11/9/2014
CHAPTER 12
Learning Outcomes
Psychological Disorders
Rathus (2014) 3rd ed. • Define psychological disorders and describe
their prevalence.
• Describe the symptoms and possible origins of
six types of anxiety disorders.
1 2
Learning Outcomes Learning Outcomes
• Describe the symptoms and possible origins of • Describe the symptoms and possible origins of
dissociative disorders. mood disorders.
• Describe the symptoms and possible origins of • Describe the symptoms, types, and possible
somatoform disorders. origins of schizophrenia.
• Describe the symptoms and possible origins of
personality disorders.
3 4
Psychological Disorders
• Patterns of behavior or mental processes that are
What are Psychological connected with emotional distress or significant
impairment in functioning
Disorders?
• Characterized by:
– Rare or unusual behavior
– Faulty perceptions or interpretations of reality
– Severe personal distress
– Self-defeating behaviors
– Dangerous behaviors
– Socially unacceptable behaviors
5 6
1
11/9/2014
Classifying Psychological Disorders Prevalence of Psychological Disorders
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) • About 50% of us will experience a psychological
– Includes information on medical conditions, disorder at some time
psychosocial problems and global assessment – Most often starts in childhood or adolescence
of functioning • Slightly more than 25% will experience a
– DSM-V (2013) psychological disorder in any given year
7 8
Anxiety Disorders
• Psychological features of anxiety
– Worrying, fear of worst happening, fear of
losing control, nervousness, inability to relax
Anxiety Disorders • Physical features of anxiety
– Arousal of sympathetic branch of autonomic
nervous system
9 10
Phobic Disorders Panic Disorder
• Specific phobias • Abrupt attack of acute anxiety not triggered by a
– Irrational fears of specific objects or situations specific object or situation
• Claustrophobia – fear of tight, small places – Physical symptoms
• Social phobias • Shortness of breath, heavy sweating,
– Persistent fears of scrutiny by others tremors, pounding of the heart
• Other symptoms that may “feel” like a heart
attack
11 12
2
11/9/2014
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Persistent anxiety • Obsessions
– Cannot be attributed to object, situation, or – Recurrent, anxiety-provoking thoughts or
activity images that seem irrational and beyond control
• Symptoms include: • Compulsions
– Motor tension – Thoughts or behaviors that tend to reduce the
– Autonomic overarousal anxiety connected with obsessions
– Excessive vigilance – Irresistible urges to engage in specific acts,
often repeatedly
• Video
13 14
Stress Disorders
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
– Caused by a traumatic event
– May occur months or years after event
• Acute Stress Disorder
– Unlike PTSD, occurs within a month of event
and lasts 2 days to 4 weeks
15 16
Sleep Problems Among Americans Before and
Origins of Anxiety Disorders
After September 11, 2001
• Psychological and Social
– Phobias as conditioned fears
– Cognitive bias toward focusing on threats
• Biological
– Genetic factors – highly reactive autonomic
nervous system
• Biopsychosocial
– Interaction between biological, psychological,
social factors
17 18
3
11/9/2014
Dissociative Disorders
• A splitting of mental processes such as thoughts,
emotions, identity, memory, or consciousness
Dissociative Disorders
19 20
Types of Dissociative Disorders Types of Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative Amnesia • Dissociative Identity Disorder
– Suddenly unable to recall important personal – Two or more identities, each with distinct traits,
information; not due to biological problems “occupy” the same person
• Dissociative Fugue • Formerly known as multiple personality
– Abruptly leaves home or work and travels to disorder
another place, no memory of previous life
21 22
Origins of Dissociative Disorders
• Learning/cognitive – may have learned to not
think about or keep disturbing ideas out of one’s
mind
• Culture-bound to U.S. and Canada
Somatoform Disorders
23 24
4
11/9/2014
Somatoform Disorders Conversion Disorder
• Physical problems (such as paralysis, pain, or • Major change in, or loss of, physical functioning,
persistent belief of serious disease) with no although there are no medical findings to explain
evidence of a physical abnormality the loss of functioning.
