Captain Psychology

by

Abnormal Notes

Outline

  • Medical Model – Proposes to Think of Abnormal Behavior as a Disease.
    • Thomas Szasz = Medical Model Critic, “Minds can be ‘sick’ only in the sense that jokes are ‘sick’ or Economies are ‘sick’.”
    • Diagnosis – Distinguishing 1 Illness from another.
    • Etiology – Apparent Causation and Developmental History of an Illness.
    • Prognosis – A Forecast about the Probable Course of an Illness.
    • Criteria of Abnormal Behavior = Deviance, Maladaptive Behavior, & Personal Distress.
    • Decisions upon if a Person is “Normal” or “Abnormal” is based off Social Norms of the Time.
    • Psychological Disorders Stereotypes = Psychological Disorders are Incurable, People with Psychological Disorders are often Violent and Dangerous, & People with Psychological Disorders Behave in Bizarre Ways and are Very Different from Normal People.
    • David Rosenhan = Did experiment where it is hard to Distinguish Normality from Abnormality in People.
    • Psycho-Diagnosis: Classification of Disorders
    • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – Current Classification Editions of Mental Disorders.
    • 5 Different Axis of DSM
    • Clinical Syndromes
    • Personality Disorder or Mental Retardation
    • General Medical Conditions
    • Psychosocial & Environmental Problems
    • Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale
    • Prevalence of Psychological Disorders
    • Epidemiology – Study of Distribution of Mental or Physical Disorders in a Population.
    • Prevalence – Percentage of a Population that Exhibits a Disorder During a Specified Time Period.
    • About 45% of Population has a Mental Disorder sometime During their Lives.
    • Anxiety Disorders
    • Anxiety Disorder – Class of Disorder marked by Feelings of Excessive Apprehension and Anxiety.
    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Marked by Chronic, High Level of Anxiety that is Not Tied to any Specific Threat.
    • Phobic Disorder – Marked by Persistent and Irrational Fear of an Object or Situation that Presents No Realistic Danger.
    • Panic Disorder – Characterized by Recurrent Attacks of Overwhelming Anxiety that Usually Occur Suddenly and Unexpectedly.
    • Agoraphobia – Fear of going out to Public Places.
    • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – Marked by Persistent, Uncontrollable Intrusions of Unwanted Thoughts (Obsessions) and Urges to Engage in Senseless Rituals (Compulsions).
    • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Involves Enduring Psychological Disturbance Attributed to the Experience of a Major Traumatic Event.
    • The More Emotional One’s Reaction at the Time of the Stressful Event, the more Chance for PTSD.
    • Common Symptoms are Flashbacks, Nightmares, and Emotional Numbing.
    • Biological Factors
    • Concordance Rates – Percentage of Twin Pairs of Relatives who Exhibit the Same Disorder.
    • Moderate Chance of Genetic Pre-Disposition for Anxiety Disorders
    • GABA Neurotransmitters play a Key role in Anxiety Disorders.
    • Conditioning & Learning
    • Anxiety Responses may be Acquired & Maintained through Conditioning.
    • Conditioned Fears can be Created by Observational Learning.
    • High Stress often Precipitates onset of Anxiety Disorders.
    • Somatoform Disorders
    • Somatoform Disorders – Physical Ailments that Cannot be Fully Explained by Organic Conditions and are Largely due to Psychological Factors.
    • Somatization Disorder – Marked by a History of Diverse Physical Complaints that Appear to be Psychological in Origin.
    • Conversion Disorder – Characterized by a Significant Loss of Physical Function (With no Apparent Organic Base), Usually in a Single Organ System.
    • Hypochondriasis (Hypochondria) – Characterized by Excessive Preoccupation with Health Concerns and Incessant Worry about Developing Physical Illness.
    • Dissaciotive Disorders
    • Dissociative Disorders – Class of Disorders in which People lose Contact with Portions of their Consciousness or Memory, Resulting in Disruptions in their Sense of Identity.
    • Dissociative Amnesia – Sudden Loss of Memory for Important Personal Information that is too Extensive to be due to Normal Forgetting.
    • Dissociative Fugue – People lose their Memory for their Entire Lives along with their Sense of Personal Identity.
    • Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) – Involves the Co-Existence in 1 Person of 2 or More Largely Complete, and Usually Very Different, Personalities. (Multiple Personality Disorder)
