WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS?

WHAT IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER?

Discuss this term with a partner and agree on a definition.

A psychological disorder is a behavior pattern or mental process that causes serious personal suffering or interferes with a person’s ability to cope with every day life.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

• Very few people are actually affected by psychological disorders.• People sometimes forget a very traumatic event as a way of coping with the psychological stress of the trauma.• People whose illnesses are “all in their heads” do not really have symptoms of disease.• Depression is the most common type of psychological disorder.• Some people do not feel guilty, even when they commit serious crimes.

IDENTIFYING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Why is it difficult to identify a psychology disorder?

…because it is hard to define what is “normal” or “abnormal.”

-using this definition of normality, deviation from the majority becomes the primary criterion for abnormality- people with PDs usually do not differ much from “normal” people-difference is an exaggeration of certain behaviors or mental processes-example: laughing

SYMPTOMS OF PDS

several behavior patterns and mental processes may suggest that an individual has a PD:

- typicality- maladaptivity- emotional discomfort- socially unacceptable

behavior

TYPICALITY

-the degree to which a behavior is average, or typical, of the behavior of the majority of people

What is the problem with trying to judge this symptom?

The fact that a behavior is not typical of most people does not mean it is abnormal.

MALADAPTIVITY

-behavior that impairs an individual’s ability to function adequately in everyday life• causes misery and stress• hazardous behavior

-most people who commit violent crimes do not have PDs- the majority of people with PDs are not violent or dangerous

EMOTIONAL DISCOMFORT

-constantly feeling sad, helpless, hopeless, worthless, or any extreme negative emotion- often lose interest in virtually everything they once enjoyed and believe that life is no longer worth living- sometimes leads the individual to consider suicide

SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR

-behavior that violates a society’s accepted norms- what is considered normal in one culture may be considered abnormal in another- cultural context of a behavior must be taken into account before deciding the behavior indicates a PD

CLASSIFYING PDS

-most widely used classification system for PDs is the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)- classification of PDs is constantly changing and has changed significantly from its past stigma

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

We will be looking at six major types of PDs:-anxiety disorders-dissociative disorders-somatoform disorders-mood disorders-schizophrenia-personality disorders

Many of the symptoms are just exaggerations of normal thoughts, feelings, or behaviors

Turn to pg. 412 in your textbooks

We are going to read a case study together