Abnormal Psych
The Nature of Mental
Disorders
• A.
Definition of Abnormal Behavior
– 1. The person suffers from discomfort more or less continuously
– 2. The person is behaving in a bizarre fashion
– 3. People who need help can be very inefficient
• ***Any one of the above symptoms or a combination can
indicate trouble
• B.
A severe disorder may refer to psychosis, when a person
is out of touch with reality. Mild disorders would refer to
nonpsychotic disorders.
Classifying Disorders - DSM V
• A. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders – used by health workers to
determine what classification a particular person
belongs in.
• B. People don’t usually fit into one category
perfectly, and symptoms overlap with one another.
Anxiety Disorders
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• A.
Definition - Disorder whose major symptom is anxiety.
Most common type of disorder other than substance abuse.
• B.
Panic Disorder
– 1. A type of anxiety disorder in which one cannot relax and is
plagued by frequent and overwhelming attacks of anxiety
– 2. Sometimes it develops in the person’s psyche, probably
developed from years of feeling insecure and helpless.
– 3. Often develops because something is physically or chemically
wrong. However, once it occurs learned associations creates a
likelihood of it reoccurring and being attached to other
associations.
Anxiety Disorders
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• A.
Phobic Disorder
• 1.
A type of anxiety in which a person becomes
overwhelmed by fear in the presence of certain objects or
events.
• 2.
Simple Phobias – centers on particular objects or
situations
• 3.
The most common explanation for phobias today is that
they result from associations or learning, although there may
be some genetic tendencies.
Anxiety Disorders
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• B.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• 1.
Obsession – An endless preoccupation with an urge or
thought
• 2.
Compulsion - A symbolic, ritualized behavior that a
person must keep acting out in order to avoid anxiety.
• 3.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – Having continuous
thoughts(obsessions) about performing a certain act over and
over(compulsion). Seems to result from faulty attempts to
resolve guilt, anxiety, or insecurity.
Somatoform
• A. Definition-Condition in which psychological issues are
expressed in bodily symptoms in the absence of any real
physical problem
– B. Conversion Disorder – Disorder in which a serious
psychological trauma is changed into a symbolic physical
dysfunction (ex. hysterical blindness or hysterical paralysis).
Conversion disorders are quite rare
– C. Hypochondrias – Disorders characterized by feeling
excessive concern about one’s health and exaggerating the
seriousness of minor physical complaints. For example, they see
a slight headache as brain cancer or a case of the sniffles as
pneumonia.
Dissociative Disorder
• A. Definition – Disorders in which a part of one’s
life becomes disconnected from other parts:
amnesia, fugue, and multiple personalities are
examples
• B. Psychogenic Amnesia – A dissociative
disorder in which traumatic events disappear from
Memory
• C. Selective forgetting – forgetting only things
that are very traumatic
Dissociative Disorder
• A. Psychogenic Fugue – The condition of having
amnesia for one’s current life and starting a new one
somewhere else
• B. Multiple Personality Disorder – Condition in
which a person divides himself or herself into two or
more separate personalities that can act
independently
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Mood Disorders
• A.
Definition- A category of mental disorder characterized
by one’s emotional state; includes depression and mania
• B.
Dysthymic Disorder – A moderate depression. In any
given year between four and twelve percent of the population
will be affected by it. Typical symptoms include lack of
energy, unhappiness, loss of interest in activities and people,
loss of sense of humor, sadness, and rock bottom feelings of
self-worth.
• C.
Major Depression – An extremely low emotional state,
severe depression; involves loss of appetite, lack of energy,
hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. People in this category
have trouble carrying out simple daily tasks. Some may even
lie motionless in a rolled up fetal position for hours at a time.
The depression may last from a couple of weeks to a matter of
months
Mood Disorder
• D.
Mania – A mood disorder involving extreme agitation,
restlessness, rapid speech, and trouble concentrating. The
speech problem is the most notable part of behavior. This
problem is called flight of ideas. It is a confused state in which
thoughts and speech go in all directions with no unifying
concept.
