UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY

10TH EDITION
By Robert Feldman
Powerpoint slides by Kimberly Foreman
Revised for 10th Ed by Cathleen Hunt

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  CHAPTER
FIFTEEN:
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

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MODULE 46: Normal Versus Abnormal:
Making the Distinction
 How can we distinguish normal from
abnormal behavior?

 What are the major perspectives on

psychological disorders used by mental
health professionals?

 What are the major categories of

psychological disorders? 3

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 Defining Abnormality

 Behavior that causes people to experience

distress and prevents them from functioning
in their daily lives
› As deviation from the average
› As deviation from the ideal
› As a sense of personal discomfort
› As the inability to function effectively
› As a legal concept
4

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 Perspectives on Abnormality

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 Six Perspectives

 Medical Perspective
› Suggests that when an individual displays
symptoms of abnormal behavior, the fundamental
cause will be found through a physical
examination of the individual
 Hormonal imbalance
 Chemical deficiency
 Brain injury

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 Six Perspectives

 Psychoanalytic Perspective
› Abnormal behavior stems from childhood conflicts
over opposing wishes regarding sex and
aggression
 Freud
 Behavioral Perspective
› The behavior itself is the problem
› Uses basic principles of learning
7

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 Six Perspectives

 Cognitive Perspective
› Assumes that cognitions (thoughts and beliefs)
are central to a person’s abnormal behavior

 Humanistic Perspective
› Concentrates on the view of people as basically
rational, oriented toward a social world, and
motivated to seek self-actualization
 Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow 8

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 Six Perspectives

 Sociocultural Perspective
› Assumes that people’s behavior is shaped by the
kind of family group, society, and culture in which
they live
 Culture may cause or support abnormal behaviors

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 DSM-IV-TR:
Determining Diagnostic Distinctions
 DSM-IV-TR
› Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision
 Axis I: Clinical Disorders
 Axis II: Personality Disorders and Mental
Retardation
 Axis III: General Medical Conditions
 Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems
 Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning
10

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 Major Diagnostic Categories

11

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 DSM-IV-TR:
Determining Diagnostic Distinctions
 Conning the Classifiers: The Shortcomings of
DSM-IV-TR
› David Rosenhan, et al. (1970s)
 Sought admission to mental hospitals based on
statement that he or she was hearing voices
 Pseudo-patients acted in a normal way after that
and the hospitals still diagnosed them as severely
abnormal

12

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 MODULE 47:
The Major Psychological Disorders
 What are the major psychological disorders?

13

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 Anxiety Disorders

 When anxiety occurs without external

justification and begins to affect people’s
daily functioning
 4 major types
› Phobic disorder
› Panic disorder
› Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
› Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
14

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 Phobic Disorders

15

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 Anxiety Disorders

 Phobic Disorder
› Intense, irrational fear of a specific object or
situation
› Social phobia
 Fear of strangers

16

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 Anxiety Disorders
 Panic Disorder
› Panic attacks
 Anxiety suddenly rises to a peak and one feels a
sense of impending, unavoidable doom
 Can last from a few seconds to several hours
 Agoraphobia
 Fear of being in a situation in which escape is difficult
and help unavailable

 Generalized Anxiety Disorder

› Long-term, persistent anxiety and uncontrollable
17
worry – “free floating” anxiety
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 Anxiety Disorders

 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
› Obsession
 Persistent unwanted thought or idea that keeps
recurring
› Compulsion
 Irresistible urges to repeatedly carry out some act
that seems strange and unreasonable

18

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 Anxiety Disorders

 The Causes of Anxiety Disorders

› Genetic factors
› Overactive autonomic nervous system
› Environmental factors
 Learned response to stress
› Cognitive perspective
 Inappropriate and inaccurate thoughts and beliefs
about circumstances in a person’s world
19

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 Somatoform Disorders

 Psychological difficulties that take on a

physical (somatic) form, but for which there is
no medical cause

20

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 Somatoform Disorders

 Hypochondriasis
› Constant fear of illness and a preoccupation with
one’s health

 Conversion Disorder
› Actual physical disturbance such as the inability
to see or hear or to move an arm or leg
› Cause is purely psychological
21

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 Dissociative Disorders

 Characterized by the separation of different

facets of a person’s personality that are
normally integrated and work together

22

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 Dissociative Disorders

 Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

› Formerly multiple personality disorder
› Characteristics of two or more distinct
personalities, identities, or personality fragments
› Controversial diagnosis

