The document discusses psychological disorders, defining them as harmful dysfunctions that vary culturally and temporally, with diagnosis depending on symptom intensity and impact. It compares the medical model, which treats mental illnesses as diseases with physical causes, to the bio-psycho-social perspective, emphasizing a more holistic understanding of psychological disorders. Furthermore, it classifies types of psychological disorders such as anxiety, dissociative, personality, mood disorders, and schizophrenia while exploring their causes and characteristics.

1. Psychological Disorders
 Psychological Disorder a “harmful
dysfunction” in which behavior is
judged to be (text discussion):
 Atypical
 not enough in itself
 Disturbing
 varies with time and culture
 Maladaptive
 harmful
 Unjustifiable
 By what standard?

2. Defined as Function
 Individual is not functioning adequately based on
either his/her standards or according to significant
others in the person’s life.
 Almost all the disorders we discuss have symptoms
that everyone experiences. Diagnosis of disorder
depends of intensity, length of time and how much
it’s impacting on the person.
 Depression
 Anxiety
 Psychosis?

3. Psychological Disorders
 Medical Model
 concept that diseases have physical causes
 can be diagnosed, treated, and in most
cases, cured
 assumes that these “mental” illnesses can
be diagnosed on the basis of their
symptoms and cured through therapy,
which may include treatment in a
psychiatric hospital

4. Problems with medical model
 Effects of labeling person, especially if based
on limited number of symptoms
 May limit true understanding of behavior in favor
of “listed” symptoms and assumptions about
outcome
 Confirmation bias: future information interpreted
in a biased way based on label
 Similar problems can exist with diagnosis
physical ailments

5. Psychological Disorders
 Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
 assumes that biological,
sociocultural, and psychological
factors combine and interact to
produce psychological disorders

6. Bio-Psycho-Social Approach

7. Bio-Psycho-Social Approach
 These factors change over time. Hence, it’s
harmful to place a constant label on a person
 “Normal” behavior changes over cultures,
sub-cultures and time.
 E.g., is gang behavior or violence “abnormal”?
 It’s more important to understand behavior
(and symptoms) then worry about labels.

8. Classifying Psychological Disorders
(medical approach dominates)
 DSM-IV
 American Psychiatric Association’s
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition)
 a widely used system for classifying
psychological disorders
 presently distributed as DSM-IV-TR (text
revision)

9. Classifying Psychological
Disorders
 Neurotic Disorder usually distressing but
that allows one to think rationally and
function socially
 Psychotic Disorder
 person loses contact with reality
 experiences irrational ideas and distorted
perceptions

10. Rates of Psychological
Disorders

11. Anxiety Disorders
 Anxiety Disorders
 distressing, persistent anxiety or
maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
 Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 person is tense, apprehensive, and in a state
of autonomic nervous system arousal
 Persistence (out of control)
 Problem in identifying source

12. Anxiety Disorders
 Panic Disorder
 marked by a minutes-long episode of
intense dread in which a person
experiences terror and accompanying chest
pain, choking, or other frightening
sensation
 Person comes to fear the panic attack itself
and start to avoid any situations or places
that might provoke an attack

13. Anxiety Disorders
 Phobia
 persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or
situation
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or
actions (compulsions)

15. Anxiety Disorders
 Common and uncommon fears

16. Anxiety Disorders

17. Causes: Learning Perspective
 Fears are learned thought classical
conditioning
 Stimulus generalization often occurs
 Development of behaviors to avoid the anxiety
 Perhaps also through observational learning

18. Causes: Biological Influence
 Research with identical twins and non-human
primates suggest a genetic aspect

19. Anxiety Disorders
 PET Scan of brain of
person with Obsessive/
Compulsive disorder
 High metabolic activity
(red) in frontal lobe
areas involved with
directing attention
(impulse control and
executive function)
 Effectiveness of drug
therapy

20. Dissociative Disorders
 Dissociative Disorders
 conscious awareness becomes separated
(dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts,
and feelings
 Not uncommon when in a highly traumatic
situation to feel “removed” from the situation.
Problem is when this becomes more then a brief
situation

21. Dissociative Disorder
 Dissociative Identity Disorder
 rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more
distinct and alternating personalities
 formerly called multiple personality disorder
 At Issue: Is it a real phenomena
 Skeptics– Everyone has difference aspects of their personality. These
get exaggerated by person and perhaps encourage by therapist
 Believers– Personality differences are dramatic (even handedness
might be effected) and person may have many personalities (e.g., 3
faces of eve– 28)
 Origins from sever trauma especially in childhood
 Both may be right

22. Personality Disorders
 Personality Disorders (vs. mood
disorder)
 disorders characterized by inflexible and
enduring behavior patterns that impair
social functioning

23. Types of Personality Disorders
 Fearful, afraid of rejection, withdrawn
 Extreme eccentrics– “The Character”
 Narcissistic– Over exaggerates self
importance
 Borderline– Unstable identity, emotions,
relationships, etc.

24. Personality Disorders
 Antisocial Personality Disorder
 disorder in which the person (usually man)
exhibits a lack of conscience for
wrongdoing, even toward friends and
family members
 may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever
con artist
 Most criminals do not have this– they
show concern for family and friends

25. Personality Disorders
 PET scans illustrate reduced activation in a
murderer’s frontal cortex
Normal Murderer

26. Mood Disorders
 Mood Disorders
 characterized by emotional extremes
 Major Depressive Disorder
 a mood disorder in which a person, for no
apparent reason, experiences two or more
weeks of depressed moods, feelings of
worthlessness, and diminished interest or
pleasure in most activities

27. Mood Disorders
 Manic Episode
 a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive,
wildly optimistic state
 Bipolar Disorder
 a mood disorder in which the person
alternates between the hopelessness and
lethargy of depression and the overexcited
state of mania
 formerly called manic-depressive disorder

28. Mood Disorders-Depression
 Canadian depression rates

29. Mood Disorders- Suicide

30. Mood Disorders-Bipolar
 PET scans show that brain energy consumption rises
and falls with emotional switches
Depressed state Manic state Depressed state

31. Mood Disorders-Depression
 Altering any one
component of the
chemistry-
cognition-mood
circuit can alter
the others

32. Mood Disorders-Depression
 The vicious
cycle of
depression
can be
broken at
any point

33. Schizophrenia
 Schizophrenia
 literal translation “split mind”
 a group of severe disorders characterized
by:
 disorganized and delusional thinking
 disturbed perceptions
 inappropriate emotions and actions

34. Schizophrenia
 Delusions
 false beliefs, often of persecution or
grandeur, that may accompany psychotic
disorders
 Hallucinations
 sensory experiences without sensory
stimulation

35. Schizophrenia

36. Causes of Schizophrenia
 Evidence of both chemical and anatomical
differences in the brain
 There are clear genetic predispositions

37. Schizophrenia

38. Causes of Schizophrenia
 Viral infections during pregnancy?
 Role of environment is unclear

39. The End
 Is Psychology a Science?
 Future Courses