Ab Psych Final

Personality is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors

Personality Disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the individual who exhibits it

odd or eccentric.

paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal

dramatic, emotional, erratic.

antisocial, borderline, histrionic and narcissistic

anxious or fearful

avoidant, dependant and obsessive-compulsive

10-15%

1980

II

Axis I: Clinical disorders, including major mental disorders, and learning disorders

Axis II: Personality disorders and intellectual disabilities (although developmental disorders, such as Autism, were coded on Axis II in the previous edition, these disorders are now included on Axis I)

• Boarderline
• Antisocial
• Schizotypal

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is an international standard diagnostic classification for a wide variety of health conditions. Chapter V focuses on "mental and behavioural disorders" and consists of 10 main groups

Many symptoms can be applied to different diagnosis so it may be difficult to differentiate

a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components

some of these disorders can cause hospitalization, serious impairment, and some can look psychotic – e.g. OCD

excessive anxiety and worry, lasting at least 6 months and affecting many areas of a persons life

• abrupt onset of intense anxiety or terror than can usually come with
• shortness of breath
• dizziness or faintness
• shaking and/or sweating
• chest pain
• feeling detached
• fear of loss of control

fear of specific objects, people, or situations and the recognition that fear is out of proportion with reality and the fear is out of voluntary control.

• animals - snakes, or dogs
• heights

fear related to public scrutiny

often occurs with panic attacks, it is the fear of open or unfamiliar places. person may develope panic attacks and try to avoid places that they may occur in.

persistant obsessions and upsetting thoughts that can not be overcome. also occurs with compulsions - rituals to control the anxiety those thoughts produce. the person is unable to resist and this causes them impairment

exposure to traumatic event and intense fear, helplessness and horror. person re-experiences the event and experiences hyper-arousal and avoidence

Freud believed that anxiety stemmed from unconscious conflicts often related to the expression or fulfillment of our sexual and aggressive drives. Repression prevents us from experiencing conflict, but can lead to other symptoms, such as somatic complaints and dissociative symptoms (paralysis, loss of voice, physical pain, nausea, other, etc). Defense mechanisms operate to minimize the conflict, though they do not necessarily work and can lead to other maladaptive behaviors.

classical conditioning principles and exposure therapies

unrealistic appraisals of situations, overestimation of danger, combining cognitive and behavioral techniques to change beliefs and behaviors

• Genetic
• Brain function
• Drug therapies
• o Benzodiazepines
• o Antidepressants

• I - Description
• II - Etiology
• III - Risk Factors
• IV - Epidemiology
• V - Prognosis

Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result repeatedly.

the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. It is vital for a test to be valid in order for the results to be accurately applied and interpreted. Does it measure what it is intended to measure?

• • Symptoms - type and number
• • Duration
• • Impairment (or distress) in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning
• • Differential diagnosis - Can symptoms be explained by another mental diagnosis or a physical illness?

Our current understanding of the cause of the disorder, i.e, What is the balance of nature and nurture?

• Genetic
• Epigenetic
• Perinatal influences
• Brain structure and organization
• Brain neurotransmitters
• Endocrine system

What is the multifactoral polygenetic model?

this is different from gene mutation and Darwin’s theory of natural selection (hint: chemicals that act as software vs. hardware)

the neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia is an example of this

•When we talk about structure, we want to know if certain areas of the brain are implicated; when we talk about organization, we what to know if there are differences in the ways the neurons are connected or organized throughout the brain. Know what we learned about organization of neurons in our brain, specifically what is meant by the “small world network” model.

Know generally how these are related to the firing of neurons in our brains. Where are they located between neurons?

• hormones.
• • e.g, flight or fight response and release of cortosol in situations of stress. Know how the model of cortisol release under stress is an example of how stress can change the balance of chemicals in our body, which in turn, changes how we feel and respond (in other words, the environment is changing our biology)

As we gain more knowledge of human physical development and we better understand our brain and nervous system functioning, the model of a separation between biological and environmental influences comes more and more into question. We are moving toward a much more integrative and fluid model of the interaction between environmental influences on human development and our biological functioning.

‣ psychodynamic (Note: Freud’s theory of libido was an attempt to incorporate biological phenomena, e.g., sexual drives and how they “drive” development) ‣ cognitive-behavioral ‣ humanistic

more generally, this is thought to be important in many theoretical and empirical models of human development

• role of stressors, either chronic or acute, coping, and resilience.
• *risk factors and protective factors

When thinking about diagnoses, we want to know what factors are that increase the likelihood that someone will develop an illness or experience significant distress

we want to know what factors reduce the likelihood that someone will develop an illness or experience significant distress

biological or environmental, e.g., genetic, biological/physiological characteristics, personality characteristics, coping skills, social class, exposure to trauma, etc.

cope effectively or resist the negative effects of risk factors when exposed to them, i.e., what enables someone to do well in a situation when most people in a similar situation would be negatively impacted

etiology. Risk factors are thought of as conditions that increase the likelihood of an illness occurring, without being the root cause, though they are sometimes confused and can change as we gain more information about diagnoses. To illustrate the difference between causes and risk factors with a more common illness, I may be more likely to catch the flu if my immune system is weakened by other problems. This increases the likelihood that I will get sick, but is not the cause of my sickness; it is caused by a virus.

How common is this diagnosis? How often does it occur? Are there certain groups of people who are more likely to obtain this diagnosis, based on age, gender, ethnic and cultural differences? Is there a difference in the distribution of this diagnosis among different populations of people or in different geographical areas or the time it occurs in history?

• prevalence
• incidence
• gender differences
• ethnic and cultural differences
• age differences
• geographical differences
• socioeconomic differences
• historical differences (cohort effect)

What is the anticipated course of impairment, the likely extent of recovery, and the likelihood of a recurrence?

what types of treatments are effective?

• 1) Psychotherapies -
• 2) Psychotropic medications - Know what main neurotransmitter is implicated in schizophrenia, and what main neurotransmitter is implicated in depression. What is the first line of treatment for bipolar illness?
• 3) Others

• • mind and body are not separate
• • individual vs. collaborative/group emphasis
• • our way is not always the best, even if it is based on science
• • we can learn from others