PSY 213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Prostate Cancer
10 Jun 2018
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\Psychological Disorders
In the News
"Man stabs self to death in Fontana Target"
"Hormone therapy for prostate cancer tied to depression"
"Suicidal behavior and self harm in girls with eating disorders"
What is psychological disorder?
Two dimensions:
1. Harm
2. Dysfunction
"Any condition that causes an individual great suffering, does not go away after a reasonable
length of time, is self destructive, seriously impairs a person's ability to work or get along
with others, or causes the person to endangers others of the community.
Dimensions and Diagnosis
Clinical disorders
-mood, anxiety, ADHD, autism, etc
Personality
-antisocial, borderline, etc
Medical
-brain injuries, etc
Psychosocial/environmental
Assessment of functioning
Classifying Disorders
Diagnostics and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM)
-descriptive
-used around the world
Critics of the DSM method
1. The danger of over diagnosis
2. The power of diagnostic labels
3. Confusion of serious mental disorders with normal problems
4. The illusion of objectivity
Advantages to the DSM method
Fuzzy boundaries clarified when used correctly
-Normal behaviors vs. abnormal behaviors (and mental disorders)
Culture bound symptoms
Dilemmas of Measurement
DSM works best when valid and reliable tests are used in their diagnosis
-Valid: they measure the thing they are supposed to measure
Reliable: the measure is consistent over time/persons
Anxiety Disorders
A general state of apprehension or psychological tension
When anxiety lasts beyond the situation in which it is adaptive…
-Chronic anxiety
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