AP Psychology: Abnormal Behavior and Therapy (Modules 48-55) Part 1

Deviant, distressful and dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings or behaviors

The concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated and in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital

All behavior, normal and disordered, arises from the interaction between nature and nurture

There are links between specific disorders and cultures. For example, eating disorders are most frequent in western cultures.

Classifying psychological disorders

It casts too wide a net and brings almost any kind of behavior within the compass of psychiatry.

Rosenhan sent a few non-mentally ill people to a mental institution on the complaint of “hearing voices” in order to gauge how long it would take for them to be diagnosed and released. All were misdiagnosed and the longest detainment was 30 days.

Labeling affects how we perceive a person; labels create preconceptions that guide our perceptions and our interpretations. Labels can also change reality – people, when expecting a certain reaction, may act in a way that elicits that reaction.

Mental health professionals use labels to communicate about their cases, to comprehend the underlying causes and to discern effective treatment programs.

26%

Academic failure, birth complications, chronic pain, medical illness and social incompetence

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

General persistence anxiety without cause although a person may be exposed to triggers that worsen it

A person with GAD cannot identify, and therefore cannot deal with or avoid, the cause of their anxiety.

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking or other sensations

An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or person

An intense fear of being scrutinized by others, avoid potentially embarrassing social situations, such as speaking up, eating out or going to parties

Fear or avoidance of situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable when panic strikes

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

When obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors interfere with everyday living and cause the person distress

An anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety and/or insomnia that lingers for more than four weeks after a traumatic experience

Shellshock and battle fatigue

The greater one’s emotional distress during a trauma, the higher the risk for post-traumatic symptoms

Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises

Fear Conditioning: Link between conditioned fear and anxiety. Ex. Assault victims feel anxious when returning to a crime scene.

Observational Learning: Observing others' fears. Ex. Children learn to fear the same things as their parents.

We seem biologically prepared to fear threats faced by our ancestors: spiders, snaked, heights, and darkness. This may be a result of natural selection.

Serotonin and glutamate

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

A rare dissociative condition in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities

Multiple personality disorder

Some argue that DID is merely a more extreme version of our capacity to vary the "selves" we present -- the you your friends see vs the you your grandparents see. Also, many argue that DID is a product of roleplaying.

Distinct brain and body states are associated with difference personalities -- for example, handedness sometimes switches with personalities.

Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning

One cluster focuses on anxiety; another on eccentric behaviors; another, dramatic and/or impulsive behaviors.

A personality disorder in which a person exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing. May be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.

No single gene codes this behavior, but twin studies show that biological relatives of people exhibiting antisocial tendencies are at an increased risk of being antisocial.

Psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause

A rare somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

A somatoform disease in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

Psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes

A mood disorder in which a person experiences two or more week of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities

1) Lethargy
2) Feelings of worthlessness
3) Loss of interest in family
4) Loss of interest in friends
5) Loss of interest in activities

A mood disorder marked by a wild, hyperactive, wildly optimistic state

A mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania

Euphoric, hyperactive, wildly optimistic -- over talkative, overactive, elated, little need for sleep, fewer sexual inhibitions -- speech is loud, flighty and hard to interrupt -- finds advice irritation -- reckless spending and unprotected sex

Women

Norepinephrine

Norepinephrine and serotonin

Tend to explain events in terms that are stable ("It's going to last forever!"), global ("It's going to affect everything I do!") and internal ("It's all my fault!")

A group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions and actions

A severe mental disorder in which thoughts and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality

False beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.

Jumbled ideas

False sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of external visual stimuli. Ex. Voices making insulting remarks or giving orders

We normally have a remarkable capacity for giving our undivided attention to one set of sensory stimuli while filtering out others. Those with schizophrenia cannot do this.

Emotionless state

Hallucinations, talk in disorganized and deluded ways, and exhibit inappropriate laughter, tears or rage

Toneless voice, expressionless face, and mute and rigid bodies

Too much dopamine

Frontal lobes, thalamus and amygdala

Treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

Prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system