Psychological Disorders & Causes:

You are going to create a case study for a patient who seems to be suffering from the disorder utilizing the
characteristics of that mental disorder in the DSM V (use a minimum of THREE characteristics) You will also include the
potential causes of that disorder using the risk and prognostic factors section in the DSM V for that disorder or use the
key document I have provided (provide at least one cause). Complete the ones on the list (you don’t have to do the
ones that have a sample).

Do not use the internet to get your information – it must come from the DSM/handout I have provided! In order to get
full credit, you have to creative apply the characteristics not just name them.

Disorder Lists Categories:

Mood Disorders:
1) Bipolar

Manic Episode-
Recently Michael has been very pessimistic and stressed out due to upcoming midterms and talking about how he is
going to fail them. This past week, Michael has been going out very often to parties, dates, and other sexual
activities every night and not focusing on his schoolwork or job. He has not been sleeping very much, no more than 3
hours a night but still seems to have the energy to continue his extravagant lifestyle. His roommates have also
noticed he has been getting very easily distracted and irritable with them and others, but as far as they know he is
not under the influence of any drugs or medications.
Causes- life stress, self-defeating beliefs, pessimistic thinking

Major Depressive Episode-

Ron was referred to his boss for a big promotion where he has to prepare a presentation for evaluation that has
triggered a lot of stress and avoiding social outings. In the 2 weeks since, his co-workers have noticed he has
embodied a more depressed and distant version of himself. They have seen him experience a depressed mood
majority of the workday and a lack of interest and ability to talk to customers. He has not been concentrating at his
tasks, eating lunch with the claim that “he is not hungry,” and looks as though he has not been sleeping.
Causes- genetics, life stress, frontal lobes are smaller, rumination

2) Major Depressive Disorder

Addie was recently broken up with and not given a reason for the break up, it left her questioning herself and her
life. Recently her sister has noticed she has been very distant, irritable, and unable to concentrate on schoolwork or
social interactions, unlike she has ever seen her act before. She has self-isolated and not been seeing her friends or
hanging out with her family. She has had a loss of appetite, trouble falling and staying asleep, and overall fatigue.
She has been lacking interest in school and participating in cheer. She has reported she feel hopeless, sad, and has
had thoughts of suicide for multiple days the past two weeks.

Causes- life stress, self-blaming, rumination, lack of norepinephrine, self-defeating and negative beliefs

3) Dysthymic Disorder

Since middle school, for the past 3 years, Dylan has constantly felt sad and hopeless. He say some days are okay, but
most days he feels severely depressed. He says he has experienced insomnia and has trouble falling asleep and
staying asleep at night and often feels fatigued throughout the day with little to no appetite most days. He has low
 self-esteem, feels hopeless for his future, and says he does not get joy out of most things. He says there has never
been a prolonged period where he didn’t feel these emotions in someway. His history shows no signs of drug use,
manic episodes, but does show that his mother is diagnosed with depression.

Causes- genetics, pessimist thinking style, self-defeating beliefs, learned helplessness, variations of serotonin-
controlling gene

Anxiety Disorders:
1) Phobia – may pick a type of phobia
Ella has had a fear of being a passenger in a car or bus, Amaxophobia, since she was 9 years old, when her
intoxicated father drove her and her mother to a friend’s house, crashing and putting them all in the hospital in
fatal condition. She has been riding her bike, walking, and avoiding getting into cars with her friends, parents, or
other adults for the past 7 years due to fear of another potentially fatal car crash. Having to get into a car being
driven by someone else provokes extreme anxiety and she is often not able to talk, concentrate, or socialize
when in a car with others, she also notices her mother has many similar symptoms of fear when driving with
others.
Causes- conditioning, observational learning, experience of a traumatic event, biological fears
2) Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Mary has struggled with anxiety for years when it comes to school, work, and social interactions that all cause
her extreme over thinking, worry, and fear. When she knows she has to handle these situations she is often
faced with extreme worry that causes her insomnia, irritability, muscle tension, and difficulty concentrating. Her
anxiety has caused her to fall behind in school, work, and has resulted in a loss of friendships because she is
unable to control her anxious thoughts and worries it leads her to fall behind in school, struggle while working,
and cause distance in her relationships with family and friends. Examples of this are her worries about good
performance in school and work and fitting in with friends.
Causes- conditioning, cognition, biological fears, stimulus generalization
3) Panic Disorder

