Psychology Chapter 16: Psychological Disorders

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Psychology Chapter 16 Psychological Disorders
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What are Psychological Disorders?
Watch What About Bob and complete worksheet
1. Some behavior people see as normal while
others see the same behavior as abnormal a.
Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing
over and over, expecting a different result b.
The term insane is not used much more in the
medical profession, replaced with psychopathology
2. Deviation from Normality a. Any deviation
from the average or majority b. Different
cultural norms must be taken into
consideration i. Because the majority isnt
always right or best, this deviance approach is
not in itself a useful standard
3. Adjustment a. Normal people are able to get
along socially, physically and emotionally in the
world b. Can feed and clothe themselves c.
Abnormal people fail to adjust in these ways d.
But, behavior in one society may not be
acceptable in other societies
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What are Psychological Disorders cont.
4. Psychological Health a. Self-Actualization
Humanistic view that to be normal or healthy
involves full acceptance and expression of ones
own individuality and humanness i. Problem with
this approach is that its hard to determine
whether a person is actualizing themselves b.
Labeling a person as mentally ill because of
their odd behavior is a mistake as well as cruel
and irresponsible c. Many of these people just
have problems in living that causes conflicts d.
It is only when a psychological problem becomes
severe enough to disrupt everyday life that it
is thought of as an abnormality or illness
5. The Problem of Classification a. DSM The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders i. Currently in its 4th revision ii.
A classification manual that show such things
as 1. Features 2. Diagnosis 3. 5 Axis
Section 1 Review
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Anxiety Disorders
1. Anxiety a general state of dread or
uneasiness that a person feels in response to a
real or imagined danger a. Feeling anxiety out
of proportion to the situation provoking it b.
Affects 19 million Americans annually c.
Characteristics i. Feelings of anxiety ii.
Personal inadequacy iii. Avoidance of dealing
with problems iv. Unrealistic images of
themselves v. Unable to free themselves of
recurring fears and worries d. Expressed
through i. Constant worrying ii. Sudden mood
swings iii. Physical symptoms a. headaches b.
sweating c. muscle tightness d. weakness e.
fatigue e. Anxious people often have difficulty
forming stable and satisfying relationships
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Anxiety Disorders cont.
2. General Anxiety Disorder a. Feeling nervous
for reasons they cant explain b. Can become
full blown panic attacks i. Choking
sensation ii. Chest pain iii. Dizziness iv.
Trembling v. Hot flashes c. They neglect social
relationships d. Trouble dealing with friends,
family or responsibilities e. The more they
worry the more difficulty they have, the more
difficulty they have the more they worry a
vicious cycle f. Physical symptoms attached
include poor appetite, frequent urination,
indigestion and diarrhea g. Causes i. Learned
anxiety ii. Inherited iii. Environmental
factors iv. Uncertainties of modern life
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Anxiety Disorders cont.
3. Phobic Disorder (phobia) a. Phobia/Phobic
Disorder when severe anxiety is focused on a
particular object, animal, activity or situation
that seems out of proportion to the real danger
involved b. Develop elaborate plans to avoid
those situations c. Can range from mild to
severe d. Treatment i. Providing the person a
experience their phobia under conditions where
they feel safe
4. Panic Disorder a. Panic a feeling of
sudden, helpless terror b. During a panic
attack, the person experiences sudden,
unexplainable, attacks of intense anxiety,
leaving them fearing death and doom c. Physical
Symptoms i. Sense of smothering ii.
Choking iii. Difficulty breathing iv. Faintness
or dizziness v. Nausea vi. Chest pains d. Can
last minutes or hours and occur without
warning e. Causes i. Inherited ii.
Environment a. interpreting a physiological
arousal (higher heart rate) as disastrous
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Anxiety Disorders cont.

