psychological disorders

Abnormal psychology

(AKA psychological disorders)

A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is judged by:

UMAD:

Unjustifiable

Maladaptive

Atypical

Disturbing

DSM W

• ·         DSM will classify disorders and describe the symptoms
• ·         DSM will NOT explain the causes or possible cures.

Anxiety Disorders

• ·         A group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety
• ·         The patient fears something awful will happen to them.
• ·         They are in a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

Phobias

• ·         A person experiences sudden of intense

Panic disorders

• ·         An anxiety disorder marked by a minute- long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations.

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

Obsessive- compulsive disorder

• ·         Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action.
• ·         Obsession about dirt and germs may lead to compulsive hand washing.

Post- traumatic stress disorder AKA PTSD

• ·         Flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely stressful events
• ·         Memories of the even cause anxiety

Somatoform Disorders

• ·         Occurs when a person manifest a psychological problem through a physiological symptom Hypochondriasis
• ·         Has frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause Conversion disorder
• ·         Report the existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason
• ·         Like blindness or paralysis

Dissociative disorders

·         These disorders involve a disruption in the conscious process

Discogenic Amnesia

• ·         A person cannot remember things with no physiological basis for the disruption in memory
• ·         Retrograde Amnesia
• ·         Not organic amnesia
• ·         Organic amnesia can be retrograde or anterograde.

Dissociative Fugue

·         People with psychogenic amnesia that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment

Dissociative Identity Disorder

• ·         Used to be known as Multiple Personality Disorder
• ·         A person has several rather than one integrated personality
• ·         People with DID commonly have a history of childhood abuse or trauma

Mood Disorders

Major Depression

• ·         Unhappy for at least two weeks with no apparent cause
• ·         Depression is the common cold of psychological disorders.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

• ·         Experience depression during the winter months
• ·         Based not on temperature, but on amount of sunlight
• ·         Treated with light therapy

Bipolar Disorder

• ·         Formally manic depression
• ·         Involves periods of depression and manic episodes
• ·         Manic episodes feelings of high energy
• ·         Engage in risky behavior during the manic episode

Schizophrenia

• How prevalent?
• ·         About 1 in every 100 people are diagnosed with schizophrenia
• Symptoms of schizophrenia
• ·         Disorganized thinking
• ·         Disturbed perceptions
• ·         Inappropriate emotions and actions
• Disorganized thinking
• ·         The thinking of a person with Schizophrenia is fragmented and bizarre and distorted with false beliefs
• ·         Disorganized thinking comes from breakdown in selective attention

Delusions (false beliefs)

• ·         Delusions of persecution
• ·         Delusions of grandeur

Disturbed Perceptions

• ·         Hallucination- sensory experiences without sensory stimulation 
•        Inappropriate Emotions and Actions
• ·         Laugh at inappropriate times
• ·         Flat Affect
• ·         Senseless, compulsive acts
• ·         Catatonia- motionless Waxy Flexibility
•        Positive Vs. Negative symptoms
• ·         Positive symptoms- presence of inappropriate symptoms
• ·         Negative symptoms- absence of appropriate ones.

Types of Schizophrenia

• Paranoid Schizophrenia
• ·         Preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations
• ·         “somebody is out to get me.
• Disorganized Schizophrenia
• ·         Disorganized speech or behavior or flat or inappropriate emotions
• Catatonic Schizophrenia
• ·         Parrot like repeating of another’s speech and movements
• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia
• ·         Many and varied symptoms

Personality Disorders

• ·         Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.
•       Paranoid personality disorder
• ·         Characterized by distrust to others and a constant suspicion that people around you have sinister motives.
•        Antisocial Personality disorder
• ·         Lack of conscience
• ·         They tend to lie and steal
•        Borderline Personality Disorder
• ·         Characterized by mood instability and poor self -image
• ·         People with this disorder are prone to constant mood swings and bouts of anger
•        Histrionic Personality disorder
• ·         Constant attention seekers
•        Narcissistic personality disorder
• ·         Characterized by self- centeredness
•        Schizoid Personality disorder
• ·         Avoid relationship and do not show much emotion
•        Schizotypal Personality disorder
• ·         Characterized by a need for social isolation, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs such as being convinced of having extra sensory abilities
• ·         Some people believe that schizotypal personality disorder is a mild form of schizophrenia.
•        Avoidant personality Disorder
• ·        Characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation
•        Consider themselves to be socially inept or personali