The Troubled Personality

1. The Troubled Personality Psychology

2. Historical Views on Mental Illness • Causes: • Demon possession: Treated by prayer and rituals, exorcism • Mortal sin: Confession or penance • Neuropathology: Surgery to remove organ causing problem • Toxins in the body: Surgery and diet • Childhood trauma: Psychoanalytic therapy • Conditioned: Behavior modification • Sick society leads to sick behavior: Take responsibility for your own behavior

3. Treatment of Mentally Ill • Historically: often subjected to cruel inhumane treatment, less rights than others • Mental hospitals isolated and abused patients, experiment on them • Used as sideshow attractions, persecuted, misunderstood, jailed • 1700s is when shift toward fair treatment begins in France and US • Education and understanding are necessary to eliminate stigma and provide treatment and equal rights

4. Mental Illness • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8Ic7ombDs&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTUMt05_nCI • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5tabap332c • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpH15-NoFwI • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9TAUqaf0Y

5. Physical Factors that cause Mental Illness • Heredity: Scientists in search of specific genes that predispose individuals toward mental illness • Schizophrenia: Severe thought disorder, affects 1% of population • Grandparent: 4% risk factor • Parent: 16% risk factor • Both parents: Over 50% risk factor • Identical Twin: Over 50 % risk factor • Contribution: Growing up in household with schizophrenic family members?

6. Schizophrenia • Erratic behavior, delusions, loss of contact with reality, breakdowns in communication, inappropriate emotions • Most patients in mental hospital have this diagnosis • Catatonic: Unresponsive, withdrawn • Paranoid: Ideas of persecution, fear of attack, being possessed, etc. • Hebephrenic: Childish behavior and delusions

7. Causes of Mental Illness • Environmental Causes: Healthy people learn to cope with stress/anxiety and resolve conflict • Those with troubled personalities: • Have trouble handling frustration • Can’t cope with reality/stress/anxiety • Have issues with relationships/interactions • Can’t function normally in their family/job/society

8. Stress and Frustration • Result from unmet personal needs/desires, pressures, poor relationships, etc. • When stress becomes unbearable, poorly adjusted people: • Chose behavior that seems to offer an escape • Unable to put off gratification • Become excessively emotional

9. Coping with Anxiety • Defined as vague worries about what might happen in the future • 1 in 50 Americans suffer from Panic Disorder • Causes excessive worry to the point of exhaustion and inability to respond correctly in emergency situations • Can cause fixation on single thought/pattern, in order to block out other concerns

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBkveiaKfBk • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wEU-165NRY • http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5jOKtTyulXQ&feature=fvwp

11. Functioning within the Family • Often a troubled home life is what lead to the disorder • Maintaining close family relationships is difficult for the mentally ill • Living with others can cause extreme mood swings related to conflicts of interest • Puts an extreme strain on marriage and parenthood

12. Functioning on the Job • Work can provide personal satisfaction, but also cause stress and pressure of competition • Mental Illness effects job performance: • Anxiety creates a distraction • Tasks aren’t done correctly or are forgotten • Difficulty coping or interacting • Can cause break downs or issues with customers/coworkers • People who have issues with authority figures have trouble holding down jobs

13. Functioning in Society • Freedom of action is limited by the rights of others • Emotionally disturbed people find it hard to accept limits to their desires • Pressure to conform can cause even more abnormal behavior • In social situations: • Inadequacy leads to insecurity and teasing, leading to more anxiety and increasing abnormal behaviors

14. Biochemical Imbalances • Excess or deficiency of otherwise useful chemicals can upset the nervous system • Sometimes created through drug/alcohol abuse • Scientists researching influences of proteins, lithium, steroids, antipsychotic drugs, etc. • Withdrawal from substances can depression and other issues

15. Disease • Diseases that affect the nervous system can lead to abnormal behavior • Memory loss, disruption of speech, hearing voices, violent behavior, etc. can result from inflammation of brain or pressure from tumors • Strokes interrupt blood flow to brain often result in mental issues • STDs may cause breakdown of brain tissue

16. Accident Trauma • Injury or shock to the body can cause brain damage that changes personality • Trauma during birth can damage brain tissue, or lack of oxygen can cause impairments • Damage in small area may be restored with proper therapy • Severe brain damage cannot be reversed and tissue does not grow back

17. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Caused by overwhelming stressful events like war, natural disasters, or physical assault • Victims avoid activities that recall memories of the traumatic event • Often have trouble sleeping and have terrible nightmares • Other symptoms: emotional numbness, depression, sudden rage, jumpiness, and inability to concentrate • 15% of veterans display some symptoms but 1% suffer from full disorder

18. PTSD • http://www.youtube.com/user/VeteransMTC?v=SqjwV-lsVEs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVRieO7y0o&list=PLDD7C9A2F66BE91F3&feature=plcp • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ed6xiNPnk • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3cbyoXgobI

19. Depression: A cause and a symptom • Feel down, low energy, little appetite, trouble sleeping no motivation or desire to do anything they normally enjoy • Refuse to be cheered up, enjoy the misery and dwell on thoughts • Healthy person experiences in brief small doses and then gets over it • Chronic or severe depression requires treatment