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• a. Obsession an uncontrollable pattern of
  thoughts
• b. Compulsion repeatedly performing coping
  behaviors
• c. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder experiencing
  both together
• i. Everyone has obsessions and compulsions
• ii. Problem when it interferes with what a
  person wants and needs to do
• iii. Causes
• a. Serve as diversions from a persons real
  fears and their origins and may reduce anxiety
• b. May run in families, genetic
• c. Most people with the disorder know that their
  thoughts and actions are irrational, but they
  feel unable to stop them

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Anxiety Disorders cont.
6. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder a. PTSD a
person who has experienced a traumatic event
feels severe and long lasting aftereffects b.
Those who suffer include i. Veterans of wars
ii. Survivors of terrorist attacks iii.
Natural disaster victims hurricanes,
tornadoes iv. Plane crashes v. Assault and rape
victims c. The event that triggers the disorder
overwhelms a persons sense of reality and
ability to cope d. Can begin immediately after
the event or later in life e. Symptoms i.
Flashbacks ii. Nightmares f. Can be long
lasting g. People exposed to events repeatedly
or over a long period of time are more likely to
develop the condition
Section 2 Review
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Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders

• Somatoform Disorders when anxiety creates a
  variety of physical symptoms for which no
  physical cause is apparent
• a. Also known as hysteria unexplainable
  fainting, paralysis or deafness, used in Freuds
  time

