lesson 7- Psychological Disorders

• Psychopathology (mental illness)


  Study of mental illness and its causes. It is often seen as a failure to adapt to the environment

  
• Mental Disorders in Canada (stats 2022)

  Over 5 million Canadians (18%) aged 15 and older met the diagnostic criteria for a mood, anxiety, or substance use disorder in the previous 12months
• What defines a mental disorder?

  1. Statstaical rarity

  2. Subjective distress

  3. Impairment

  4. Biological Dysfunction

  5. Societal disapproval
• Statistical rarity


  Criterion for mental disorders based on uncommon occurrence
• Subjective distress


  Criterion for mental disorders based on feelings of pain and suffering
• Impairment


  Criterion for mental disorders based on interference with daily functioning
• Biological Dysfunction


  Criterion for mental disorders based on physiological system breakdowns
• Societal Disapproval


  Criterion for mental disorders based on deviation from social norms
• DSM-V


  Diagnostic manual for mental disorders by the American Psychiatric Association
• Inter-rater reliability


  Consistency of diagnoses between different clinicians
• Comorbidity


  Presence of two or more disorders in the same individual
• Categorical model


  Classification of disorders into distinct categories
• Dimensional model


  View of disorders as existing on a continuum of severity
• Medicalizing normality


  Process of labeling normal behaviors as pathological
• Anxiety


  Emotion characterized by worry and somatic symptoms
• Fear


  Response to immediate threat, different from anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)


  Persistent worry, tension, and irritability across various areas.

  - 60% of each day worrying

  - Female 〉Male
• Panic Disorder


  Recurrent panic attacks with persistent fear of future attacks
• Phobias


  Intense fear of specific objects or situations
• agoraphobia


  fear of being in a place or situation from which escape isdifficult or embarrassing.
• Specific Phobia


  fear of objects, places, or situations.
• Social Anxiety Disorder


  Intense fear of negative evaluation in social situations.

  - public speaking

  - meeting new ppl

  - eating in public
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)


  Marked by obsessions and compulsions causing distress.

  - 1 hr a day
• Common Obsesson


  - Contamination or germs

  - Accidental harm to self or others

  - Forbidden thoughts (sex, aggression, religion/blasphemy)

  - Symmetry and exactness

  - Need for perfection
• common compulsions


  - Hand-washing Repetitive cleaning of already clean things

  - Rechecking of locks, windows, faucets, oven

  - Performing tasks in set ways, arranging/rearranging, counting, tapping/touching

  - mental rituals
• Hoarding Disorder


  Excessive acquisition of unnecessary items with difficulty discarding
• Learning Models of Anxiety

  Acquisition and maintenance of anxiety through conditioning
• Cognitive Factors


  Thinking styles and attentional focus affecting anxiety
• catastrophic thinking


  predicting terrible events despite low probability.
• Anxiety Sensitivity


  negative misinterpretation/fear of minor physical symptom
• Biological Influences


  Genetic and neurochemical factors influencing anxiety disorders
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)


  Common mood disorder characterized by persistent sadness
• major depressive episode


  (5 or more symptoms for at least 2 weeks)
• Major Depression Characteristics


  Includes recurrent episodes lasting 6 months to 1 year.
• Recurrent Episodes


  Experiencing 5-6 episodes of major depression in a lifetime.
• Depressive Realism


  Having a more accurate view of circumstances.
• Learned Helplessness


  Tendency to feel helpless in uncontrollable situations.
• Cognitive Distortions


  Includes selective abstraction and overgeneralization.
• Bipolar Disorder


  Involves depressive and manic episodes.
• Manic Episode


  Characterized by elevated mood, decreased need for sleep.