PSYC 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Autism Spectrum, Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder
3 May 2018
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Introduction to Psychological Disorders
Defining Psychological Disorders
Normality Versus Disorder
●A psychological disorder is a syndrome (collection of symptoms) marked by a “clinically
significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior
●Disturbed, or dysfunctional thoughts, emotions, or behaviors are maladaptive
○They interfere with normal day-to-day life
●Distress often accompanies dysfunctional behaviors
Understanding Psychological Disorders
●The Medical Model
○Reformers of early brutal treatments believed that curing mental illnesses requires
“moral treatment,” including boosting patients’ morale
○Hospitals replaced asylums and the medical model of mental disorders was born
■The concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have
physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured,
often through treatment in a hospital.
The Biopsychosocial Approach
●In the study of disorders, our behaviors, our thoughts, and our feelings are formed by the
interaction of biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences
○As individuals, we differ in the amount of stress we experience and in the ways
we cope with stressors.
○Cultures also differ in their sources of stress and in traditional ways of coping
●Some disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, occur worldwide
○Other disorders tend to be associated with specific cultures.
■In Malaysia, amok describes a sudden outburst of violent behavior
■Latin America lays claim to susto, a condition marked by severe anxiety,
restlessness, and a fear of black magic.
■In Japanese culture, people may experience taijin kyofusho—social
anxiety about their appearance, combined with a readiness to blush and a
fear of eye contact.
■The eating disorders occur mostly in food-abundant Western cultures.
■Such disorders may share an underlying dynamic (such as anxiety) while
differing in the symptoms manifested in a particular culture
●Disorders reflect genetic predispositions and physiological states, inner psychological
dynamics, and social and cultural circumstances.
○The biopsychosocial approach emphasizes that mind and body are inseparable
■Negative emotions contribute to physical illness, and physical
abnormalities contribute to negative emotions.
●Epigenetics, the study of how nurture shapes nature, also informs our understanding of
disorders
○Our environment can affect whether a gene is expressed or not, and thus affect the
development of various psychological disorders
■Ex: Identical twins (with identical genes) do not share the same risks of
developing psychological disorders.
●They are more likely, but not always destined, to develop the same
disorders. Their varying environmental factors influence whether
certain culprit genes are expressed
Classifying Disorders - and Labeling People
●Diagnostic classification gives more than a thumbnail sketch of a person’s disordered
behavior, thoughts, or feelings.
●In psychiatry and psychology, classification also aims to
○Predict the disorder’s future course
○Suggest appropriate treatment
○Prompt research into its causes
●The American Psychology Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fifth Edition
○The most common tool for describing disorders and estimating how often they
occur
■Physicians and mental health workers use the detailed “diagnostic criteria
and codes” in the DSM-5 to guide medical diagnoses and treatment
○In the DSM-5, some diagnostic labels have changed.
■The conditions formerly called “autism” and “Asperger’s syndrome” have
now been combined under the label autism spectrum disorder.
■“Mental retardation” has become intellectual disability.
■New categories, such as hoarding disorder and binge-eating disorder, have
been added.
■Some of the new or altered diagnoses are controversial
●Ex: Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a new DSM-5
diagnosis for children “who exhibit persistent irritability and
frequent episodes of behavior outbursts three or more times a week
for more than a year.”
○Will this diagnosis assist parents who struggle with
unstable children, or will it “turn temper tantrums into a
mental disorder” and lead to overmedication, as the chair of
the previous DSM edition has warned
○Real-world tests (field trials) have assessed clinician agreement when using the
new DSM-5 categories
■Some diagnoses, such as adult PTSD and childhood ASD fared
well—with agreement near 70%
●If one psychiatrist or psychologist diagnosed someone with one of
these disorders, there was a 70% chance that another mental health
worker would independently give the same diagnosis
■Others, such as antisocial personality disorder and generalized anxiety
disorder, fared poorly.
○Critics have long faulted the DSM for casting too wide a net and bringing “almost
any kind of behavior within the compass of psychiatry”
■Some worry that the DSM-5’s wide net will extend the pathologizing of
everyday life
●Ex: Turning childish rambunctiousness into ADHD, and
bereavement grief into a depressive disorder
■Others respond that hyperactivity and depression, though needing careful
definition, are genuine disorders
Document Summary
A psychological disorder is a syndrome (collection of symptoms) marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual"s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior. Disturbed, or dysfunctional thoughts, emotions, or behaviors are maladaptive. Reformers of early brutal treatments believed that curing mental illnesses requires. Hospitals replaced asylums and the medical model of mental disorders was born. The concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital. In the study of disorders, our behaviors, our thoughts, and our feelings are formed by the interaction of biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences. As individuals, we differ in the amount of stress we experience and in the ways we cope with stressors. Cultures also differ in their sources of stress and in traditional ways of coping. Some disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, occur worldwide. Other disorders tend to be associated with specific cultures.