Chris has been studying for his final exam that determines whether or not he can get into law school next semester,
this has caused him intense anxiety and insomnia. He has not been taking drugs or medications. His roommates
have reported seeing him have anxiety attacks where he starts sweating and shaking, experiences a loss of breathe,
and disassociates, sometimes resulting in him becoming light headed and fainting. In the past 2 months that these
have been happening Chris finds himself unable to sit down to study or talk about the exam with classmates to avoid
triggering these panic attacks that he is in constant fear and embarrassment of.

Causes- Varying levels of serotonin, biological fears, stimulus generalization

4) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Sam experiences many thoughts and compulsions on a daily basis that cause him to act in certain ways that
sometimes affect his ability to function normally, without the affects of drugs or medications. He finds himself
having to wash his hands multiple times until they feel the right way, having to untie and retie both of his shoes
every time one of them comes untied or else he feels uneasy, and having to erase and rewrite words until he feels
like the way he wrote was comfortable. He also performs mental tasks of having to count to 20 before opening
doors and having to step into them with his right foot first. He does these things to lessen his superstitions and
anxiety, they make him feel calmed and in control. These tasks take up large portions of his day and often cause him
to not be able to function timely or normally.

Causes- conditioning, biological fears, cognition, reinforcement of behavior lessening anxiety

 5) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Ana, 16 years old, has experienced lots of anxiety and fear having to be around her uncle and in his house since she
was 8 and tries to avoid him at family gatherings and is reluctant to visit his house. When she was 8 she was sexually
assaulted by her uncle but she has not told anyone about it because she did not fully understand what was
happening and tells herself that it was not real or that she does not remember it enough to be reliable. She has
flashbacks when she goes to his house or sees him, but she forcibly represses her memories. She becomes very
defensive when asked about her uncle or why she acts the way that she does. She tries to repress the memories and
feelings of the situation often causing her with insomnia thinking about it, reoccurring nightmares, and it has caused
her to fear affection and social interaction with other adult males including her father, older brother, and other
uncles.

Causes- conditioning, experience of a traumatic event, history of child abuse

Personality Disorders:
1) Antisocial Personality Disorder

Rachel, 18 years old, has been struggling with obeying rules and social standards since she was 15. She has no
regard for laws or social norms, she often finds herself stealing from stores and running red lights when she
drives. She has been expelled from school for starting a fight and disorderly conduct with her teachers and
classmates, and she seems to have no consideration or remorse for others around her, including her family and
friends. Her mother reports that when she was about 12 she started disobeying more rules and becoming more
socially distant, but it has only gotten worse.

Causes- childhood trauma, environmental factors such as instability in family and social life, reduced activity in
frontal lobes

2) Histrionic Personality Disorder – SAMPLE BELOW

Since Clay was 17 he has started to act out and seek attention from his friends, family, and others. He always
wants to be the center of attention and often reaches his goal through means of inappropriate and unusual
behaviors, including over sexual and racist jokes. He over shares with his friends and gets abnormally connected
to them. Many people have reported his sense of style and speech to be out of the ordinary and attention
seeking. He over dramatizes scenarios and stories to his family to try and get their attention.

