PSYCH 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Autism Spectrum, Dysfunctional Family, Catatonia
3/12/18 CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Mental disorder: persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that causes
significant distress or impairment
- Medical model: psychological disorders have biological and environmental causes, symptoms, and
possible cures
o The’e ot a puishet o possessio; a e teated
- What causes disorders?
o Biological, social, psychological
o All realms interact together to produce a psychological disorder
o Diathesis-stress model
▪ Diathesis is something preexisting in someone (brain structure, etc) internal thing
▪ Stress is the stressor (abuse, traumatic event) external thing
▪ Idea that when these 2 things interact, this can cause a psychological disorder
▪ Diathesis is soethig that’s lig i ait that is tiggeed stress
- DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
o Classifies disorders
o Provides common language for describing disorders
o Lists symptoms and criteria for diagnosing
▪ Must have 5/9 symptoms of depression
o Increases consensus of diagnoses
o Changes over time; earlier versions had classified homosexuality as a mental disorder
o Theshold pole: D“M is ia, if ou do’t eet the theshold fo aiet, ou do’t ualif
for it even though you may have low anxiety
- Role of culture on mental disorders: ways of expressing and explaining distress can vary
- RDoC – research domain criteria project
o Focuses on the underlying processes, not the symptoms (DSM)
- Labeling
o Stigma
▪ Cultural factors
▪ People do’t seek teatet
o Bias: doctors treat patients with schizophrenia
o Use a person-centered approach when using diagnostic labels:
▪ People with ____ vs _____ people
- Anxiety Disorders
o Class of disorders where anxiety is the predominant feature; out of proportion to the real
threat
o Includes phobias, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder
o Phobias
▪ Specific phobia: irrational fear of a particular object or situation that markedly
interferes with a idiidual’s ailit to futio
• Ex: animals, natural environments, situations, blood/injury
▪ Social phobia: irrational fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed
▪ So common because most things targets of phobias can pose real threats
• Preparedness theory: easier to condition fear (in humans and monkeys) for
snakes and spiders than flowers or toy rabbits
o Panic disorder: characterized by the sudden occurrence of multiple psychological and
physiological symptoms that contribute to a feeling of terror
o Agoraphobia: fear of public places, often because of fear of panic attacks in public
▪ May not leave home for extended period of time
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o Generalized anxiety disorder: chronic excessive worry accompanied by +3 of – restlessness,
concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance
o OCD Disorder – intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) designed
to fed off those thoughts itefee sigifiatl ith a idiiduals’ futioig
o PTSD – chronic physiological, arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts/images of the trauma and
avoidance of things that call the traumatic event to mins
▪ After undergoing trauma, many people exhibit some symptoms of PTSD, but only some
people develop the disorder
- Depressive Disorders
o Major Depressive Disorder (Depression) – severely depressed mood and/or inability to
experience pleasure that lasts 2 or more weeks and is accompanied by feeling of worthlessness,
lethargy, and sleep and appetite disturbance
▪ More common in women
▪ Suicide and depression are related; women attempt suicide more, but men are more
likely to die from their suicide attempts
o Persistent depressive disorder: long lasting depression, persisting for at least 2 years
o Seasonal affective disorder: recurrent depressive episodes in a seasonal pattern (often winter)
o Bipolar Disorder – characterized by cycles of abnormal, persistent high mood (mania) and low
mood (depression)
▪ Mania: must last at least 1 week
• Decreased need for sleep
• Talkativeness
• Racing thoughts
• Reckless behavior
▪ Delusions vs hallucinations
• Hallucinations – external
• Delusions – internal
- Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
o Psychosis: a break from reality in which the person has difficulty distinguishing what thoughts
or perceptions are real vs what are imagined
o Schizophrenia – profound disruption of basic psychological processes; a distorted perception of
reality; altered or blunted emotion; and disturbances of thought, motivation, and behavior
▪ Positive symptoms – excesses in functioning; things in addition to a normal behavior
• Delusions – false beliefs based on incorrect inferences about reality
o Delusions of grandeur – think they are God
• Hallucinations – false sensory perceptions that are experienced without an
external source
o Most common are auditory hallucinations
• Disorganized speech – speaking in an incoherent fashion that involves frequently
changing topics and saying strange or inappropriate things
o od salad: tossig ado ods out thee, akes o sese
• Disorganized behavior – acting in strange/unusual ways, including strange
movement of limbs, bizarre speech, and inappropriate self-care, such as failing
to dress properly or bathe
o Strange movement – more movement of catatonic
▪ Negative symptoms – deficits in functioning
• Apathy
• Avoid eye contact
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Mental disorder: persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that causes significant distress or impairment. Medical model: psychological disorders have biological and environmental causes, symptoms, and possible cures: the(cid:455)"(cid:396)e (cid:374)ot a pu(cid:374)ish(cid:373)e(cid:374)t o(cid:396) possessio(cid:374); (cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:271)e t(cid:396)eated. Idea that when these 2 things interact, this can cause a psychological disorder. Dsm diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: classifies disorders, provides common language for describing disorders, lists symptoms and criteria for diagnosing, must have 5/9 symptoms of depression. Role of culture on mental disorders: ways of expressing and explaining distress can vary. Rdoc research domain criteria project: focuses on the underlying processes, not the symptoms (dsm) Labeling: stigma, cultural factors, people do(cid:374)"t seek t(cid:396)eat(cid:373)e(cid:374)t, bias: doctors treat patients with schizophrenia, use a person-centered approach when using diagnostic labels, people with ____ vs _____ people. Anxiety disorders: class of disorders where anxiety is the predominant feature; out of proportion to the real threat.