    • Usually Attributed to Excessive Stress.
    • Mood Disorders
    • Mood Disorders – Marked by Emotional Disturbances of Varied Kinds that may Spill over to Disrupt Physical, Perceptual, Social, and Thought Processes.
    • Mood Disorders are Episodic, or Come & Go.
    • Uni-Polar Disorder – Experience Emotional Extremes at 1 End of Mood Spectrum.
    • Bi-Polar Disorder – Experience Emotional Extremes at Both Ends of Mood Spectrum.
    • Major Depressive Disorder – People Show Persistent Feelings of Sadness and Despair and a Loss of Interest in Previous Sources of Pleasure.
    • Dysthymic Disorder – Consists of Chronic Depression that is Insufficient in Severity to Justify Diagnosis of a Major Depressive Episode.
    • Bi-Polar Disorder (Maniac Depressive Disorder) – Characterized by the Experience of 1 or More Manic Episodes as Well as Periods of Depression.
    • Cyclothymic Disorder – When they Exhibit Chronic but Relatively Mild Symptoms of Bi-Polar Disturbance.
    • Heredity can Create a Pre-Disposition to Mood Disorders
    • Neuro-Chemical Factors
    • Norepinephrine & Serotonin Levels affect Mood Disorders.
    • Low Levels of Serotonin is Common in Depression.
    • Susan Nolen-Hoeksema = Cognitive Model = Negative Thinking is what leads to Depression in Many People.
    • Behavioral Model = Inadequate Social Skills with others Cause Depression.
    • Schizophrenic Disorders
    • Schizophrenic Disorders – Class of Disorders Marked by Delusions, Hallucinations, Disorganized Speech, and Deterioration of Adaptive Behavior.
    • 1% of Population has Schizophrenia
    • Delusions – False Beliefs that are Maintained even though they Clearly are out of Touch with Reality.
    • Hallucinations – Sensory Perceptions that Occur in the Absence of a Real, External Stimulus or are Gross Distortions of Perceptual Input.
    • Subtypes, Course, Outcome
    • Paranoid Schizophrenia – Dominated by Delusions of Persecution, along with Delusions of Grandeur.
    • Catatonic Schizophrenia – Marked by Striking Motor Disturbances, Ranging from Muscular Rigidity, to Random Motor Activity.
    • Disorganized Schizophrenia – Particularly Severe Deterioration of Adaptive Behavior is Seen.
    • Undifferentiated Schizophrenia – Schizophrenia that cant be easily Categorized into 1 Category.
    • Negative v. Positive Symptoms
    • Nancy Andreasen
    • Negative Symptoms – Behavioral Deficits, Flattened Emotions, Social Withdrawal, Apathy, Impaired Attention, and Poverty of Speech.
    • Positive Symptoms – Behavioral Excesses or Peculiarities, such as Hallucinations, Delusions, Bizarre Behavior, and Wild Flights of Ideas.
    • Schizophrenia usually Emerges during Adolescence or Early Adulthood.
    • Etiology of Schizophrenia
    • Heredity plays a Role in Development of Schizophrenic Disorders.
    • Dopamine Hypothesis – Excess Dopamine Activity in Nuero-Chemical causes Schizophrenia.
    • Abnormalities in the Brain Could Cause or be Caused by Schizophrenia.
    • Such as Enlarged Brain Ventricles, or Smaller Pre-Frontal Cortex.
    • NeuroDevelopmental Hypothesis – Schizophrenia is caused by, in part, by Various Disruptions in the Normal Maturation Processes of the Brain Before or at Birth.
    • High Expressed Emotion causes people cured of Schizophrenia to Relapse into it Easier.
    • Personality Disorders
    • Personality Disorders – Class of Disorders Marked by Extreme, Inflexible Personality Traits that Cause Subjective Distress or Impaired Social and Occupational Functioning.
    • Usually Emerge in Late Childhood or Adolescence.
    • 3 Types of Personality Disorders
    • Anxious/Fearful
    • Odd/Eccentric
    • Dramatic/Impulsive
    • AntiSocial Personality Disorder – Marked by Impulsive, Callous, Manipulative, Aggressive, and Irresponsible Behavior that Reflects a Failure to Accept Social Norms.
    • Psychological Disorders & Law
    • Insanity – Legal Status Indicating that a Person Cannot be Held Responsible for His or Her Actions because of Mental Illness.
    • Involuntary Commitment – People are Hospitalized in Psychiatric Facilities against their Will.
    • Culture & Pathology
    • Social “Norms” Differentiate in Cultures, so “Abnormal Behavior” Differentiates too.
    • Culture-Bound Disorders – Abnormal Syndromes Found only in a Few Cultural Groups.

‘There are two great principles of psychology: people have a tremendous capacity to change, and we usually don’t.”   Ken Tangen