psychological disorders

1. 12 psychological disorders

2. why study abnormal behavior?Because abnormal behavior is all around us, many questions arise: How should one react? What should be done to help? What kind of person develops a mental illness? Could this happen to someone close to you? The key to answering these questions is to develop an understanding of just what is meant by abnormal behavior and the different ways in which behavior can depart from the “normal” path.

3. Learning Objectives • LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • LO 12.2 How disorders relate to biological and psychological models • LO 12.3 Types of psychological disorders • LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • LO 12.6 Types of eating disorders • LO 12.7 Main symptoms, types and causes of schizophrenia • LO 12.8 Types and causes of personality disorders

4. Early Explanations of Mental Illness LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Trepanning • Ancient practice where holes were cut into ill person’s head • Release evil spirits • Hippocrates • Mental illness caused by imbalance of four humors • Middle Ages • Mentally ill were labeled as witches

5. These human skulls clearly show the signs of trepanning, a process in which ancient priests or medicine men cut holes into the skulls of a living person, perhaps to release the “demons” that were making the person’s behavior odd or disturbed. Some who were treated in this way must have survived, as the holes show some evidence of healing. Source: American Museum of Natural History.

6. What is Abnormal? LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Statistical Definition • Frequently occurring behavior would be normal • Rare behavior would be considered abnormal • But what about “abnormality” such as high IQ?

7. By what criterion (or criteria) of abnormality might this person be considered abnormal? Would your perception of him change if he was not in front of a business offering tax services?

8. What is Abnormal? LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Social Norm Deviance • Going against norms of society • Deviance from social norms is not always abnormal behavior • Situational context • Subjective Discomfort • Not all abnormal behavior creates discomfort

9. What is Abnormal? LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Inability to function normally • Hard to meet demands of daily living • Best definition

10. What is Abnormal? LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Sociocultural perspective • Normal and abnormal behavior seen as product of behavioral shaping within the context of influences

11. What is Abnormal? LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Sociocultural perspective • Cultural relativity • Need to consider the unique characteristics of the culture the person is from • Culture-bound syndromes • Disorders found only in particular cultures

12. A Working Definition of Abnormality LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Is the behavior unusual? • Does the behavior go against social norms? • Does the behavior cause the person significant subjective discomfort? • Is the behavior maladaptive, or does it result in an inability to function? • Does the behavior cause the person to be dangerous to self or others?

13. Abnormality versus Insanity LO 12.1 Explanations of mental illness and defining abnormal behavior • Lawyers and judges • Determine how law should address crimes committed under the influence of mental illness • Psychologists/psychiatrists • Assess behavior’s abnormality • Do not determine sanity

14. This photograph shows Keith, Deanna, Joshua, and Luck Laney of New Chapel Hill, Texas, in seemingly happier times. On May 12, 2003, Deanna Laney killed her two young sons by crushing their heads with rocks, believing that God had ordered her to kill her children. On the day of the killings, Deanna suffered a number of visual and auditory hallucinations. She was found innocent by reason of insanity in 2004 and has been committed to a maximum security state hospital, where she is undergoing treatment for paranoid schizophrenia.

15. Models of Abnormality LO 12.2 How disorders relate to biological and psychological models • Biological model • Explains behavior as caused by biological changes • Chemical, structural, or genetic systems of the body • Psychological Models • Psychodynamic view • Disordered behavior results from repressed thoughts, memories, and concerns in the unconscious mind

16. Models of Abnormality LO 12.2 How disorders relate to biological and psychological models • Psychological Models • Behaviorists • See abnormal behavior as set of learned responses • Cognitive theorists • Abnormal behavior comes from irrational beliefs and illogical patterns of thought • Biopsychosocial Model • Incorporates elements of all models

17. DSM-IV-TR LO 12.3 Types of psychological disorders • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-TR • Manual of psychological disorders and their symptoms • Lists over 250 different disorders • Describes typical course of illness • Diagnosis is across 5 axes

18. Types of Disorders LO 12.3 Types of psychological disorders • Five axes in the DSM-IV-TR • Clinical disorders • Mood, anxiety, schizophrenia, ADHD, eating disorders • Personality disorders • Stable and enduring parts of individual’s personality • General medical conditions • Illnesses that could impact adjustment

19. Types of Disorders LO 12.3 Types of psychological disorders • Five axes in the DSM-IV-TR • Psychosocial and environmental problems • Problem in life such as job loss, divorce • Global assessment of functioning • Overall assessment of individual’s functioning

20. Table 12.1 Yearly Occurrence of Psychological Disorders in the United States

21. The Pros and Cons of Labels LO 12.3 Types of psychological disorders • Labels make up a common language in the mental health community • Allow psychological professionals to communicate clearly and efficiently • Labels establish distinct diagnostic categories enabling good treatment • Labels can bias judgment

22. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Main symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety and fearfulness • Free-floating anxiety • Anxiety unrelated to any realistic, known source

23. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Phobia • Irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity • Social phobia • Fear of interacting with others • Being in social situations that might lead to a negative evaluation

24. Table 12.2 Common Phobias and Their Scientific Names

25. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Phobia • Specific phobia • Fear of objects or specific situations or events • Claustrophobia • Fear of being in a small, enclosed space

26. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Phobia • Specific phobia • Acrophobia • Fear of heights • Agoraphobia • Fear of being in situation where escape is difficult or impossible

27. Many people get nervous when they have to speak in front of an audience. Fear of public speaking is a common social phobia. Can you remember a time when you experienced a fear like this?

28. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Panic disorder • Panic attacks cause difficulty in adjusting to daily life • Panic attack • Sudden onset of intense panic • Multiple physical symptoms of stress • Often with feelings that one is dying

29. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Panic disorder • Panic disorder with agoraphobia • Fear of leaving one’s familiar surroundings • Possibility of panic attack in public

30. Agoraphobia includes a fear of crossing bridges, although this bridge is enough to test anyone’s courage.

31. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Obsessive-compulsive disorder • Intruding, recurring thoughts or obsessions create anxiety • Relieved by performing a repetitive, ritualistic behavior (compulsion)

32. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Generalized anxiety disorder • Experience feelings of dread and impending doom • Physical symptoms of stress • Symptoms lasts six months or more

33. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) • Symptoms occur within 4 weeks of the traumatic event • Include anxiety, dissociative symptoms

34. Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • Symptoms of ASD last longer than one month • Symptoms may not occur until 6 months or later after event • Women are 2x more likely to develop these disorders

35. After the BP oil spill in April of 2010, anywhere from 35 to 45 percent of people living around or near the Gulf of Mexico reported suffering symptoms of stress (Abramson et al., 2010).

36. Causes of Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Psychoanalytic • Repressed urges and desires trying to enter conscious • Create anxiety controlled by the abnormal behavior • Behaviorists • Disordered behavior is learned through reinforcement

37. Anxiety disorders can affect children as well as adults.

38. Causes of Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Cognitive psychologists • Anxiety comes from illogical, irrational thought processes • Magnification • Interpret situations as far more dangerous, harmful, or important than they are

39. Causes of Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Cognitive psychologists • All-or-nothing thinking • Believe one’s performance must be perfect or result will be a total failure • Overgeneralization • Interpret a single negative event as pattern of defeat and failure • Minimization • Give little importance to one’s successes or positive events

40. Causes of Anxiety Disorders LO 12.4 Types and symptoms of anxiety disorders • Biological explanations • Lower levels of GABA and serotonin may reduce ability to calm reactions to stress • Panic disorder related to possible defect in serotonin binding to receptors • Chemical imbalances may have a genetic component

41. Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Disturbance in emotion, also referred to as affective disorders • Dysthymia • Mild, chronic depression that lasts for at least two years or more • Cyclothymia • Moderate mood swings from sad to happy in cycles

42. Figure 12.1 The Range of EmotionsMost people experience a range of emotions over the course of a day or several days, such as mild sadness, calm contentment, or mild elation and happiness. A person with a mood disorder experiences emotions that are extreme and, therefore, abnormal.

43. Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Major depression • Severe form of depression • Comes on suddenly • Seems to have no external cause • Risk of suicide • Most common of diagnosed mood disorders • Twice as common in women as men

44. Figure 12.2 Prevalence of Major Depressive DisorderAs the most common mood disorder, major depressive disorder has seen an increase in diagnosis with each decade. From 1936 to 1945, the prevalence of major depression in the population was about 3 percent, with the onset of symptoms occurring at around ages 18 to 20. By 1966 to 1975, the prevalence had jumped to about 23 percent of the population, and the age of onset had dropped to the early teens.

45. Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Bipolar disorder • Severe mood swings between major depressive episodes and manic episodes • Manic episodes • Excessive excitement, energy, and elation or irritability

46. Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Bipolar disorder • Depressive episodes are indistinguishable from major depression • Possible connection with ADHD and adolescent onset

47. Causes of Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Psychoanalytic theories • Anger at authority figures from childhood turned inward on the self • Learning theories • Link depression to learned helplessness • Cognitive theories • See depression as the result of distorted, illogical thinking

48. Causes of Mood Disorders LO 12.5 Types of mood disorders and their causes • Biological theories • Examine function of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine systems

49. Eating Disorders LO 12.6 Types of eating disorders • Anorexia nervosa • Individual reduces eating • Weight loss 15 percent below expected body weight • Often obsessed with exercise and food • Health complications • Distorted body image • Prognosis for full recovery is not good

50. This young model is not merely thin; by medical standards she is probably at a weight that would allow her to be labeled as anorexic. The “thin is in” mentality that dominates the field of fashion design models is a major contributor to the Western cultural concept of very thin women as beautiful and desirable. The model pictured here is a far cry from the days of sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, who was rumored to be a size 12.