Psychological Disorders

1
Psychological Disorders

• Chapter 13
• George S. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D.
• Department of Psychology
• North Carolina AT State University

2
Abnormal Behavior

• Criteria of Abnormality
• statistical rarity
• interference with normal functioning
• personal distress
• deviance from social norms
• Abnormal (definition)
• term used to describe behavior that is rare or
  dysfunctional, causes personal distress, or
  deviates from social norms

3
Insanity

• Insanity
• legal ruling that a person accused of a crime is
  not held responsible for that act defined in
  most states as the inability to tell the
  difference between right and wrong at the time
  the crime is committed

4
Models of Abnormal Behavior

• Medical model
• psychological models
• psychodynamic model
• behavioral model
• cognitive model
• sociocultural model
• biopsychosocial model

5
Classifying and Counting Psychological Disorders

• DSM-IV - diagnostic and statistical manual of
  mental disorders
• labeling
• prevalence - percentage in the population with
  the disorder
• incidence - rate of new cases reported in a
  population

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Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety- general feeling of apprehension
  characterized by behavioral, cognitive, or
  physiological symptoms
• phobias
• panic disorder
• generalized anxiety disorder
• obsessive-compulsive disorder

7
Somatoform Disorders

• Somatoform disorders - disorders involving
  physical complaints that do not have a known
  medical cause but are related to psychological
  factors
• hypochondriasis
• somatization disorder
• conversion disorder

8
Dissociative Disorder

• Dissociative disorder - disorders affecting a
  function of the mind, such as memory for events,
  knowledge of ones identity, or consciousness
• dissociative amnesia
• dissociative fugue
• dissociative identity disorder
• (multiple personality disorder)

9
Mood Disorders

• Depression
• Symptoms sadness, reduced energy, lack of
  interest in activities, sleep disturbances,
  eating disturbances, excessive crying, possible
  thoughts of suicide
• Dysthymic disorder (dysthymia)
• Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
• Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive)
• Cyclothymic disorder (cyclothymia)

10
Causes of Mood Disorders

• Biological explanations
• Genetic
• Neurotransmitters
• Psychodynamic explanation
• Cognitive and behavioral explanations
• Learned helplessness belief that one cannot
  control outcomes through ones actions
• Hopelessness belief system and the way they
  explain the situation
• Arbitrary inference conclusion drawn in the
  absence of supporting information

11
Schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia
• Psychotic disorder characterized by positive
  symptoms (excesses) such as delusions,
  hallucinations, and fluent but disorganized
  speech or negative symptoms (deficits) such as
  flat or blunted affect

12
Symptoms of Schizophrenia

• Positive symptoms
• Delusions, hallucinations (auditory, visual,
  somatosensory), disturbed emotions, loose
  associations, word salad, clang associations
  (i.e., eating wires and lighting fires)
• Negative symptoms
• Poverty of speech, poverty of content, avolition
  (difficulty making decisions), flattened affect,
  social withdrawal, apathy,

13
Subtypes of Schizophrenia

• Catatonic
• Unusual motor symptoms
• Disorganized
• Incoherent speech, inappropriate affect
• Paranoid
• Delusions of persecution or grandeur, auditory
  hallucinations
• Residual
• No delusions, hallucinations, or incoherent
  language, but continuation of social withdrawal
  and odd beliefs
• Undifferentiated
• Diagnosis that do not fit other subtypes

14
Causes of Schizophrenia

• Genetic (strong link)
• Neurochemical (overactive dopamine)
• Enlarged ventricles
• Smaller thalamus
• Stress and environmental factors

15
Personality Disorders

• Personality disorders
• Class of disorders marked by extreme, inflexible
  personality traits that cause subjective distress
  or impaired social and occupational functioning

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Personality Disorders cont.

• 1. Anxious / fearful
• Avoidant personality disorder
• A pattern of social inhibition, feelings of
  inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative
  evaluation
• Dependent personality disorder
• A pattern of submissive and clinging behavior
  related to an excessive need to be taken care of
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
• A pattern of preoccupation with orderliness,
  perfectionism, and control

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Personality Disorders cont.

• 2. Odd / eccentric
• Schizotypal personality disorder
• A pattern of acute discomfort in close
  relationships, cognitive or perceptual
  distortions, and eccentricities of behavior
• Paranoid personality disorder
• A pattern of distrust and suspiciousness such
  that others motives are interpreted as malevolent

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Personality Disorders cont.

• 3. dramatic / impulsive
• Histrionic personality disorder
• A pattern of excessive emotionality and attention
  seeking
• Narcissistic personality disorder
• A pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration,
  and lack of empathy
• Borderline personality disorder
• A pattern of instability in interpersonal
  relationships, self-image, and affects, and
  marked impulsivity
• Antisocial personality disorder
• A pattern of disregard for, and violation of the
  rights of others

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Etiology of Personality Disorders

• Lack of inhibitions (biological predisposition)
• Dysfunctional family
• Learned behavior

20
Sexual Disorders

• Gender identity disorder (transsexualism)
• Sexual disorder characterized by a persons
  belief that he or she was born with the wrong
  biological sex organs
• Paraphilia
• Sexual arousal by objects or situations not
  considered sexual by most people
• Fetishism
• Paraphilia involving sexual arousal by unusual
  objects or body parts

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Sexual Disorders Paraphilias

• Exhibitionism compulsion to expose ones
  genitals in public
• Fetishism nonhuman object preferred for sexual
  arousal
• Frotteurism sexual arousal by rubbing
  nonconsenting persons
• Klismaphilia sexual arousal linked to giving or
  receiving enemas
• Mysophilia arousal from presence or use of
  filth
• Necrophilia pleasure from viewing or having
  contact with a corpse
• Pedophilia sexual relations with children as
  preferred method
• Sexual sadism and masochism sexual
  gratification linked to pain
• Transvestic fetishism arousal by wearing
  opposite-sex clothing
• Voyeurism desire to watch others having sexual
  relations
• Zoophilia sexual activity with animals