Thursday, January 29, 2015

Abnormal Psychology (A.K.A Psychological Disorders) Notes 1/20/15

1/20/15
Abnormal Psychology (A.K.A Psychological Disorders) 

**Def- A "harmful dysfunction in which behavior is judge to be a typical, disturbing, manipulative, and unjust.

  • Early theories
-Abnormal behavior was "evil spirits"
  • Perspective and Disorders
Psychology, school, perspective and causes of the disorder.
  • DSMIV
          - Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: the big book of disorders
          -DSMIV will classify disorders and describe the symptoms.
          -DSMIV will not explain the causes or possible cures
  • 2 Major Classification in the DSM  
          1. Neurotic Disorders
                 -Distressing but one can still function in society and act rationally
          2. Psychotic Disorders
                 - Person loses control with reality, experiences distorted perceptions
  • Anxiety Disorders
- a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety of defenses against anxiety
- the patient fears something awful will happen to them
- they are in a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.   
  • Phobia
-  a person experience sudden episodes of intense dread
- must be an irrational fear
  • General Anxiety Disorder( GAD)
    -A anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
          -The patient s constantly tense and worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can't concentrate and suffers from insomnia.
  • Panic Disorder 
          - An anxiety disorder marked by a minute-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, and other frightening sensations.
  • Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder( OCD)  
- persistent unwanted thoughts(obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (Compulsive) to engage in a particular action.
-Obsession about dirt and germs may lead to compulsive hand washing
-Common OCD: washing, repeating, checking, touching
  • Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder( PTSD)
 -Flashbacks or nightmares following a person's involvement in of an extremely stressful events.
-Memories of the event cause anxiety
  • Somatoform Disorders
-Occurs when a person manifest a psychological problem through a physiological symptom
-2 Types
  1. Hypochondria 
- Has frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause.
-They usually believe that the minor issues(headache, upset stomach)  are indicative are more severe illnesses.
    
    2.  Conversion Disorder
-Report the existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason
-like blindness or paralysis      
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5 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 29, 2015 at 7:32 PM

    Could you tell if i am right or wrong about conversion disorder its when you have physical problem that could lead to for example blindness?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJanuary 29, 2015 at 8:38 PM

    for conversion disorder is it temporary paralysis and blindness?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dillon B.January 29, 2015 at 9:13 PM

    I really like the section on PTSD. I have had a family member suffer from this and it is very interesting to read about it. I was wondering if you could post on my blog as well? I would appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. aliFebruary 2, 2015 at 7:59 PM

    Alejandra you are correct. The symptoms of a conversion disorder include the loss of one or more bodily functions, such as: Blindness,Inability to speak,Numbness,Paralysis

    ReplyDelete
  5. aliFebruary 2, 2015 at 8:03 PM

    Franklin you are correct even though some doctors falsely believe that this disorder is not a real condition and may tell patients the problem is all in their head, but this condition is real. An example i found out online was that, a woman who believes it is not acceptable to have violent feelings may suddenly feel numbness in her arms after becoming so angry that she wanted to hit someone. Instead of allowing herself to have violent thoughts about hitting someone, she experiences the physical symptom of numbness in her arms.

    ReplyDelete

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