Bell Work

• Which of the following statements is most accurate?– Although they may be superficially

charming, antisocial personalities rarely experience genuine affection for anyone.

– Antisocial personalities are, by definition, violent criminals.

– Antisocial personalities act as they do out of terror of punishment or humiliation.

– Antisocial personalities tend to have an excessively high tolerance for frustration.

– All of the above

Bell Work

• Harold sits all day alone on a park bench, babbling incoherently and giggling to himself. Harold would most likely be diagnosed as having– Catatonic– Disorganized– Residual– Paranoid– Undifferentiated

FRQ• Often misunderstood, schizophrenia is a psychological disorder

affecting one percent of the population. In addition to treating the disorder, psychologists work to identify its nature and origins.Identify two characteristic symptoms used to diagnose schizophrenia.

• Discuss a research finding that supports a genetic basis for schizophrenia.

• What is the dopamine hypothesis regarding the origins of schizophrenia?

• Describe how medications used to treat schizophrenia affect the actions of neurotransmitters at the synapses.

• Identify a risk inherent in using medications in the treatment of schizophrenia.

• People sometimes confuse schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder (DID). Identify two key characteristics that differentiate DID from schizophrenia.

Abnormal Behavior

• The medical model• What is abnormal behavior?

– Deviant: Does it violate societal norms?– Maladaptive: Does it impair everyday

functioning?– Causing personal distress

– Examples• A continuum of normal/abnormal

Figure 14.2 Normality and abnormality as a continuum

Prevalence, Causes, and Course

• Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of mental or physical disorders in the population.

• Prevalence • Lifetime prevalence• Diagnosis• Etiology refers to the apparent causation and

developmental history of an illness• Prognosis

Figure 14.5 Lifetime prevalence of psychological disorders

Etiology of Anxiety Disorders

• Biological factors– Genetic predisposition, anxiety sensitivity– GABA circuits in the brain

• Conditioning and learning– Acquired through classical conditioning or

observational learning– Maintained through operant conditioning

• Cognitive factors– Judgments of perceived threat

• Personality– Neuroticism

• Stress—a precipitator

Figure 14.6 Twin studies of anxiety disorders

Figure 14.7 Conditioning as an explanation for phobias

Figure 14.8 Cognitive factors in anxiety disorders

Clinical Syndromes: Somatoform Disorders

• Somatization Disorder• Conversion Disorder• Hypochondriasis

– Etiology• Reactive autonomic nervous system• Personality factors• Cognitive factors• The sick role

Clinical Syndromes: Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative amnesia• Dissociative fugue• Dissociative identity disorder

– Etiology• severe emotional trauma during

childhood– Controversy

• Media creation?

Clinical Syndromes: Mood Disorders

• Major depressive disorder– Dysthymic disorder

• Bipolar disorder– Cyclothymic disorder

• Etiology– Genetic vulnerability– Neurochemical factors– Cognitive factors– Interpersonal roots– Precipitating stress

Figure 14.11 Episodic patterns in mood disorders

Figure 14.13 Twin studies of mood disorders

Figure 14.15 Negative thinking and prediction of depression

Figure 14.16 Interpersonal factors in depression

Etiology of Schizophrenia

• Genetic vulnerability• Neurochemical factors• Structural abnormalities of the brain• The neurodevelopmental hypothesis• Expressed emotion• Precipitating stress

• Research has linked schizophrenia to a genetic vulnerability and changes in neurotransmitter activity at dopamine, and perhaps serotonin, receptors. Structural abnormalities in the brain, such as enlarged ventricles, are associated with schizophrenia, as are metabolic abnormalities in the prefrontal and temporal lobes. Researchers theorize that positive symptoms are related to prefrontal abnormalities and negative symptoms to temporal abnormalities. The question remains to be answered re: whether these abnormalities are cause or consequence of schizophrenia.

• The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia asserts that it is attributable to disruptions in maturational processes of the brain before or at the time of birth that are caused by prenatal viral infections or malnutrition, obstetrical complications, and other brain insults.

• Studies of expressed emotion, or the degree to which a relative of a person with schizophrenia displays highly critical or emotionally overinvolved attitudes toward the patient, suggest that expressed emotion is a good predictor of the course of schizophrenic illness, negatively impacting prognosis.

• Precipitating stress and unhealthy family dynamics have also been shown to be related to schizophrenia.

Figure 14.18 The dopamine hypothesis as an explanation for schizophrenia

Figure 14.20 The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia

Psychological Disorders and the Law

• Insanity– M’naghten rule

• Involuntary commitment– danger to self– danger to others– in need of treatment

Figure 14.22 The insanity defense: public perceptions and actual realities

Culture and Pathology

• Cultural variations• Culture bound disorders

– Koro– Windigo– Anorexia nervosa