Psychological Disorders

Medical Model - proposes that it is useful to think of mental illness as a disease.
1. • Diagnosis – distinguishing one illness from another.
2. • Etiology – cause and developmental history of an illness or disorder; origin
3. • Prognosis – prediction about the probably course of an illness.
Criteria
1. Deviance: different from what people in the person’s society/culture/religion consider normal.
2. Maladaptive Behaviour: interferes with one’s social or occupational functioning.
3. Personal Distress: Person with the disorder is suffering as a result.
Psychodiagnosis and Prevalence
1. Comorbidity- occurs when a person has two or more diagnoses at the same time.
  1. Epidemiology - study of the distribution of mental or physical disorders in a population
    1. Prevalence – percentage of population that has a disorder during a specific time period
      1. Lifetime prevalence – percentage of people that ever had the disorder in their lives.
Anxiety Disorders
1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder – chronic high level of anxiety about various life matters. Some expect that worrying about things will somehow decrease the possibility of a negative outcome.
2. Phobic Disorders – Unlike GAD, phobic disorder is a fear of something specific. It is a persistent, irrational fear of an object or situation that actually present no realistic danger.
3. Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia – Panic Disorder occurs when one has recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that occur suddenly and unexpectedly and begins to fear these attacks.
4. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Obsessions refer to thoughts that one cannot stop thinking about.
5. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: This occurs if one has a horrifying experience where they believed they could have died or witnessed someone’s death.
Etiology of Anxiety Disorders
1. 1. Biological factors • Genetic predisposition, anxiety sensitivity • Need GABA circuits in the brain functioning well to remain calm. Valium affects GABA • Concordance rates - Percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same disorder.
2. 2. Conditioning and learning • Acquired through classical conditioning (pairing an event with fear) or observational learning • Maintained through operant conditioning – usually negative reinforcement
3. 3. Cognitive factors - Judgments of perceived threat 4. Stress is a precipitator of anxiety disorders
SOMATOFORM DISORDERS
1. Somatization Disorder: (now called Somatic Symptom Disorder) • person has many physical complaints but appear to be psychological in origin.
2. Conversion Disorder • Psychological problems converted to physical symptoms. • Significant loss of physical function with no medical reason
3. Hypochondriasis (now called Illness anxiety disorder) • Patient is constantly on guard for a medical symptom and misinterprets minor body
DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS
1. 1. Dissociative amnesia – issue of memory, Individuals can lose some or all of their memory including who they are.
  1. 2. Dissociative fugue – issue of memory and travel. Person is usually found in a different city and they have no memory of how they got there or who they are.
    1. 3. Dissociative identity disorder – formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder.
Mood DIsorders
1. 1. Major depressive disorder Symptoms include sad mood for at least 2 weeks, disinterest in activities that usually bring the person pleasure
  1. 2. Dysthymic disorder - (now known as Persistent Depressive Disorder) one has less symptoms of depression but it is chronic and continues for at least 2 years.
    1. 3. Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder) Alternates between depression and mania Symptoms of mania: elevated or irritable mood, sleep little and still have adequate energy, talkative, racing thoughts,
      1. 4. Cyclothymic disorder – less severe form of bipolar disorder
2. Rates of Mood Disorders – up to 10% of Canadians will have a major depressive episode sometime in their lives.
  1. Mood Disorders and Suicide - Women attempt suicide 3 x more often than men. However, men complete suicide 4 times more than women.
Etiology of Mood Disorders
1. • Genetic vulnerability - Mood disorders run in families and it is generally believed that one must have a genetic vulnerability to get them.
  1. • Biological and Neurochemical factors – One may have a predisposition toward abnormally low chemical levels in the brain such as serotonin and norepinephrine.
    1. • Hormonal factors - Stesses results in high cortisol levels which may result in depression

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