Introduction
A psychological disorder is a syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior. These behavior interfere with normal day-to-day life.
Medical Model
The medical model is the concept that psychological disorders have physical causes that can be: diagnosed, treated, and in most cases cured;
Often through treatment in a hospital
Biopsychosocial Approach
The biopsychosocial approach seeks to explain how biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors interact with each other to produce psychological disorders.
How Frequent are Psychological Disorders Diagnosed in America?
Generalized Anxiety 3.1%
Social Anxiety Disorder
Phobia of Specific Object or Situation
Mood Disorders
OCD
Schizophrenia
PTSD
ADHD
Any Mental Disorder
Identifying Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
These disorders are characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety OR maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.
Panic Disorder
Marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread.
Person may experience terror, chest-pain, and other frightening sensations.
Social Anxiety
Intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such situations.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Characterized by unwanted repetitive thought (obsessions), and actions (compulsions).
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are characterized by emotional extremes.
Major Depressive Disorders
A mood disorder in which a person experiences (in the absence of drugs or another medical condition), two or more weeks with 5 or more symptoms. One of which must be either:
i) Depressed mood or, ii) Loss of interest or pleasure
Bipolar Disorder
A mood disorder in which a person alternates between overexcited mania and hopeless depression.
Schizophrenia
A psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished or inappropriate emotional expression.
Psychosis
A psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions.
Somatic Disorders
A psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause.
Conversion Disorder
A disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found.
Also called functional neurological symptom disorder
Illness Anxiety Disorder
A disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of disease.
Formerly called hypochondriasis
Dissociative Disorders
Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (disassociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities.
Formerly called multiple personality disorder.
Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia typically beings with a diet. People who suffer drop a dramatic amount of weight and feel and fear being fat, are obsessed with losing weight, and sometimes exercise excessively. Occurs usually in adolescence and 9 times out of 10 in girls.
Bulimia Nervosa
In which a person alternates between binge eating (usually high calorie foods) and purging (by vomiting or laxative), excessive exercise, or fasting.
Bulimia is marked by weight fluctuations which makes it easy to hide.
Binge-eating Disorder
Significant binge-eating episodes, followed by guilt, disgust, distress, but without the purging or fasting that characterizes bulimia nervosa.
Personality