This is a comprehensive and detailed note on psychological disorders Covers abnormality (what is is, how to define it), the history of psychological disorders, diagnosis and classification, anxiety, mood disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia, mental health care in South Africa, cultural variat...
1. Deviance from the statistical norm
Frequently occurring behaviour = normal
Rare behaviour = abnormal
BUT rare does not always mean the presence of psychopathology (such as a high IQ)
Who determines the cut-off point? 1% of people? 50% of people?
2. Deviance from the social norm
Person’s behaviour differs from society’s norms
Should behaving differently = psychopathology?
Assumes socially normal behaviour is adaptive
Can be used as a means of social control: different genders often expected to behave in certain ways
Homosexuality used to be classified as a disorder in the DSM
3. Subjective discomfort/distress
Symptoms cause significant distress
Allows people to judge their need for treatment
But.. what if a person’s behaviour is harmful but not distressing? Eg: substance abuse
What if behaviour causes distress to others but not to themselves? Eg: narcissism
4. Maladaptive behaviour
Individual cannot function effectively in daily life
Person may be a threat to self and/or others
Could symptoms become adaptive?
Working definition
Used by psychologists to determine whether or not psychological functioning is abnormal
Psych. disorders must fill at least 2 of these criteria:
, - Unusualness
- Deviance from the social norm
- Significant distress/discomfort
- Maladaptive (leads to inability to function)
- Danger to self and/or others
Psychological disorder defined as: patterns of behaviour or psychological functioning that causes people significant
distress, causes them to harm themselves or others, or harms their ability to function in daily life.
Example: depression
Depressed mood; insomnia or hypersomnia; recurrent thoughts of death or suicide ( distress)
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities; diminished concentration or indecisiveness (maladaptive)
Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide (unusualness and dangerous)
History of Psychological disorders
Demonic possession
Symptoms of psychopathology are a result of being possessed by evil demons
Sudden changes in behaviour and personality = possession
Treatment = exorcism
Trephination: boring a hole into the skull to release demons responsible for abnormal behaviour
Witchcraft
Witches believed to be renounced by god and voluntarily having made a pact with the devil
Massive persecution, especially amongst women
Thousands accused of witchcraft and executed for “abnormal” behaviour
Diagnostic tests designed to identify witches (water-float test)
Means of social control
Imbalance of body’s vital fluids
Hippocrates: Illnesses of body and mind have natural causes
Health of body and mind depends upon balance of 4 humors / vital fluids:
- Phlegm
- Black bile
- Yellow bile
- Blood
The medical model
General paresis: psychological symptoms include personality changes, mood changes and dementia
1905: discovered that general paresis had a physical cause (untreated syphilis)
Lent support to the Somatogenic Hypothesis: biological impairments cause/explain psychological problems (eg.
Seratonin is involved with depression)
Gave rise to medical model and psychiatry
Psychological orders can therefore be diagnosed and treated
, However, it can be tricky/impossible to find a direct cause for a psych. disorder
Diagnosis and Classification
DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders
Lists all of the psychological disorders and their symptoms
In 1952 there were only 128 diagnoses and 132 pages. Now, there are 541 diagnoses and 947 pages.
Positive aspects of DSM
- Create a common language for research and data sharing
- Understand the cause of psychopathology
- Develop effective treatment and prevention strategies
- Assess the effectiveness of treatments
- Organise services and support (need diagnosis to access)
- Forensics, special education needs, financial compensation, medical aid
Negative aspects of DSM
- Assumes disorders are universal
- Locates the disorder within the individual
- Labelling people can be stigmatising and harmful (prejudicial)
- Labelling people influences how they see themselves and how others see them
- Defines disorders as discrete entities (you either have it or you don’t)
- High rates of comorbidity (79% meet the criteria for more than one disorder)
- ‘hodgepodge collection of disorders’: rare/common; too much self-control/too little self-control
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety =
- Future-orientated mood state accompanied by a strong affect
- Free-floating anxiety: anxiety that in unrelated to any realistic and specific known factor
Worry is more of a thought
Anxiety disorders: where the most dominant symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety.
Symptoms of anxiety
Emotional Cognitive Somatic Behavioural
Restlessness Worry Increased heart rate Freezing up
Irritability Poor concentration Sweating Escape (flight)
Sense of dread Anticipating harm Rapid breathing Aggression (fight)
Terror Fear of losing control Muscle tension Avoidance
or dying Dilated pupils Decreased appetite
Hypervigilance
What are anxiety disorders?
An excessive or aroused state characterised by feelings of apprehension, uncertainty and fear
The anxiety is:
• Out of proportion to the threat posed
• A state that the individual constantly finds themselves in
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