Introduction to Psychological Disorders

1. Module 27 Introduction to Psychological Disorders

2. Standards • *SSPVB3: The student will identify abnormal behavior and treatment. • a. Identify criteria that distinguish normal from disordered behavior; include the criteria of distress, deviance, and dysfunction. • b. Describe methods used to diagnose and assess abnormal behavior; include the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the MMPI, and projective tests. • c. Compare anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, and schizophrenia and describe appropriate treatments for these disorders. • d. Analyze the challenges associated with labeling psychological disorders and the impact of diagnosis on patients. • e. Compare the biomedical, psychoanalytical, cognitive, and behavioral approaches to the treatment of psychological disorders.

3. Essential Question • How has the labeling and diagnosis of psychological disorders changed over time?

4. Defining Disorder • What criteria do psychologists use to diagnose psychological disorders? • Maladaptive or destructive behavior • Unjustifiable without a rational basis • Disturbing; troubling to other people • Atypical; so different that they violate a norm

5. Understanding Disorders • Throughout history, different cultures have viewed psychological disorders differently. • Usually viewed as demonic possession or punishment for sin. • Many patients were treated inhumanely as a result of their disorders. • Philippe Pinel – French physician (1745 – 1826) who worked to eliminate institutionalized brutality.

6. The Medical Model • The concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated and even cured. • Assumes that mental illnesses can be diagnosed on the basis of their symptoms. • Through therapy (medical or psychological) these illnesses can be cured.

7. The Bio-Psycho-Social Model • A contemporary perspective which assumes that biological, psychological and sociocultural factors all interact to produce psychological disorders

8. Classifying Disorders • In order to create a sense of order within the discipline, psychologists classifying disorders according to their symptoms in order to: • 1. describe the disorder • 2. predict the future course of the disorder • 3. treat the disorder properly • 4. provide a springboard for research into the causes of the disorder.

9. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders • DSM-IV-TR – Most accepted and widely used classification system for psychological disorders. • Currently in its 4th edition. • Classifies disorders into 17 major categories. • Anorexia has been added as disorder; homosexuality has been dropped as disorder

10. Labeling Disorders • What are the drawbacks and advantages in labeling psychological disorders? • Questions to consider: • 1. How does the labeling affect the individual? • 2. How is the labeling viewed by society? • 3. Is a psychological disorder the same as any other physical disorder?

11. Classes of Disorders • Anxiety Disorders – generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias • Mood Disorders – major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder • Dissociative Disorders – dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identify disorder • Schizophrenia Disorders – (types of schizophrenia) paranoid, catatonic, disorganized and undifferentiated