Chapter Fourteen
Psychological
Disorders
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Five Common Myths About
Mental Illness
1. People with psychological disorders act in bizarre
ways and are very different from normal people
2. Mental disorders are a sign of personal weakness
3. Mentally ill people are often dangerous and
unpredictable
4. A person who has been mentally ill never fully
recovers
5. Most mentally ill individuals can work at only lowlevel jobs
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STUDYING PSYCHOLOGICAL
DISORDERS
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Abnormal Behavior
Patterns of behaviors, thoughts, or emotions
considered pathological (diseased or
disordered) for one or more of four reasons:
Deviance
Dysfunction
Distress
Danger
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Dying to
be Thin
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Initial Understanding of
Abnormal Behavior
Evil spirits and witchcraft
Asylums—initially good intentions, but many resulted
in inhumane conditions
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Initial Understanding of
Abnormal Behavior
Medical model—perspective that assumes diseases
(including mental illness) have physical causes that
can be diagnosed, treated, and possibly cured
Psychiatry—branch of medicine dealing with the
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental
disorders
“Mentally ill” label can have drawbacks
What might be some drawbacks?
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Seven Psychological Perspectives
on Abnormal Behavior
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Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual IV-TR
Classification system developed by the American
Psychiatric Association used to name and describe
abnormal behaviors
Neurosis—outmoded term for disorders characterized by
unrealistic anxiety and other associated problems; less severe
disruptions than psychosis
Psychosis—serious mental disorders characterized by extreme
mental disruption and defective or lost contact with reality
Insanity—legal term applied when people cannot be held
responsible for their actions, or are judged incompetent to
manage their own affairs, because of mental illness
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Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual IV-TR
Approximately 400 disorders
17 categories
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Main Categories in DSM-IV-TR
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Main Categories in DSM-IV-TR
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Most Common DSM-IV-TR Diagnoses
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Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual IV-TR
Organizes diagnostic information into five
dimensions/axes:
1. Clinical disorders
2. Personality disorders and mental retardation
3. General medical condition
4. Psychosocial and environmental problems
5. Global assessment of functioning
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Five Axes of DSM-IV-TR
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DSM-IV-TR
Criticisms and Limitations
Overdiagnosing
Cultural bias
Problem of labels
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ANXIETY DISORDERS
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Anxiety Disorders
Definition
Overwhelming apprehension
and fear accompanied by
autonomic nervous system
arousal
Five Major Types
• Generalized anxiety
disorder (GAD)
• Panic disorder
• Phobias
• Obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD)
• Posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD)
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Panic
Disorder
Anxiety Disorders
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9/11 PTSD
Therapy
Explaining Anxiety Disorders
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Explaining Anxiety Disorders
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Explaining Anxiety Disorders
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MOOD DISORDERS
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Mood Disorders
Definition
Extreme disturbances in
emotional states
Two Major Types
• Major Depressive Disorder
—long-lasting depressed
mood that interferes with
the ability to function, feel
pleasure, or maintain
interest in life
• Bipolar Disorder—repeated
episodes of mania
(unreasonable elation,
often with hyperactivity)
alternating with depression
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Depressive Explanatory Style
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Suicide
What are some common
misconceptions and stereotypes
about suicide?
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Troubled
Teens
Antidepressant
Suicide Genes
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Talking to the Depressed
Some General Tips
Don’t trivialize the disease
Don’t be a cheerleader or a Mr. or Mrs. Fix-it
Don’t equate normal, everyday “down times”
with clinical depression
Educate yourself
Be Rogerian
Get help (1-800-SUICIDE)
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Explaining Mood Disorders
Biological Factors
• Structural brain changes
• Neurotransmitter
imbalances
• Genetics
• Generally adaptive
response (evolutionary
perspective)
Psychosocial Factors
• Learned helplessness
• Attribution
• Environmental stressors
• Relationship disturbances
• Thought disturbances
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Imaging
Antidepressant
Accuracy
Blues to
Brains
Exercise and
Depression
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SCHIZOPHRENIA
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Schizophrenia
Group of severe disorders involving major
disturbances in perception, language, thought,
emotion, and behavior
A more devastating disorder
Affects about 1% of the population
Emerges between late teens and mid-thirties
ANIMATION
Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia: Areas of
Disturbance
Perception
Senses may be enhanced or blunted
Hallucinations—false, imaginary sensory perceptions
that occur without external stimuli (most common is
auditory)
Language and Thought
Disorganized and bizarre thoughts and logic
Word salad, neologisms
Delusions—mistaken beliefs based on
misrepresentations of reality
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Schizophrenia: Areas of
Disturbance
Emotion
Exaggerated and fluctuate rapidly
Blunted and decreased intensity
Flattened affect
Behavior
Social withdrawal
Unusual actions with a special meaning
Cataleptic
Waxy flexibility
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Subtypes of Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia: Methods of
Classification
Positive Symptoms
Additions or exaggerations
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
Negative Symptoms
Loss or absence
• Impaired attention
• Limited or toneless speech
• Flat or blunted affect
• Social withdrawal
Disorganization of Behavior
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Explaining Schizophrenia
Biological Factors
• Genetics
• Neurotransmitters
Dopamine hypothesis—
overactivity of dopamine
neurons may contribute to
some forms of
schizophrenia
• Brain abnormalities
Larger cerebral ventricles
Psychosocial Factors
• Diathesis-stress model—
people inherit a
predisposition that
increases their risk for
mental disorders if exposed
to certain extremely
stressful life experiences
• Critical and hostile families
• Families with
communication disorders
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Genetics and Schizophrenia
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Biopsychosocial Model of
Schizophrenia
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OTHER DISORDERS
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Substance-Related Disorders
Abuse of, or dependence on, a mood- or
behavior-altering drug
Comorbidity—co-occurrence of two or more
disorders in the same person at the same
time, as when a person suffers from both
depression and alcoholism,
possible self-medication
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Buzzed
Brain
Maternal
Separation
Teen Brains
on Alcohol
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Substance Abuse and
Dependence
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Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Disorder
Amnesia, fugue, or multiple personalities resulting from
a splitting apart of experience from memory or
consciousness
Need to escape from anxiety
Environmental variables are primary cause
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
Presence of two or more distinct personality systems in
the same individual at different times; previously
known as multiple personality disorder
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Personality Disorders
Inflexible, maladaptive personality traits that cause
significant impairment of social and occupational
functioning
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Extreme disregard for and violation of the rights of
others; guiltless, exploitive, irresponsible, intrusive,
and self-indulgent
Ego-centrism, lack of conscience, impulsive behavior,
superficial charm
Potential environmental and biological causes
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Personality Disorders
Borderline Personality Disorder
(BPD)
Severe instability in emotion and
self-concept, along with
impulsive and self-destructive
behavior
See the world in black and white
Relationship problems
Possible environmental and
biological causes
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Gender and Psychological
Disorders
More women are diagnosed with
depression around the world
Why might this be?
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Culture and Psychological
Disorders
• Differences in schizophrenia rates around the
world
• Most research conducted in Western cultures
• Culture-general and culture-bound symptoms
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Culture and Psychological
Disorders
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Culture and Psychological
Disorders
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