abnormal

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Introductory Psychology Concepts
Chapter 12: Abnormal Psychology

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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal Psychology:
Defining the Study of Abnormal Behavior
• Actions, thoughts, and
feelings that cause people
to experience distress and
prevent functioning in daily
lives
• In extreme cases, persons
may become harmful to
themselves or others

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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal Psychology:
What is “abnormal”?
Three criteria—Consequences (distress), Content (dysfunction),
and Context (deviance)—seem to govern decisions about
abnormality.
Consequences:
Distressing to self or
others
Content:
Dysfunctional
frequency or
rationality
Context:
Deviant: violates
social norms
Judgment of
abnormality

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Content (is the symptom causing a dysfunction)
• Frequency: If the behavior happens too much or too
little (like showering once a semester versus 20
times a day)
• Predictability: If being attacked brings on the
symptom or if seeing the color green causes it)
• Rationality: If I am doing the behavior because
people keep dumping gross stuff on me or if
showering so much keeps the demons at bay
Context
• Is it a violation of local social norms
Consequences
• Is it causing harm (physical or psychological) to self
or others

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Psychological Perspective:
Understanding Abnormal Behavior in Terms of
Psychological Events
• Behavior is due to underlying issues.
• Stems from childhood conflicts over opposing wishes
regarding sex and aggression.
• If conflicts are not resolved they can be buried in the
unconscious, which can bring about abnormal
behavior in adulthood.
• This view was held most famously by Freud.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology

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Behavioral Perspective:
Understanding Abnormal Behavior in Terms of the
Principles of Learning
• All behavior is merely a response to various stimuli,
and these responses have been learned through past
experience.
• Abnormal behavior occurs because a person has
learned abnormal behavior.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology

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Neuroscience Perspective:
Understanding Abnormal Behavior in Terms of Biology
• Behavior is due to underlying issues.
• The root cause is found in a physical examination of
the individual, which is why we use terms like mental
“illness” and mental “hospitals”.
• Examination may reveal a hormonal imbalance, a
chemical deficiency, or a brain injury causing the
abnormal behavior.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology

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Cognitive Perspective:
Understanding Abnormal Behavior in Terms of
Cognitive Events
• Behavior is a result of factors that are within an
individual’s control.
• People’s cognition, their thoughts and beliefs, are a
central component of abnormal behavior.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology

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Group Perspective:
Understanding Abnormal Behavior in Terms of the
Effects of Groups on Abnormal Behavior.
• People’s behavior is shaped by the kind of family
group, society, and culture in which they live.
• One’s relationships with others can support or cause
abnormal behaviors.
• Daily interactions that cause stress and conflict can
also promote and maintain abnormal behaviors.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Abnormal Psychology

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DSM V
•Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
5th
edition
•Published by the APA
•Book used as reference book for diagnosing which
specific disorder the symptoms listed is called

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Introductory Psychology Concepts
Anxiety Disorders

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Anxiety Disorders: Excessive and Unrealistic Anxiety
• Anxiety is the state of tension and apprehension that
one naturally feels in threatening situations.
• An anxiety disorder is classified by excessive
responses that are out of proportion to the situation
that triggers them.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Phobias: Irrational Fear of Objects or Situations
• Specific Phobias: specific triggers such as spiders,
dogs, airplanes, elevators, or germs.
• Social Phobias: fear of situations where a person
might be evaluated and possibly embarrassed.
• Agoraphobia: fear of open or public places from which
escape would be difficult.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders
Phobia Trigger
Acrophobia
Aerophobia
Agoraphobia
Ailurophobia
Amaxophobia
Anthophobia
Heights
Flying
Entering Public Spaces
Cats
Vehicles, Driving
Flowers

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Phobias: Irrational Fear of Objects or Situations
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders
Phobia Trigger Phobia Trigger
Aquaphobia
Arachnophobia
Astrapobia
Brontophobia
Claustrophobia
Cynophobia
Dementophobia
Electrophobia
Gephyrophobia
Herpetophobia
Hydrophobia
Mikrophobia
Water
Spiders
Lightning
Thunder
Closed spaces
Dogs
Insanity
Electricity
Bridges
Reptiles
Water
Germs
Murophobia
Mysophobia
Numerophobia
Nyctophobia
Ochlophobia
Ophidiophobia
Ornithophobia
Phonophobia
Pyrophobia
Thanatophobia
Trichophobia
Xenophobia
Mice
Dirt or germs
Numbers
Darkness
Crowds
Snakes
Birds
Speaking out loud
Fire
Death
Hair
Strangers

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:
Obsessive Thoughts and Compulsive Behaviors
• Obsessions are persistent and unwelcome thoughts
that keep recurring.
• Compulsions are irritable urges to repeatedly carry out
some act that is unreasonable.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Panic Disorder:
Intense Panic With Physical Symptoms
• Usually characterized by a panic attack, a sudden and
unpredictable surge of tension and anxiety that can last
from several seconds to several hours.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder:
Intense Anxiety for At Least Six Months
• Chronic, or ongoing, state of anxiety that is not
attached to any specific situation or object.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Posttraumatic Disorder:
Re-experiencing a Traumatic Event
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe
anxiety disorder that occurs to people who have been
exposed to traumatic life events.
• PTSD primarily identified through the study of soldiers
returning from war, specifically their problems with
images and acts they witnessed.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Causes of Anxiety Disorders:
Psychoanalytic, Behavioral, Cognitive, and Biological
• Psychoanalytic:
Form of neuroses that occurs when unacceptable
impulses threaten to overwhelm the ego’s defenses
and explode into consciousness.
• Behavioral:
Created through learned classical conditioning,
observational learning, or operant conditioning.
• Cognitive:
Problem of maladaptive thought patterns and beliefs.
• Biological:
Created through genetics.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders

