Unit 12 – Abnormal
Psychology and Treatment
Obsessive-Compulsive and related disorders
Trauma and Stressor-related disorders
Dissociative disorders
Somatic Symptom and related disorders
Substance-related and addictive disorders
Personality disorders
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
OCD
• Presence of obsessions and compulsions
or both
• OC are time consuming and not
attributable to physiological effects
• Not related to other disorders like GAD or
based in worry
• Obsessions: repetitive, persistent
thoughts, images, or urges, intrusive and
unwanted – not pleasurable or voluntary
• Compulsions: repetitive behaviors that
soothe the fears of obsessions, excessive,
not done for pleasure
Body dysmorphic disorder
• Preoccupation with one or more perceived
defects or flaws in physical appearance
that are not observable or appear slight to
others
• Repetitive tasks (checking in mirror) or
mental thoughts (“I’m not as strong as…”)
• Preoccupation causes clinically significant
distress
Hoarding Disorder
• Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions regardless
of value
• Causes significant distress
• Accumulation of items substantially compromises intended use
Trichotillomania
• Recurrent pulling out of one’s hair, resulting in hair loss
• Repeated attempts to decrease or stop pulling hair
• Causes distress
Excoriation
• Skin-picking
Trauma and stressor-related disorders: PTSD
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (write in box to the left next to PTSD)
• Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual
violence in one or more of the following ways
1. Directly experienced or witnessed trauma
2. Learning that the trauma occurred to close family or friend
3. Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of
trauma
• Police officers who repeatedly are exposed to details of child abuse
PTSD
• Presence of intrusion symptoms – recurrent memories, distressing
dreams, distress to external cues (stimuli), flashbacks
• Avoidance of stimuli associated with trauma
• Negative alternations in cognitions or mood associated with trauma
• Marked alterations in arousal and reactivity (angry outbursts)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y_a_V1QD3U
Dissociative Disorders: characterized by disruption
in normal integration of consciousness and
memory
• Intrusion into awareness and behavior
• Inability to access information or to control mental functions that are
normally easy to control
• Frequently found in aftermath of trauma
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID –
previously multiple personalities)
• This is a disorder wherein your mind partitions itself into two or
more distinct personalities that may or may not know about each
other.
• One “personality” emerges to handle stressful situations that the
whole psyche or other parts cannot handle.
• Caused by traumatic event or events where the mind represses parts
of itself that can’t handle the pain. Repressed, from a
psychoanalytical point of view.
Dissociative Amnesia
• Selective memory loss of specific traumatic event.
• The amnesia vanishes as abruptly as it begins and rarely reoccurs.
Dissociative Fugue
• This type of dissociation the person just leaves their home and
starts on new life, with no memory of their past life.
• The memory my reoccur and the person may return home, only to
leave again.
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
• Characterized by physical symptoms—pain, paralysis, blindness, or
deafness WITHOUT any demonstrated physical cause…
• Differs from psychosomatic (tension headaches, ulcers, heart
problems brought on by stress…) as no physical damage is done
Somatic Symptom Disorder
• Typically have multiple symptoms that disrupt daily life
• Symptoms are specific like pain or nonspecific like fatigue
• Somatic Symptom Disorder with prominent pain – previously pain disorder
• Excessive thoughts, feelings, behaviors related to somatic symptoms
(positive symptoms)
Illness Anxiety Disorder
• Previously related to hypochondriasis
• characterized by unexplained physical symptoms related to fear of a
specific medical condition, (ie, a complaint of breast pain perceived as
being due to breast cancer when no breast cancer is present.)
• Preoccupation with fear of having a serious medical illness
• Bodily symptoms reported consistent with patient's conception of specific
illness
• Preoccupation persists despite medical evaluation and reassurance
• Fear persists for at least 6 months
Conversion Disorder
• characterized by a sudden loss of neurological function, usually in the
context of a severe stressor.
• One or more symptoms of loss of voluntary motor or sensory function, eg,
inability to walk, sudden blindness
• Loss of function that is not due to medical illness or culturally expected
behavioral response
• Common conversion symptoms (eg, pseudoseizure, paralysis, becoming
mute)
• Cannot explain symptoms (difference between conversion and Somatic
Symptom)
Substance-related and addictive disorders
(chronic)
• Use = individual continues to use substance despite significant
substance related problems
• Induced = intoxication, withdrawal, substance induced depression,
anxiety, psychosis
Personality Disorders
• enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates
markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture,
• is pervasive and inflexible,
• has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, unstable over time,
and leads to distress or impairment
Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others
• Person may be aggressive and/or ruthless. Deceiving or conning
others or be aggressive sexually with no remorse. Psychopaths,
serial killers, sociopaths.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
• Pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQgXEkL3NV4
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy
Schizoid Personality Disorder
• Pattern of detachment from social relationships and restricted range
of emotional expression
Avoidant Personality Disorder
• Pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and
hypersensitivity to negative evaluation
Borderline Personality Disorder
• Pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image,
marked impulsivity
Dependent Personality Disorder
• Pattern of submissive and clinging behavior, excessive need to be
taken care of
O/C Personality Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive based – but not related to OCD
• Obsessed with perfection, control, and orderliness