AP Psychology – Psychological Disorders

Warm UP:

How does one determine “normal” or “abnormal” behavior? Discuss with your pair partner and be prepared to share

your discussion with the class.

Normal vs. Abnormal Behavior “Normal” is relative; depends on

population and culture In U.S. only certain foods are eaten with

fingers and it is expected for individuals to eat at a table with silverware.

In parts of the Middle East, most foods are eaten with fingers and it is expected for individuals to eat while sitting on a rug or mat.

Defining Psychological Disorders

Psychological disorders are defined as persistently harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions. Behavior that deviates from the norm Behavior that is distressful to the individual and/or

others around him/her Behavior that causes a disruption in daily activities

of the affected individual The American Psychiatriac Association published

the standardized diagnostic manual DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 4th edition)

How are Psychological Disorders Diagnosed?

Axis I – Is a Clinical Syndrome present? Axis II – Is a Personality Disorder or Mental

Retardation present? Axis III - Is a General Medical Condition,

such as diabetes, hypertension, or arthritis, also present?

Axis IV – Are Psychosocial or Environmental Problems, such as school or housing issues, also present?

Axis V – What is the Global Assessment of this person’s functioning?

ANXIETY DISORDERS

a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety.

the patient fears something awful will happen to them.

Are anxiety disorders a neurosis or psychosis.?

WHAT IS ANXIETY?is a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDERAn anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.

The patient is constantly tense and worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can’t concentrate and suffers from insomnia.

PANIC DISORDERAn anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations.

Can cause secondary disorders, such as agoraphobia.

PHOBIASA person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread.

THE PHOBIA LIST LINK

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).

COMMON EXAMPLES OF OCDCommon Obsessions:

Common Compulsions:

Contamination fears of germs, dirt, etc.

Washing

Imagining having harmed self or others

Repeating

Imagining losing control of aggressive urges

Checking

Intrusive sexual thoughts or urges

Touching

Excessive religious or moral doubt

Counting

Forbidden thoughts Ordering/arranging

A need to have things "just so" Hoarding or saving

A need to tell, ask, confess Praying

EXPLANATIONS FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS

You Learn them through conditioning.

•Evolution

•Genes

•Physiology (the brain)

Mood Disorders

Mood Disorders• Psychological Disorders

characterized by emotional extremes.

• Major Depressive Disorder

•Bipolar Disorder

•Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Dysthymic Disorder

Depression

• The common cold of psychological disorders.

It is like a warning that something is wrong.

Depression

Depression

Major Depressive Disorder

• A person, for no apparent reason, experiences two or more weeks of depressive moods.

Includes feelings of worthlessness and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

Dysthymic Disorder

• Suffering from mild depression every day for at least two years.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Bipolar Disorder

• Person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania.

Famous People with Bipolar

Bipolar Brain

Norepinephrine

Increases arousal and boosts moods.

Suicide

Suicide

Schizophrenia

How Prevalent?

• About 1 in every 100 people are diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

•Disorganized thinking.

•Disturbed Perceptions

•Inappropriate Emotions and Actions

Disorganized Thinking• The thinking of a person with

Schizophrenia is fragmented and bizarre and distorted with false beliefs.

•Disorganized thinking comes from a breakdown in selective attention.- they cannot filter out information. Often causes………

Delusions (false beliefs)

•Delusions of Persecution

•Delusions of Grandeur

Disturbed Perceptions

• hallucinations- sensory experiences without sensory stimulation.

Inappropriate Emotions and Actions

•Laugh at inappropriate times.

•Flat Effect •Senseless,

compulsive acts.•Catatonia-

motionless Waxy Flexibility

Positive v. Negative Symptoms

Positive Symptoms• Presence of

inappropriate symptoms

Negative Symptoms

• Absence of appropriate ones.

Types of Schizophreni

a

Paranoid Schizophrenia

• preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations.

• Somebody is out to get me!!!!

Disorganized Schizophrenia

• disorganized speech or behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotion.

