Warm up
K-W-L Chart
What do you know about psychological disorders?
What do you want to know about psychological disorders?
Everyone stand up. Pick one from either column to share
Psychological Disorders
Chapter 14
Intro to psychological disorders
 Psychological disorders--behaviors or mental processes
that are connected with various kinds of distress or severe
impairment of functioning.
Historic Views of Psychological Disorders
 In the past people believed that psychological disorders were
caused by possession by the Devil.
 People attributed unusual behavior and psychological disorders
to demons.
 Famous sayings
6 characteristics of Psychological
disorders
 They are unusual.
 They suggest faulty perception or interpretation of reality.
 Hearing voices, seeing things, hallucinations, ideas of




persecution.
 Hallucinations: perception in the absence of sensory
stimulation; confused with reality
They suggest severe personal distress.
They are self-defeating.
They are dangerous.
The individual’s behavior is socially unacceptable.
Classifying Psychological Disorders
 The most widely used classification scheme
for psychological disorders is the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
(DSM) of the American Psychiatric
Association.
 The DSM-V (current version)
groups disorders on the basis of
observable behaviors or symptoms.
Classifying Psychological Disorders
 Thomas Szasz believes that disorders are really just problems
in living rather than disorders.
 Labeling people degrades them, encourages them to
evade their personal and social responsibilities.
 Labeling people as sick accords too much power to
health professionals.
 Troubled people need to be encouraged to take
greater responsibility for solving their own problems.
Types of psychological disorders
 Psychological disorders are grouped into 6 categories:
 Anxiety Disorders
 Dissociative Disorders
 Somatoform disorders
 Mood Disorders
 Schizophrenia
 Personality Disorders
CONTROVERSY IN PSYCHOLOGY:
Is a Gay Male or Lesbian Sexual Orientation A
Psychological Disorder?
 Until 1973 a gay male or lesbian sexual orientation was considered
to be a psychological disorder.
 A category for people who are distressed about their sexual
orientation remains in place.
 Gay males and lesbians are more likely than heterosexuals to
experience feelings of anxiety and depression and they are more
prone to suicide.
CONTROVERSY IN PSYCHOLOGY:
Is a Gay Male or Lesbian Sexual Orientation A
Psychological Disorder?
 Bailey proposed interpretations of the issues surrounding
homosexuality:
 Societal oppression causes the higher incidence of depression
and suicidality.
 Homosexuality reflects a departure from typical development.
 Sexual orientation reflects prenatal sex hormones.
 Homosexual people could reflect differences in lifestyle.
Warm Up: 4/9
 1. Many criteria have been suggested to differentiate normal
and abnormal behavior. All of the following are included except
a) behaviors that are rare.
c)
risk-taking
behaviors.
b) behaviors that distort reality. d)
behaviors that
impair functioning.
 A factor that determines whether or not a behavior or feeling
is evidence of a psychological disorder may be
a) whether the behavior or feeling is pleasant.
b) whether the behavior or feeling is appropriate to the
situation.
c) whether or not the behavior is legal.
d) whether the behavior or feeling is appropriate to the
norms of the dominant culture.
Whiteboard
 What are the 6 characteristics of psychological disorders?
agenda
 As we get into psych disorders, we are going to cover
different disorders within the six categories. I’m going to try
to be consistent in breaking it up into:
 Description of the specific disorders
 Causes (either specific or overarching of the category)
 Treatment (either specific or overarching of the category)
 In addition, you will keep a worksheet used to diagnose case
studies of people.
Anxiety Disorders
Phobias, Panic Disorder, General Anxiety disorder
Anxiety Disorders
 Anxiety has psychological and physical features.
 Psychological features include:
 Worrying.
 Fear of the worst things happening.
 Fear of losing control.
 Nervousness.
 Inability to relax.
Anxiety Disorders
 Physical features include:
 Arousal of the sympathetic branch of the
autonomic nervous system:
 Trembling.
 Sweating.
 Pounding heart.
 Elevated blood pressure.
 Faintness.
