AP Psych U10: Psychological Disorders and Abnormal Behavior

• “insane” refers to cognition or judgment impaired at the time of a crime
• Distress


  Feeling that something is wrong
• Philippe Pinel (1826)

  • “madness” not caused by demons, but sickness of mind
  • medical model of psychological disorders
  • Biopsychosocial approach
• Dysfunction


  Ability to live/work is impaired
• “sanity” and “insanity” are legal terms, not psychological terms
• Deviant


  Different from cultural context; standards change across cultures and situations
• DSM-5 provides lists of symptoms and duration necessary for diagnosis
• American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is used to evaluate psychological disorders
• DSM-5 is designed to constantly change
• Generalized anxiety disorder involves persistent excessive tension around unfocused, negative feelings
• Anxiety disorders involve distressing, persistent anxiety and dysfunctional behaviors to reduce it
• Panic disorder involves repeated unexpected panic attacks without the presence of danger
• Checkers compulsively check to make sure something is right
• Hoarders have severe anxiety about discarding possessions
• PTSD trauma - extremely stressful event
• Post traumatic stress disorder


  persistent mental or emotional stress resulting from traumatic experience
• PTSD symptoms

  1. Re-living the event (intrusive memories, nightmares, etc.)

  2. Avoiding associated situations associated with event

  3. Panic/anxiety symptoms (extreme limbic arousal = vivid memories + emotions)

  4. Invasive feelings and beliefs associated with event
• Somatic symptom disorder - physical symptoms resulting from psychological factors
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Types

  • Checkers
  • Hoarders
  • Counters
  • Cleaners
• Illness anxiety disorder (hypochondriasis) - persistent, excessive worry about health or health problems
• Phobias

  • Persistent, irrational fears of specific situations or objects that lead to maladaptive or avoidance behaviors
• Post traumatic growth - favorable psychological changes from processing traumatic events
• Schizophrenia characteristics


  1. Usually appears around mid 20s in men, late 20s in women

  2. Linked to excessive dopamine receptors - causes selective attention to assign relevance to irrelevant internal and external stimuli

  3. Atypical brain activity in amygdala (emotion) and prefrontal lobe regions involved in working memory

  4. Strong evidence of vulnerability being genetic (diathesis); certain environmental factors more likely to activate (stress, drug use, etc.)
• Major depressive disorder symptoms

  1. sad, gloomy, or melancholic mood
  2. significant changes in weight/appetite
  3. sleeping too much/too little
  4. lethargy, fatigue
  5. lost interest in things that used to be enjoyable
• Mood disorders


  Mood is distorted, inappropriate for situation, or fluctuates between extremes; results in deviant or dysfunctional behavior
• Bipolar disorder (formerly manic-depressive disorder) - alternating periods of depression and mania
• diathesis: certain environmental factors more likely to activate
• Types of Symptoms

  • Positive symptoms
  • Negative symptoms
• Disorganized symptoms


  • Cognition or expression disorderly
• Positive symptoms


  • Thoughts, behaviors, or perceptions resulting from the disorder
• Positive symptoms

  • Hallucinations
  • Delusions
  • Disorganized Symptoms
• Dissociation is a break from consciousness
• Dissociative identity disorder


  individual exhibits more than one alternating personalities/fragments which take control of behavior and cognition
• Negative symptoms


  • Diminished abilities or emotions
• Dissociative disorder is persistent, involuntary breaks from or interruptions in primary consciousness
• Schizoaffective Disorder is a combination of schizophrenia with a mood disorder
• Negative symptoms

  • Flat affect
  • Catatonia
• Trauma-dissociation model: response to traumatic events (especially childhood sexual abuse)
• Dissociative amnesia is inability to recall information due to involuntary dissociation
• Dissociative fugue is an episode of involuntary dissociation during which a new identity takes over