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Introduction to Psychological Disorders

This introduction explains what psychological disorders are, how they are defined, and the historical and current perspectives on these disorders. It discusses the classification of disorders using the DSM-IV and the impact of labeling on individuals.

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Introduction to Psychological Disorders

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  1. Psychological Disorders An Introduction

  2. Psychological Disorder • A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, maladaptive and unjustifiable. What is abnormal, disturbing maladaptive and unjustifiable depends on: • Culture • Time Period • Environmental Conditions • Individual Person

  3. Defining Psychological Disorders Mental health workers view psychological disorders as persistently harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions. When behavior is deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional psychiatrists and psychologists label it as disordered (Comer, 2004). The 3 D’s

  4. Deviant, Distressful & Dysfunctional • Deviant behavior (going naked) in one culture may be considered normal, while in others it may lead to arrest. • Deviant behavior must accompany distress. • If a behavior is dysfunctional it is clearly a disorder. Carol Beckwith In the Wodaabe tribe men wear costumes to attract women. In Western society this would be considered abnormal.

  5. Early Theories • Afflicted people were possessed by evil spirits.

  6. Understanding Psychological Disorders Ancient Treatments of psychological disorders include trephination, exorcism, being caged like animals, being beaten, burned, castrated, mutilated, or transfused with animal’s blood. John W. Verano Trephination (boring holes in the skull to remove evil forces)

  7. Early Theories • Music or singing was often used to chase away spirits. • In some cases trephening was used: Cutting a hole in the head of the afflicted to let out the evil spirit.

  8. Trephening

  9. Early Theories • Another theory was to make the body extremely uncomfortable.

  10. History of Mental Disorders • In the 1800’s, disturbed people were no longer thought of as madmen, but as mentally ill. They were first put in hospitals. Did this mean better treatment?

  11. Early Mental Hospitals • They were nothing more than barbaric prisons. • The patients were chained and locked away. • Some hospitals even charged admission for the public to see the “crazies”, just like a zoo.

  12. Philippe Pinel • French doctor who was the first to take the chains off and declare that these people are sick and “a cure must be found!!!”

  13. Somatogenic • At this time- it was believed that mental illness had a bodily cause- Somatogenic. But Somatogenic could not explain disorders such as hysteria (now called conversion disorder). Many disorders are psychogenic: the origin is psychological, not physical.

  14. Medical Model When physicians discovered that syphilis led to mental disorders, they started using medical models to review the physical causes of these disorders. • Etiology: Cause and development of the disorder. • Diagnosis: Identifying (symptoms) and distinguishing one disease from another. • Treatment: Treating a disorder in a psychiatric hospital. • Prognosis: Forecast about the disorder.

  15. Current Perspectives • Medical Perspective: psychological disorders are sicknesses and can be diagnosed, treated and cured.

  16. Current Perspectives • Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective: assumes biological, psychological and sociocultural factors combine to interact causing psychological disorders. Used to be called Diathesis-Stress Model: diathesis meaning predisposition and stress meaning environment.

  17. Classifying Psychological Disorders The American Psychiatric Association rendered a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to describe psychological disorders. The most recent edition, DSM-IV-TR (Text Revision, 2000), describes 400 psychological disorders compared to 60 in the 1950s.

  18. Classifying Psychological Disorders • DSM-IV: Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: the big book of disorders. Two Major Classifications:

  19. Neurotic Disorders • Distressing but one can still function in society and act rationally

  20. Psychotic Disorders • Person loses contact with reality, experiences distorted perceptions

  21. Multiaxial Classification Axis I Is a Clinical Syndrome (cognitive, anxiety, mood disorders [16 syndromes]) present? Axis II Is a Personality Disorder or Mental Retardation present? Axis III Is a General Medical Condition (diabetes, hypertension or arthritis etc) also present? Axis IV Are Psychosocial or Environmental Problems (school or housing issues) also present? Axis V What is the Global Assessment of the person’s functioning?

  22. Multiaxial Classification Note 16 syndromes in Axis I

  23. Multiaxial Classification Note Global Assessment for Axis V

  24. Goals of DSM • Describe (400) disorders. • Determine how prevalent the disorder is. Disorders outlined by DSM-IV are reliable. Therefore, diagnoses by different professionals are similar. Others criticize DSM-IV for “putting any kind of behavior within the compass of psychiatry.”

  25. Labeling Psychological Disorders • Critics of the DSM-IV argue that labels may stigmatize individuals. • Rosenthal-Being sane in insane places Elizabeth Eckert, Middletown, NY. From L. Gamwell and N. Tomes, Madness in America, 1995. Cornell University Press. Asylum baseball team (labeling)

  26. Labeling Psychological Disorders 2. Labels may be helpful for healthcare professionals when communicating with one another and establishing therapy.

  27. Labeling Psychological Disorders 3. “Insanity” labels raise moral and ethical questions about how society should treat people who have disorders and have committed crimes. Elaine Thompson/ AP Photo Theodore Kaczynski (Unabomber)

  28. Anxiety Disorders a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety. the patient fears something awful willhappen to them.

  29. What is anxiety? • is a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

  30. Generalized Anxiety Disorder • An anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal. The patient is constantly tense and worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can’t concentrate and suffers from insomnia.

  31. Panic Disorder • An anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations. Can cause secondary disorders, such as agoraphobia.

  32. Phobias • A person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread.

  33. The Phobia List Link

  34. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder • An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).

  35. Common Examples of OCD

  36. Explanations for Anxiety Disorders • You Learn them through conditioning. • Evolution • Genes • Physiology (the brain)

  37. Dissociative Disorders

  38. Dissociative Disorders • Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts and feelings.

  39. Dissociative Amnesia • This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature.

  40. Dissociative Amnesia • Dissociative amnesia, unlike other types of amnesia, does NOT result from other medical trauma (e.g. a blow to the head).

  41. Dissociative Amnesia • Localized amnesia is present in an individual who has no memory of specific events that took place, usually traumatic. The loss of memory is localized with a specific window of time. For example, a survivor of a car wreck who has no memory of the experience until two days later is experiencing localized amnesia. • Selective amnesia happens when a person can recall only small parts of events that took place in a defined period of time. For example, an abuse victim may recall only some parts of the series of events around the abuse. • Generalized amnesia is diagnosed when a person's amnesia encompasses his or her entire life. • Systematized amnesia is characterized by a loss of memory for a specific category of information. A person with this disorder might, for example, be missing all memories about one specific family member.

  42. Dissociative Fugue • An individual with dissociative fugue suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his or her surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind. • These journeys can last hours, or even several days or months.

  43. Dissociative Fugue • Individuals experiencing a dissociative fugue have traveled over thousands of miles. An individual in a fugue state is unaware of or confused about his identity, and in some cases will assume a new identity (although this is the exception).

  44. Depersonalization Disorder • is marked by a feeling of detachment or distance from one's own experience, body, or self. One can easily relate to feeling as they in a dream, or being "spaced out." A person's experience with depersonalization can be so severe that he or she believes the external world is unreal or distorted.

  45. Dissociative Identity Disorder • A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. • Also known as multiple personality disorder.

  46. MoodDisorders

  47. Mood Disorders • Psychological Disorders characterized by emotional extremes. • Dysthymic Disorder • Major Depressive Disorder • Seasonal Affective Disorder • Bipolar Disorder

  48. Depression • The common cold of psychological disorders. It is like a warning that something is wrong.

  49. Depression

  50. Depression

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