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Perspectives on Psychological Disorders. Defining Psychological Disorders. A harmful dysfunction; abnormal behaviorAtypical, maladaptive, disturbing and unjustifiableWhat is abnormal?Standards of acceptability vary by cultureInfrequent or unusualViolates a societal or cultural normPersonal suffering-if individual is experiencing distressMaladaptive-distressing or disabling enough to be put at risk for suffering or deathRationally unjustifiable.
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1. Psychological Disorders Chapter 16
2. Perspectives on Psychological Disorders
3. Defining Psychological Disorders A harmful dysfunction; abnormal behavior
Atypical, maladaptive, disturbing and unjustifiable
What is abnormal?
Standards of acceptability vary by culture
Infrequent or unusual
Violates a societal or cultural norm
Personal suffering-if individual is experiencing distress
Maladaptive-distressing or disabling enough to be put at risk for suffering or death
Rationally unjustifiable
4. Understanding Psychological Disorders The Medical Perspective
Biological factors-physical illnesses, disruptions and/or imbalances in the bodily processes thought to be involved in causing mental disorders
Medical model of psychopathy which dates back to Hippocrates and ancient China
Gave rise to concept of abnormality as a mental illness
Medical model now called the neurobiological model because it explains psychological disorders in terms of particular disturbances in the anatomy and chemistry in the brain and other biological processes.
5. Understanding Psychological Disorders cont. Neurobiologists treat these diseases as if there were an underlying illness that can be diagnosed, treated and cured
Biological factors have been proven to play a large role in psychological disorders
6. Understanding Psychological Disorders cont. The Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
All behavior arises from interaction b/t nature and nurture experiences
Depression, schizophrenia, anorexia
Genetic predisposition and psychological states influence mental disorders
Idea that mind and body are inseparable
7. Classifying Psychological Disorders 1952: APA published the DSM-IV
What is it and what is its purpose?
Outside North America, ICD-10 is used
To facilitate international communication about and cross-cultural research in psychopathology, DSM-IV compatible with ICD-10
8. Classifying Psychological Disorders cont. DSM-IV describes the abnormal patterns of thinking, emotion and behavior that define various mental disorders
Have to meet specific criteria to be diagnosed
Can be evaluated on 5 levels, or axes
Axis I: Clinical syndromes (ex. Adjustment or anxiety disorders)
Axis II: Personality and Mental Retardation
Axis III: Medical Conditions
Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems
Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/f/faq_dsm.htm
9. Purposes and Problems of Diagnosis Major goal in diagnosing psychological disorders is to determine the nature of peoples problems so an appropriate course of action can be taken
Also important for research
Can allow researchers a better chance at spotting genetic features, biological abnormalities, cognitive processes, and environmental experiences that people in the same category might share
10. Purposes and Problems of Diagnosis cont. How accurate is the DSM-IV?
One way to evaluate it is interrater reliability
The degree to which different mental health professionals give the same person the same diagnostic label
Appears to be highest when diagnosis based on structured or semi-structured interviews that systematically address various areas of functioning and provide uniform guidelines for interpretation of the answers that people give
Do diagnostic labels give accurate information that guides correct inferences about people?
Idea of validity; attempted to correct in DSM-V
11. Purposes and Problems of Diagnosis cont. Problems with this diagnostic system:
Peoples problems do not fit into one category
The same symptoms may appear as part of more than one disorder
Diagnostic judgment is to a certain extent subjective so personal bias may creep into the system
Labeling can be dehumanizing in that each person is unique and labeling takes that uniqueness away
12. Anxiety Disorders
13. Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder