Psychological Disorders

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Psychological Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Identity Disorder (LP 1.3)
- "multiple personalities"
- validity of diagnosis?
Dissociative Amnesia
- clearly defined block of absent memory
Dissociative Fugue
- complete amnesia
- adoption of new identity
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Psychological Disorders
Schizophrenia (1.5)
5 basic subtypes
- positive and negative symptoms
- not the same as DID
- validity of diagnosis?
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Psychological Disorders
Schizophrenia
Positive Symptoms
- disorganized thought / speech
- delusions
- hallucinations / disorders of perception
Negative Symptoms
- flat affect
- avolition / alogia
- anhedonia
- asocial behavior
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Psychological Disorders
Schizophrenia
Psychoanalytic approach
- schizophrenogenic mother
Biological approach
- overactive / hypersensitive dopamine system
- low level of frontal lobe activity
- anatomical differences (ventricles)
- viral infection
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Psychological Disorders
Schizophrenia
Genetic approach
Coincidence of the disorder
- no close relatives affected ? 1
- sibling / parent affected ? 10
- MZ twin affected
- separate placentas ? 10
- shared placenta ? 60
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Psychological Disorders
Schizophrenia
Genetic approach
- evidence for role of viral infection?
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Psychological Disorders
Personality Disorders
- listed on Axis II of DSM-IV
- "long-standing, pervasive, and inflexible
patterns of behavior and inner experience that
deviate from cultural expectations and that
impair social and/or occupational function"
- may or may not be accompanied by emotional
distress
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Psychological Disorders
Personality Disorders
Three 'clusters' of PDs
1. Odd/Eccentric cluster
- paranoid PD
- schizoid PD
- schizotypal PD
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Psychological Disorders
Personality Disorders
Three 'clusters' of PDs
2. Dramatic/Erratic cluster
- borderline PD
- histrionic PD
- narcissistic PD
- antisocial PD
- relation to psychopathy
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Psychological Disorders
Personality Disorders
Three 'clusters' of PDs
3. Anxious/Fearful cluster
- avoidant PD
- dependent PD
- obsessive-compulsive PD
- absence of obsessions/compulsions seen in OCD
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Drugs
Antipsychotics
- e.g., Thorazine, Haldol, Clozaril
- useful for treating positive symptoms of
schizophrenia
- potential for unpleasant side effects (short
and long term)
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Drugs
Antidepressants
- e.g., Nardil, Elavil, Prozac
- different mechanisms, but similar effects
- increase in norepinephrine and/or serotonin
levels
- pharmacology vs behavior?
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Drugs
Tranquilizers
- e.g., Valium, Xanax
- mimic GABA (inhibitory NT) activity
- GABA activity ? decreased anxiety
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Drugs
Lithium Carbonate
- treatment for bipolar disorder
- may moderate norepinephrine levels
- may moderate glutamate activity
- dosage levels are critical
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Drugs

• while many drug-based treatments are effective,
  there are a number of potential problems

• long-term side effects

• difficult to determine optimal dosage

• outpatient compliance

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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Surgery

• used to be quite popular

• Moniz and the prefrontal lobotomy

• now psychosurgery is generally used as a last
  resort, if at all

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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Electroshock Therapy

• electric current passed through the brain, which
  produces seizure activity

• may be effective in cases of suicidal depression

• use of muscle relaxants and general anaesthetic
  to reduce trauma

• nobody knows how or why electroshock therapy
  works, or why it has no effect on other disorders

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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic Therapy
- modern version of psychoanalysis
- many revisions of Freuds original work
Object-Relations Theory
- early family experiences form the basis for our
interpretations and behavior in all future
relationships
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Behavioral Therapy
- based on principles of conditioning
- systematic desensitization
- flooding
- token economies
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Cognitive Therapy
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
- overgeneralization
- catastrophization
- challenging patients irrational beliefs
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Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Humanist Therapy
Client-Centered Therapy (Rogers)
- non-directive therapy
- provide patient with UPR
Existential Therapy
- focus on taking responsibility for ones own
life / free will
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The Questions
1. According to Eriksons theory of psychosocial
development, the main issue that needs to be
resolved between age 6 and puberty is that of
competence vs. inferiority.
2. cross-sectional research suggests that
intelligence declines with age.