Psychological Disorders PSYC 1611 Chapter 14

PERSPECTIVES AND TERMINOLOGY

THE MEDICAL MODEL uses the analogy of the disease to conceptualize abnormal behavior views disorders as sicknesses that need to be diagnosed and treated

Diagnosis involves distinguishing one illness from another Etiology refers to the apparent causation and developmental history of an illness Prognosis is a forecast about the probable course of an illness Prevalence refers to the percentage of the population that exhibits a disorder during a specified time period

Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) DSM-5 will be published in 2013 CLASSIFICATION OF DISORDERS

ANXIETY DISORDERS

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER continually tense, fearful, and in a state of autonomic arousal

PHOBIC DISORDER a persistent and irrational fear of a specific object or situation that presents no realistic danger

PANIC DISORDER characterized by frequent, unpredictable “panic attacks” (intense dread, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, irregular heartbeat, etc.) AGORAPHOBIA a fear of going to a place where coping with a panic attack would be difficult

Obsessive-compulsive disorder persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals (compulsions)

ETIOLOGY OF ANXIETY DISORDERS Conditioning & learning

ETIOLOGY OF ANXIETY DISORDERS (cont’d) Biological factors

PREPAREDNESS being genetically predisposed to acquire some fears more easily than others due to natural selection

Concordance rate the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives that exhibit the same disorder

ETIOLOGY OF ANXIETY DISORDERS (cont’d) Cognitive factors

Somatoform disorders

Conversion disorder a significant loss of physical function with no apparent organic cause, usually in a single organ system

Hypochondriasis anxiety over the belief that one has a disease, without any evident physical cause

Etiology of somatoform disorders

Dissociative disorders

Dissociative amnesia sudden loss of memory for important personal information that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting

Dissociative fugue sudden, unexpected travel away from home, along with an inability to recall one’s past

Dissociative identity disorder the coexistence in one person of two or more largely complete, and usually very different, identities or personalities

Etiology of dissociative disorders

MOOD DISORDERS Major depressive disorder

MOOD DISORDERS (cont’d) Bipolar disorder when people alternate between states of lethargic hopelessness (depression) and wild overexcitement (mania)

MOOD DISORDERS (cont’d) Etiology of mood disorders GENETIC VULNERABILITY Concordance rate of 18-19% for fraternal twin pairs Concordance rate of 50-70% for identical twin pairs

MOOD DISORDERS (cont’d) Etiology of mood disorders THE BRAIN

Depression & neurotransmitters Low level of serotonin Low level of norepinephrine

Mania & neurotransmitters High level of norepinephrine

MOOD DISORDERS (cont’d) Etiology of mood disorders COGNITIVE FACTORS INTERPERSONAL ROOTS

MOOD DISORDERS (cont’d) Etiology of mood disorders PRECIPITATING STRESS

SCHIZOPHRENIC DISORDERS Irrational thinking (delusions) Disturbed emotion Hallucinations Deterioration of adaptive behavior Inappropriate actions Cognitive deficits

ETIOLOGY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA Genetic vulnerability

ETIOLOGY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA (cont’d) Neurochemical factors Abnormal brain activity & structure

ETIOLOGY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA (cont’d) Prenatal factors

Eating disorders

Anorexia nervosa intense fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image, refusal to maintain normal weight, and dangerous measures to lose weight

Bulimia nervosa habitually engaging in out-of-control overeating followed by unhealthy compensatory efforts, such as self-induced vomiting and excessive exercising

Etiology of eating disorders