Introduction to Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

• Psychological Disorders

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The Question of Normality

• What does it mean to be normal?
• Who decides what is normal?

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Psychopathology

• The scientific study of mental, emotional, and
  behavioral problems
• 1 out of 100 people will require psychiatric
  hospitalization during their lifetime

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Psychopathology

• Subjective discomfort- may or may not be present
• Statistical abnormality- deviating from the norm

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What makes behavior abnormal?

• Core features of abnormality
• The behavior is maladaptive
• There is a loss of control

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Abnormal BehaviorOther Considerations

• Violation of social norms
• Behavior is abnormal based on situational,
  societal, and cultural contexts

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Social Construction of Mental Illness

• Labels inventions/artifacts of particular
  cultures
• Dominant discourses on mental illness

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Rosenhan Study

• Participants posed as persons with mental
  illnesses
• Normal behavior was perceived as pathological

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Thomas Szaz

• Myth of Mental Illness
• Against the disease model of mental illness
• Deviations from the norm

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Mental Disorders

• Diagnosed with the DSM-IV
• For communication between professionals
• To classify/understand behaviors
• For HMOs

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The Stigma of Labels

• Stigma and discrimination
• May be denied housing, jobs, may lose friends,
  etc.
• Self-fulfilling prophesy

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Mental Disorders

• Substance abuse disorders
• Mood disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Somatoform disorders

• Psychotic disorders
• Dissociative disorders
• Personality disorders
• Sexual/gender identity disorders

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Anxiety Disorders

• Apprehension, fear, dread
• Out of proportion to the situation

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Excessively anxious/worried
• Free floating anxiety
• Anxiety triggered in many situations

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OCD

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Disturbing, anxiety-provoking thoughts
• Compulsive behavior to keep anxiety under control

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Panic Disorder

• Sudden, intense, unexpected panic attacks
• Racing heart, chest pains, fear of dying
• Fear of losing control

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Specific Phobia

• Fear/anxiety toward a specific situation
• 11 have a phobia during their lifetime

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Mood Disorders

• Depression
• Intense, prolonged sadness
• Hopelessness, lack of energy, negative self-image

• Dysthymic Disorder
• Low grade depression
• Fairly consistent for 2 years or more

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Bipolar Disorder

• Extreme moods
• Depression and mania
• Mania elated, hyperactive, filled with energy,
  lack of sleep, risk taking, grandiosity

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Eating Disorders

• Anorexia-nervosa self-starvation underweight
  issues of control
• Bulimia binge-purge cycles typically normal to
  overweight

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Personality Disorders

• Maladaptive personality patterns
• Often start in childhood/adolescence officially
  diagnosed at age 18

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Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Lacks conscience
• Impulsive/selfish
• Aggressive/violent
• Lack of remorse
• Criminality

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Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Many were abused/deprived in childhood
• Subtle neurological problems
• Under-arousal when viewing disturbing material
• Difficult to treat

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Borderline Personality Disorder

• Impulsivity/erratic behavior
• Instability in relationships
• Highly manipulative
• Self-mutilating high risk of suicide
• Often co-morbid with mood disorders

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Psychotic Disorders

• Retreat from reality
• Schizophrenia and delusional disorders

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Schizophrenia

• Delusions and hallucinations (bizarre)
• Delusions deeply held false beliefs
• Hallucinations seeing/hearing something that
  isnt present
• Disordered thinking
• Flat or inappropriate affect

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Schizophrenia

• Process develops slowly, over the lifespan
• Reactive develops in response to an event

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SchizophreniaTypes

• Paranoid
• Disorganized
• Catatonic
• Undifferentiated

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SchizophreniaCauses

• Biological dopamine hypothesis brain
  abnormalities genetic link
• Identical twins 50
• Exposure to the disease in the womb/complications
  during birth
• Childhood trauma, dysfunctional family
  environments

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Delusional Disorders

• Deeply held false beliefs w/o hallucinations
  (non-bizarre)
• Insist these beliefs are true, even in the face
  of contrary evidence

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Risk Factors for Mental Illness

• Social poverty, stress, homelessness
• Family disturbed parents, criminality, abuse
• Psychological stress, low IQ, lack of
  control/mastery
• Biological genetic defects, poor prenatal care,
  low birth weight, born with addictions