Catatonic Schizophrenia

• parrot like repeating of another’s speech and movements

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

• Many and varied Symptoms.

Dissociative Disorders

Dissociative Disorders

• Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts and feelings.

Dissociative Amnesia

• This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature.

Dissociative Amnesia

• Dissociative amnesia, unlike other types of amnesia, does NOT result from other medical trauma (e.g. a blow to the head).

Dissociative Amnesia• Localized amnesia is present in an individual who has no

memory of specific events that took place, usually traumatic. The loss of memory is localized with a specific window of time. For example, a survivor of a car wreck who has no memory of the experience until two days later is experiencing localized amnesia.

• Selective amnesia happens when a person can recall only small parts of events that took place in a defined period of time. For example, an abuse victim may recall only some parts of the series of events around the abuse.

• Generalized amnesia is diagnosed when a person's amnesia encompasses his or her entire life.

• Systematized amnesia is characterized by a loss of memory for a specific category of information. A person with this disorder might, for example, be missing all memories about one specific family member.

Dissociative Fugue• An individual with dissociative fugue

suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his or her surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind.

•These journeys can last hours, or even several days or months.

Dissociative Fugue• Individuals experiencing a dissociative

fugue have traveled over thousands of miles.

An individual in a fugue state is unaware of or confused about his identity, and in some cases will assume a new identity (although this is the exception).

Depersonalization Disorder

• is marked by a feeling of detachment or distance from one's own experience, body, or self.

One can easily relate to feeling as they in a dream, or being "spaced out."

A person's experience with depersonalization can be so severe that he or she believes the external world is unreal or distorted.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

• A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities.

•Also known as multiple personality disorder.

Personality Disorders

Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior

patterns that impair social functioning.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

• Paranoid personality disorder is characterized by a distrust of others and a constant suspicion that people around you have sinister motives.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

• They search for hidden meanings in everything and read hostile intentions

into the actions of others. •They are quick to challenge the loyalties of friends and loved ones and often appear cold and distant to others. They usually shift blame to others and tend to carry long grudges.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

• antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a lack of conscience

•People with this disorder are prone to criminal behavior, believing that their victims are weak and deserving of being taken advantage of. They tend to lie and steal

Antisocial Personality Disorder

• they are careless with money and take action without thinking about consequences

They are often aggressive and are much more concerned with their own needs than the needs of others.

Borderline Personality Disorder

• characterized by mood instability and poor self-image

People with this disorder are prone to constant mood swings and bouts of anger.

Borderline Personality Disorder

• they will take their anger out on themselves, causing themselves injury

Suicidal threats and actions are not uncommon

They are quick to anger when their expectations are not met.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

• constant attention seekers

They need to be the center of attention all the time, often interrupting others in order to dominate the conversation.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

• They may dress provocatively or exaggerate illnesses in order to gain attention.

They also tend to exaggerate friendships and relationships, believing that everyone loves them

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

•characterized by self-centeredness

They exaggerate their achievements, expecting others to recognize them as being superior

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

They tend to be choosy about picking friends, since they believe that not just anyone is worthy of being their friend.

They are generally uninterested in the feelings of others and may take advantage of them.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

• People with schizoid personality disorder avoid relationships and do not show much emotion

They genuinely prefer to be alone and do not secretly wish for popularity.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

• They tend to seek jobs that require little social contact

Their social skills are often weak and they do not show a need for attention or acceptance

They are perceived as humorless and distant and often are termed "loners."

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

• characterized by a need for social isolation, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs such as being convinced of having extra sensory abilities.

• Some people believe that schizotypal personality disorder is a mild form of schizophrenia.

Avoidant personality disorder

• characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation.

• consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing, and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed or humiliated.

Dependent personality disorder

• characterized by a pervasive psychological dependence on other people.

• has difficulty making everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

• characterized by a general psychological inflexibility, rigid conformity to rules and procedures, perfectionism, and excessive orderliness.

