Personality Disorders, Rates of Psychological Disorders Chapter 14, Lecture 7

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Personality Disorders, Rates of Psychological
DisordersChapter 14, Lecture 7
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Personality Disorders

• Personality disorders are characterized by
  inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that
  impair social functioning. They are usually
  without anxiety, depression, or delusions.

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Antisocial Personality Disorder

• A disorder in which the person (usually men)
  exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing,
  even toward friends and family members. Formerly,
  this person was called a sociopath or psychopath.

The genetic vulnerability of people
with antisocial and unemotional tendencies
appears as a fearless approach to life. -
David Myers
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Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Like mood disorders and schizophrenia, antisocial
  personality disorder has biological and
  psychological reasons. Youngsters, before
  committing a crime, respond with lower levels of
  stress hormones than others do at their age.

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Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder

• PET scans of 41 murderers revealed reduced
  activity in the frontal lobes. In a follow-up
  study, repeat offenders had 11 less frontal lobe
  activity (Raine et al., 1999 2000).

Courtesy of Adrian Raine, University of Southern
California
Normal
Murderer
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Rates of Psychological Disorders
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Rates of Psychological Disorders
The prevalence of psychological disorders during
the previous year is shown below (WHO, 2004).
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Homework
CT Questions Psychological Disorders (10 pts),
Study!
Although mindful of the pain, we can also
be encouraged by the many successful people
including Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton,
and Leo Tolstoy who pursued brilliant
careers while enduring psychological
difficulties. - David Myers