Psychology: Psychological Disorders

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

      Abnormal Psychology

• A "harmful dysfunction" in which behavior is judged to be atypical (not normal). disturbing, and unjustifiable. 

      Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 

      (DSM IV)

• Book of disorders.
• Classifies disorders and describes their symptoms.
• DOES NOT explain the causes or possible cures.

      Neurotic

• Distressing, but a person is still able to function in society and behave rationally.

      Psychotic

• Person loses contact with reality and experiences distorted perceptions.

ANXIETY DISORDERS

• Group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety.
• Patient fears something awful will happen to them.
• State of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

Phobia

• Person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread.

Ex. Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.

      Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded,
      public places like markets. 

      Macrophobia- Fear of long waits.

      Microphobia- Fear of small things.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

• Person is continuously tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
• Person feels inadequate, oversensitive, cannot concentrate, and can have insomnia. 

Panic Disorder

• Marked by one minute long episodes of intense dread in which a person can experience chest pains, choking, and frightening experiences.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions).
• Causes someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action. 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Flashbacks or nightmares following a person's involvement in or oberservation of an extremely stressful event.
• Memories can cause anxiety.

SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

• Occurs when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physiological symptom.

Two Types:

• Hypochondriasis: Frequent physical complaints for which medial doctors are unable to find a cause for.
• Conversion: Report existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason.

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

• Involve a disruption in the conscious process.

Three Types:

• Psychogenic Amnesia: Person is unable to remember things with no physiological basis for disruption of memory.
• Dissociative Fugue: People with Psychogenic Amnesia find themselves in an unfamiliar environment.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Person has several rather than one integrated personality. People whom had DID Commonly have a childhood of abuse or trauma.

MOOD DISORDERS

• Extreme or inappropriate emotion

Major Depression

• Unhappy for two weeks without a cause
• Common cold for psychological disorders

Dysthymic Disorder

• Type of depression
• Mild depression every day for at least two years

Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Experience of depression during winter months
• Not based on temperature
• Based on the amount of sunlight

Bipolar Disorder

• Formally: Manic depression
• Period of depression and manic episodes
• Manic episodes involve feelings of high energy

PERSONALITY DISORDERS

• Well established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect a person's ability to function.
• Dominates personality

Anti-Social 

• Lack of empathy
• Little regard for other's feelings
• View the world as hostile and only look out for themselves

Dependent

• Rely too much on the attention and help of others

Histrionic

• Needs to be the center of attention

Narcissistic

• Unwarranted sense of self-importance
• Think that they are the center of the universe

SCHIZOPHRENIC DISORDERS

• About 1 in every 100 people are diagnosed with schizophrenia

Symptoms

• Disorganized thinking
• Disturbed perceptions
• Inappropriate emotions and actions

Disorganized Thinking

• Thinking is fragmented, bizarre, and distorted with false beliefs
• Comes from breakdown in selective attention (cannot filter out information)

Delusions

• False beliefs
• Persecution 
• Grandeur

Disturbed Perceptions

• Hallucinations: sensory experiences without sensory stimulation

Inappropriate Emotions and Actions

• Laugh at inappropriate times
• Senseless, compulsive acts
• Flat Effect: a reduction in emotion
• Catatonia: Motionless wavy Flexibility

Positive vs. Negative Symptoms

• Positive: Presence of inappropriate symptoms
• Negative: Absence of appropriate symbols

Disorganized Schizophrenia

• Disorganized speech or flat inappropriate emotion 
• Imagine the worst

Paranoid Schizophrenia

• Preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations
• Someone is out to get me

Catatonic Schizophrenia

• Parrot like repeating of another's speech and movement

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

• Many varied symptoms
• Includes all or some of the following: Disorganized, Paranoid, and Catatonic Schizophrenia