Psychology December 11, 2011 Warm Up

1. Psychology December 11, 2011Warm Up Get your homework out because we will have several philosophical chairs discussions. If it is incomplete, you will have about 2-3 minutes to get it done.

2. Dissociative, Somatoform and Personality Disorders • Dissociative disorders cause people to lose their memory or identity. • Somatoform disorders cause people to express psychological distress through physical symptoms. • Personality disorders are characterized by patterns of unchanging personality traits that disrupt people’s social lives and work lives.

3. What is dissociation and what are the four dissociative disorders? • Dissociation – separation of certain personality components or mental processes from conscious thought. • Sometime dissociation is normal, for example, when you are engrossed in reading or watching TV and you do not hear someone calling your name. • It is abnormal if it occurs as a way to remove your self from a stressful situation (losing memory of an event, or even forgetting their identity.)

4. What are the four types of dissociative disorders? • Dissociative amnesia – characterized by sudden loss of memory, usually following a stressful or traumatic event. • Typically cannot remember any events for a certain period of time surrounding the traumatic event. • Cannot be explained biologically, but usually occurs after a major event such as witnessing serious accident or natural disaster. • Dissociative Fugue – characterized by not only forgetting personal information and past events, but also by suddenly relocating from home and work and taking on a new identity. • When these people get away from their home they may take on a new identity, living and working with this new id. Once the fugue state is over, they will not usually remember what happened.

5. What are the four types of dissociative disorders? • Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personality disorder) – existence of two or more personalities within a single person. • Personalities may or may not be aware of others, take turns controlling the individual’s behavior, and each personality is very different from the others. • Depersonalization disorder – feelings of detachment from one’s mental processes or body. • People feel as though they are outside their bodies observing themselves from a distance.

6. How do theorists explain the origins or dissociative disorders? • Psychoanalytic theory – people dissociate in order to repress unacceptable urges. • Learning theory – learned not the think about disturbing events in order to avoid guilt, shame or pain. • Neither cognitive or biological theorists have offered a complete explanation for dissociative disorders.

7. What is somatization and what are the most common types of somatoform disorders? • Somatoform disorder – psychological distress through physical symptoms. • People may have a psychological disorder such as depression, but experience inexplicable physical symptoms such as paralysis. • Conversion Disorder – people experience a change or loss of physical functioning in a major part of their body, for which there is no medical explanation. • Usually sudden with no medical explanation. • Hypochondriasis – person’s unrealistic preoccupation with thoughts that he/she has a serious disease. • Become obsessed with minor symptoms, and constantly seek out physician expertise!

8. How do theorists explain the origins of somatoform disorder?` • Psychoanalytic theory – somatoform disorders form when individuals repress emotions associated with forbidden urges instead of expressing them symbolically in physical symptoms. • More recently, psychologists argue that people actually convert psychological stress into medical problems. There may be a direct link between the body part affected and the cause. • Behavioral theorists argue that people’s symptoms serve as reinforcers to escape form anxiety.

9. What are personality disorders and how do they differ from other psychological disorders? • What are personality disorders? • Patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the affected individual. • It’s important to note the differences between personality disorders and other types of psychological disorders. • Psychological disorders – come in episodes • Personality disorders – enduring traits that are major components of an individuals personality.

10. What are the ten types of personality disorders? • Paranoid: suspicious and distrust others motives. • Schizoid: detachment from social relationships. • Schizotypal: Acute discomfort in close relationships and self image. • Antisocial: disregard for the rights of others. • Borderline: instability in interpersonal relationships and self-image. • Histrionic: excessive emotionally, need for attention. • Narcissistic: grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy. • Avoidant: social inhibitions, feelings of inadequacy. • Dependent: submissive, clinging • Obsessive-Compulsive: obsession with orderliness, perfectionism and control.

11. How do psychological and biological views explain the origins of antisocial personality disorder? • Psychological • Psychoanalytical - research has found that children who are rejected by adults, and harshly punished rather than treated with affection, tend to lack a sense of guilt. • Learning – childhood experiences teach children how to relate to other people. • Cognitive – antisocial adolescents tend to see other people’s actions as threatening, even when they are not. They use this to justify their own.

12. How do psychological and biological views explain the origins of antisocial personality disorder? • Biological • Genetic factors are apparent • Antisocial personality tends to run in families. • Found mainly in the frontal lobe that is connected with emotional response.