CHAPTER Seven

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS AND TREATMENT

TECHNIQUES
 Mood, thinking and behavior get affected.
Mental illness
 Depression,
 anxiety disorders,
 schizophrenia,
 eating disorders and
 addictive behaviors
 Becomes a concern when ongoing signs and
symptoms cause frequent stress and affect ability
to functioning. 1
7.1. Nature of Psychological Disorders
1. Abnormality

Social norm criteria

 Behavior deviates from the norm of the society

 Violates the norm, standards, rules and

regulations of the society
 Considering the context in which a person‘s
behavior happens.

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Maladaptiveness
 Creates a social, personal and occupational
problems.
 Disrupt the day-to-day activities of individuals
Personal Distress
 Our subjective feelings of anxiety, stress, tension and
other unpleasant emotions determine whether we
have a psychological disorder.
 The negative information arise either by the problem
itself or by events happen that on us.
 Behavior that is abnormal, maladaptive, or personally
distressing might indicate that a person has a
psychological disorder.

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2. Causes of Psychological Disorders
7.2.1 The Biological Perspective
 Abnormalities in the working of chemicals in the
brain, called neurotransmitters.
 Over activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine,
perhaps caused by an overabundance of certain
dopamine receptors in the brain (bizarre
symptoms of schizophrenia).

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7.2.2 Psychological Perspectives
A. Psychoanalytic perspective
 The human mind consists of three interacting
forces: the id (a pool of biological urges), the ego
(which mediates between the id and reality), and
the superego (which represent society‘s moral
standards).
 The ego‟s inability to manage the conflict
between the opposing demands of the id and the
superego.

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B. Learning perspective
 Inadequate or inappropriate learning.
 People acquire abnormal behaviors through the
various kinds of learning.
C. Cognitive perspective
 The quality of our internal dialogue.
 Self-defeating thoughts lead to the development
of negative emotions and self-destructive
behaviors.
 A disturbance in on our thinking, it may manifest
in our display of emotions and behaviors.
 Environmental and cultural experiences play a
major role in the formation of thinking style.
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7.3. Types of Psychological Disorders
 Characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors.
 Psychopathology is the study of psychological
disorders, including their symptoms, etiology (i.e.,
their causes), and treatment.
 It can also refer to the manifestation of a
psychological disorder.

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Mood Disorder
 Characterized by a serious change in mood from
depressed (major depression) to elevated feelings
(mania or hypomania).
 Cycling between both depressed and manic
moods (bipolar mood disorders)
Types
 Major Depression,

 Dysthymic Disorder,

 Bipolar Disorder, and

 Cyclothymia.

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1) Major Depression
 Characterized by depressed mood.
 Diminished interest in activities previously
enjoyed,
 weight disturbance,
 sleep disturbance,
 loss of energy,
 difficulty concentrating, and
 often includes feelings of hopelessness and
thoughts of suicide.

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2) Dysthymia
 A lesser, but more persistent form of depression.

 Symptoms are similar to major depression.

3) Bipolar Disorder (previously known as Manic-

Depression)
 Characterized by periods of extreme highs (mania)
and extreme lows (Major Depression).
Subtyped
 Either I (extreme or hypermanic episodes) or II
(moderate or hypomanic episodes).

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4) Cyclothymia
 A lesser form of Bipolar Disorder.

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2) Anxiety Disorders
 Involve excessive fear or anxiety.

 Can cause people into trying to avoid situations

that trigger or worsen their symptoms.
 To be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, the fear
or anxiety must:
 Be out of proportion to the situation or age
inappropriate
 Hinder ability to function normally

