This document provides an introduction to psychological disorders. It discusses various perspectives on defining abnormality and normality, and outlines criteria such as deviation from cultural norms, statistical norms, maladaptive behavior, and personal distress. It then classifies mental health problems as neuroses or psychoses and describes biological, psychological, psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, and cultural perspectives. Specific anxiety disorders like panic attacks, phobias, and OCD are explained. Personality disorders like antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder are also outlined. The document concludes with a description of dissociative identity disorder.

1. Introduction to Psychology
Naveed Siddiqui
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2. Psychological Disorders

3. ABNORMALITY
A number of different types of criteria for
defining abnormality
• Deviation from cultural norm
• Deviation from statistical norms
• Maladaptive behavior
• Personal distress

4. ABNORMALITY
• cultural norm
Every culture has certain standards, or norms, for
acceptable behaviors and ways of thinking, and
deviations from those norms may be considered
abnormal.
• Statistical norms
Many characteristics, such as height, weight, and
intelligence, cover a range of values when measured over
an entire population. According to this definition, a
person who is extremely intelligent or extremely happy
would be classified as abnormal.

5. ABNORMALITY
• Maladaptive behavior
According to this criterion, experiences raise
concern if they are maladaptive that is, if they have
adverse effects on the individual or on society.
• Personal distress
A fourth criterion considers abnormality in terms of
individuals’ subjective feelings of distress – their
feelings of anxiety, depression, or agitation, or
experiences such as insomnia, loss of appetite, or
numerous aches and pains.

6. Normality
Normality is even more difficult to define than
abnormality. Following could be explanation of Normality.
• Appropriate perception of reality: Healthy individuals
are fairly realistic in appraising their reactions and
capabilities and in interpreting what is going on in the
world around them.
• Ability to exercise voluntary control over behavior:
Healthy individuals feel fairly confident about their
ability to control their behavior. Occasionally they may
act impulsively, but they are able to restrain their
sexual and aggressive urges when necessary

7. Normality
• Self-esteem and acceptance: Well-adjusted
people have some appreciation of their own
worth and feel accepted by those around them.
• Ability to form affectionate relationships. Healthy
individuals are able to form close and satisfying
relationships with other people: They are
sensitive to the feelings of others and do not
make excessive demands on others to gratify
their own needs.
• Productivity:Well-adjusted people are able to
channel their abilities into productive activity.

8. Classifying Mental Health Problems
• Neuroses tend to be characterized by anxiety,
unhappiness, and maladaptive behavior that are
rarely serious enough to require hospitalization.
The neurotic individual can usually function in
society, though not at full capacity.
• Psychoses are more serious mental disorders.
The individual’s behavior and thought processes
are so disturbed that he or she is out of touch
with reality, cannot cope with the demands of
daily life, and sometimes has to be hospitalized

9. Perspectives on Mental Health
Problem
• Biological perspective:
The biological perspective, also called the
medical or disease model, suggests that mental
health problems are due to brain disorders.
• Psychological perspectives:
psychological perspectives that see mental
health problems as problems in the functioning
of the mind.

10. Perspectives on Mental Health
Problem
• Psychoanalytic perspective:
The psychoanalytic perspective emphasizes
unconscious conflicts, usually originating in early
childhood, and the use of defense mechanisms to
handle the anxiety generated by the repressed
impulses and emotions.
• Behavioral perspective:
The behavioral perspective investigates how fears
become conditioned to specific situations and the
role of reinforcement in the origin and maintenance
of inappropriate behaviors.

11. Perspectives on Mental Health
Problem
• Cognitive perspective:
The cognitive perspective suggests that some
mental problems stem from maladaptive cognitive
processes and can be alleviated by changing these
biased cognitions.
• Cultural or Sociological perspective:
Cultural or sociological perspectives take the view
that mental health problems are not situated in the
brain or mind of the individual but in the social
context in which the individual lives.

12. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Most of us feel anxious and tense in the face
of threatening or stressful situations. Such
feelings are normal reactions to stress.
• Anxiety is considered unhealthy only when it
occurs in situations that most people can
handle with little difficulty.

13. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Panic attack:
A panic attack an episode of acute and
overwhelming apprehension or terror. During panic
attacks, the individual feels certain that something
dreadful is about to happen. This feeling is usually
accompanied by such symptoms as heart
palpitations, shortness of breath, perspiration,
muscle tremors, faintness, and nausea. During
severe panic attacks, the person fears that he or she
will die.

14. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Phobias:
A phobia is an intense fear of a stimulus or
situation that most people do not consider
particularly dangerous.
 Simple phobia:
A simple phobia is a fear of a specific object,
animal, or situation. Intense fears of snakes,
germs, enclosed places, and darkness are
examples.

15. ANXIETY DISORDERS
 Social Phobia:
People with social phobia feel extremely
insecure in social situations and have an
exaggerated fear of embarrassing themselves.
 Agoraphobia:
People with agoraphobia fear any place where
they might be trapped or unable to receive help
in an emergency. The emergency they most
often fear is having a panic attack.

16. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder:
Obsessions are persistent intrusions of
unwelcome thoughts, images, or impulses that
elicit anxiety. Compulsions are irresistible urges
to carry out certain acts or rituals that reduce
anxiety.

17. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
• Personality disorders are long-standing
patterns of maladaptive behavior.
• When personality traits become so inflexible
and maladaptive that they significantly impair
the individual’s ability to function, they are
referred to as personality disorders.

18. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
• Antisocial personality disorder:
People who have antisocial personality disorder
have little sense of responsibility, morality, or
concern for others.
• Borderline personality disorder:
Borderline personality disorder is a lifelong
disorder characterized by extreme variability
in mood, relationships, and self-perceptions.

19. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
 The mood of individuals with this disorder is unstable, with bouts
of severe depression, anxiety, or anger seeming to arise frequently,
often without good reason.
 The self-concept is unstable, with periods of extreme self-doubt
and grandiose self-importance.
 Interpersonal relationships are extremely unstable, and the person
can switch from idealizing other people to despising them without
provocation.
 People with borderline personality disorder often feel desperately
empty and will initially cling to a new acquaintance or therapist in
the hope that he or she will fill the tremendous void they feel in
themselves.
 At the same time, they may misinterpret other people’s innocent
actions as signs of abandonment or rejection.

20. Dissociative Identity Disorder
• DID also known as multiple personality
disorder, is the existence in a single individual
of two or more distinct identities or
personalities that alternate in controlling
behaviors.
• It is noted that people with DID during the
switch from one personality to another is
often accompanied by subtle changes in
posture and tone of voice.