Perspectives on Psychological Disorder - Anxiety Disorders
Study Guide Pages 604-609➢ Psychological Disorder
○ Diagnosed by a person’s actions, thoughts, or feelings that is disruptive and out of
the “norm” to the people around you.
➢ ADHD- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
○ This disorder is diagnosed at a young age, and is usually characterized by small
attention spans mixed with constant active behavior.
➢ Medical Model
○ The model behind the idea that a disease can be diagnosed and solved through
medication or treatments
Who was involved?
➢ Philippe Pinel was the first to address that those suffering from a mental illness are sick
and not evil people.
○ Pinels influence also led to more asylums being turned to hospitals, with more
humane treatment than before.
➢ Medical Model Bias: wrongly using the model to diagnose a patient based on purely their
symptom.
○ Pros: Enabled doctors to diagnose patients easier.
○ Cons: Can lead to the medical model bias, or over diagnosing a patient based
purely on symptoms.
➢ Ex: David Rosenhan Psychiatric experiment where 7 other people went to
a hospital pretending they heard voices. They were all misdiagnosed and
prove the bias that can come with diagnosing a patient based on
symptoms.
➢ Bio-Psycho-Social Approach
○ Bio: to properly address a problem, this approach would look at a patient’s
medical records, their heredity information.
○ Psycho: They would also check their stress levels after a traumatic event
○ Social: Evaluate their everyday lives
■ Examples● Bio:
○ Evolution
○ Genes
○ Brain structure and chemistry
● Psychological Influences:
○ Stress
○ Trauma
○ Mood and memories
● Social-Cultural Influences:
○ Roles
○ Expectations
○ Normality in society
Study Guide Pages 614-618➢ Anxiety Disorders:
○ Generalized Anxiety Disorder:
■ Definition: Persistent and excessive worry that lasts at least 6 months
■ Symptoms: jittery, agitated, sleep deprived, difficulty concentrating
because attention is forced on worry
■ Hard to avoid because it’s difficult to identify the cause
○ Panic Disorder
■ Definition: Unexpected, minute long episodes of intense dread
■ Fear that something horrible is going to happen
■ Symptoms: heart palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, sweating,
dizziness, choking sensations
■ May be perceived as a heart attack, feels like you’re dying
○ Phobias
■ Definition: When you avoid certain objects, activities, or situations due to
fear
● Specific Phobias: Anxiety due to specific things such as animals,
insects, heights, blood, confinement
● Social Phobias: Anxiety due to certain social experiences; extreme
shyness. It’s the fear of being judged by others or embarrassed, so
you avoid speaking up, eating out, or leaving your house
● Complex Phobias:
○ Agoraphobia: People who have experienced multiple panic
attacks before so they avoid situations in which escape
might be difficult or there will be no available help
○ Obsession-Compulsion Disorder
■ Definition: Characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions)
and/or actions (compulsions)
● Obsessions: uncontrollable thoughts or impulses that are persistent
and cause anxiety ( ex: fear of germs)
● Compulsions: repetitive behaviors that help prevent anxiety (ex:
constantly washing hands to avoid germs)
■ Crosses between normal and disorder when they persistently affect your
everyday life
○ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
■ Definition: Anxiety from not being able to forget traumatic experiences
■ Symptoms: recurring haunting memories, nightmares, jumpy anxiety,
exaggerated startle response, insomnia that linger for 4+ weeks after
traumatic event
■ Greater one's emotional distress during trauma, the higher the risk for
PTSD symptoms
● Post Traumatic Growth
● “benefit finding” from a traumatic event
● Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun determined that the
struggling with a crisis leads to an increased appreciation for life
● Ex: After one finds out they beat cancer, they develop more
meaningful relationships, an increase in personal strength, and
changed priorities
Study Guide pages 610-613 ➢ Classifying Psychological Disorders
○ classification orders and describes symptoms
○ aims to describe a disorder
■ also to predict its future course, suggest appropriate treatment, and
stimulate research
➢ DSM-IV-TR: American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
○ A widely used system for classifying psychological disorders
○ defines a diagnostic process and 16 clinical syndromes
○ includes psychotic disorders
➢ Critiques:
○ manual casts “too wide a net” bringing almost any kind of behavior within the
compass of psychiatry
■ known as over diagnosing
○ number of disorders has increased
○ labels create preconceptions that guide our interpretations
➢ Labeling Psychological Disorders
○ clinicians labeled normal behavior as symptoms
○ led to misdiagnosing patients
➢ Labels Matter
○ people are understanding that psychological disorders are diseases of the brain
and the stigma is lifting
○ people express the greatest sympathy for people whose disorders are gender
atypical
■ (men suffering from depression or women suffering from alcohol
dependence)
○ labels can bias perceptions of people
■ (ex: when teachers are told certain students are “gifted” they may act in
ways that provoke the expected behavior)
○ labels can serve as self-fulfilling prophecies
➢ Stereotypes in the media
○ stereotypes linger in media portrayals of psychological disorders
○ often people are portrayed as objects of humor and ridicule
➢ Stereotypes in real life
○ in real life people with disorders are more likely to be the victims of violence
○ very little risk of violence or harm to a stranger from casual contact with someone
who has a mental disorder
➢ Benefits of diagnostic labels
○ mental health professionals use labels to communicate about their cases
■ to comprehend underlying causes
■ to distinguish effective treatment programs
○ inform patient self-understanding
○ useful in research
■ explore causes and treatment of disorders
Study Guide Pages 618-621Understanding Anxiety Disorders
➢ Learning Perspective
○ Fear Conditioning
■ A result of classical conditioning in which a stimulus is associated with a
traumatic event. That stimulus is feared later because of it.
■ Two specific learning processes occur to allow this to happen:
● Stimulus generalization: a specific, sometimes situational stimulus
is associated with a more general form of that stimulus.
● Reinforcement: maintains the phobias and compulsions after they
happen. Avoiding or escaping a feared situation reduces anxiety,
thus reinforces the phobic behavior through negative
reinforcement.
○ Observational Learning
■ We learn fears by observing others’ fears through our observations.
○ Cognition
■ Our interpretations and irrational beliefs spur our own anxiety.
■ Hypervigilance is common, in which people become extremely aware of
their surroundings and interpret them negatively because of it.
➢ Biological Perspective
○ Natural Selection
■ Humans are biologically prepared to fear the same threats faced by our
ancestors.
● These fears are often labeled as ‘evolutionarily relevant stimuli,’ or
the dangers faced by our ancestors.
● The compulsions associated with them are often exaggerated
behaviors that contributed to our species survival in the past.
○ Genes
■ Some people are more likely to be disposed to a phobia after experiencing
a traumatic event because of their genes.
■ Genes also influence disorders through the regulation of neurotransmitters.
Certain neurotransmitters in certain quantities can influence the way by
which we react to our situations.
○ The Brain
■ Many psychological disorders are the result of overactivity of certain areas
in the brain that control our impulses and habitual behaviors.
● OCD: The anterior cingulate cortex (monitors our actions and
checks for errors) is hyperactive
● Fear-learning: Result of ‘fear circuits’ within the amygdala
■ Drugs often act as a damper to the emotions or responses associated with
an experience.