– Not intentionally produced
25 26
Hypochondriasis Body Dysmorphic Disorder
• Insistence of serious physical illness, even though • Preoccupation with a fantasized or exaggerated
no medical evidence of illness can be found physical defect in their appearance
• May seek opinion of one doctor after another • May assume others see them as deformed
27 28
Origins of Somatoform Disorders
• Biopsychosocial perspective
– Psychologically, the disorder has to do with
what one focuses on to the exclusion of
conflicting information
– Tendencies toward perfectionism Mood Disorders
29 30
5
11/9/2014
Mood Disorders Types of Mood Disorders
• Characterized by disturbance in expressed • Major Depressive Disorder
emotions – Persistent feelings of sadness, loss of interest,
feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and inability
to concentrate
– About 50% of those with MDD experience
severe symptoms
• Poor appetite, weight loss, agitation,
psychomotor retardation – slowness in
motor activity and (apparently) in thought
31 32
True or False? Types of Mood Disorders
• Feeling elated is not always a good thing. • Bipolar disorder
– Mood swings from ecstatic elation to deep
• TRUE! depression
• Manic behaviors
–Argumentative, rapid flight of ideas
• Depressive behaviors
–Lethargy, insomnia
33 34
Suicide Risk Factors in Suicide
• Suicide is the third leading cause of death among • Feelings of depression, hopelessness
15- to 24-year-olds • Adolescent psychological problems
• Stressful life events – exit events
• Familial experience with psychological disorders
and/or suicide
35 36
6
11/9/2014
Sociocultural Factors in Suicide Sociocultural Factors in Suicide
• More common among college students than • One in six Native Americans has attempted
people of the same age who do not attend suicide.
college. • African Americans are least likely to attempt
• Older people are more likely to commit suicide suicide.
than teenagers. • Three times as many females attempt suicide.
• Suicide rate among older unmarried or divorced • Four times as many males succeed in suicide.
people is double that of older married people.
37 38
Origins of Mood Disorders Origins of Mood Disorders
• Psychological • Biological
– Learning theorists – Genetics – neuroticism
• Lack reinforcement and have an external – Neurotransmitter - serotonin
locus of control • Biopsychosocial
• Learned helplessness – Biologically predisposed
– Cognitive – Self-efficacy expectations
• Perfectionism and unrealistic expectations – Attitudes
• Attributional styles
39 40
True or False?
• People with schizophrenia may see and hear
things that are not really there.
Schizophrenia
• TRUE!
41 42
7
11/9/2014
Schizophrenia Excessive vs. Deficient Symptoms
• Severe psychological disorder characterized by • Excessive (Positive) symptoms
disturbances in: • Agitated behavior, hallucinations, delusions,
– thought and language disorganized thinking, nonsensical speech
– perception and attention • Deficient (Negative) symptoms
– motor activity • Flat, emotionless voices, blank faces, rigid,
– mood motionless bodies, mutism – refusal to talk
– withdrawal and absorption in fantasy
43 44
Problems in Thinking and Language Problems in Perception
• Thought disorder • Hallucinations
– Thinking and communication become – May be visual or auditory
unraveled • Motor activity may become wild or slowed
– Delusions
• of grandeur
• of persecution
• of reference
45 46
Types of Schizophrenia Explaining Schizophrenia
• Paranoid Schizophrenia • Psychological
– Delusions – commonly of persecution – and vivid – Behaviorists – conditioning and observational
hallucinations
learning
• Disorganized Schizophrenia
• Sociocultural
– Disorganized delusions, vivid hallucinations,
inappropriate affect, incoherence; extreme social – Socioeconomic class
impairment
• Catatonic Schizophrenia
– Motor impairment; waxy flexibility (maintain for long
periods of time)
– Mutism
47 48
8
11/9/2014
Average Rates of Loss of Gray Matter Among Normal
Explaining Schizophrenia Adolescents and Adolescents Diagnosed with
Schizophrenia
• Biological
– Brain disorder
– Heredity
– Complications during pregnancy and birth
– Birth during winter
– Dopamine theory of schizophrenia – over
utilization
49 50
Explaining Schizophrenia The Biopsychosocial Model of Schizophrenia
• Biopsychosocial perspective
– Genetic predisposition
– Genetic vulnerability interacts with other
factors
51 52
Where Are They Now?
• [Link]
guGD7s
53 54
9
11/9/2014
True or False?
• Some people can kill or disfigure others without
any feelings of guilt.
• TRUE!
Personality Disorders
55 56
Personality Disorders Types of Personality Disorders
• Characterized by enduring patterns of behavior • Paranoid Personality Disorder
that are maladaptive and inflexible – Interpret other’s behavior as threatening or
• Impair personal or social functioning demeaning
• Source of distress (mental suffering) • Schizoid Personality Disorder
– Indifference to relationships and flat emotional
response
57 58
Types of Personality Disorders Origins of Personality Disorders
• Borderline Personality Disorder • Biological
– Instability in relationships, self-image, and mood – Genetic factors
• Antisocial Personality Disorder • Personality traits that may be inherited
– Persistently violate the law • Antisocial personality – less gray matter
– Show no guilt or remorse and are largely in prefrontal cortex
undeterred by punishment
• Avoidant Personality Disorder
– Avoid relationships for fear of rejection
59 60
10
11/9/2014
Explaining Personality Disorders
• Psychological
– Learning theory
• Childhood experiences
– Cognitive
• Misinterpretation of other people’s
behaviors
• Sociocultural
– Borderline personality – may reflect the
fragmented society in which one lives
61
11
