Psychological Disorders

• By the time Canadians reach 40, 1 in 2 have, or have had, a mental illness
• In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental illness or addiction problem
• Individual, social, economic costs

  Referred to as disease burden
• Changing attitudes
• Continuum of Mental Health

  • "Normal" - "Abnormal"
  • Deviance
  • Maladaptive Behaviour
  • Personal Distress
• Diagnostic System


  • The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
  • Intensity
  • Frequency
  • Duration
• Epidemiologists


  • Study the distribution of mental and physical disorders in a population
  • Help paint a picture of what a disease does and how it can be prevented and treated
  • Study the cause of the disease
  • Study the neighborhood, city, state, country, and global spread
  • Study the health impact of the disease
  • Study disease frequency and patterns
  • Study the socioeconomic impact of the disease
• Prevalence


  Percentage of a population that exhibits a disorder during a specified time
• Etiology


  Apparent causation and developmental history of an illness
• Prognosis


  Forecast about the probable course of an illness
• Stigmatization


  A reduction in the status of a group of people due to perceived deficiencies
• Anxiety Disorders


  A class of disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension and anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder


  • Free-floating anxiety
  • Anxiety plus any 3: restless or feeling on edge, easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance
  • 6 months or longer
• Panic Disorder


  Recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and expectedly
• Social Anxiety Disorder


  Fear or anxiety about being humiliated or scrutinized in social situations
• Agoraphobia


  Fear of going out in public spaces
• Specific Phobia


  Persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger
• Subtypes of Specific Phobia

  • Animal type
  • Natural environment type
  • Blood-injection-injury type
  • Situational type
  • Other type
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)


  • Persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts and urges to engage in senseless rituals
  • Obsessive- thoughts
  • Compulsive- behaviours
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Enduring anxiety and disturbance attributed to a major traumatic event
  • Stressor: death, injury, sexual violence
  • Intrusion symptoms: nightmares, daytime flashbacks
  • Avoidance
  • Negative Cognitions, Mood: amnesia, negative thoughts about self and the world, self blame, survival guilt
  • Alterations in Arousal, Reactivity: aggressive, might engage in risky behaviours, higher startle response
  • Duration: more than a month
• Mood Disorders


  Disorders marked by emotional disturbances that can affect physical, perceptual, social, and thought processes
• Types of Mood Disorders

  • Major Depressive Disorder
  • Persistent Depressive Disorder
  • Bipolar 1
  • Bipolar 2
  • Cyclothymic Disorder
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder
  • Postpartum Depression
• Depression


  Females are more likely to have depression than men
• Symptoms of Depression


  • Emotional: negative mood state, failure is going to continue to happen
  • Cognitive: Difficulty on starting on tasks, difficulty getting out of bed
  • Motivational
  • Somatic: Disruption in sleep, weight, appetite
• Major Depressive Disorder


  Intense magnification of depressive symptoms lasting at least 2 weeks, person doesn't seem to be themselves, weight: 5% or more in a month, mean for episodes is 5-6 in a lifetime
• Persistent Depressive Disorder


  Chronic depression of less intensity than major depressive disorder, person is a lot more functional, last from 2-20 years, median is 5 years, may experience improvement in mood, use to be known as dysthymia
• Bipolar 1


  Mania + Depression, manic episode coupled with major depressive episodes, don't need to have depression
• Bipolar 2


  Hypomania + Depression, less intense version of mania
• Cyclothymia


  Brief periods of episodes have to occur 50% of the time, has to go on for 2 years
• Mania


  • Elevated mood and increased levels of activity
  • Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; special talents and powers
  • Decrease need for sleep, being up for several days at a time
  • Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
  • Highly distractible, difficulty with concentrating on one thing
  • Increase in goal directed activity
  • Not appreciating the consequences of their actions
• Seasonal Affective Disorder


  Fall to end of winter, less daytime light, individuals experience a bit of depression
• Postpartum Depression


  It's not unusual for new mothers to feel a little bit down, "baby blues", symptoms are mild, some will experience it deeper, 10-15% of new mothers, more urban environment than rural, recent immigrants
• Etiology of Mood Disorders

  • Genetic Factors
  • Neurotransmitter Imbalances
  • Cognitive Triad: individual has a negative view of themselves, future and the world (their world)
  • Learned Helplessness
  • Attributional Style
  • Rumination: they are thinking about the symptoms of depression, that they are tired, not sleeping, lack of motivation, high more likely prolonged and severe symptoms
  • Ideal Self, the person we wanna be vs Actual Self, the person we believe we are
• Teens who spent more than 3 hrs a day on social media "faced 2x the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety"
• Frequency of social media use is important, but so is the nature of online activities. Using it for funny videos vs cyber bullying
• Enhancing awareness of how online use patterns affect our mood: How does it make you feel?
• Dissociative Amnesia


  Sudden loss of memory important personal info, isn't standard forgetting, important elements of their personal story
• Dissociative Fugue


  The individual is in an amnesia state, travel away from home, "discover" new identity, when they awaken from state, they don't recall anything that happened, they don't know who they are or how they got there, it's usually once and they don't experience another one
• Dissociative Identity Disorder


  • Use to be "Multiple Personality Disorder", two or more personalities mean is 15-16, host is displayed most frequently, alters display less frequently, personalities are different from one another, diff names, genders, accents, personalities aren't aware of each others, one way level of awareness personality a might be aware of personality b but personality b isn't aware of personality a
  • Primary (host) and Alter
  • Trauma Dissociation Theory: somewhere along the way individual experiences trauma, childhood trauma, which leads individual to engage in self protection, imagine personality is glass drop it and it shatters into pieces, glass is personality, recover through therapy
• Schizophrenia


  A disorder involving some combination of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, negative symptoms, and deterioration of adaptive behaviour, splitting of the mind, splitting of reality, loss of touch with the world, 0.6% of the population in Canada, 5-14% homeless experience schizophrenia, 25% will attempt suicide, 1/10 will complete suicide, suicide is the leading cause of death with people with schizophrenia