Causes- traumatic event, childhood anxiety, lack of attention during childhood, environmental factors

3) Avoidant Personality Disorder

Since his late teenage years Jeremy has struggled making friends and participating in social interactions and
activities. He often feels discouraged to take part in activities or take risks with the fear of rejection, failure, and
criticism, which results in him avoiding certain activities such as not trying out for the football team. He does not
interact with people he does not know very well or if he is unsure they will like him which makes it hard for him
in school to work on group projects and make friends, he did have one close relationship with his girlfriend but
as they started getting closer and more intimate, he ended the relationship because he felt inadequate. Jeremy
says he feels inferior and unappealing to almost everyone he sees.

Causes- childhood anxiety or abuse, environmental and family factors, genetics, lack of autonomic nervous
system arousal

4) Borderline Personality Disorder

As a teenager Lucy was abandoned by her mother emotionally and physically and since then Lucy has had many
social and mental changes that cause her instability in her relationships, self-esteem, and decision making. She
 finds herself feeling empty and lost majority of the time with multiple suicidal thoughts and behaviors. She was
recently involved with a man and he reports as they began to get closer, to avoid the idea of abandonment, she
started physically lashing out, being very irritable, and was unable to control her intense anger and mood swings
that often lasted hours. She says she has constant thoughts and doubts about her worth and self image and
experiences prolonged periods of anxiety and irritability when panicked and cannot be relieved by calmness or
satisfaction.

Causes- genetics, childhood abandonment and anxiety, unstable family and environmental factors, reduced
activity in frontal lobes

5) Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Davis is a popular college football player that finds himself obsessed with his own accomplishments and has
obtained the mindset that everyone else should be as well. His friends and teammates report that he has
become entitled and arrogant by always talking about his awards and achievements, expecting everyone to be
as involved and eager to talk about them as he is. He constantly undermines his friends emotions and needs to
prioritize his own, he has been hanging out less with his high school friends to make time for his teammates and
explained this by telling them he needs to hang out with people who are as “special and talented as he is.”
When playing football he lacks remorse when he hurts another player and purposefully injured another player
during a drill to decrease competition for his position.

Causes- childhood abuse or abandonment, environmental factors, family and poverty, genetics, lack of affection
and praise in childhood

6) Schizoid Personality Disorder

Jenna does not have any medical history of medical conditions or physiological or mood disorders, but she
still finds herself detached from social relationships and lacks in variety of visual emotions. She her early
adulthood after moving out of her parent’s house, she has not enjoyed hanging out with her parents and
siblings and prefers to stay home on the weekends instead of going out, declining many invites from family
and friends. She does not have many close friends or co-workers, and has no interest in pursuing an intimate
relationship with someone else. She finds herself staying home and indulging in solo activities. When she
goes to classes and lectures she likes to isolate herself and appear distant and detached. She received the
best grade on a test and when her professor tried to praise her for her good work she was unfazed and
seemed cold and indifferent to his approval.
Causes- environmental factors, childhood anxiety and abuse, little autonomic nervous system arousal, lack
of affection during childhood, genetics

Schizophrenia:
For the past few months Miranda has begun to experience periods of delusion, frequent hallucinations, and delayed
speech. She has always been a good “A” grade student, but recently as her classes and social life have become more
stressful she has been falling behind in her classes due to paranoid delusions and social withdrawal. She is very
paranoid about going to school and talking to her friends because she thinks that they are “out to get her” and that
“the government has hired them as spies to watch her.” She is finding it hard to focus, speak to her teachers, and her
friends view her as emotionless and distant. These symptoms have disturbed her friendships and schoolwork severely
for the past 6 months. Her mother reports no signs of manic, depressive, or bipolar mood episodes but reports cases
of schizophrenia in their family history.
Causes- stress, genetics, lack of dopamine
Note (extra content)
- positive symptoms refer to those that are excessive or in addition to normal behaviors. Behaviors such as
paranoid delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and erratic emotions or behaviors are typical of positive
schizophrenic symptoms. Ex: Paranoid Schizophrenia
 -negative symptoms refer to those that are deficient or less than normal behaviors. Flat affect [state of no
apparent feeling], social withdrawal, and catatonia are common negative schizophrenic symptoms.
Ex: Catatonic Schizophrenia (characterized by motor behaviors ranging from physical stupor-remaining
motionless for hours-to senseless, compulsive actions, such as continually rocking or rubbing an arm, to severe
and dangerous agitation.

