● Basic Concepts of Psychological disorders
■ Psychological disorder- syndrome marked by a clinically significant
disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotions regulation, or behavior
■ Distress is a factor
■ Must be dysfunctional
○ Understanding psychological disorders
● Philippe Pinel started the revolution of treating mental illnesses
with kindness and not brutal treatment
■ The medical model- concept that disorders can be diagnosed, treated,
and cured
■ The biopsychosocial approach- idea that disorders reflect genetics,
physiological states, psych dynamics, and social and cultural
circumstances
● Epigenetics- The study of environmental influence on expression
of genes without a DNA change
○ Classifying disorders and labeling people
■ Attempts to Predict course, suggest treatment, prompt research into
causes
■ DSM 5- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders-
● Those creating must agree but then individual docs (70%)
● Subject to the self-confirming bias
○ Rates of psychological disorders
■ Usually strikes by early adulthood
■ Strong correlation with disorders and poverty
● Anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD
○ Anxiety disorders- characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety, or
maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
■ Generalized anxiety disorder- a person is continually tense,
apprehensive, and in a state of automatic system arousal
■ Panic disorder- unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in
which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pains,
choking or other frightening sensations.
● Often causes agoraphobia- fear of being in a state where you
can’t easily escape to deal with the attack
■ Phobias- persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of some object, activity,
or situation.
○ Obsessive compulsive disorder- unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions),
actions (Compulsions), or both
■ Strong genetic basis
○ Posttraumatic stress disorder- haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal,
jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks
or more after traumatic experiences
■
■ Psychological disorder- syndrome marked by a clinically significant
disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotions regulation, or behavior
■ Distress is a factor
■ Must be dysfunctional
○ Understanding psychological disorders
● Philippe Pinel started the revolution of treating mental illnesses
with kindness and not brutal treatment
■ The medical model- concept that disorders can be diagnosed, treated,
and cured
■ The biopsychosocial approach- idea that disorders reflect genetics,
physiological states, psych dynamics, and social and cultural
circumstances
● Epigenetics- The study of environmental influence on expression
of genes without a DNA change
○ Classifying disorders and labeling people
■ Attempts to Predict course, suggest treatment, prompt research into
causes
■ DSM 5- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders-
● Those creating must agree but then individual docs (70%)
● Subject to the self-confirming bias
○ Rates of psychological disorders
■ Usually strikes by early adulthood
■ Strong correlation with disorders and poverty
● Anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD
○ Anxiety disorders- characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety, or
maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
■ Generalized anxiety disorder- a person is continually tense,
apprehensive, and in a state of automatic system arousal
■ Panic disorder- unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in
which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pains,
choking or other frightening sensations.
● Often causes agoraphobia- fear of being in a state where you
can’t easily escape to deal with the attack
■ Phobias- persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of some object, activity,
or situation.
○ Obsessive compulsive disorder- unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions),
actions (Compulsions), or both
■ Strong genetic basis
○ Posttraumatic stress disorder- haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal,
jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks
or more after traumatic experiences
■
