Psychological Disorders

Chapter 14
psychological disorders
psychology
fourth edition
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
14.1 How has mental illness been explained in the past and how is abnormal behavior
and thinking defined today?
14.2 What are some of the models used to explain psychological disorders?
14.3 What are the different types of psychological disorders, and how common are
they?
14.4 What are different types of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and
stress-related disorders, and what are their symptoms and causes?
14.5 What are different types of mood disorders and their causes?
14.6 What are different types of eating disorders, how do they differ, and who are they
most likely to affect?
14.7 How do the various dissociative disorders differ, and how do they develop?
14.8 What are the main symptoms and causes of schizophrenia?
14.9 How do the various personality disorders differ, and what is thought to be the
cause of personality disorders?
14.10 What are some ways to overcome test anxiety?
Psychology, Third Edition Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Early Explanations of Mental Illness
LO 14.1 Explanations of Mental Illness and Defining Abnormal Behavior
• In ancient times holes were cut in an ill

person’s head to let out evil spirits in a
process called trephining
• Hippocrates believed that mental illness
came from an imbalance in the body’s
four humors
– phlegm, black bile, blood, and yellow bile
• In the Middle Ages, the mentally ill were
labeled as witches
Definitions of Abnormality
• Psychopathology: the study of abnormal

behavior
• Psychological disorders: any pattern of
behavior that causes people significant
distress, causes them to harm others, or
harms their ability to function in daily life
– statistically rare
– deviant from social norms
• Situational context: the social or

environmental setting of a person’s
behavior
– subjective discomfort: emotional distress or
discomfort
– maladaptive thinking or behavior: anything
that does not allow a person to function within
or adapt to the stresses and everyday
demands of life
• Psychological disorder: any pattern of

behavior that causes people significant
distress, causes them to harm themselves
or others, or harms their ability to function
in daily life
Biology and Psychopathology
LO 14.2 How Disorders Relate to Biological and Psychological Models
• Biological model: psychological disorders

have biological or medical causes
– biological changes in the chemical, structural,
or genetic systems of the body
Psychological Viewpoints of Psychopathology
• Psychodynamic theorists: abnormal

behavior stems from repressed conflicts
and urges that are fighting to become
conscious
• Behaviorists: abnormal behavior is learned
• Cognitive theorists: abnormal behavior
comes from irrational beliefs and illogical
patterns of thought
• Sociocultural perspective: abnormal behavior is

the product of family, social, and cultural
influences
– cultural relativity: the need to consider the unique
characteristics of the culture in which behavior takes
place
– culture-bound syndromes: disorders found only in
particular cultures
• Biopsychosocial model: incorporates biology,
psychology, and culture into a single explanation
of abnormal behavior
DSM-5
LO 14.3 Types of Psychological Disorders
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth

Edition, (DSM-5): manual of psychological
disorders and their symptoms
• International Classification of Diseases
(ICD): an international resource published
by the World Health Organization (WHO)
– currently in its tenth edition (ICD-10)
Types of Disorders
• The DSM-5 describes about 250 different

psychological disorders
• In a given year, about 26.2 percent of
American adults over age 18 suffer from a
mental disorder
– only about 5.8 percent suffer from a severe
mental disorder
– common to suffer from more than one
disorder at a time
Labeling Disorders
• Pros
– provide a common language to professionals
– establish distinct categories of diagnosis for
treatment and understanding
• Cons
– overly prejudicial
– “psychology student’s syndrome”
Disorders of Anxiety, Trauma,
and Stress LO 14.4 Types and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders
• Anxiety disorders: the main symptom is

excessive or unrealistic worry and
fearfulness
– free-floating anxiety: anxiety that is unrelated
to any realistic, known source
Anxiety Disorders
LO 14.4 Types and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders
• Phobia: an irrational, persistent fear of an

object, situation, or social activity
– social phobia (social anxiety disorder): fear of
interacting with others or being in social
situations that might lead to a negative
evaluation
– specific phobia: fear of objects or specific
situations or events
Phobic Disorders
• Claustrophobia: fear of being in a small,

enclosed space
• Acrophobia: fear of heights
• Agoraphobia: fear of being in a place or
situation from which escape is difficult or
impossible
– diagnosis requires that one feels anxiety in at
least two of five situations
Anxiety Disorders
• Panic disorder: panic attacks occur

frequently enough to cause the person
difficulty in adjusting to daily life
– panic attack: sudden onset of intense panic in
which multiple physical symptoms of stress
occur, often with feelings that one is dying
Anxiety Disorders
• Generalized anxiety disorder: excessive

anxieties and worries occur more days
than not for at least 6 months
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: intruding,

recurring thoughts or obsessions create
anxiety that is relieved by performing a
repetitive, ritualistic behavior (compulsion)
Disorders of Trauma and Stress
• Acute stress disorder (ASD): a disorder

