Psychopathology

Shafa Ahmad bms15091813

Amal Abdulkhadir bms15091333
 Psychopathology Definition
• Psychopathology is the scientific study of abnormal behavior
or experiences indicating presence of mental illness.
• Mental illness defined as psychological, behavioural manifestation and
impairment in full functioning according to society and daily life
demands.
 History
• Sigmund Freud
• an Austrian neurologist and
the founder of psychoanalysis,
a clinical method for treating
psychopathology through
dialogue between a patient
and a psychoanalyst.
 Sign and symptoms
• Most often there are small changes or feelings of “something is not quite right”
 Thinking
 Feeling
 Behaviour
• Taking action early can reduce the severity of the illness
 Possible to delay or even prevent a major illness
 Sign
• 1 or 2 of the symptoms listed can’t predict a mental illnes
 May indicate need for further evaluation
• Sleep or appetite changes
• Mood changes
• Withdrawal
 Sign
• Problems thinking
• Increased sensitivity
• Drop in functioning — An unusual drop in functioning, at school, work or social
activities, such as quitting sports, failing in school or difficulty performing
familiar tasks

• Feeling disconnected — A vague feeling of being disconnected from oneself or

one’s surroundings; a sense of unreality
 Sign
• Apathy — Loss of initiative or desire to participate in any activity
• Illogical thinking — Unusual or exaggerated beliefs about personal
powers to understand meanings or influence events

• Nervousness — Fear or suspiciousness of others or a strong nervous

feeling

• Unusual behaviour
 Sign
• A person experiencing several at one time and causing serious problems in
their study, work or relationships. They should be seen by a physician or
mental health professional

• People with suicidal thoughts or intent, or thoughts of harming others,

need immediate attention.
 Symptoms

• Auditory hallucination
• Auditory perceptions with no cause. These auditory hallucinations have to
be of particular types:
• hearing thoughts spoken aloud ( "I hear my thoughts outside my head.“)
• hearing voices referring to himself/herself made in the third person /
arguing ("The first voice says 'He used that fork in an odd way' and then
the second replies 'Yes, he did'".)
 Symptoms
• Thought withdrawal, insertion and interruption
• A person's thoughts are under control of an outside agency and can be removed,
inserted (and felt to be alien to him/her) or interrupted by others.
• Having thoughts that she thinks are the though of other people ("My thoughts are
fine except when Michael Jackson stops them.“)
• Thought broadcasting
• As the person is thinking everyone is thinking in unison with him/her.
• ("My thoughts filter out of my head and everyone can pick them up if they walk past.“)
 Symptoms
• Somatic hallucinations
• A hallucination involving the perception of a physical experience with the body ("I
feel them crawling over me.“)
• Delusional perception
• A true perception, to which a person attributes a false meaning.
• Passivity
• Where there is certainty that an action of the person or a feeling is caused not by
themselves but by some others or other force. (“Somebody controlled my arm.“)
 Symptoms
• Negative symptoms
• Marked apathy, paucity of speech, blunting of emotional responses
• Does not respond to question or no interest in answering
• Train of thought
• Breaks or interpolations resulting in incoherence or irrelevant speech , Patient speech is
incomprehensible. Jumping from topic to topic
• Catatonic behaviour
• Excitement, posturing, or waxy flexibility, negativism, mutism, and stupor
• Patient is unsuitable for interview
 Other symptoms
Headache
Shivering
Anxiety
Depression
Nervous breakdown