• E.
Bipolar disorders – A disorder with up and down swings
from high to low. The highs and lows of this illness can last
for several days to several months.
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Psychosis
• A.
– Severe mental disorders involving major problems
with emotional responses, disorganized thought process, and
distorted perceptions of the world. There is a lost of contact
with and difficulty in recognizing reality. Thus, it is a very
serious mental disturbance.
– 1. Symptoms of psychosis
» a.
Distortion of mental process
» b.
Hallucinations - seeing or hearing things that are
not there
» c.
Delusions – grossly inaccurate beliefs, such as
thinking of themselves as avenging angels
» d.
Trouble with emotional responses ex. Laughing at
tragic events
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Schizophrenia
• A.
The most serious mental disturbance that involves loss
of contact with reality, thought disorder, hallucinations, and
delusions. It effects about 1% of the population. Obvious
symptoms are disorganized thoughts garbled speech, as well as
hallucinations and delusions.
– 1. Probably not a single disorder. (Rule of thirds)
– 2. It is suspected that schizophrenia results mostly from some
physical or chemical problem because it appears in late
adolescence or early adulthood, almost never earlier. This fact
would tend to rule out the suggestion that it is mostly
psychological, because psychological causes should result in
problems appearing at almost any age.
Schizophrenia
• B. Word Salad – Speech in which words are
mixed together incoherently. Like the ingredients of
a tossed salad.
• C. Clang Association – Psychotic speech in
which words are rhymed.
• D.
Types of Schizophrenia
– 1. Catatonic Schizophrenia – Type of schizophrenia
characterized by disturbances of movement
– 2. Paranoid Schizophrenia – Schizophrenia marked by
strong feelings of suspiciousness and persecution
– 3. Psychotic Schizophrenia - Schizophrenia that lacks any
distinguishing symptoms
• E. Psychotic Episodes – Periods of psychotic
behavior that can alternate with periods of relative
coherence and calm.
• A.
Environmental Factors of Schizophrenia –
– 1. The odds of a person becoming schizophrenic are moderately
high if that person’s close family members have schizophrenia
– 2. For 90% of schizophrenics, there are no other schizophrenics
in the immediate family. (Environment may play a small part in
the disorder)
• B.
Chemical Factors in Schizophrenia
– 1. Dopamine – The brain chemical present in excess in
schizophrenics, which causes nerve cells to fire rapidly and leads
to thought and speech confusion
– 2. Amphetamines seem to raise one’s dopamine level.
– 3. There is still much research going on in this area! It is
possible the schizophrenics have a normal dopamine level, but
too many dopamine receptors in the brain.
Personality Disorders
• – A disorder in which the person has formed a
peculiar or unpleasant personality. They are not
out of touch with reality, so they are not psychotic,
and they do not show guilt and anxiety so
common in other disorders. For example, some
are very secretive, some very self-centered and
selfish, some suspicious all the time.
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• A. Antisocial Personality Disorder – A
personality disorder in which the person is in
constant conflict with the law and seems to have no
conscience
• B. Sociopath – Same as the anti social personality
disorder.
• C. Borderline Personality Disorder – Personality
disorder marked by unstable emotions and
relationship, dependency, and manipulative selfdestructive behavior.
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Childhood Disorders
• A.
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
– 1. Characterized by inattention, distractibility, impulsiveness,
and/or excessive activity, and restlessness
– 2. Affects 3-5% of children
– 3. We do not know the exact causes of ADHD
– 4. Ritalin – Most common prescription, is a stimulant
• B.
Autism
– 1. Characterized by a failure to develop social patterns of
communication, social interaction, and emotional responses
– 2. Autistic children have a difficult time forming attachments
and have a powerful need to maintain sameness
– 3. Echolalia – An autistic symptom in which the person echoes,
or repeats, what has just been said