Somatoform Disorders:
1) Factitious Disorder (Munchausen) – Somatic Disorder

In the past few months Eddie and his wife have filed for divorce on her behalf. With the upcoming court dates he
has found himself complaining of extreme migraines and shoulder problems. He has avoided all legal meetings and
paperwork with his illness symptoms. He has been ordered to go see a doctor for the severity of the head and
shoulder problems he is complaining of the doctors report they see neither cause nor evidence as to why he is
having these pains. After the divorce is finalized he is still complaining of these symptoms for no apparent reason
and has convinced himself and others around him that they are real.

Causes- experience of trauma, way to avoid conflict, abandonment

2) Conversion Disorder (Somatic Disorder) SAMPLE BELOW

Last night Lily’s mother took her to the hospital after she proposed she had no feeling in her arms. Her mother had
just broken the news that her father had passed away in a car crash and immediately after, before they had time to
discuss and cope, she had begun not able to move her arms or pick up objects. It caused her to drop her phone,
unable to open doors, and was not able to perform basic motor functions in her arms or hands, causing her visual
emotional and physical distress. Her mother took her to the hospital to evaluate what had just happened but the
doctors could not find anything physically wrong with Lily or any explanation as to what was happening.

Causes- experience of emotional trauma, way to avoid conflict, stressful life event

3) Illness Anxiety Disorder *Hypochondriasis*

Over the course of the past 6 months Katelyn has been very paranoid and self-conscious about developing heart
cancer, the disease her late grandmother died from. Every time she feels even mildly sick she experiences
heightened anxiety for her health and takes extreme health precautions before she performs any activities. She has
been reporting and exaggerating mild symptoms of illness that cause her to constantly check her heart rate, take her
temperature, and take medication. She has gone to multiple doctors and as they would tell her she is in little risk of
developing the disease, she would switch doctors and find a new one to evaluate her.

Causes- way to avoid conflict or illness, maladaptive behaviors, traumatic life event

Eating Disorders:
1) Binge Eating

Recently late at night for the past few weeks after Laney’s parents have gone to bed after dinner she has been
sneaking downstairs and grabbing late night snacks. She was not hungry after dinner but still got a cookie and went
upstairs, only to find herself back downstairs secretly grabbing chips, pretzels, ice cream, and finishing off the box of
cookies and hiding all the wrappers within minutes, leaving her feeling disgusted. She was physically feeling
uncontrollably full, but she felt as though she had no control and just kept snacking on food.

Causes- Low self-esteem, potentially over stress from perfectionism, eating in private from culture ideals

2) Bulimia
 Archer has been experiencing periods of binge eating recently due to stress where he finds himself uncontrollably
eating large amounts of food in short time periods. These binges leave him feeling disgusted with himself and
extremely worried and conscious of his body and weight, leading him to exercise efforts of weight loss through
regurgitation and resultant fasting, restriction and excessive exercise. After he experiences these binges he likes to
attempt water fasts, which causes him extreme hunger and when he finally allows his body to have food he finds
himself out of control and continuing in his binge-eating cycle, this has been happening weekly for the past few
months.

Causes- perfectionism, low self-esteem, crave for social acceptance

3) Anorexia Nervosa
Recently Riley has been very worried and self-conscious about her weight and the way her body looks, triggered
by the fear of looking good in a bath suiting suit this summer. She has been weighing herself multiple times a
day, practically starving herself, and excessively exercising in efforts to loose weight. She has been counting her
calories and obsessing over food and her body with the fear of gaining weight or becoming her definition of fat.
She has been restricting her diet to the base minimum and making excuses as to not eat and it has caused her to
fall far below the average weight for her age and has resulted in her hair falling out, getting light-headed,
fatigue, and the loss of her period.
Causes- perfectionism, crave for social acceptance, cultural ideals