resulting from exposure to a major,
traumatic stressor
– symptoms include anxiety, dissociation,
recurring nightmares, sleep disturbances,
problems in concentration, and moments in
which people seem to relive the event in
dreams and flashbacks
– lasting as long as one month after the event
Disorders of Trauma and Stress
• Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): the

symptoms associated with ASD last for
more than one month
– symptoms of PTSD may not develop until
more than 6 months after a traumatic event
Causes of Anxiety Disorders
• Psychodynamic explanations point to

repressed urges and desires that are
trying to surface, creating anxiety that is
controlled by the abnormal behavior
• Behaviorists believe that disordered
behavior is learned through both positive
and negative reinforcement
• Cognitive psychologists believe that

excessive anxiety comes from illogical,
irrational thought processes
• Irrational thinking
– magnification: the tendency to interpret situations as far
more dangerous, harmful, or important than they
actually are
– all-or-nothing thinking: the belief that one’s
performance must be perfect or the result will be a total
failure
– overgeneralization: the interpretation of a single
negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat and
failure
– minimization: the tendency to give little or no importance
to one’s successes or positive events and traits
• Biological explanations of anxiety disorders

– chemical imbalances in the nervous system
– genetics
– more activity in amygdala and limbic system
• Cultural variations
– ataque de nervios
– koro
– taijin kyofusho (TKS)
Disorders of Mood
LO 14.5 Types of Mood Disorders and Their Causes
• Affect: in psychological terms, emotion or

mood
• Mood disorders: disorders in which mood
is severely disturbed
– major depressive disorder: severely
depressed mood that comes on suddenly and
seems to have no external cause
 may include thoughts of death or suicide
 most common of diagnosed disorders of mood
Disorders of Mood
• Mood Disorders (cont’d)

– seasonal affective disorder (SAD): a mood disorder
caused by the body’s reaction to low levels of
sunlight in the winter months
– manic episode: a period of excessive excitement,
energy, and elation or irritability
– bipolar disorder: periods of mood that may range from
normal to manic, with or without episodes of
depression (bipolar I disorder), or spans of normal
mood interspersed with episodes of major depression
and episodes of hypomania (bipolar II disorder)
Figure 14.1 The Range of Emotions
Most people experience a range of emotions over the course of a day or several days, such as mild sadness, calm
contentment, or mild elation and happiness. A person with a mood disorder experiences emotions that are extreme
and, therefore, abnormal.
Causes of Mood Disorders
• Behavioral theories link depression to

learned helplessness
• Cognitive theories see depression as the
result of distorted, illogical thinking
• Biological explanations of mood disorders
look at the function of serotonin,
norepinephrine, and dopamine systems in
the brain
– genetic origins
Eating Disorders
LO 14.6 Types of Eating Disorders
• Anorexia nervosa (anorexia): a condition

in which a person reduces eating to the
point that their body weight is significantly
low, or less than minimally expected
– in adults, this is likely associated with a BMI
<18.5
Eating Disorders
• Bulimia nervosa (bulimia): a condition in

which a person develops a cycle of
“binging,” or overeating enormous
amounts of food at one sitting, and then
using unhealthy methods to avoid weight
gain
• Binge-eating disorder also involves
uncontrolled binge eating but differs from
bulimia primarily in that individuals with
binge-eating disorder do not purge
Eating Disorders
• Causes of eating disorders

– greatest risk factors appear to be someone
being an adolescent or young adult female
– genetic components appear to be significant
• Culture and eating disorders
– less common in non-Western cultures
– different values placed on eating and on
starvation for socially-recognized reasons
Dissociative Disorders
LO 14.7 Types of Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative disorders: disorders in which

there is a break in conscious awareness,
memory, the sense of identity, or some
combination
– dissociative amnesia: loss of memory for
personal information, either partial or
complete
• Dissociative Disorders (cont’d)

– dissociative fugue: traveling away from
familiar surroundings with amnesia for the trip
and possible amnesia for personal information
– dissociative identity disorder (DID): disorder
occurring when a person seems to have two
or more distinct personalities within one body
• Dissociative Disorders (cont’d)