 Anxiety is an appropriate response to a real
threat.
Graphic Organizer
 Read the text/listen to the video. Write a 2-3 sentence
description and your diagnoses. Treatment and causes will be
discussed Monday
Phobias
 Specific phobias are excessive, irrational
fears of specific objects or situations, such
as snakes or heights.
 Social phobias are persistent fears of
scrutiny by others or of doing something
that will be humiliating or embarrassing.
 Agoraphobia: fear of being out in open,
busy areas.
Panic Disorder
 Panic Disorder is an abrupt attack of acute anxiety that is not
triggered by a specific object or situation.
 Symptoms include:
 Shortness of breath.
 Heavy sweating.
 Tremors.
 Pounding of heart.
 Many fear suffocation.
 Choking sensations.
 Nausea.
 Numbness.
 Fear of going crazy or losing control.
 Symptoms may last minutes or hours.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 Generalized Anxiety Disorder is persistent
anxiety that cannot be attributed to a phobic
object, situation or activity. It seems to be freefloating.
 Symptoms include:
 Autonomic nervous system overarousal.
 Feelings of dread and foreboding.
 Excessive vigilance.
White Boards
 What is the difference between generalized anxiety disorder
(GAD) and Panic Disorder?
 How is panic disorder different from phobias?
Descriptions
 Go to the stations to take your notes of each of the three
anxiety disorders
 3 minutes at each station.
 http://bestpractice.bmj.com/best-
practice/monograph/120/diagnosis/case-history.html
 http://www.alexismain.co.uk/?p=phobia.case.study
 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eg695yLlEM
start at 1:20
 Need to make g.o.
Obsessive Compulsive disorder
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=x4s
adYeLHKU
What are
obsessions/what are
compulsions?
What are obsessions
and compulsions
you see in the video?
Types of Anxiety Disorders: Obsessive-
Compulsive Disorder.
 Obsessions: recurrent, anxiety provoking thoughts
or images that seem irrational and disrupt daily
life.
 Compulsions: are thoughts or behaviors that tend to
reduce the anxiety connected with obsessions.
 Examples?
Types of Anxiety Disorders:
Stress Disorders- PTSD and Acute
Stress disorder
 Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by a
rapid heart rate and feelings of anxiety and helplessness that are
caused by a traumatic experience.
 Traumatic experiences include natural or man-made disasters,
threats, or assault, or witnessing a death.
 The traumatic event is revisited in the form of intrusive
memories, recurrent dreams, and flashbacks.
 Acute stress disorder is characterized by feelings of anxiety
and helplessness that are caused by a traumatic event.
 Acute stress disorder occurs within a month of the event and
lasts from 2 days to 4 weeks.
PTSD
 http://video.pbs.org/video/1218601697/
 http://www.youtube.com/user/VeteransMTC?v=SqjwV-
lsVEs
Figure 14.1 Sleep Problems Among Americans Before and After September 11, 2001 Insomnia is one
of the symptoms of stress disorders. A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that Americans had a
greater frequency of sleep problems after the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Warm up: Monday, October 29
How would you diagnose the following three scenarios?
1. Jasmine experiences an extreme fear of bunnies. She can’t see
one, sometimes even an image of one, without experiencing
psychological stress and worrying, sweating, and a pounding
heart.
2.
Bianca constantly feels uptight, paranoid, and nervous. It is rare
she feels relaxed in the course of a day even though she
consciously knows that there is nothing to worry about.
3.
Max experiences strong symptoms of panic anytime from a
couple of times a week to a few times a year. Seemingly out of
no where he becomes short of breath, has a pounding heart, and
experiences extreme dread. Even when he isn’t having an
attack, the fear of another attack keeps him from enjoying his
life fully.
Warm up- in your worksheet
 1) Hector is a veteran of WWII. He still has flashbacks of
seeing people being killed and doesn’t like to talk about his
experiences there. He has irrational fears about being shot
still.
 2) Leslie is always worried that she has left a hair straightener
or curling iron on when she leaves her home. She must
confirm it is off at least 4 times before leaving her house, and
frequently turns around even once she has left, to make sure
that nothing is on.
