Abnormal Psychology
5.2 Psychological disorders
DP2
Ms Lindstrom
Learning Outcomes
• Evaluate psychological research (through theories and
studies) relevant to the study of abnormal behaviour
• Discuss the interaction of biological, cognitive, and
sociocultural factors in abnormal behaviour
• Discuss symptoms and prevalence of one disorder from
two of the following groups: Anxiety disorders (PTSD)
and affective disorders (major depression), eating
disorders (bulimia)
• Analyze the etiologies ( the cause in terms of biological,
cognitive, and sociocultural factors) of one disorder
from two of the following groups: anxiety disorders,
affective disorders, eating disorders (for example: PTSD
and unipolar depression)
• Discuss cultural and gender variations in prevalence of
disorders
Psychological Tests
On paper: Test by human realtions department
• Yale- BOCS
Many psychological online tests:
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/inde
x_surveys.shtml
• http://www.psychologytoday.com/tests
• http://www.healthyplace.com/psychological-tests/
• http://testyourself.psychtests.com/
PTSD TEST online:
• http://www.healthyplace.com/psychologicaltests/ptsd-test/
Introduction to psychological disorders
Symptomology:
Refers to the identification
of the symptoms.
For example by using a
diagnostic manual (DSMIV)
Etiology:
More difficult to do
Finding out WHAT the
person suffers from
WHY people suffers from
a disorder
IB course focuses on: the
biological, cognitive and
sociocultural factors
Data which assist in the diagnosis
Prevalence rate:
Is the measure of the total
number of cases of the
disorder in a given
population
Lifetime prevalence:
Is the percentage of the
population that will
experience the disorder at
some time in their life
Onset age:
Is the average age at which
the disorder is likely to
appear
We are going to study two disorders from two different
classifications of abnormal ehaviour
•
•
•
•
Two from:
Anxiety disorders (for example PTSD)
Affective disorder (major depression)
Eating disorder (bulimia)
Which two are we going to do?
In class we decided: Major depression and
bulimia