Psychological
Disorders
Defining Psychological
Disorders
 a “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is
judged to be:
 maladaptive--harmful
 unjustifiable--sometimes there’s a good
reason
 Must include:
 Personal discomfort (inner distress)
 Change in life Functioning (success in meeting
expectations for performance in work or
school and social relationships)
Historical Views
• Supernatural view
– Mysterious actions indicated supernatural
powers
– Madness was a sign of possession
– Punishment: Burning at the stake
• Naturalistic View
– Hippocrates
– Madness was a sickness- treat with care
Theories of Nature,
Cause, and Treatment
• Biological Model
– Physiological malfunctions
• Psychoanalytic Model
– Result of unconscious internal conflict
• Cognitive-Behavioral
– Result of learning (learned inferiority)
• Diathesis-stress (integration)
– Biological predisposition combined with stressful
situation
• Systems approach (integration)
– Biological, psychological, and social combination
(biopsychosocial model)
Classification - DSM-IV
DSM-IV
 American Psychiatric Association’s
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (Fourth Edition)
 a widely used system for classifying
psychological disorders
 presently distributed as DSM-IV-TR (text
revision)
Prevalence and Uses
• 15% experience mental disorder
– Top three: Anxiety, phobias, mood
•
•
•
•
6% substance abuse
Incidence: new cases in a given time
Prevalence: frequency of a case
“Insanity”- a legal term used in court
to avoid holding the ill accountable for
unjust actions
Mood Disorders
 Definition: characterized by
emotional extremes
• Difference between sadness and clinical
depression?
– Normal = response to real-world situation,
lasts for a short period, typical reaction
Mood Disorders
 Major Depressive Disorder
 a mood disorder in which a person,
for no apparent reason, experiences
two or more weeks of depressed
moods, feelings of worthlessness,
and diminished interest or pleasure
in most activities
Mood Disorders
• MDD Symptoms
– Depressed mood
• Feeling sad or empty for most of the day, nearly every
day
– Loss of interest in pleasure
– Significant weight loss or gain
– Sleep disturbances
– Disturbances in motor activity
– Fatigue
– Worthlessness or self guilt
– Trouble concentration
– Recurrent thoughts of death
Mood Disorders
• Dysthymia
– Less intense sadness that persists for 2
years or more
Mood Disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
– Disorder in which an individual alternates
between feelings of MANIA (EUPHORIA) &
DEPRESSION
– Mania- active, talkative, high selfesteem, potentially aggressive
• Ben Stiller, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Brittney
Spears, DMX, Charlie Sheen
– Manic-Depressive Disorder (Kelsey and Chase)
Mood Disorders - Bipolar
• PET scans show that brain energy
consumption rises and falls with emotional
switches
Depressed state
Manic state
Depressed state
Causes of Mood
Disorders
• Biological Factors
– Identical Twin more likely to be depressed
than Fraternal
– Neurotransmitters
– Medications can treat (SSRIs)
• Psychological Factors
– Cognitive Distortions- “Twisting” a
situation and misinterpreting it severly
Depression & Women
Depression Rates
Depression & Suicide
Anxiety Disorders
Defined as: distressing, persistent anxiety
(don’t know cause or is inappropriate) or
maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
Anxiety Disorders
 Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 Prolonged vague but intense fears- person
is tense, apprehensive, and in a state of
autonomic nervous system arousal (unable
to relax, constantly restless, rapid heart,
trouble sleeping)
 “Free floating” anxiety
Anxiety Disorder
 Panic Disorder
 marked by a minutes-long episode of
intense dread in which a person
experiences terror and
accompanying chest pain, choking,
or other frightening sensation
 No reasonable cause
 Dread of having another panic attack
is stressful (agoraphobia?)
Anxiety Disorders
 Specific Phobia
 persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or
situation
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Acerophobia - Fear of itching
Acrophobia - Fear of heights
Aerophobia - Fear of flying
Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces (or being separated from sources of
security)
Atelophobia - Fear of imperfection
Autophobia - Fear of being alone
Lygophobia - Fear of darkness
Arachniphobia – Fear of spiders
Arachibutyrophobia – Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your
mouth
Social Phobia- Fear of public situations (public speaking)
Anxiety Disorders
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 unwanted repetitive thoughts
(obsessions) and/or actions
(compulsions)
 May experience anxiety if behavior is
stopped
 Hoarding
Anxiety Disorders
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD)
– Disorder in which victims of traumatic
events experience the original event in
the forms of dreams or flashbacks long
after the event
– Acute stress- immediately after
– A Soldier's Struggle with PTSD
Psychosomatic and
Somatoform Disorders
• Psychosomatic- “mind” and “body”
– Real illnesses that have a psychological
cause
– Ex: Tension headaches, High Blood
Pressure exacerbated by stress
– Joe Paterno?
