Abnormal Behavior

• Any deviation from the average from the majority

• people who fail to adjust

• psychological disturbance or abnormality is like a physical illness

• many do not like to label “mentally ill”

Classification

• Medical Model– all behavior can be described in the same

manner as a physical illness

• DSM 1952(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

• DSM- IV 1994

DSM IV-R

• Axis I– define disorder

• Axis II– developmental and long standing disorders

• Axis III– physical disorder or medical condition

• Axis IV– measure of current stress level

• Axis V– highest level of adaptive functioning 90 good 10 danger

Anxiety Disorders

• 15% of adults

• feeling anxious, inadequacy, avoid problem

• constant worry and fear

General Anxiety Disorder

• A vague feeling that one is in danger

• Reaction to vague or imagined danger

• Unable to make decisions or enjoy life

• Physical symptoms– muscle tension, strained face, inability to sleep

Phobic Disorder

• Anxiety is focused on a particular object, activity or situation that seems out of proportion to the real danger involved

Phobias

• Simple– focus on almost anything

• Social– fear that one will embarrass themselves in

public place or social setting

• Attempted cure– Flooding

• face up to phobia in safe controlled environment

Panic Disorder

• Sudden and unexplained attacks of intense fear, lead the person to feel a sense of inevitable doom or even the fear of death

• feel smothering, choking, faint, dizzy, nausea

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

• Obsession– thinking the same thoughts over and over again

• Compulsion– repeating the same task over and over again

• Obsessive-Compulsive– experiencing both of these together

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Condition in which a person who has experienced a traumatic event feels severe and long lasting effects

• flashbacks

• insomnia

Somataform Disorder (Hysteria)

• Anxiety that creates a wide variety of physical symptoms for which there is no physical cause

• Conversion Disorder– conversion of emotional difficulties into the loss of a

specific physiological function

• Hypochandriasis– person who is in good health becomes preoccupied

with imaginary ailments

Dissociative Disorder

• Person experiences a loss of memory or identity or exhibits two or more identities

• Psychogenic Amnesia– loss of identity

Dissociative Disorder

• Psychogenic Fugue– type of dissociative reaction or amnesia coupled

with active flight to a different environment

• Multiple Personality– person seems to have two or more distinctive

identities– efforts to escape from part of yourself– Alters

• name given to the different personalities

Mood Disorders

• Major Depressive Disorder• Singular episode

– depression strikes deeply and seriously in dramatic episode

• Recurrent episode– extended pattern shared with single episode

depression of sadness, anxiety, fear, agitated behavior and reduced ability to function with others.

Mood Disorders

• Interferes with sleep and concentration• Ranges from mild uneasiness to suicidal despair• Three elements

– dependency• sensed need for others need and support

– self criticism• negative assessment of owns worth

– inefficacy• the idea that “nothing I do matters”

Bipolar Disorder

• Excessively and inappropriately happy or unhappy

• High elation, hopeless depression– alteration between the two

Bipolar Disorder

• Manic– elation, extreme confusion, distractibility and racing

thoughts

– exaggerated self-esteem

– engages in irresponsible behavior

• Depressive– overcome by feelings of failure, worthlessness and

despair

– lethargy despair, unresponsiveness

Suicide

• 30,000 Americans per year

• 1 every 18 minutes

• 70% of those who kill themselves threaten to do so 3 months before

• highest rate in elderly

Schizophrenia

• Group of disorders characterized by confused and disconnected thoughts, emotions and perceptions

• Delusions– false beliefs maintained in the fact of contrary evidence

• Hallucinations– sensations in the absence of appropriate stimulation

Schizophrenia

• Five Types• Paranoid

– delusions of grandeur

• Catatonic– motionless for long periods of time

• Disorganized– incoherent language, inappropriate emotions, disorganized motor skills,

delusions, hallucinations

• Undifferentiated – qualified under many or none

• Remission– symptoms completely gone

Causes of Schizophrenia

• Genetic– identical twins 42%– mom with child 17%– population in general 1%– chemicals in the brain (dopamine)

• Family– Socialization– mixed messages from the parents

Personality Disorders

• Unable to maintain meaningful relationships, to assume social responsibilities or adapt to social environments

Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Sociopath or psychopath

• treat people as objects

• no feelings

• seek thrills, live for the moment

• feels no shame or guilt

• much intelligence, entertaining, charming

Drugs

• Psychological Dependence– millions of Americans addicted

• Addiction– bodies normal state is with the drug

• Tolerance– body becomes so accustomed to the drug one needs to take

more to obtain same effect

• Withdrawal– physical and psychological upset which the body and mind

revolt against and finally get used to the absence of the drug