Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Psychological Disorders
What is Normal?
Psychopathology: Scientific study of mental, emotional,
and behavioral disorders
Subjective Discomfort: Feelings of discomfort,
unhappiness, or emotional distress
Statistical Abnormality: Having extreme scores on some
dimension, such as intelligence, anxiety, or depression
Social Nonconformity: Disobeying societal standards for
normal conduct; usually leads to destructive or selfdestructive behavior
Figure 12.1
FIGURE 12.1 The number of people displaying a personal characteristic may help define
what is statistically abnormal.
DSM
DSMDiagnostic & Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
Published by American Psychiatric
Association
used by clinicians and researchers to
diagnose and classify mental disorders
Figure 12.11
FIGURE 12.11 A combination of vulnerability and stress may produce psychological problems.
The top bar shows low vulnerability and low stress. The result? No problem. The same is true of
the next bar down, where low vulnerability is combined with moderate stress. Even high
vulnerability (third bar) may not lead to problems if stress levels remain low. However, when
high vulnerability combines with moderate or high stress (bottom two bars) the person crosses
the line and suffers from psychopathology.
Anxiety-Based Disorders
Anxiety: Feelings of apprehension, dread, or uneasiness
Adjustment Disorders: When ongoing stressors cause
emotional disturbance and push people beyond their
ability to effectively cope
Usually suffer sleep disturbances, irritability, and
depression
Examples: Grief reactions, lengthy physical illness,
unemployment can be some triggers for anxiety
1.
2.
3.
Panic Disorders
Panic Disorder (without Agoraphobia): A chronic state of
anxiety with brief moments of sudden, intense,
unexpected panic (panic attack)
Panic Attack: Feels like one is having a heart attack,
going to die, or is going insane
Symptoms include vertigo, chest pain, choking, fear
of losing control
Panic Disorder (with Agoraphobia): Panic attacks and
sudden anxiety still occur, but with agoraphobia
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia (with Panic Disorder): Intense, irrational
fear that a panic attack will occur in a public place or in
an unfamiliar situation
Intense fear of leaving the house or entering
unfamiliar situations
Can be very crippling
Literally means fear of open places or market (agora)
Agoraphobia (without Panic Disorder): Fear that
something extremely embarrassing will happen away
from home or in an unfamiliar situation.
Specific Phobias
Irrational, persistent fears, anxiety, and avoidance that
focus on specific objects, activities, or situations
People with phobias realize that their fears are
unreasonable and excessive, but they cannot control
them.
Social Phobia
Intense, irrational fear of being observed, evaluated,
humiliated, or embarrassed by others (e.g., shyness,
eating, or speaking in public)
Compulsions
Compulsion: Irrational acts that person feels compelled
to repeat against his/her will
Help to control anxiety created by obsessions
Checkers and cleaners
Table 16.2
Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies
Anxiety
Feelings of tension, uneasiness,
apprehension, worry, and vulnerability
We are motivated to avoid experiencing
anxiety
Figure 10.6
FIGURE 10.6 The approximate relationship between the id, ego, and superego, and the levels
of awareness.
Mood Disorders
Major disturbances in emotion, such as depression or
mania
Depressive Disorders: Sadness or despondency are
prolonged, exaggerated, or unreasonable
Bipolar Disorders: Involve both depression, and mania or
hypomania
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Depression that only
occurs during fall and winter.
May be related to reduced exposure to sunlight
Phototherapy: Extended exposure to bright light to
treat SAD
Figure 12.15
FIGURE 12.15 Suicidal behavior usually progresses from suicidal thoughts, to threats, to
attempts. A person is unlikely to make an attempt without first making threats. Thus, suicide
threats should be taken seriously
Psychosis
Psychosis: Loss of contact with reality marked by
hallucinations, delusions, disturbed thoughts and
emotions, and personality disorganization
Schizophrenia:
The Most Severe Mental Illness
Psychotic disorder characterized by hallucinations,
delusions, apathy, thinking abnormalities, and split
between thoughts and emotions
Does NOT refer to having split or multiple
personalities
Delusions
Delusions: False beliefs that psychotic individuals insist
are true, regardless of overwhelming evidence against
them
Common forms:
Erotomanic
Grandiose
Jealous
Persecution
Somatic
Hallucinations
Hallucinations: Imaginary sensations, such as seeing,
hearing, or smelling things that do not exist in the real
world
Most common psychotic hallucination is hearing
voices
Note that olfactory hallucinations sometimes occur
with seizure disorder (epilepsy)
Causes of Schizophrenia
Psychological Trauma: Psychological injury or shock,
often caused by an environment of violence, abuse, or
neglect
Disturbed Family Environment: Stressful or unhealthy
family relationships, communication patterns, and
emotional atmosphere
Deviant Communication Patterns: Cause guilt, anxiety,
anger, confusion, and turmoil
Heredityif one identical twin becomes schizophrenic
then the other twin has about 50% chance
Stress-Vulnerability Hypothesis: Combination of
environmental stress and inherited susceptibility cause
psychotic disorders
Figure 12.7
FIGURE 12.7 Lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is associated with how closely a person
is genetically related to a schizophrenic person. A shared environment also increases the risk.
Figure 12.8
FIGURE 12.8 Dopamine normally crosses the synapse between two neurons, activating the
second cell. Antipsychotic drugs bind to the same receptor sites as dopamine does, blocking
its action. In people suffering from schizophrenia, a reduction in dopamine activity can quiet a
persons agitation and psychotic symptoms.