b. Conversion Disorders i. Conversion
Disorder the conversion of emotional
difficulties into the loss of a specific
physiological function a. No actual physical
damage is present ii. When someone is frightened
and they cant move (common), uncommon for it to
persist iii. Results in a real and prolonged
handicap iv. If a person wakes up paralyzed from
the waist down and accepts it with calmness (la
belle indifference), its known to be a
psychological problem v. Psychologists believe
that people suffer from conversion disorders to
gain freedom from unbearable conflict vi. Very
Rare!!
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Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders cont.
c. Hypochondriasis i. A person in good
health who becomes preoccupied with imaginary
ailments ii. Hypochondriacs spend time looking
for signs of serious illness and misinterprets
minor aches, pains and bruises as early signs of
fatal illness a. Regardless of medical tests
and diagnosis, they will continue to believe
it b. Occurs during young adulthood c. Occurs
when an individual represses emotions and then
expresses them symbolically in physical symptoms
2. Dissociative Disorders when a person
experiences alterations in memory, identity or
consciousness a. Can be normal,
daydreaming and not hearing your name being
called b. Amnesia and multiple personality
are very, very rare
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Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders cont.
c. Dissociative Amnesia i. Memory loss that
has no biological explanation ii. May be an
attempt to escape from problems by blotting them
out entirely iii. Remember how to speak and
retain general knowledge, but dont know who
they are, where they are from, how they got
where they are iv. Most often results from a
traumatic event a terrible accident
d. Dissociative Fugue i. Amnesia
coupled with an active flight to a different
environment ii. Person disappears and then wakes
up the next day long ways from home iii. If not
treated, they establish a new identity in the new
place iv. Represses all knowledge of a previous
life v. May last for days or years vi. When
they re-emerge, they have no memory of what had
happened vii. Escape from unbearable conflict or
anxiety
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Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders cont.
e. Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple
personality disorder) i. A person exhibits two
or more personality states, each with its own
behavior and thinking patterns ii. Different
states may take controls at different times iii.
Famous Case Eve White a. Treatment for severe
headaches and blackouts, conscientious,
self-controlled, and shy b. During one treatment,
her expression and personality suddenly changed,
became Eve Black c. Child-like, fun-loving and
irresponsible (opposite of her other self) d. Eve
Black was conscious of Eve White but considered
her a separate person, Eve White didnt know
about Eve Black though nor Jane (a 3rd
personality) e. Film The 3 Faces of Eve f. Went
on to write a book detailing 22 identities g.
Sybil (book and film as well) had 16
personalities iv. Psychologists believe that
dividing up the personality is the individuals
effort to escape from a part of the self that
they fear v. The secret self then emerges as a
separate identity vi. EXTREMELY RARE!!! And
controversial vii. People diagnosed usually
suffered from severe physical, psychological or
sexual abuse during childhood
Section 3 Review
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders
Watch A Beautiful Mind and complete worksheet
1. People with schizophrenia often have
difficulty using language to communicate a. They
go from one phrase to another by random
association b. Schizophrenia affects the area of
the working memory used to make sentences c.
Dont remember the beginning of the sentence so
they finish it with an unrelated thought 2.
People with schizophrenia withdraw from normal
life, have distorted perceptions and whose
behavior reach an irrational, fantastic,
fear-laden, unimaginable levels 3. Examples
a. Marshall Applewhite and 38 members of
Heavens Gate b. Charles Manson (In Dispute)
c. Joan of Arc d. Adolf Hitler e. Jim Jones f.
Son of Sam David Berkowitz (In Dispute) g.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (In Dispute) h. Syd
Barrett i. Mary Todd Lincoln
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
4. What is Schizophrenia a. Schizophrenia
involves confused and disordered thoughts and
perceptions i. Affects 1 in 100 worldwide ii.
Thoughts are disturbed and contact is lost with
reality to a considerable extent iii. Live life
as an unreal dream Read quote ending with
Naturally, I am growing my fathers hair. iv.
Not a single problem, no single cause, no single
cure v. Symptoms a. Delusions false beliefs
maintained in the face of contrary evidence b.
Hallucinations perceptions in the absence of
corresponding sensation c. Incoherence marked
decline in thought process d. Word Salad lots
of words thrown together e. Disturbances of
affect emotions that are inappropriate for the
circumstances f. Deterioration in normal
movement slowed movement, nonmovement or
highly agitated behavior g. Decline in previous
level of functioning sharp drop off in
productivity of work h. Diverted attention as
if the person is unable to focus their attention
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
b. Types of Schizophrenia i. Paranoid Type a.
Involves hallucinations and delusions aa.
Grandeur I am the savior of my people bb.
Persecution Someone is always watching me ii.
Catatonic Type a. Remain motionless for long
periods b. Exhibiting waxy, flexibility in which
limbs in unusual positions may take a long time
to return to a resting, relaxed position iii.
Disorganized Type a. Incoherent language,
inappropriate emotions, giggling for no apparent
reason, generally disorganized motor behavior
and hallucinations/delusions iv. Remission
Type a. Anyone whose symptoms are gone or still
exist but arent severe enough to have earned a
diagnosis of schizophrenia in the first place b.
Belief is that the symptoms will return v.
Undifferentiated Type a. Encompasses a large
amount of the symptoms all in one person
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
c. Treatment i. Very complex condition ii.
Treatment is long term and usually requires
hospitalization a. Sometimes leads to burn-out
one who is not likely to function normally in
society iii. May go into remission but adjustment
tends to deteriorate between successive episodes
of the reappearance of symptoms iv. No real cure
for schizophrenia exists
d. Cause of Schizophrenia i. Biological
Influences/Genetics a. Almost certainly
involved b. 1 of having schizophrenia, 10 if
someone else in the family has it, in twins
there is a 48 chance if one has it, the other
will c. Cant specify the exact contribution
hereditary factors have
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
ii. Biochemistry and Physiology a. Chemical
imbalances in the brain b. Too much or too little
of a specific chemical in the brain has upset the
processing of information, interferes with
normal synaptic transmission (Page 157-158) c.
Dopamine Hypothesis too much dopamine at the
selected synapses d. Using CAT and MRI scans,
shows signs of deteriorated brain tissue e. Exact
role of the environment is fostering
schizophrenia is unclear, but it is
involved iii. Family and Interactions a.
Pathogenic, unhealthful, families may contribute
to problems in adult years, but dont in and of
themselves lead to schizophrenia
5. Mood Disorders a. Emotions that hamper the
ability to function effectively i. In extreme
cases, a mood may cause them to lose touch with
reality or threaten their health or lives
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
b. Major Depressive Disorder i. Spend at least 2
weeks feeling depressed, sad, anxious, fatigued
and agitated a. Causes a reduced ability to
function and interact with others b. Mild
feelings of uneasiness, sadness and apathy to
intense suicidal despair c. CAN NOT be associated
with bereavement loss of a loved one d. Marked
by 4 symptoms aa. Problems with eating, sleeping,
thinking, concentrating and decision making bb.
Lacking energy cc. Thinking about suicide dd.
Feeling worthless or guilty
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
c. Bipolar Disorder individuals are excessively
and inappropriately happy or unhappy i. High
elation, hopeless depression or an alternation
between the two ii. Manic Phase a. Elation,
extreme confusion, distractibility and racing
thoughts b. Exaggerated sense of self-esteem and
engages in irresponsible behaviors aa. Shopping
sprees or insulting remarks c. Act as though they
need less sleep, activity level increases as does
the loudness and frequency with which they
speak iii. Depressive Phase a. Failure,
sinfulness, worthlessness and despair b. Marked
by lethargy, despair and unresponsiveness c.
Essentially the same as the major depressive
disorder d. May alternate between frantic action
and motionless despair iv. Some people have
episodes separated by long intervals of normal
behavior, others have no normal behavior and
just alternate between the two
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
d. Seasonal Affective Disorder i. In winter
these people develop a deep depression ii.
Spirits only lift with the coming of spring iii.
Tend to sleep and eat excessively during their
depressed period iv. Cause a. Melatonin may play
a role aa. Less light (winter) more melatonin is
secrete by the pineal gland bb. High levels can
cause Seasonal Affective Disorder b. Can be
treated by sitting under bright fluorescent
lights during the evening or early morning hours
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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.