• people with OCPD tend to stress perfectionism above all else, and feel anxious when they perceive that things aren't "right".

Sociopath• Extremely introverted

• Typically fascinated by one or a few things and prefer to spend their lives focusing on their interests rather than people

• Many live as hermits; typically harmless to others as they want to be left alone

• Rarely harm others unless he/she feels as though he/she was wronged (physically or emotionally)

– May be consumed with the need to seek revenge or retaliation

– Cover their tracks well; may even taunt authorities by purposely leaving complex or vague clues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsNlLWetTZM

Psychopath• May be an extrovert• Master manipulators; see life as a chess game with

people merely as pawns; amused by the results of their manipulation

• See themselves as in control of others• No capacity for attachment; lack of empathy for others• Focused on achieving their goals, not how their

manipulation• May be a “law abiding citizen” or a serial criminal• Criminal psychopaths tend to commit crimes of extreme

rage or of a sadistic nature; cover their tracks well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu17Wuq3nI8

Psychological Therapies

Psychotherapy• An interaction between a trained

therapist and someone suffering from psychological difficulties.

Eclectic Approach• The most popular form of therapy-

it is basically a smorgasbord where the therapist combines techniques from different schools of psychology.

Psychoanalysis• Freud's therapy.

•Freud used free association, hypnosis and dream interpretation to gain insight into the client’s unconscious.

Psychoanalytic Methods

• Psychotherapists use their techniques to overcome resistance by the client.•The psychoanalyst wants you to become aware of the resistance and together interpret (ex. Latent content) it’s underlying meaning.

Transference• In psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the

analyst of emotions linked with other relationships.

Humanistic Therapy

• Focuses of people’s potential for self-fulfillment (self-actualization).

•Focus on the present and future (not the past).

•Focus on conscious thoughts (not unconscious ones).

•Take responsibility for you actions- instead of blaming childhood anxieties.

Client (Person) Centered Therapy

• Developed by Carl Rogers

Most widely used Humanistic technique is:

•Therapist should use genuineness, acceptance and empathy to show unconditional positive regard towards their clients.

Active Listening• Central to Roger’s client-centered therapy

•Empathetic listening where the listener echoes, restates and clarifies.

Behavior Therapies• Therapy that applies learning principles

to the elimination of unwanted behaviors.

•The behaviors are the problems- so we must change the behaviors.

Classical Conditioning Techniques

Counterconditioning: • A behavioral therapy that

conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors.

Two Types:

Systematic Desensitization

• A type of counterconditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli.

How would I use systematic desensitization to reduce my fear of old women?

Systematic Desensitization

Progressive Relaxation

Exposure Therapy

Flooding

Virtual Technology Exposure Therapy

Aversive Conditioning• A type of counterconditioning that

associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior.

How would putting vinegar on the fingernails of a nail biter effect their behavior?

Aversive Conditioning

Aversive Conditioning

What are some ways you can change the behaviors of your friends with aversive conditioning?

Operant ConditioningToken Economy: an operant

conditioning procedure that rewards a desired behavior.

A patient exchanges a token of some sort, earned for exhibiting the desired behavior, for various privileges or treats.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive Therapies• A therapy that teaches people

new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumptions that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions.

Cognitive Therapy

• Cognitive Therapists try to teach people new, more constructive ways of thinking. Is .300 a good or

bad batting average?

Cognitive Therapy

Aaron Beck and his view of Depression

• Noticed that depressed people were similar in the way they viewed the world.

• Used cognitive therapy get people to take off the “dark sunglasses” in which they view their surroundings

Cognitive Therapy- Does It Work?

Group Therapies

You’re the Therapist!So, in walks a client who has been experiencing panic attacks over the last 2 years and has finally decided to come see you to get help. He experience these attacks whenever he is being introduced to someone new or when he is about to attend a party where there will be people that he may not know. He also mention that he’s had these symptoms also whenever he’s around reptiles of any sort.

Which therapy(ies) would you employ? Explain your reasoning?