– depersonalization/derealization disorder:
dissociative disorder in which sufferers feel
detached and disconnected from themselves,
their bodies, and their surroundings
Development of Dissociative Disorders
• Psychodynamic explanations point to

repression of memories, seeing
dissociation as a defense mechanism
against anxiety
• Cognitive and behavioral explanations see
dissociative disorders as a kind of
avoidance learning
Development of Dissociative Disorders
• Biological explanations point to lower than

normal activity levels in the areas
responsible for body awareness in people
with dissociative disorders
Schizophrenia
LO 14.8 Main Symptoms, and Causes of Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia: severe disorder in which

the person suffers from disordered
thinking, bizarre behavior, and
hallucinations, and is unable to distinguish
between fantasy and reality
• Psychotic: the break away from an ability
to perceive what is real and what is
fantasy
Schizophrenia
• Delusions: false beliefs held by a person

who refuses to accept evidence of their
falseness
– delusions of persecution
– delusions of reference
– delusions of influence
– delusions of grandeur (or grandiose
delusions)
• Speech and thought disturbances
Schizophrenia
• Hallucinations: false sensory perceptions,

such as hearing voices that do not really
exist
• Flat affect: a lack of emotional
responsiveness
• Catatonia: either wildly excessive movement
or total lack thereof
Schizophrenia
• Positive symptoms: excesses of behavior or

occur in addition to normal behavior
– hallucinations, delusions, and distorted thinking
• Negative symptoms: less-than-normal
behavior or an absence of normal behavior
– poor attention, flat affect, and poor speech
production
Causes of Schizophrenia
• Biological explanations of schizophrenia

focus on dopamine, structural defects in
the brain, inflammation, and genetic
influences
Figure 14.2 Genetics and Schizophrenia
This chart shows a definite pattern: The greater the degree of genetic relatedness, the higher the risk of schizophrenia
in individuals related to each other. The only individual to carry a risk even close to that of identical twins (who share
100 percent of their genes) is a person who is the child of two parents with schizophrenia. Based on Gottesman (1991).
Causes of Schizophrenia
• Stress-vulnerability model: assumes a

biological sensitivity, or vulnerability, to a
certain disorder that will develop under the
right conditions of environmental or
emotional stress
Personality Disorders
LO 14.9 Types and Causes of Personality Disorders
• Personality disorder: a disorder in which a

person adopts a persistent, rigid, and
maladaptive pattern of behavior that interferes
with normal social interactions
– Cluster A: seen as odd or eccentric (Paranoid,
Schizoid, Schizotypal)
– Cluster B: behavior is dramatic, emotional, or erratic
(Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic)
– Cluster C: the main emotion is anxiety or fearfulness
(Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive)
Personality Disorders
• Antisocial personality disorder: a person

has no morals or conscience and often
behaves in an impulsive manner without
regard for the consequences of that
behavior
• Borderline personality disorder: maladaptive
personality pattern in which the person is
moody and unstable, lacks a clear sense of
identity, and often clings to others
Causes of Personality Disorders
• Cognitive-learning theorists see

personality disorders as a set of learned
behavior that has become maladaptive
– bad habits learned early on in life
– belief systems of the personality disordered
person are seen as illogical
• Biological explanations look at genetic
factors and stress hormones
Causes of Personality Disorders
• Other possible causes of personality

disorders may include disturbances in
family communications and relationships,
childhood abuse, neglect, overly strict
parenting, overprotective parenting, and
parental rejection
Taking the
Worry Out of Exams
LO 14.10 What Are Some Ways to Overcome Test Anxiety?
• While not yet recognized as a clinical

disorder in the DSM-5, test anxiety has
caused countless students considerable
stress and agony over the years
• Determine why you want to do well on the
test in the first place
• Develop a strategy for controlling your
cognitive state and behavior, both before
and during the exam

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Chapter 14

• In ancient times holes were cut in an ill

• Psychopathology: the study of abnormal

• Situational context: the social or

• Psychological disorder: any pattern of

• Biological model: psychological disorders

• Psychodynamic theorists: abnormal

• Sociocultural perspective: abnormal behavior is

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth

• The DSM-5 describes about 250 different

• Anxiety disorders: the main symptom is

• Phobia: an irrational, persistent fear of an

• Claustrophobia: fear of being in a small,

• Panic disorder: panic attacks occur

• Generalized anxiety disorder: excessive

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: intruding,

• Acute stress disorder (ASD): a disorder

• Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): the

• Psychodynamic explanations point to

• Cognitive psychologists believe that

• Biological explanations of anxiety disorders

• Affect: in psychological terms, emotion or

• Mood Disorders (cont’d)

• Behavioral theories link depression to

• Anorexia nervosa (anorexia): a condition

• Bulimia nervosa (bulimia): a condition in

• Causes of eating disorders

• Dissociative disorders: disorders in which

• Dissociative Disorders (cont’d)

• Dissociative Disorders (cont’d)

• Psychodynamic explanations point to

• Biological explanations point to lower than

• Schizophrenia: severe disorder in which

• Delusions: false beliefs held by a person

• Hallucinations: false sensory perceptions,

• Positive symptoms: excesses of behavior or

• Biological explanations of schizophrenia

• Stress-vulnerability model: assumes a

• Personality disorder: a disorder in which a

• Antisocial personality disorder: a person

• Cognitive-learning theorists see

• Other possible causes of personality

• While not yet recognized as a clinical

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