PSYC 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Dissociative Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Overdiagnosis
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psychological Disorders
Classification of Abnormal Behaviour
Pros
Diagnosis needed to know what treatment to use
Often a relief
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Quite reliable
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Allows agreement and communication among clinicians
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Also to get medical coverage for treatment (maybe)
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Cons
Danger of over-diagnosis (e.g. autism?)
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Interpret behaviour in terms of the diagnosis
Reliance on a categorical model
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"On being sane in insane places" Rosenhan (1973)
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Diagnosis can involve value judgements
e.g. homosexuality removed from DSM in 1973
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The illusion of objectivity and universality
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Types of Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
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OCD and related disorders
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Trauma and Stress-related disorders
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Somatic symptom disorders
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Depressive disorders
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Bipolar disorders
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Dissociative disorders
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Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders
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Personality disorders, etc*
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Anxiety Disorders
Most prevalent psychological disorder
Almost 1/3 of Canadians will meet the criteria at some point in
our lives
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Earlies onset (11 years)
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Higher prevalence of females
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Many of us experience anxiety
A problem with irrational uncontrollable and disruptive
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Causes-
Genetic predisposition, anxiety sensitivity;
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Most at least partially learned
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An emotional response to biological arousal (a fear of fear)
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GAD - generalized feeling of apprehension, fear, or tension chronic,
high level of anxiety that is not tied to any specific threat: "free-
floating anxiety)
"Constant feeling of dread"
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Panic disorder- recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks
(inexplicable, intense fear)
Accompanied by high physiological arousal (trembling,
difficulty breathing, choking, racing heart, nausea)
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Often accompanied by agoraphobia
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Phobias
Persistent, irrational fear of an object, situation, or activity
Interferes with your life
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Agoraphobia: fear and avoidance of open, public places
Fear of not being able to escape
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Social Anxiety Disorder (social phobia): fear of social situations
where a person may do something embarrassing
Fear of social interactions
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Possible Causes
Behavioural: learned by classical conditioning; maintained by
operant (Little Albert)
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Now Under "Trauma and Stressor- related disorders" (formerly and
Anxiety Disorder)
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Anxiety and/or depression that follows severe trauma •
Four distinct diagnostic clusters:
Re-experiencing (flashbacks, recurrent dreams, memories of
traumatic events(s))
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Avoidance (of things that trigger these memories)
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Negative cognitions and mood (e.g., self-blame, avoidance of
others, little interest in activities, memory problems)
Depression common
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Arousal (aggressive, reckless or self-destructive behaviour,
sleep disturbances, hypervigilance or related problems)
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Dissociative Subtype
"out-of-body" or depersonalization experiences
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Derealization: "things are not real; it is just a dream", the
perception that "this is not really happening to me"
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
DSM-5 has a new cluster of disorders that involve obsessional
thoughts and/or compulsive behaviours
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Include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), body dysmorphic
disorder (BDD), hoarding disorder, trichotillomania (hair-puling
disorder), and excoriation (skin-picking) disorder.
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Obsession: recurring, irrational, unwanted thought (cause distress)•
Compulsion: uncontrollable, repetitive behaviour often in response
to an obsession
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Acts as a defense against anxiety•
WILL ASK WHAT IS AN OBESSION AND WHAT IS A COMPLUSION•
Acts as a defence against axiety•
Possible Causes:
Learning: compulsions are reinforced by reducing anxiety
Maintaining causes
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Biological
Brain abnormalities?
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Neurotransmitter imbalance
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Genetic
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Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Symptoms of a physical dysfunction or illness
Usually with no organic cause
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Illness Anxiety Disorder (aka Hypochondriasis)
Irrational belief of having a serious illness (anxiety)
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Overly concerned about health but no overt symptoms
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Regular bodily functions viewed as signs of serious disease
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Subtype of avoiding medical help
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Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder (formerly Conversion
Disorder)
Specific neurological symptoms often without physiological
causes
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Inconsistent with medial conditions (often how diagnosed)
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Not faking an illness
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La Belle Indifference - most people with this do not get anxiety
over a sudden illness like going blind
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Possible causes
Freud: defenses against forbidden impulses
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Learning: reinforced by reducing anxiety, escaping and getting
sympathy
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Sociocultural:
Useful role
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Cultural influences
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Lecture 11/23
November 23, 2017
9:06 AM
