2
-Catatonic
Schizophrenia
PSYCHOTIC
DISORDERS
(Thought
disorder,
hallucinations,
delusions,
inappropriate
emotional
responses)
-Paranoid
Schizophrenia
-Undifferentiated
Schizophrenia
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 (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; linked to
high levels of dopamine
-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
-Strong feelings of persecution or suspiciousness;
delusions
-Dysthymic
Disorder
MOOD
DISORDERS
(deal with one’s
emotional state)
ANXIETY
DISORDERS
(most common)
-Lacks distinguishing symptoms
Severe disturbances of mood, espcially depression,
overexcitement, or altering episodes of each extreme
(bipolar)
-Major Depression
-Mania
-Bipolar Disorders
(Manic Depression
or Manic
Depressive
Psychosis)
-Panic Disorder
-Phobic Disorders
-ObsessiveCompulsive
Disorder
Specific fears, panic attacks, feeling of dread. Problems
that could be caused by traumatic events such as rape or
military combat.
3
SOMATOFORM
DISORDERS
(expressed in
bodily symptoms)
-Conversion
Disorders
Physical symptoms, such as paralysis and blindness to
have no phyiscal cause. Nonexistant physical problems.
-Hypochondriasis
Flase mental disorders that are intentionally produced to
satisfy some psychological needs.
Factitious
Disorders
-Amnesia
DISSOCIATIVE
DISORDERS
(disconnects or
disassociates
certain
events/behaviors
from one
another; very
rare)
-Fugue
-Dissociative
Identity Disorder
Problems of finidng sexual arousal through unsual object
or situation. Unsatifactory sexual activity. Identifying with
the opposite gender.
Sexual and
Gender Disorders
Anorexia
Eating Disorders
Psychologically caused problems consciousness and self
idenifiction. Loss of memory, development of more that
one identity.
Problems associating with eating tooo little or self induced
vomiting.
Bulimia
Severe problems involving sleep-wake cycle. Inability to
sleep well at night or stay away during the day.
Sleep Disorders
Impulse Control
Disorders
Compulsive gambling, stealing, or fire setting.
4
Failure to adjust to, deal with stress, divorce, financial
problems, unhappy life events.
Adjustment
Disorders
PERSONALITY
DISORDERS
(Personalities are
“off-center”)
-Antisocial
Personality
(Psychopaths and
Sociopaths)
-Borderline
Personality
-Lack of conscience; often in conflict w/ the law and show
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
difficult to treat