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Types
 Panic Disorder,

 Agoraphobia,

 Specific Phobias,

 Social Phobia,

 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,

 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and

 Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

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a) Panic Disorder
 It is an inappropriate intense feeling of fear or
discomfort.
Symptoms
 Heart palpitations, trembling, shortness of breath,
chest pain, dizziness.
 These symptoms are so severe that the person may
actually believe he or she is having a heart attack
b) Agoraphobia (fear of market places)
 The person fears, and often avoids, situations where
escape or help might not be available, such as
shopping centers, grocery stores, or other public
place.
 Often a part of panic disorder if the panic attacks
are severe enough to result in an avoidance of these
types of places.
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c) Specific (Simple Phobia) and Social Phobia
 Represent an intense fear and often an avoidance of
a specific situation, person, place, or thing.
 To be diagnosed with a phobia, the person must have
suffered significant negative consequences because
of this fear and it must be disruptive to their everyday
life.
d) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
 Is characterized by obsessions (thoughts which seem
uncontrollable) and compulsions (behaviors which
act to reduce the obsession).
 Disruptive to the person's everyday life,
 Hours being spent each day repeating things, which
were completed successfully already such as
checking, counting, cleaning, or bathing. 15
e) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
 Occurs only after a person is exposed to a
traumatic event where their life or someone else's
life is threatened.
 E.g., war, natural disasters, major accidents, and
severe child abuse.
 The disorder develops into an intense fear of
related situations, avoidance of these situations,
reoccurring nightmares, flashbacks, and
heightened anxiety.
f) Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 When a person has extreme anxiety in nearly
every part of their life.
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3) Personality Disorders
 An enduring rigid pattern of thinking, feeling, and
behaving which is significantly different from the
person's culture and results in negative
consequences.
 This pattern must be longstanding and inflexible
for a diagnosis to be made.

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Types
1. Paranoid: a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness.
2. Schizoid: a pattern of detachment from social norms
and a restriction of emotions.
3. Schizotypal: pattern of discomfort in close
relationships and eccentric thoughts and behaviors.
4: Antisocial: pattern of disregard for the rights of
others, including violation of these rights and the
failure to feel empathy).
5. Borderline: pattern of instability in personal
relationships, including frequent bouts of clinginess
and affection and anger and resentment, often
cycling between these two extremes rapidly.
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Types…
6. Histrionic: pattern of excessive emotional
behavior and attention seeking.
7. Narcissistic: pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated
self-worth, and need for admiration.
8. Avoidant: pattern of feelings of social
inadequacies, low self-esteem, and
hypersensitivity to criticism.
9. Obsessive-Compulsive: pattern of obsessive
cleanliness, perfection, and control.

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7.4 Treatment Techniques
 Communalities in the treatment modalities

1. A positive, healthy relationship between a client

or patient and a trained psychotherapist
2. Recognizable mental health issues, whether
diagnosable or not
3. Agreement on the basic goals of treatment
4. Working together as a team to achieve these
goals

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Psychotherapy
 Providing psychological treatment to individuals
with some kind of psychological problems.
Issues
Empathy
 Understand client's feelings, thoughts, and
behaviors.
Being non-judgmental
 If therapist judges the client’s, then he don't feel
safe talking about similar issues again.
 Therapist must have experience with issues
similar to yours, be abreast of the research, and
be adequately trained. 21
Cognitive Approach
 Dysfunctions and difficulties as arising from irrational
or faulty thinking.
Behavioral models
 Look at problems as arising from behaviors which we
have learned to perform over years of reinforcement.
Dynamic or psychodynamic camp
 Issues beginning in early childhood which then
motivate us as adults at an unconscious level.
 Cognitive approaches appear to work better with
most types of depression, and behavioral treatments
tend to work better with phobias.
Eclectic (integrationists)
 Treating people integrating different approaches.
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Treatment Modalities
Individual Therapy
 A one-on-one relationship between a client or patient
and a therapist.
Group therapy
 Individuals suffering from similar illnesses or having
similar issues meet together with one or two
therapists.
 Group sizes differ, ranging from three or four to
upwards of 15 or 20.
 Group is needed to foster feeling of belonging,
understanding, and hope.
 The group comes to the therapy with different
feelings.
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Couple or family therapy
 Centered around the relationship.

Educational component of family therapy

 Communication training

 Couples and families are encouraged to work

together as a team.
Therapist's role
 Facilitate healthy interaction,

 Encourage the couple or family to gain insight into

their own behaviors, and
 Teach the members to listen to and respect each
other. 24
Two treatment modality
 Used for individual who suffers from depression,
social anxiety, and low self-esteem.
 Individual therapy may be used to reduce depressive
symptoms, work some on self-esteem and therefore
reduce fears about social situations.
 Once successfully completed, this person may be
transferred to a group therapy
 In the setting he or she can practice social skills,
feel a part of a supportive group, therefore improving
self-esteem and further reducing depression.
 Despite the different modalities, the goal is
improving the life of the client.
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