PSYC 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Panic Attack, Mental Disorder, Phobia
Abnormal Psychology;
➢ Clinical Disorders
o Mental health disorders
▪ The causes of mental illness have not been treated as clearly and
considered as seriously as physical illnesses. It’s still true today and it’s a
huge issue.
What’s abnormal?
Atypical=how often does this behavior happen in the normal population?
Distressful=the behavior usually causes the person distress.
Dysfunctional=how does this interfere with daily life and normal relationships?
Deviance=the behavior is considered to be outside of societal norms.
Medical model: Needs to be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms and cured through therapy and
treatment.
Diathesis-stress model: People are predisposed to a mental disorder and stress triggers it.
- Combination of genetics and environment
Diagnostic & statistical manual for mental disorders (DSM-5): Classification system for mental
disorders.
➢ Types of Disorders
o Anxiety: Excessive nervousness/apprehension
▪ Panic attacks/disorder—recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that
occurs suddenly and unexpectedly.
• Intense dread, terror, chest pains, choking, increased heart rate and
levels of stress hormones, and peaks in less than 10 minutes.
• Typically accompanied by agoraphobia disorder which is the stress
and fear about the next attack.
▪ Generalized anxiety disorder—chronic, high level of anxiety that’s not
tied to any specific threat.
• Worry, anxious, jittery, sleep-deprived, and lack of concentration.
• Free-floating anxiety that influences everything that a person does
o Most common
o Phobic: Persistent, irrational fear of an object/situation that presents no realistic
danger. Phobia has to restrict our lives, create considerable distress, or both.
▪ Agoraphobia—fear of being placed in a situation in which escape is
difficult, embarrassing, or help is unavailable in an event of a panic attack.
▪ Acrophobia—heights.
▪ Claustrophobia—small spaces.
▪ Brontophobia—loud noises.
▪ Hydrophobia—water.
o Social: “Greater beyond stage freight.”
▪ OCD—Obsessions=persistent intrusions by unwanted thoughts. (Personal
failures, inflicting harm, etc.)
Compulsions=urges to continuously engage in senseless rituals.
These compulsions alleviate anxiety from obsessions.
Begins in childhood—3% of population has it.
o Mood: Mood disturbances as their predominant feature.
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Document Summary
Clinical disorders: mental health disorders, the causes of mental illness have not been treated as clearly and considered as seriously as physical illnesses. It"s still true today and it"s a huge issue. Distressful=the behavior usually causes the person distress. Deviance=the behavior is considered to be outside of societal norms. Medical model: needs to be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms and cured through therapy and treatment. Diathesis-stress model: people are predisposed to a mental disorder and stress triggers it. Diagnostic & statistical manual for mental disorders (dsm-5): classification system for mental disorders. Types of disorders: anxiety: excessive nervousness/apprehension, panic attacks/disorder recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that occurs suddenly and unexpectedly. 20% of americans experience it at some point in their life. Women are 2x as likely: depression: learned helplessness. Mentality : dr. seligman is the founder of positive psychology", operant conditioning (loss of reinforcement) i. e. perform behaviors that are never reinforced}