• e. Explaining Mood Disorders
• i. Psychological Factors
• a. Personality traits (self esteem)
• b. Amount of social support
• c. Ability to deal with stressful situations
• ii. Beck Theory
• Depressed people draw illogical conclusions about
  themselves, blame themselves for normal problems
  and consider every minor failure a catastrophic
  event
• iii. Seligman Theory
• a. Caused by feeling of learned helplessness
• b. Learns to believe that they have no control
  over events in their lives and that its useless
  to try

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Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders cont.
f. Suicide and Depression i. Not all people who
commit suicide are depressed and not all
depressed people attempt suicide ii. Many
depressives do think about suicide though, and
some translate these thought into action iii.
People commit suicide for a number of reasons a.
Escape from physical pain aa. Terminal illness b.
Escape from emotional pain aa. Loneliness of old
age c. An effort to end the torment of
unacceptable feelings d. To punish themselves for
wrongs they committed e. To punish others f.
Many times there is no explanation iv. More than
30,000 Americans end their lives by suicide a. 1
every 20 minutes v. More women than men attempt
suicide/More men than women succeed in
suicide vii. Most common among the elderly viii.
2nd most cause of death for college students ix.
People who threaten or make an unsuccessful
attempt are very serious x. 70 of those who
commit suicide have threatened to do so within 3
months preceding the suicide a. An unsuccessful
attempt is usually a trial run
Section 4 Review
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Personality Disorders and Drug Addiction

• Personality Disorder
• a. Generally dont suffer from acute anxiety nor
  do they behave in bizarre, incomprehensible ways
• b. Unable to establish meaningful relationships
  with other people, to assume social
  responsibilities or adapt to their social
  environment
• c. Antisocial Personality (Sociopaths and
  Psychopaths)
• i. Exhibit a persistent disregard for and
  violation of others rights
• ii. Treat people as objects
• iii. Live for the moment
• iv. Seeking thrills is the major occupation
• v. If they injure or hurt people along the way
  they feel no shame or guilt
• vi. No matter how many times they get into
  trouble, jailed or punished, they never learn to
  stay out of trouble
• vii. Usually intelligent, entertaining and fake
  emotions, they win confidence and affection of
  others

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Personality Disorders and Drug Addiction cont.
2. Drug Addiction a. Become a major psychological
problem b. Millions depend so heavily on drugs
that they hurt themselves physically, socially
and psychologically c. Psychological Dependence
depend so much on a drug that without it they
feel nervous and anxious, that feeling of
well-being i. Alcohol ii. Caffeine iii.
Nicotine iv. Cocaine v. Marijuana vi.
Amphetamines d. Physical Addiction when the
drug state becomes the normal body state,
without the drug there is extreme physical
discomfort i. Tolerance developed when a person
becomes so addicted to a drug that they have to
continually increase the dosage to obtain the
high that used to be achieved with lower
doses ii. Withdraw a state of physical and
psychological upset during which the body and
mind revolt against and finally gets used to the
absence of t he drug aa. mild nausea, shakes,
hallucinations, convulsions, coma and death
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Personality Disorders and Drug Addiction cont.
e. Alcoholism i. Most serious drug addiction ii.
10 to 12 million Americans abuse alcohol iii. 40
of all deaths in automobile accidents and 40 of
all murders, alcohol is involved iv. Social
drug, causes one to lose some inhibition v. Is
actually a depressive vi. Perceptions and
sensations become distorted, behavior may become
obnoxious vii. People stumble, weave, slurred
speech and slow reaction times viii.
Unconsciousness, coma, death ix. Can produce
psychological dependence, tolerance and
addiction x. Can develop from both environmental
and genetic factors aa. 3 to 4 times higher is a
family member is an alcoholic bb. Poor home
life xi. Treatment aa. Get through delirium
tremens, violent withdraw bb. Drugs and/or
psychotherapy cc. Group Therapy AA dd.
Medication Antabuse, causes a person to become
violently sick if they drink alcohol ee. No
cure!!
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Personality Disorders and Drug Addiction cont.
Section 5 Review
Chapter 16 Study Guide
Chapter 16 Test