PSYC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Panic Attack
14 Dec 2016
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Psychological Disorders
● Psychological Disorders- patterns of thoughts/feelings/actions that are deviant,
distressful and dysfunctional
○ Disorder- state of mental/behavioral ill health
○ For there to be distress and dysfunction, symptoms must be sufficiently severe to
interfere with one’s daily life and wellbeing
● Nature of Psychological Disorders
○ Older understanding ⇒ treatment included exorcism, beatings, caging/restraint
○ Pinel proposed that mental disorders were caused by environmental factors
○ Led to Medical Model- rise of psychopathology and can be diagnosed and
treated based on symptoms
● Classifying Psychological Disorders
○ Diagnoses help:
■ Creating a verbal shorthand for referring to a list of associated symptoms
■ To statistically study many similar cases
■ Guide treatment choices
○ Diagnostic Statistic Manual
■ Used to justify payment and treatment
■ Critiques:
● Calls too many people “disordered”
● Border between diagnoses seems arbitrary
● Includes value judgements
○ Just because it’s abnormal does that mean it’s a disorder?
○ Up to discretion of an individual
○ Homosexuality at one point was defined as a disorder
● Diagnostic labels direct how we view and interpret the world
● Anxiety Disorders
○ Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
■ Emotional-Cognitive Symptoms: worrying, having anxious feelings and
thoughts about many subjects, sometimes “free-floating” anxiety with no
attachment to any subject
■ Physical Symptoms: autonomic arousal, trembling, sweating, etc.
○ Panic Disorder
■ Panic Disorder- repeated and unexpected panic attacks, as well as fear of
the next attack and a change in behavior to avoid panic attacks
■ NOT just an anxiety attack
■ Many minutes of intense dread of terror
■ Some say they feel like they’re dying
■ Need to escape
○ Specific Phobia
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Psychological disorders- patterns of thoughts/feelings/actions that are deviant, distressful and dysfunctional. For there to be distress and dysfunction, symptoms must be sufficiently severe to interfere with one"s daily life and wellbeing. Older understanding treatment included exorcism, beatings, caging/restraint. Pinel proposed that mental disorders were caused by environmental factors. Led to medical model- rise of psychopathology and can be diagnosed and treated based on symptoms. Emotional-cognitive symptoms: worrying, having anxious feelings and thoughts about many subjects, sometimes free-floating anxiety with no attachment to any subject. Physical symptoms: autonomic arousal, trembling, sweating, etc. Panic disorder- repeated and unexpected panic attacks, as well as fear of the next attack and a change in behavior to avoid panic attacks. Many minutes of intense dread of terror. Some say they feel like they"re dying. Creating a verbal shorthand for referring to a list of associated symptoms. Homosexuality at one point was defined as a disorder. Diagnostic labels direct how we view and interpret the world.
