PS275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Relaxation Technique, Twin Study, Eating Disorder
Document Summary
Psychological problems take a physical form, no known physiological explanation and are not under voluntary control. Pain disorder: the person experiences pain that causes significant distress and impairment; psychological factors are viewed as playing an important role in the onset, maintenance, and severity of the pain. The patient may be unable to work and may become dependent on painkillers or tranquilizers. The pain may have a temporal relation to some conflict or stress, or it may allow the individual to avoid some unpleasant activity and to secure attention and sympathy not otherwise available. Accurate diagnosis is difficult because the subjective experience of pain is always a psychologically influenced phenomenon. Body dysmorphic disorder (bdb): a person is preoccupied with an imagined or exaggerated defect in appearance, frequently in the face eg; facial wrinkles, excess facial hair, or the shape or size of the nose.
