3. Biological
• Emphasises role of:
i) nervous system in mental disorders
ii) brain malfunction
iii) neurotransmitter imbalance
iv) genetic factors
• Many mental disorders show a high degree of
concordance amongst close relatives.
• Techniques for observing brain functions have
improved (MRI, PET)
4. Psychological
• Often, disorders occur without any apparent
underlying biological cause.
• Psychological model emphasises the role of basic
psychological processes, cognitive factors, and
unconscious forces and conflicts within the
individual
5. Sociocultural
• Emphasis on the role of social variables (external
factors) as potential causes of mental disorders.
• E.g. poverty, unemployment, education, prejudice.
6. How do you think living in this environment would influence your psychological health?
7. Diathesis-Stress Model
• Suggests disorders result from the joint effects of:
i) a predisposition for a given disorder, termed a
diathesis
ii) stressors in an individual’s environment that tend
to activate or stimulate the predisposition or
vulnerability
• Other words – for various reasons, individuals show
varying degrees of vulnerability to specific disorders
and whether (and to what extent) it surfaces depends
on the environment.
• E.g. PTSD
8. Assessment and
Diagnosis
• Assessment – When the psychologist gather
information on a new patient (kind of problems, current
conditions, responses to various psychological tests).
• Diagnosis – identification of the person’s problem(s).
• Psychologists and other mental health professionals
have an agreed-upon system for describing and
classifying mental disorders.
• Most widely used – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders – IV (DSM-IV)
9. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders – IV (DSM-IV)
• Published by the American Psychiatric Association
(1994).
• Designed to help all mental health practitioners
correctly diagnose specific disorders.
• Describes about 250 disorders that are divided
along five different categories, called axes.
• Psychologist/Psychiatrist then assesses the
person on each of these axes
10. Axis Type of Info Brief Description
Axis I Clinical Disorders and Other Includes factors that are not
Conditions That May Be a disorders, but may affect
Focus of Clinical Attention functioning.
i.e. social problems
Axis II Personality Disorders, Mental Rigid, enduring, maladaptive
Retardation personality patterns
Axis III General Medical Conditions Includes physical disorders that
affect one’s psychological
adjustment.
Axis IV Psychosocial and Info about problems in the person’s
Environmental Problems life that might affect adjustment (ie.
Loss of loved one, unemployment or
poverty).
Axis V Global Assessment of Overall judgment of current
Functioning functioning, literally a rating on a
scale of 0-100.
11. Prevalence in Australia
• The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
by ABS (2007)
• Sample of 8,841 respondents aged between 16 and
85.
• Women were more likely than men to have
experienced symptoms of a mental disorder (22% of
women compared to 18% of men) and young women
reported the highest rates (30% for those women aged
16 to 24).
• Young people were much more likely to report a
mental disorder in the previous twelve-months (26%)
and there was a steady reduction in this rate with
increasing age.
