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1. Psychological Disorders
 Psychological Disorder a “harmful
dysfunction” in which behavior is
judged to be (text discussion):
 Atypical
 not enough in itself
 Disturbing
 varies with time and culture
 Maladaptive
 harmful
 Unjustifiable
 By what standard?

2. Defined as Function
 Individual is not functioning adequately based on
either his/her standards or according to significant
others in the person’s life.
 Almost all the disorders we discuss have symptoms
that everyone experiences. Diagnosis of disorder
depends of intensity, length of time and how much
it’s impacting on the person.
 Depression
 Anxiety
 Psychosis?

3. Psychological Disorders
 Medical Model
 concept that diseases have physical causes
 can be diagnosed, treated, and in most
cases, cured
 assumes that these “mental” illnesses can
be diagnosed on the basis of their
symptoms and cured through therapy,
which may include treatment in a
psychiatric hospital

4. Problems with medical model
 Effects of labeling person, especially if based
on limited number of symptoms
 May limit true understanding of behavior in favor
of “listed” symptoms and assumptions about
outcome
 Confirmation bias: future information interpreted
in a biased way based on label
 Similar problems can exist with diagnosis
physical ailments

5. Psychological Disorders
 Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
 assumes that biological,
sociocultural, and psychological
factors combine and interact to
produce psychological disorders

6. Bio-Psycho-Social Approach

7. Bio-Psycho-Social Approach
 These factors change over time. Hence, it’s
harmful to place a constant label on a person
 “Normal” behavior changes over cultures,
sub-cultures and time.
 E.g., is gang behavior or violence “abnormal”?
 It’s more important to understand behavior
(and symptoms) then worry about labels.

8. Classifying Psychological Disorders
(medical approach dominates)
 DSM-IV
 American Psychiatric Association’s
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition)
 a widely used system for classifying
psychological disorders
 presently distributed as DSM-IV-TR (text
revision)

9. Classifying Psychological
Disorders
 Neurotic Disorder usually distressing but
that allows one to think rationally and
function socially
 Psychotic Disorder
 person loses contact with reality
 experiences irrational ideas and distorted
perceptions

10. Rates of Psychological
Disorders

11. Anxiety Disorders
 Anxiety Disorders
 distressing, persistent anxiety or
maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
 Generalized Anxiety Disorder
 person is tense, apprehensive, and in a state
of autonomic nervous system arousal
 Persistence (out of control)
 Problem in identifying source

12. Anxiety Disorders
 Panic Disorder
 marked by a minutes-long episode of
intense dread in which a person
experiences terror and accompanying chest
pain, choking, or other frightening
sensation
 Person comes to fear the panic attack itself
and start to avoid any situations or places
that might provoke an attack

13. Anxiety Disorders
 Phobia
 persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or
situation
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or
actions (compulsions)

15. Anxiety Disorders
 Common and uncommon fears

16. Anxiety Disorders

17. Causes: Learning Perspective
 Fears are learned thought classical
conditioning
 Stimulus generalization often occurs
 Development of behaviors to avoid the anxiety
 Perhaps also through observational learning

18. Causes: Biological Influence
 Research with identical twins and non-human
primates suggest a genetic aspect

19. Anxiety Disorders
 PET Scan of brain of
person with Obsessive/
Compulsive disorder
 High metabolic activity
(red) in frontal lobe
areas involved with
directing attention
(impulse control and
executive function)
 Effectiveness of drug
therapy

20. Dissociative Disorders
 Dissociative Disorders
 conscious awareness becomes separated
(dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts,
and feelings
 Not uncommon when in a highly traumatic
situation to feel “removed” from the situation.
Problem is when this becomes more then a brief
situation

21. Dissociative Disorder
 Dissociative Identity Disorder
 rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more
distinct and alternating personalities
 formerly called multiple personality disorder
 At Issue: Is it a real phenomena
 Skeptics– Everyone has difference aspects of their personality. These
get exaggerated by person and perhaps encourage by therapist
 Believers– Personality differences are dramatic (even handedness
might be effected) and person may have many personalities (e.g., 3
faces of eve– 28)
 Origins from sever trauma especially in childhood
 Both may be right

22. Personality Disorders
 Personality Disorders (vs. mood
disorder)
 disorders characterized by inflexible and
enduring behavior patterns that impair
social functioning

23. Types of Personality Disorders
 Fearful, afraid of rejection, withdrawn
 Extreme eccentrics– “The Character”
 Narcissistic– Over exaggerates self
importance
 Borderline– Unstable identity, emotions,
relationships, etc.

24. Personality Disorders
 Antisocial Personality Disorder
 disorder in which the person (usually man)
exhibits a lack of conscience for
wrongdoing, even toward friends and
family members
 may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever
con artist
 Most criminals do not have this– they
show concern for family and friends

25. Personality Disorders
 PET scans illustrate reduced activation in a
murderer’s frontal cortex
Normal Murderer

26. Mood Disorders
 Mood Disorders
 characterized by emotional extremes
 Major Depressive Disorder
 a mood disorder in which a person, for no
apparent reason, experiences two or more
weeks of depressed moods, feelings of
worthlessness, and diminished interest or
pleasure in most activities

27. Mood Disorders
 Manic Episode
 a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive,
wildly optimistic state
 Bipolar Disorder
 a mood disorder in which the person
alternates between the hopelessness and
lethargy of depression and the overexcited
state of mania
 formerly called manic-depressive disorder

28. Mood Disorders-Depression
 Canadian depression rates

29. Mood Disorders- Suicide

30. Mood Disorders-Bipolar
 PET scans show that brain energy consumption rises
and falls with emotional switches
Depressed state Manic state Depressed state

31. Mood Disorders-Depression
 Altering any one
component of the
chemistry-
cognition-mood
circuit can alter
the others

32. Mood Disorders-Depression
 The vicious
cycle of
depression
can be
broken at
any point

33. Schizophrenia
 Schizophrenia
 literal translation “split mind”
 a group of severe disorders characterized
by:
 disorganized and delusional thinking
 disturbed perceptions
 inappropriate emotions and actions

34. Schizophrenia
 Delusions
 false beliefs, often of persecution or
grandeur, that may accompany psychotic
disorders
 Hallucinations
 sensory experiences without sensory
stimulation

35. Schizophrenia

36. Causes of Schizophrenia
 Evidence of both chemical and anatomical
differences in the brain
 There are clear genetic predispositions

37. Schizophrenia

38. Causes of Schizophrenia
 Viral infections during pregnancy?
 Role of environment is unclear

39. The End
 Is Psychology a Science?
 Future Courses