PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

I. Defining “abnormal” and the prevalence of disorders

A. Prevalence of psychological disorders
B. Defining psychological disorders: the 4 Ds
1. Deviation
a. Statistical (tails of a bell curve)
b. from social norms (this depends on culture, time, etc.)
 what if society itself is warped?
2. Distress—is the person unhappy with his/her condition?
3. Dysfunctional behavior—maladaptive behavior; can’t meet personal goals
4. Dangerous—potential harm to self or others (rare)
C. DSM V: why do we classify people, what has changed from DSM IV, role of culture

II. Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, and PTSD

A. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (see text for details)
B. Panic Disorder (see text for details)
C. Phobias
C. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
1. Persistent and unwanted thoughts, often about violence, sex, or contamination
2. Repetitive rituals, such as checking or cleaning
D. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
E. Possible causes of these disorders

III. Mood disorders

A. Depression—the most common disorder
1. Symptoms include:
a. Emotional, sleep, physical factors
b. Social factors and the vicious cycle
c. Cognitive factors—negative schemas about self, others, the future
 Less self-serving bias (taking credit for success but not failure)
 Negative internal, stable, global attributions (e.g., “I’m bad at everything”)
B. Bipolar Disorder
1. How it is different from regular depression?
2. Manic episodes and symptoms
C. Possible causes of these disorders

IV. Disorders of Identity & Memory

A. Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly MPD)
1. Separate and different personalities, “host” usually has no awareness of the other(s)
2. Controversy surrounding dramatic increases in U.S. cases in the ‘80s
V. Schizophrenia
A. Symptoms
1. Positive (present) symptoms
a. Delusions
b. Hallucinations (and other perceptual problems)
c. Emotional abnormalities—inappropriate affect
d. Disorganized thought and speech (e.g., loose associations, clanging, neologisms)
2. Negative (absent) symptoms
a. Poverty of speech
b. Loss of volition
c. Flat affect
d. Social withdrawal
3. Motor abnormalities (e.g., waxy flexibility) and catatonic schizophrenia
4. Chronic versus acute
B. Causes of schizophrenia
1. Biological factors (genetic links, brain abnormalities, excess dopamine activity)
2. Environmental factors may include exposure to virus in utero, birth complications
3. Vulnerability-stress model (also called predisposition model) combines these

VI. Personality Disorders

A. Narcissistic
B. Borderline
C. Antisocial