• Somatoform- Believe they are
physically ill
– Problem is somatic (physical) in
appearance with no evidence of illness
Somatoform
Somatization disorder- Vague, recurring physical
symptoms with no cause (back pain, dizziness,
stomach pains, etc.)
Conversion Disorder -Conversion of emotional
difficulties into the loss of a specific physiological
function
If stuck with a pin, a limb will have no feeling
glove anesthesia- lack of feeling from the hand down
“Hysterical Blindness”
Hypocondriasis - A person who is in good health
becomes preoccupied with imaginary ailments (a
cough becomes a serious disease
BDD- Body Dysmorphic Disorder- imagined ugliness
Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative Disorder - a disorder in
which a person experiences
alterations in memory, identity, or
consciousness
• Part of the person is dissociated from
the rest (memory, identity, etc.)
• i.e. Dissociative Amnesia- memory of war
victims is incomplete (selectively
forgotten)
Dissociative Fugue
A person suddenly and unexpectedly
travels away from home or work
and is unable to recall the pastrare
This person will assume an entirely
new identity
DID- Dissociative Identity
Disorder
• Formerly Multiple Personality
• A person exhibits two or more
personality states, each with
its own patterns of thinking
and behaving
• A.k.a. Multiple Personality
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5
a2PxSgZ28
Case Study
• “In general demeanor, Maud was quite different
from Sara. She walked with a swinging, bouncing
gait contrasted to Sara’s sedate one. While Sara
was depressed, Maud was ebullient and happy…
Insofar as she could Maud dressed different from
Sara… Sara used no make-up. Maud used a lot of
rough and lipstick…”
• Sara was mature (19.2 mental age, IQ 128), while
Maud was childish (6.6, IQ of 43)
Depersonalization
• Person suddenly feels changed or
different in a strange way
• Is common during adolescence, but
when this becomes long-term or
chronic it is classified as a dissociative
disorder
Sexual Disorders
• Sexual Dysfunction- loss or impairment of
physical responses
• Sexual Desire Disorder- lack of interest
• Paraphilias- Unconventional sex objects or
situations to obtain sex arousal (fantasies)
– Fetishism- repeated use of nonhuman
object to achieve arousal
– Exhibitionism, Pedophilia, Frotteurism,
Sexual Sadism, Masochism, Transvestic
Fetishism
Gender Identity
Disorders
• Desire to become a member of the
other biological sex
• Many times this is resolved by
adulthood
• If not, sexual reassignment surgery is
an option
• Cause: Biological?
• Two sexes is not enough to encompass
human sexuality?
Schizophrenia
 Schizophrenia
 literal translation “split mind”
 a group of severe disorders
characterized by:
disorganized and delusional
thinking
disturbed perceptions
inappropriate emotions and
actions
Schizophrenia
 Psychosis: A loss of touch from
reality
 Delusions
 false beliefs, often of persecution or
grandeur, that may accompany psychotic
disorders
 Hallucinations
 sensory experiences without sensory
stimulation
Subtypes of
Schizophrenia
Being chased by Russian spies, evil clowns, etc.- “Normal”
Giggling, Grimacing, Active but aimless
- Then overactive
Genetics &
Schizophrenia
Fluid-filled Brain Schizophrenia
Dopamine & DiathesisStress Hypothesis
• Dopamine Hypothesis -An excess of
dopamine at selected synapses is
related to a diagnosis of schizophrenia
• Diathesis-Stress Hypothesis Individual may have inherited a
predisposition toward schizophrenia
Personality Disorder
 Personality Disorders
 disorders characterized by inflexible
and enduring behavior patterns that
impair social functioning
 usually without anxiety, depression,
or delusions
Types of Personality
Disorder
•
•
•
•
•
Antisocial- lie, cheat, steal, kill with no regret
Dependent- Unable to make decisions on their own
Histrionic - Excessive emotions; Seeks attention
Paranoid – Suspicious and mistrustful, hypersensitive to threats
Schizotypal, or Schizoid - Intense discomfort in close
relationships, lack desire to form social relationships
• Borderline- Instability in self-image, mood, and interpersonal
relationships; impulsive
• Narcissistic –grandiose sense of self-importance and
preoccupation with fantasies of success
• Avoidant- timid, anxious, and fearful of rejection, but wants
close relationships
Personality Disorder
 Antisocial Personality Disorder
 disorder in which the person (usually
man) exhibits a lack of conscience
for wrongdoing, even toward friends
and family members
 may be aggressive and ruthless or a
clever con artist
Childhood Disorders
• ADHD (Attention-Deficit/hyperactivity
disorder)- lack ability to focus in a
sustained way
• Biological factors in central nervous
system
• Treatment- psychostimulants to “slow
down” hyperactive children
Autistic Disorder
• 1/500 Children
• 4x in boys
• Fail to form normal attachments,
distant and withdrawn, delayed speech
or develop echolalia (repetition of
words said to them)
• Strange motor behavior
• Precise cause unknown
• “Autism: The Musical”