 3) After being in a car accident, Brad has a fear of driving. The
thought of driving is very stressful for a couple of weeks after
the accident, and he has flashbacks. His symptoms are better
within a month, and he is now able to drive again.
Why is this happening?: Psychological Views on
causes of disorders
 Psychodynamic:
 Phobias symbolize conflicts originating in childhood.
 Generalized anxiety as persistent difficulty in repressing
primitive impulses.
 Obsessions are explained as leakage of unconscious
impulses.
 Learning theorists:
 Phobias are conditioned fears that were acquired in
childhood. Observational learning also plays a role.
 Cognitive theorists:
 Anxiety is maintained by thinking that one is in a terrible
situation and helpless to change it.
Why is this happening? Biological Views on causes
of disorders
 Biological Views.
 Anxiety tends to run in families.
 Twin studies show a higher concordance rate for
anxiety disorders among identical twins than among
fraternal twins.
 Mineka (2001) suggest that humans are genetically
predisposed to fear stimuli that may have posed a
threat to their ancestors.
 The brain may not be sensitive enough to GABA, a
neurotransmitter that may help calm anxiety reactions.
Objective and DOL
Objective
DOL
 SWBAT:
 SWBAT answer 3 mc
 describe the
characteristics of
dissociative disorders
 Explain 3 dissociative
disorders:
 Dissociative amnesia
 Dissociative fugue
 Dissociative identity disorder
questions on different
dissociative disorders
 SWBAT compare and
contrast dissociative
disorders to anxiety
disorders
Dissociative Disorders
 Dissociative disorders are characterized by a separation of
mental processes such as emotions, identity, memory,
perception, or consciousness.
In other words, one of these areas is not working correctly
and causing significant distress within the individual
Dissociative disorders
Dsm descriptions
Case studies
 http://www.dsm5.org/Pr
 http://www.psychology.s
oposedRevision/Pages/pro
posedrevision.aspx?rid=55
#
 http://www.dsm5.org/Pr
oposedRevision/Pages/pro
posedrevision.aspx?rid=57
bc.edu/schmidt1.htm
 http://www.cbsnews.com
/2100-201_1625317268.html
 http://theneuron.wetpaint
.com/page/Dissociative+F
ugue+-+Jin+Kwon
6 groups of three
 One person read the information outloud to the group
 One person write a summary on the whiteboards of the
symptoms of the disorder
 One person writes a summary of the case study (/studies)
involving the disorder.
 You will present these to the class.
Types of Dissociative Disorders: Dissociative Amnesia
 Dissociative amnesia
 characterized by the person suddenly being unable to
recall important personal information.
 Think-Pair-Share
 How is dissociative amnesia different than other amnesias?
Dissociative Fugue
 characterized by the person abruptly leaving their home or
place of work and traveling to another place, having lost all
memory of their past. The new personality is often more
outgoing than the less inhibited one.
 DSM-V-TR is considering making this a subcategory of dissociative
amnesia
Types of Dissociative Disorders: Dissociative
identity disorder (formerly termed multiple
personality disorder)
 characterized by two or more identities or
personalities, each with distinct traits and
memories, occupying the same person. Each
identity may or may not be aware of the
others.
Warm Up
 In 1-2 sentences describe each of the
following:
 Dissociative identity disorder
 Dissociative fugue
 Dissociative amnesia
Close Reading: Is DID a real disorder?
 Annotate and summarize the position I gave to you.
Warm Up November 1, 2012
What is something interesting in
this class you have learned?
Theoretical Views: Dissociative Disorders
 Psychodynamic theory
 explains this as massive repression.
 Learning theorists
 suggest that people have learned not to
think about bad memories or disturbing
impulses in order to avoid feelings of
anxiety, guilt or shame.
Somatoform Disorders
 Somatoform disorders are characterized by
physical problems in people, such as paralysis,
pain, or a persistent belief that they have a serious
disease. Yet no evidence of a physical abnormality
can be found.
