PSYCH101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Mental Disorder, Stressor, Alprazolam
2 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Clinical Psychology
What is clinical psychology?
-Research-based field aimed at understanding, preventing and relieving psychologically-based
distress or dysfunction
•Clinicians
•Researcher based field aimed at understanding, preventing and relieving psychologically -
based distress or dysfunction
•Require PhDs
•Alternatives: Counselling Psychology, School Psychology, Social Worker, etc.
Mental Disorders: Basic Concepts
What are mental disorders?
psychological or behavioural patterns that are generally associated with subjective distress or
disability, and which are not a part of typical development or culture.
- can be to high or low in something e.g. mood
-high to low misery
-high or low arousal vs. dependency
-high or low irrationality
-Symptom vs Syndrome
-Symptom is an individual characteristic of thought, feelings, behaviours
-Dimensional (a matter of degree)
-Categorical (all or none)
-Syndrome is a constellation of symptoms in individual
- = mental disorder if
-clinically significant
-derives from internal source
-not under voluntary control
Why should we care about mental disorders?
-Greatest proportion of disability in developed countries
Multiple causation
-Predisposing causes - in place before onset
-Precipitating causes - immediate events that bring on disorder (stressor)
-Perpetuating causes - consequences of disorder - keeps disease going
Gender Differences in Prevalence
-Large gender differences in prevalence
-Differences in Reporting
-Men report less psychological distress than do women
-don’t admit distress
-physiological vs psychological
Clinical Psychology
-Tradeoff - men more likely to self medicate
Differences in Experiences
-Men and women have different social experiences
-Women
-abuse from spouses
-abuse in childhood
Issues of Diagnosis
-Diagnostic Statistical Manual - V (DSM-V)
-Reliability
-Validity
Labeling people
-useful/necessary but can lead to stigma
The DSM of Mental Disorders
-behaviour that causes distress, impairs daily functioning, increases risks
-DSM provides
-set of symptoms
-prognosis - the expected progression
Classes of Disorders
-Anxiety and other fear related disorders
-Mood Disorders
-Personality Disorders
-Schizophrenia
Anxiety Disorders
-Anxiety - vague feeling of fear
-Everyone experiences it
-Part of typical fight or flight response
-Anxeity Disorders - irrational, uncontrollable, and disruptive anxeity
Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD)
-constant worry that seriously interferes with functioning
-headaches
-stomach aches
-muscle tension
-irritability
-Causes
Clinical Psychology
-predisposing: hyper vigilance; quite heritable
-precipitating: major life event
-Official Diagnostic Criteria:
-constant worry on most days for at least 6 months
-not caused by drugs
-Case study
-Joe had anxiety so he joined the army for 20 years
-army has rules and structure
-He left the army at 45, the anxiety returned
-Confronted by his wife
-Seeks professional help
Panic Disorders
-debilitating anxiety and fear arise frequently and without reasonable cause (panic attacks)
-Symptoms
-Panic attacks (racing heartbeat, difficulty breathing, dizziness)
-Live in fear of attacks
-Can lead to agoraphobia ( fear of being in public)
-Causes
-unclear
-highly heritable
-Official criteria
-Recurrent unexpected attacks
-At least one attack followed by one month or more of
-persistent concern
-maladaptive avoidance behaviours
-Treatment
-Informational
Phobias
-irrational and excessive fear of an object or situation
-Symptoms
-know fear is irrational
-avoid the stimulus but see it easily
-may focus on
-category of objects
-event or situation
-social setting
-Official Criteria
-marked fear
-provokes immediate anxeity
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Document Summary
What are mental disorders? psychological or behavioural patterns that are generally associated with subjective distress or disability, and which are not a part of typical development or culture. Can be to high or low in something e. g. mood. Symptom is an individual characteristic of thought, feelings, behaviours. Syndrome is a constellation of symptoms in individual. Greatest proportion of disability in developed countries. Predisposing causes - in place before onset. Precipitating causes - immediate events that bring on disorder (stressor) Perpetuating causes - consequences of disorder - keeps disease going. Men report less psychological distress than do women. Tradeoff - men more likely to self medicate. Men and women have different social experiences. Behaviour that causes distress, impairs daily functioning, increases risks. Part of typical ght or ight response. Anxeity disorders - irrational, uncontrollable, and disruptive anxeity. Constant worry that seriously interferes with functioning. Constant worry on most days for at least 6 months.
