I. Identifying & Understanding Psych Disorders
A. Defining Disorder: deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional behavior
patterns
1. Harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions
2. Deviant: simply being different from the norm
a. Dynamic: differs from culture to culture, time to time
3. Distress: pain, anxiety, or sorrow
4. Dysfunction: behaviors that interfere with leisure and work
a. The Key to Disorder
B. Understanding Disorders
1. The Medical Model
a. Pinel (1800s) – madness was not a demon possession, but a
sickness of the mind caused by stress or the environment
b. Symptoms = Diagnosis
c. Treatment = Therapy or Prescription Drugs or Hospitalization
d. Cure = In the Eye of the Beholder
2. Biopsychosocial
a. Biological (Nature) Factors
i. DNA & Genes predispose individuals to behavior
ii. Brain structure and anatomy differ from person to person
b. Psychology Factors
i. Stressors
ii. Experiences: learned helplessness v. motivation
c. Social (Nurture) Factors
i. Culture: roles & expectations
ii. Experiences: isolation v. emersion
d. Universal: schizophrenia symptoms similar everywhere
e. Unique: anorexia more prevalent in “Western” cultures
C. Classifying Disorders
1. Purpose: describe, predict and control behavior
2. Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR)
a. Does not attempt to explain the causes
b. Highly reliable & valid
c. Critics
i. Any behavior could be categorized as a disorder
ii. Nearly 400 disorders identified
iii. Approximately 30% of US population
d. Tests, Interviews & Observations based on
i. Axis I: Clinical Syndrome
1) Developmental Disorder
2) Cognitive Disorder (amnesia/dementia/etc)
3) Medically caused Mental Disorder
4) Substance-related (abuse) Disorder
5) Psychotic Disorder (schizophrenia)
6) Mood Disorders
7) Anxiety Disorders
8) Somatoform Disorders
9) Factitious Disorders
10) Dissociative Disorders
11) Eating Disorders
12) Sexual or Gender Identity Disorders
13) Sleep Disorders
14) Impulse-control Disorders
15) Adjustment Disorders
16) Other Conditions
ii. Axis II: Personality Disorders or Mental Retardation
iii. Axis III: General Medical Conditions
iv. Axis IV: Psychosocial or Environmental Problems
v. Axis V: Global Assessment
1) 100-90: No symptoms, superior functioning
2) 60-50: Moderate symptoms, some difficulty in social,
occupational or school functioning
3) 10-1: Persistent symptoms, danger of hurting self or
others
e. Critics: value judgments made by individuals, no science to
support classification
i. Labels created preconceptions, guide interaction, develop
self-fulfilling prophecies
ii. Focus on symptoms rather than assigning a “disorder”