Medical Model:
Proposes that it is
useful to think of
abnormal
behaviour as a
disease
Diagnosis: Distinguishing one
illness from another
Etiology: Refers to the
apparent causation and
developmental history of an
illness
Prognosis: A forecast about the
probable course of an illness
Criteria
1. Deviance
People are often said to have a
disorder because their
behaviours deviate from what
society considers acceptable
2. Maladaptive behaviour
Judged to have a psychological disorder because
their everyday adaptive behaviour is impaired
(Such as substance use)
3. Personal distress
Diagnosis of psychological disorder is
based on an individuals report of
great personal distress
Normality and
abnormality exist on
a continuum
Stereotypes
1. Psychological disorders are incurable
2. People with
psychological
disorders are often
violent and
dangerous
3. People with
psychological disorders
behave in bizzare ways
and are very different
from normal people
Psychodiagnosis (classification)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM) (Current
version is DSM-5)
1) History 2) Criteria 3) Assessment Measures
Comorbidity: The
coexistence of two or more
disorders
Prevalence of Psychological Disorders
Epidemiology: The study of the
distribution of mental or physical
disorders in a population
Prevalence: Refers to
the percentage of a
population that
exhibits a disorder
during a specified time
period
Lifetime Prevalence: Percentage of people who
endure a specific disorder at any time of their
lives
Life-time risk of a
psychiatric disorder to
be 51%
Most common
types of
psychological
disorders
1) Substance use disorders
2) Anxiety disorders
3) Mood disorders
Anxiety,
Obsessive-Compulsive
and Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorders
Anxiety Disorders: A class of disorders
marked by feelings of excessive
apprehension and anxiety
occur in roughly 19% of population
Generalized Anxiety Disorder:
Marked by chronic, high level of
anxiety that is not tied to any
specific threat
Specific Phobias: Marked by a persistent
and irrational fear of an object or situation
that presents no realistic danger
Panic Disorders: Characterized by
recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety
that usually occurs suddenly and
unexpectedly
Agoraphobia:
Fear of going out
to public places
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders(OCD): Is marked by
persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted
thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in
senseless rituals (compulsions).
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD): Follows an individuals
exposure to some type of chronic or
acute stressor
Etiology of Anxiety and
Anxiety-Related
Disorders
Biological Factors
Concordance rate: indicates
the percentage of twin pairs
or other pairs of relatives
who exhibit the same
disorder
Conditioning and Learning
Anxiety responses may
be acquired through
classical conditioning and
maintained through
operant conditioning
Cognitive Factors
Certain styles of
thinking make some
people particularly
vulnerable to anxiety
disorders
Stress
Dissociative Disorders
A class of disorders in which people
lose contact with portions of their
consciousness or memory, resulting in
disruptions in their sense of identity
Dissociative
Amnesia: A sudden
loss of memory for
important personal
information that is
too extensive to be
due to normal
forgetting
Dissociative fugue: people lose their memory for
their life and experiences, along with their sense
of personal identity
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Involves the
coexistence in one person of two or more largely
complete, and usually very different, personalities
(Multiple Personalities Disorder)
Mood Disorders
Bipolar II Disorder: Individuals suffer from episodes of major depression
along with hypomania in which their change in mood and behaviour is
less severe than those seen in full mania
Affect about 1% of
North American
population
Cyclothymic
Disorder: When
they exhibit chronic
but relatively mild
symptoms of
bipolar disturbance
Diversity
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): A type of
depression that follows a seasonal pattern
3% of Canadians
Postpartum Depression:
A type of depression
that sometimes occurs
after childbirth
Suicide
second leading cause
of death in ages 15-34
Etiology
Genetic Vulnerability
Heredity can create a
predisposition to mood
disorders
Biological and
Neurochemical
Factors
Heredity may influence susceptibility to mood
disorders by creating a predisposition toward
certain types of neurochemical abnormalities in
the brain
Hormonal Factors
Dispositional Factors
The role of personality
factors in eliciting and
maintaining depression
Interpersonal Roots
Behavioural approaches to understanding
depression emphasize how inadequate
social skills put people on the road to
depressive disorders
Sports Concussions
Precipitating Stress
Schizophrenia
A disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations,
disorganized speech, negative symptoms and
deterioration of adaptive behaviour
1% of population may
suffer from
Schizophrenia
General Symptoms
Delusions and Irrational Thoughts
Delusions: False beliefs that are
maintained even though they clearly are
out of touch with reality
Deterioration of
Adaptive
Behaviour
Hallucinations: Sensory
perceptions that occur in
the absence of a real,
external stimulus or are
gross distortions of
perceptual input
Disturbed Emotions
Positive Versus
Negative
Symptoms
Negative Symptoms: Involve
behavioural deficits, such as
flattened emotions, social
withdrawal, apathy, impaired
attention, and poverty of speech
Positive Symptoms: Involve
behavioural excesses or
peculiarities, such as hallucinations,
delusions, bizarre behaviour, and
wild flights of ideas
Course and Outcome
Usually emerges
during adolescence
or early adulthood
Emergence of Schizo
is usually insidious
and gradual
20% of those suffering
from Schizo enjoy a full
recovery
Etiology
Genetic Vulnerability
Hereditary factors
play a role
Neurochemical Factors
Structural
Abnormalities in
the Brain
Neurodevelopmental
Hypothesis
Caused in part by various disruptions in the
normal maturational processes of the brain
before or at birth
Expressed Emotion (EE): The degree to
which a relative of schizophrenic patient
displays highly critical or emotionally
overinvolved attitudes toward the patient
Precipitating Stress
Personality Disorders
A class of disorders marked by extreme,
inflexible personality traits that cause
subjective distress or impaired social and
occupational functioning
3 clusters
Anxious/Fearful
Odd/Eccentric
Dramtic/Impulsive
Diagnostic Problems
Personality disorders overlap with other
categories of disorders and with each
other
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Description
Marked by impulsive, callous, manipulative,
aggressive, and irresponsible behaviour that reflects a
failure to accept social norms
More frequent in males than females
Found in 3-6% of males and 1% of females
Etiology
Genetic predisposition toward these disorders
Disorders of Childhood
20% of the children and
youth in Canada will suffer
from mental illnesses
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Refers to a
developmental disorder characterized by social
and emotional deficits, along with repetitive and
stereotypic behaviours, interests and activities
Etiology
Biological dysfunctions
Research has failed to find an
association between vaccinations
and the development of autism
Psychological Disorders and the Law
Insanity
M'Naghten Rule: Insanity exists when a
mental disorder makes a person unable to
distinguish right from wrong
Automatism: The idea that you should
not be held responsible if you had no
control over your behaviour