23

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 Dissociative Disorders

 Dissociative Amnesia
› Significant, selective memory loss
› “Forgotten” material is still present in memory but
is repressed

 Dissociative Fugue
› People with amnesia take sudden, impulsive
trips, and sometimes assume a new identity
› After some time they suddenly remember 24

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 Mood Disorders

 Disturbances in emotional experience that

are strong enough to intrude on everyday
living

25

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 Mood Disorders

 Major Depression
› Severe form of
depression that
interferes with
concentration, decision
making, and sociability

26

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 Mood Disorders

 Mania
› Extended state of intense, wild elation

 Bipolar Disorder
› Formerly known as manic-depressive disorder
› Periods of alternating mania and depression
 May occur over a few days or over a period of
years
 Periods of depression are usually longer than
manic periods 27

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 Mood Disorders
 Causes of Mood Disorders
› Genetic and biochemical roots
› Psychological causes
 Result of feelings of loss or of anger directed at oneself
› Behavioral theories
 Stresses of life produce a reduction in positive reinforcers
› Cognitive factors
 Response to learned helplessness
 Faulty cognitions (Aaron Beck)
› Evolutionary psychology

28

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 Schizophrenia
 Refers to a class of disorders in which severe
distortion of reality occurs
› Characteristics
 Decline from previous level of functioning
 Disturbances of thought and speech
 Formal thought disorder
 Delusions
 Hallucinations and perceptual disorders
 Emotional disturbances
 Withdrawal
29

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 Types of Schizophrenia

30

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 Types of Schizophrenia

 Process schizophrenia
› Symptoms develop slowly and subtly
 Reactive schizophrenia
› Symptoms are sudden and conspicuous
 Type I Schizophrenia
› Positive symptoms are dominant
 Type II Schizophrenia
› Negative symptoms are dominant 31

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 Schizophrenia

 Solving the Puzzle of

Schizophrenia:
Biological Causes
› Genetic factors
› Structural abnormalities
 Dopamine hypothesis

32

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Figure 9 of Module 47
 Schizophrenia

 Environmental Perspectives on
Schizophrenia
› Emotional and communication patterns of the
families of people with schizophrenia
 Expressed emotion
› Cognitive perspective
 Overattention or underattention to stimuli in the
environment

33

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 Multiple Causes of Schizophrenia

 Predisposition model of schizophrenia

› Incorporates biological and environmental factors

34

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 Personality Disorders

 Characterized by a set of inflexible,

maladaptive behavior patterns that keep a
person from functioning appropriately in
society

35

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 Personality Disorders

 Antisocial Personality Disorder

› Show no regard for the moral and ethical rules of
society or the rights of others
› Lack guilt or anxiety about their wrongdoing
› Impulsive and lack the ability to withstand
frustration
› Extremely manipulative
› May have excellent social skills
› “Con artists” 36

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 Personality Disorders

 Borderline Personality Disorder

› Difficulty developing a secure sense of who they
are
› Tend to rely on relationships with others to define
their identity
› Emotional volatility leads to impulsive and self-
destructive behavior
› Feel empty and alone
37

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 Personality Disorders

 Narcissistic Personality Disorder

› Characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-
importance
› Expect special treatment from others
› Inability to experience empathy for others

38

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 Childhood Disorders

 Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD)
› Marked by inattention, impulsiveness, low
tolerance for frustration, and generally a great
deal of inappropriate activity
 Autism
› Severe developmental disability that impairs
children’s ability to communicate and relate to
others 39

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 Other Disorders

 Psychoactive Substance-Use Disorder

 Alcohol Use Disorders
 Eating Disorders
› Anorexia nervosa
› Bulimia
› Binge-eating disorder
 Sexual Disorders
 Organic Mental Disorders 40

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MODULE 48:
Psychological Disorders in Perspective
 How prevalent are psychological disorders?

 What indicators signal a need for the help of

a mental health practitioner?

41

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 Sample of Prevalence

42

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 Deciding When You Need Help
 Long-term feelings of
distress
 Feelings of inability to cope
with a situation
 Prolonged depression
 Withdrawal from other
people
 Thoughts of inflicting harm
on oneself or suicide
 A chronic physical problem
for which no physical cause
can be determined
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 A fear or phobia that
prevents you from engaging
in everyday activities
 Feelings that other people
are out to get you or are
talking about and plotting
against you
 Inability to interact
effectively with others,
preventing the development
of friendships and loving
relationships
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