Types of somatoform disorders: Conversion
disorder
 characterized by a major change in, or loss
of, physical functioning although there are
no medical findings to explain the loss of
functioning. (ex: blindness, but no
damage to optic nerve)
 The person is not faking - they seem to
be converting a source of stress into a
physical difficulty.
 Some people with this disorder show
indifference to their symptoms.
Hypochondriasis
 characterized by people insisting that they are
suffering with a serious physical illness even
though no medical evidence of illness can be
found.
 They become preoccupied with minor
physical sensations and continue to believe
that they are ill despite the reassurance of
physicians that they are healthy.
TPS
 How is this different than
conversion disorder?
Somatoform disorders: Causes
 Theoretical Views.
There is research evidence that people
who develop hypochondriasis are
particularly sensitive to bodily
sensations and tend to ruminate about
them.
CONTROVERSY IN PSYCHOLOGY:
Are somatoform disorders the special province of
women?
 Hippocrates believed that hysteria was
caused by a wandering uterus.
 Conversion disorders are not the special
province of women.
 Psychodynamic view suggests that
conversion disorders protect the individual
from feelings of guilt, shame or from
another source of stress.
DOL
 Mrs Tannings visits her GP every week. One time she is
exhausted and fears a severe heart disorder, and another time
she suspects a tumour in every possible part of her body.
Warm Up
A) what are the two somatoform diorders?
B)
When you are finished, write a characteristic for boys, and
a characteristic of girls on the board.
Types of Mood Disorders
 Major depression
 the common cold of psychological problems. Characteristics
include (write 5)
 Lack of energy.
 Loss of self-esteem.
 Difficulty concentrating.
 Loss of interest in activities and other people.
 Pessimism, crying, and thoughts of suicide.
 Poor appetite and serious weight loss.
 Faulty perception including delusions of unworthiness, guilt
for imagined wrong doings and possible hallucinations of
strange bodily sensations.
diary
 Look for symptoms of depression in this diary:
 http://crankylucy.blogspot.com/
The Case of Women and Depression
 Women are about two times more likely to be diagnosed with
depression than men.
 Low levels of estrogen have been suggested as a reason.
 Hormonal changes, menstrual cycle, and childbirth may
contribute to depression in women.
 Women are more likely to admit to depression.
 Why would women be more likely to admit
depression?
 More socailly acceptbale
 Why would this be negative for men?
 Women are more likely to ruminate about stresses.
The Case of Women and Depression: Why?
 A panel convened by the APA attributed most of the
gender difference to the greater stresses placed on
women.
 Multiple demands including:
 Demands of childbearing.
 Child rearing.
 Financial support of the family.
 Women are more likely to have experienced physical and
sexual abuse, poverty, single parenthood, and sexism.
 Women are more likely to help other people which
heaps additional care giving burdens on themselves.
a
Types of Mood Disorders:
Bipolar Disorder
 formerly known as manic-depressive disorder and is
characterized by:
 Mood swings from ecstatic elation to deep
depression.
 In the manic phase the person may show excessive
excitement, silliness, show poor judgment,
destroying property and giving away expensive
possessions. They are too restless to sit still or sleep
restfully.
 Depression often includes sleeping more than usual
and being lethargic. Individuals also tend to
withdraw and experience irritability.
Warm up: 4/17
 Ms. Bishop felt she had canker sores in her mouth, and she
could see them when she looked in the mirror. She looked it
up and found that these are caused by psychological stress. Is
this a form of conversion disorder, why or why not?
Theoretical Views
 Depression may be a reaction to losses and stress.
 We tend to be depressed by things we bring on ourselves.
 Psychological Views:
 Psychoanalysts suggest that anger is turned inward.
 Bipolar disorder may be seen as the personality being
dominated by the superego and then by the ego.
 Learning theorists suggest that depressed people behave as though
they cannot obtain reinforcement.
 They have an external locus of control.
 Researchers have found links between depression and learned
helplessness.
Theoretical Views
 Cognitive factors contributing to depression
include making irrational demands on themselves.