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Components of Anxiety
Anxiety consists of subjective-emotional, cognitive,
psychological, and behavioral components.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Anxiety Disorders
Emotional symptoms
• feelings of tension
• apprehension
Anxiety
Psychological symptoms
• increased heart rate
• muscle tension
• other autonomic arousal symptoms
Behavioral symptoms
• avoidance of feared situations
• decreased task performance
• increased startle response
Cognitive Symptoms
• worry
• thoughts about inability to cope

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Introductory Psychology Concepts
Mood Disorders

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Mood Disorders: Severe Disturbances in Emotion
• Emotion-based disturbance strong enough to intrude
on everyday life.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Major Depression:
Extreme Sadness, Despair, With No Obvious Cause
• Characterized by:
• Episodes of deep unhappiness
• Loss of interest in life.
• Secondary symptoms include:
• Elevated or decreased changes in sleep and
appetite
• Loss of interest in sex
• Loss of overall energy
• Difficulties concentrating and making decisions.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Major Depression:
Across different places and cultures, women are diagnosed
more frequently with depression than men.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders
25
20
15
10
5
0
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Paris,
France
Lifetimerateper100people
Western
Germany
Florence,
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Beirut,
Lebanon
Korea New
Zealand
Males
Females

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Bipolar Disorders:
•Bipolar I
• Characterized by periods of mania and normal
moods (MANIA ONLY)
•Bipolar II
• Characterized by:
• An internal struggle with depression (usually the dominant
state)
• Alternated with periods of mania, a state of highly excited
moods of euphoria and grandeur.
• ***Only need (1) Manic and (1) Depressed episode in 6
months!!
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Causes of Mood Disorders
• Psychoanalytic:
Occurs when an early traumatic loss or rejection
creates vulnerability that is not properly resolved.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Causes of Mood Disorders
• Behavioral:
• Learned via reinforcement
• May be triggered by a loss or some other punishing
event
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Causes of Mood Disorders
• Cognitive:
A person’s perceptions, thoughts, or self statements
cause feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Causes of Mood Disorders
• Family Issues:
Caused from our surrounding culture, family, friends,
and the presence or absence of a strong social
support network when dealing with negative factors.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Causes of Mood Disorders
• Biological:
Created through genetics and neurochemical factors
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Mood Disorders

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Introductory Psychology Concepts
Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia:
A Split Between Thoughts, Emotions, and Behavior
• Psychiatric mental illness characterized by
impairments in the perception or expression of reality,
which results in significant social or occupational
dysfunction.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia

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Main Symptoms of Schizophrenia 3 categories
• Positive (addition of)
• Delusions (beliefs)
• Hallucinations (sensory experiences)
• Negative (loss of…)
• Affect (emotions)
• Alogia (words)
• Anhedonia (pleasure)
• Avolition (motivation)
• Disorganized
• Disorganized speech
• Disorganized behaviors
• Disorganized emotions
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia
Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia
are tormented by bizarre and intrusive
thoughts and images.

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Possible Causes of Schizophrenia
Psychoanalytic:
Suggests that schizophrenia is a form of regression to earlier
experiences and stages of life.
• Freud: people with schizophrenia lack egos strong enough to
cope with unacceptable impulses.
Behavioral:
Suggests that the disorder is created through learned classical
conditioning, observational learning, or operant conditioning.
Cognitive:
Suggests that schizophrenia results from overattention to stimuli
in the environment.
• People with the disorder may be receptive to everything in their
environment, unable to screen out unimportant stimuli.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia

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Possible Causes of Schizophrenia (continued)
Brain Abnormalities:
Brain scans have indicated a number of structural abnormalities
in the brains of schizophrenic patients.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia
One difference between the brains of a person with schizophrenia and without is
enlarged ventricles (butterfly-shaped spaces seen in the middle of the MRIs).
Schizophrenic brainNonschizophrenic brain
ventricles

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Possible Causes of Schizophrenia (continued)
Biological hypothesis:
The brains of people with schizophrenia may harbor either a
biochemical imbalance or a structural abnormality.
• The dopamine hypothesis suggests that schizophrenia occurs
when there is excess activity in the areas of the brain that use
dopamine as a neurotransmitter.
• Drugs that block dopamine action in brain pathways can be
highly effective in reducing the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia

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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia
Possible Causes of Schizophrenia (continued)
Genetic:
Strong evidence exists for a genetic predisposition to
schizophrenia.
• Specific genes and their roles in creating the disposition are
unknown.
• Twin studies show that identical twins have higher concordance
rates than fraternal twins.
• Adoption studies show much higher concordance with biological
parents than with adoptive parents.

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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Schizophrenia
Genes and schizophrenia
The degree of risk for developing schizophrenia correlates highly with
the degree of genetic relationship with someone who has that disorder.
Data summarizes results of 40 concordance studies conducted in many countries.
SOURCE: Based on Gottesman, 1991
Relationship
Genetic
relatedness
Unrelated person in the
general population
Nephew/niece
Sibling
Offspring of 1 schizophrenic
patient
Fraternal twin
Offspring of 2 schizophrenic
patients
Identical twin
0%
25%
50%
50%
50%
50% with
each parent
100%
10 20 30 40 50 60
Lifetime risk
1%
3%
10%
13%
17%
46%
48%