20. Depression • Can be brought on by specific event like divorce or death • Caused by social ills like poverty, discrimination or unemployment • Can be due to long term family issues, abuse, chemical imbalance, etc. • Clinical Depression: 7% of population suffer with this severe form • Twice as many women as men • 3-5% of teens experience despair or hopelessness of this disorder

21. Treating Depression • Talk therapy and anti-depressants are common • Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): • Invented in 1938: Give patient muscle relaxant and anesthetic • Attach electrodes to comatose patient’s skull and shock their brain • Body stays relaxed, but triggers severe brain convulsion • Double-barreled therapy: Antidepressants with ECT every 3-6 months • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCUmINGae44

22. Mood Disorders • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlNCavst2EU • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKiAz6ndUbU • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj8hqXd7N_A

23. ECT: Safe and Helpful? • Pro: Benefits patients who would otherwise remain mentally ill • 60-70% Show marked improvement in their ability to cope with life • “Safer than aspirin”, memory loss is only temporary, minimize by confining treatment to one half of the brain • After ECT, many discard plans for suicide, begin responding to therapy • State/Fed approved, only given to those most likely to benefit

24. ECT: Safe and Healthy? • Cons: Depressed patients show improvement without ECT • Not successful with schizophrenic but still being used on them • Results in death in 1 of 1000 patients, memory loss often lasts 4+ weeks, and for some it’s permanent • Wardens in mental hospitals use it as threat for controlling patients • No statistics prove or disprove the argument that it prevents suicide • Ernest Hemingway received treatment, said it destroyed his ability to write, he killed himself one month after 2nd treatment • Lack of adequate studies to prove safety, govt has approved dangerous things before • 100,000 receive ECT each year, $2500 a session, common therapist’s last resort

25. Phobias • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7EAsMNZ6uA • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDvDCqLCdEE

26. Hallucinations and Delusions • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIrA6iCke2M • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2Nox6PMnc • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tn8xLQY53U

27. Personality Disorders • Self-defeating behavior that hurts others as well • Behavior issues start young • Anti-Social Personality Disorder: Hedonist • Display few symptoms, seem charming and smart • Selfish, very good liars, manipulative • Conduct Disorder: Delinquency, have issues with authority figures • Like to be in control, will exploit others for personal gain • Often called sociopath, lack of empathy, prone to aggression • Often incapable of selfless love • Some link to heredity, also childhood issues, patients often outgrow the disorder in their 40s

28. Histrionic Personality Disorder • Dramatizes every situation, highly emotional • Expects others to take care of their needs • Wild mood swings, can’t cope with experiences/environment • Emotional outbursts aimed at attracting attention and sympathy

29. Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder • Never speak up for what they want, others must guess what’s wrong • Cannot show normal aggression in an open healthy way • Instead, they arrange situations where the other person cannot possibly succeed in making them happy • Sabotages compromise in underhanded ways • “Nice guy” facade with deep hostility underneath, cannot admit anger and resentment

30. Narcissistic Personality Disorder • Overblown sense of self importance • Feeling of superiority, uniqueness, exaggeration of talents, boastfulness • Arrogance and overwhelming need for attention and admiration • Deep feelings of inferiority lie beneath the surface • Tend to exploit others, self-centered and fake

31. Dissociative Personality Disorder • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kPIDt3yu1M • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWgh2t9FTe8

32. Brain Damage or Dysfunction • Imperfect brain development prevents capacity for high level thoughts or doesn’t leave grain the space to grown to full potential • Abilities do not increase with age, limited self-care but need guardian • Aplasia • Microcephaly • Down Syndrome: Caused by genetic defect, only develop to age 3-7 • -1 in 900 births, odds increase as woman ages • -Amniocentesis can detect in developing fetus • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I13KxRYqoo0

33. Autism • Milder form is Asperger syndrome • 1 in 150 children have it • Serious neurological problem that can cause kids to be mute, have issues with social interactions, sometimes violent tantrums • “Live in their own world” responding to inner drives and needs, often very intelligent • Trouble expressing themselves, prone to self-stimulating repetitive behaviors • Caused by abnormally high levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, genetic factors, and sometimes exposure to lead or mercury • Can be treated with medication and punishment/reward system of therapy • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeGaffIJvHM

34. Famous People with Mental Illnesses • Bipolar: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mel Gibson, Carrie Fisher, Kurt Cobain, Isaac Newton, Beethoven, Van Gogh, Robin Williams, Ozzy Osborne • Depression: Brooke Shields (post partum), Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Zach Braff, Jim Carey, Sheryl Crow, Billy Joel • Dissociative Identity Disorder: Herschel Walker, a Heisman award-winning running back and former NFL player • ADHD: Michael Phelps, Kurt Cobain • OCD: Howard Hughes, Cameron Diaz, David Beckham • Anxiety Disorder: Paula Deen • Eating Disorders: Elton John, Princess Diana, Mary Kate Olsen, Richard Simmons