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Psychological

Disorders
Unit 6

Psychological Disorders
A wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior which
deviate from the norm.
Examples:
Stress
Anxiety
Schizophrenia

Getting Terms Right


Psychopath: A person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal
social behavior
Sociopath: A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme
antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.
- Antisocial Personality Disorder

Defining Psychological
Deviation from the norm Disorders
Adjustment to physical, emotional, or social conditions
Diagnosing Mental Illness
- Self-Actualization (Behaviorist)
- DSM-IV: 5th version of the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders

Stress
Stressors: Eustress and Distress
Conflict Situations
- Approach - Approach (2 attractive options)
- Avoidance - Avoidance (2 unattractive options)
- Approach - Avoidance (both attractive and unattractive options)
- Double Approach - Avoidance (multiple options each have attractive and
unattractive results)

Reaction to Stress
Fight or Flight: Physical reaction to stressful situations (can improve thought and ability to a point
and for a short amount of time)
General Adaption Syndrome (Hans Selye 1976):
-

Alarm

Resistance

Exhaustion

Emotional Responses: Anger, Fear, Sadness


Physical Reaction: Psychosomatic Symptoms (headache, stomach ache, muscular soreness, elevated
blood pressure, etc.)

Dealing with Stress


Hardiness
Problem Solving
Explanatory Style: Optimist vs. Pessimist
Relaxation
Humor
Exercise
Support Groups or Professional Help

Anxiety
General state of uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or
imagined danger.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Phobic Disorder

Phobia
When severe anxiety is focused on a particular object, animal, activity, or
situation that seems out of proportion to the real danger or issue and alters
behavior.

Somatoform Disorders
Also known as Briquets Disease, it is a condition which manifests no apparent
physical causes (hysteria)
Two primary forms:
- Conversion disorder
- Hypochondriasis

Conversion Disorders
This is an emotional difficulty that turns into a loss of specific voluntary body
function.
- Can be temporary or permanent
- La Belle Indifference
- Steve Blass Disease (Sport Yips)

Hypochondriasis
The perception of illness when generally completely healthy. Typically
associated with searching for signs of chronic diseases.

Dissociative Disorders
A disorder in which a person experiences alterations in memory, identity, or
consciousness
Dissociative Amnesia: Inability to recall important personal events or
information (Traumatic event or injury)
Dissociative Fugue: Disorder where someone unexpectedly travels away from
work or home and cannot recall the past (Escape conflict or anxiety)
Dissociative Identity Disorder: Disorder where two or more personality states
exists, each has its own behavior and thought process (Multiple Personality
Disorder)

Personality Disorders
Maladaptive or inflexible ways of dealing with others and ones environment
- Antisocial Personality Disorder (shallow emotions and lack of conscience)
- Dependant Personality Disorder (need to be taken care of)
- Histrionic Personality Disorder (excessive emotions, needs attention)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Intense need for order, control, and
perfection)
- Paranoid Personality Disorder (distrust of others)
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder (discomfort in close relationships,
distorted thinking, and eccentric behavior)

Schizophrenia
A group of disorders characterized by confused and disconnected thoughts,
emotions, and perceptions
- Paranoid Schizophrenia (Delusional)
- Catatonic Schizophrenia (Physical Manifestation)
- Disorganized Schizophrenia (Social Difficulties)
- Remission Schizophrenia (No Impeding Symptoms)
- Undifferential Schizophrenia (Deterioration of Functioning Skills)
Causes: Biological, Physiology, Biochemistry, Family

Mood Disorders
Clinically diagnosed changes in mood or emotions
- Major Depressive Disorder
- Bipolar Disorder
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder

History of Psychological
Treatment
Early Treatment:Disorder
Focused on supernatural
causes and brutal remedies
1600s: Separate mentally ill from society (Asylums)
Dorothy Dix (1800s): Argues for equal treatment of mentally ill prisoners
Early 1900s: Freud popularizes psychoanalysis as a talking cure
1930s: Treatments like drugs, electroconvulsive shock, and surgery are
introduced

History of Psychological Disorder


Treatment in Picture

Psychological Treatment
Forms of treatment: Psychotherapy
- Group Therapy (Subjects and leader work on issues)
- Psychoanalysis (Freud)
- Cognitive Therapy (Focus on changing thought patterns)
- Behavioral Therapy (Focus on changing behavior)
- Biological Treatment (Drugs)

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