Psychological Disorders

"harm dysfunction" which behavior is judged by atypical disturbing, maladaptive, and unjustifiable.
it depends on:

• culture
• time period
• enviromental
• individual

EARLY THEORIES
some believed afflicted were possessed by evil spirits.

CURRENT PERSPECTIVE

medical perspective: psychological disorders are sicknesses and can be diagnosed, treated, and cured.

bio-psycho-social perspective: biological, psychological, and social culture factors combined to interact causing psychological disorders. use to be called diathesis-stress model. diathesis meaning predisposition and stress meaning environment.

Classifying Psychological Disorders

DSM-IV: diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorders, the big book of gallon.

NEUROTIC DISORDER

distressing, but one can still function in society and act rationally.

PSYCHOTIC DISORDER
person lose contact with reality, experiences distorted perception.

ANXIETY DISORDER

group of conditions where primary symptoms are anxiety or defense against anxiety. patients fears something awful will happen. state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, or fear.

PHOBIA
person experiences sudden episode of tense dread and irrational fear.

AGORAPHOBIA: the fear of going out in public and crowded places.

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD)
person is always tense, apprehensive and in state of auto nervous system arousal. worried and fear, feel inadequate, oversensitive, no concentration.

PANIC DISORDER
minute-long episode of intense dread which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, and other frightening sensation.

OBESSIVE-COMPLUSIVE DISORDER
persistent unwanted thoughts (obsession) cause someone to feel the need (compulsive) to engage in a particular action.

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
flashbacks or nightmare after incident in/obscene stressful event. memories of event can cause anxiety.

SOMATOFORM DISORDER
occurs when person manifest a psychological problem through a physiological symptom.

2 types:
hypochondriacs: physical complaints for medical doctor are unable to locate cause. minor issue can indicate more severe illnesses.
conversion disorder
report existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason. ex. blindness or paralysis.

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER
these disorders involve a disruption in the conscious process.

3 types:
psychogenic amnesia: person cannot remember things with no physiological issue for the disruption in memory.
resurgence amnesia: not organic amnesia.
dissociative fugue: people with psychogenic amnesia that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment.
dissociative identity disorder: multiple personality disorder. have several rather than one personality. usually have at least 3.

MOOD DISORDER
experiences extremes or inappropriate emotion.

major depression: unipolar depression. unhappy for at least 2 weeks with no cause. the common cold of psychological disorders.
seasonal affective disorder: experiences depression during winter, based on light. TREATED WITH LIGHT THERAPY.
bipolar disorder: manic depression, high and low.
personality disorder: well established, maladaptive ways of behaving that is negative. affects people's ability to function. dominates personality.
antisocial personality disorder: lack empathy, little regards to other, hostile.
dependent personality disorder: reply too much on the attention and help of others.
histrionic personality disorder: need to be center of attention. whether act silly or dress unique.
narcissistic personality disorder: having sense of self-importance, thing that you are the center of the universe.

SCHIZOPHRENIA
1/100 are diagnosed with it. symptoms: 1. disorganized thinking 2. disturbed perceptions 3. inappropriate emotions and actions.

disorganized thinking: fragmented and bizarre. distorted with false beliefs and selective attention. cannot filter info.
delusions: 1. of persecutions 2. of grandeur.
disturbing perception: hallucinations, sensory experience with sensory stimulation.
inappropriate emotions and actions:

• laugh at the wrong time
• flat eff (zombie like)
• catatonic (motionless)

types of schizophrenia:
disorganized: imagine the worst. either pathetic or apathetic. disorganized speech.
paranoid: with delusions and hallucinations
catatonic: flat effect, flexibility, copy your speech and movement.
undifferentiated: varied symptoms.