 Depressed people tend to ruminate about
feelings of depression.
 Attribution styles include: internal vs.
external; stable vs. unstable; and global vs.
specific.
 People who are depressed tend to think of
their situation as internal, stable, and global.
 They are powerless to change.
Theoretical Views
 Biological Factors.
 Depression is heritable.
 Genetic factors appear to be involved.
 Bipolar disorder may be connected with
genetic material found on Chromosome
18.
 Depression research focuses on the
underutilization of the neurotransmitter
serotonin in the brain.
Warm up: Monday, Nov. 5
 What do you think this picture is trying to tell? What is
happening to the boy?
Schizophrenia
 Schizophrenia is a severe psychological disorder that
touches every aspect of a person’s life.
 Characterized by disturbances in:
 thought and language.
 perception and attention.
 motor activity and mood.
Schizophrenia symptoms
 Withdrawal and absorption in daydreams or fantasy.
 Jumbled speech.
 Delusions.
 Hallucinations.
 Stupors: slow motor activity.
 Emotional responses that may be flat.
video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaFqw8XnpA
 Watch the first man as he shows symptoms of schizophrenia.
Types of Schizophrenia
 Paranoid type
 Disorganized type
 Catatonic type
 Paranoid Type
 have systematized delusions and frequently related
auditory hallucinations.
 Usually the delusions are of grandeur and persecution
including jealousy.
 Video:third woman
Disorganized Type (write 4)
 incoherence
 loosening of associations
 disorganized behavior
 disorganized delusions
 fragmentary delusions or hallucinations
 flat or highly inappropriate emotional responses
video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaFqw8XnpA
 Disorganized speech
 Second man on video
Catatonic type
 show striking impairment in motor activity.
 Slowing of activity into a stupor that may suddenly
change into an agitated phase.
 Waxy flexibility in which the person maintains positions
into which he or she has been manipulated by others.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRQMDsw02Dw
ABC reports on schizophrenia
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74vTftboC_A
Theories of Schizophrenia
 Psychological views:
 Psychodynamic perspective (predict)
 suggests that the ego is overwhelmed by sexual or aggressive
impulses from the id.
 The person retreats (regresses) to an early phase of the oral
stage.
 Learning theorists explain schizophrenia in terms of
conditioning and observational learning.
 Inner fantasies become more reinforcing than social
realities.
 Some researchers are interested in the connections between
psychosocial stressors and biological factors.
Theories of Schizophrenia
 Biological Views:
 Schizophrenia appears to be a brain
disorder.
 Size of the ventricles in the brain.
 Activity levels in the brain.
 Brain chemistry.
 Smaller brains.
 Smaller prefrontal region of the
cortex.
 Larger ventricles.
Possible causes of Schizophrenia
 Heredity.
 Chromosome 1.
 Complications during pregnancy.
 Birth during winter.
 Poor maternal nutrition.
 Atypical development of the central nervous system.
 People with schizophrenia may overutilize dopamine.
 They may have larger numbers of dopamine receptors.
 The multifactorial model suggests that genetic
factors create a predisposition toward
schizophrenia. Then other factors contribute to the
cause of the disorder.
Figure 14.2 A Multifactorial Model of Schizophrenia According to the
multifactorial model of schizophrenia, people with a genetic vulnerability to the
disorder experience increased risk for schizophrenia when they encounter
problems such as viral infections, birth complications, stress,and poor
parenting. People without the genetic vulnerability would not develop
schizophrenia despite such problems.
DOL
 Write a diary entry as if you are a person dealing with
Schizophrenia.
CONTROVERSY IN PSYCHOLOGY: Should we ban the insanity plea?
 The issue is competence to stand trial.
 M’Naghten rule states that the accused did not understand what they were doing at
the time of the act, did not realize it was wrong, or was succumbing to an
irresistible impulse.
 Although the public estimates that the insanity defense is used in about 37% of
felony cases, it is actually raised in only 1%.
 People found not guilty by reason of insanity are institutionalized for indefinite
terms.