Other/Neurocognitive:
1) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Since McKenna was a child she has had trouble sitting still, following directions, being patient, and
participating in quiet and calm daily activities. This has constantly disturbed her social, school, and work life
as she is always fidgeting, gets distracted easily with no patience to wait her turn, cannot stay seated in
classes or lectures, constantly feeling a need to move around, talks excessively and in unwarranted times,
and performs other socially inappropriate verbal and physical functions. These symptoms cause her to not
be able to focus and cause distractions in class, lack performance in her job, and damage her relationships
with family and friends.

Causes- genetics, genetic mutations, childhood trauma and anxiety

2) Major/Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Noah recently fell off his bike and following the accident he has been experiencing a lack in cognitive
functions. He has been having trouble with memory, motor functions, speaking, and learning. His mother
reports that these instances of cognitive delay are not only happening during instances of delirium, but they
have been occurring constantly. He is unable to learn and remember lots of things in school which has
caused him to fall behind in his classes and grades and he is having trouble holding standard paced
conversations with his family and friends with has been troubling in some of his relationships. They took him
to a doctor to document his impairments through clinical trials to determine the issue as being related to a
concussion.

Causes- severity may be because of genetics, brain injury, and damage to front temporal lobes

3) Alzheimer’s

In the past few months Robert’s daughter has noticed he has had a lack of mental capacity and cognitive
functions. He has been experiencing trouble with memory, attention, and functioning in social situations.
She has reported that he has not experienced a steady plateau of these symptoms but they are constantly
occurring and worsening with no history of mental or neurological disorders. They have caused him
problems in his relationship with his family, friends, and job. He has not been able to remember specific
 things about his family including names, ages, and relations, and he has been having trouble sufficiently
doing his job and participating in social situations and conversations in his worsening state.

Causes- cognitive impairment, age, genetics

Note: Dementia describes a group of symptoms associated with a decline in memory, reasoning or other thinking skills.
Many different types of dementia exist, and many conditions cause it. Mixed dementia is a condition in which brain
changes of more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of
dementia, accounting for 60-80% of dementia cases.

Dissociative Disorder

1) Dissociative Identity Disorder *old name Multiple Personality Disorder*

Susan has been experiences stages of distress, memory loss, and being unable to recall certain events and personal
information. She says that these symptoms are causing her to fall behind in her job and with her family, she finds
herself unable to recognize certain people and remember events or commitments that cause her issues with her work
and personal life. Her family and coworkers have reported they notice temporary changes in her personality and
character, they say sometimes she changes into a “whole different person.” She is physically present but because of
her two distinctive personalities she is unable to recognize reality and recall certain things, unaware of her changing
cognitive state. Her shift in personality and mental state, without the influence of alcohol, drugs, or medication,
causes her to forget large gaps of time and activities, which leaves her unable to carry out her daily functions.

Causes- genetics, childhood abuse or anxiety, stressful home or work environments, traumatic event

Here is a sample of what you are doing:

Joan loves to be the life of the party. When she is not she makes up stories about her crazy, dramatic life adventures.
She will always bring an elaborate gift for the hostess when she attends functions in order to bring focus and attention
to herself. She also loves to ask people what they think about her fabulous new outfits. (Histrionic Personality Disorder
pg 667).

Causes: from key document… Genes & little autonomic nervous system arousal with combo of environmental factors, could be
reduced activity in frontal lobe, instable family life and poverty

Sadie was brought into the hospital emergency room by her family who reported that she experienced a sudden onset
of blindness. The family explained that Sadie had just discovered that her husband had been having an affair. She was
arguing with her husband when she suddenly announced that she couldn’t see. (Conversion Disorder- ; Somatic Disorder
pg 318)

Causes: pg 320 – maladaptive personality traits, may be early history of childhood abuse and neglect or stressful life
event; genetics.