Psychology Exam #4
Anxiety (Personality Disorder)
*Avoidant Personality Disorder: fearful sensitivity to rejection can lead to social withdrawal.
Operant Conditioning (Behavioral Therapy)
*Behavior modification: Reinforce desired behaviors and withhold reinforcement for undesired behaviors. -relies mainly on positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and extinction. *Token economy: clients receive a token as reinforcement for good behavior, which can be exchanged for rewards later. ~Debate on whether using punishment is ethical. Used in extreme cases in which behavior is life threatening (like self harm).
Causes of Depressive and Bipolar Disorders
*Biological Perspective: -Genes: heritability of major depressive disorder estimated to be around 37%, Bipolar Disorder around 85%. -Linkage analysis: compare DNA from affected and unaffected family members. Specific study on 3rd chromosome.
The Biopsychosocial Approach
*Biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors combine and interact to produce psychological disorders. -Biological: genetic predisposition, evolution, brain structure and chemistry -Psychological: stress, trauma, learned helplessness, mood related perceptions and memories. -Sociocultural: roles, expectations, definitions of normality and disorder. exp: eating disorders are only present in Western countries. Higher rates in the U.S.
Dramatic or impulsive behaviors (Personality Disorders)
*Borderline personality disorder: highly attention seeking. *Narcissistic personality disorder: incredibly inflated ego, really reactive to criticism. *Antisocial personality disorder: characterized by lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even towards family and friends. Lack of guilt. -may be prone to criminal behavior, see a strong link between the two.
Relaxation and Meditation
*Can help alleviate hypertension, anxiety, headaches and insomnia.
Genes in Schizophrenia
*Can lead to brain abnormalities *odds of diagnosis go from 1 in 100 to 1 in 10 if person has a sibling or parent with the disorder. *Higher risk if identical twin is diagnosed than fraternal twin.
Bipolar Disorder (Depressive)
*Characterized by alternating periods of depression and mania. -Mania: euphoric state characterized by hyperactivity, wild optimism, little need for sleep and lowered inhibitions. -1% diagnosis rate worldwide, 2% in U.S -higher risk of suicide -linked specifically with creative professions (artists, musicians, etc).
Personality Disorders (3 clusters)
*Characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.
Mood dysregulation disorder (Controversial)
*Children who exhibit persistent irritability and frequent episodes of behavior outbursts, 3 or more times a week for more than a year. -Are we turning temper tantrums into a mental disorder?
Stress and Heart Disease
*Chronic stress can lead to elevated blood pressure, which may result in coronary heart disease (clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart).
Exposure Therapy-Classical Conditioning (Behavioral Therapy)
*Clients are exposed to the feared stimulus while practicing calming techniques. -Therapists are attempting to pair feelings of calm with the feared stimulus. *Systematic desensitization: -construct a fear hierarchy -work up the hierarchy starting with the least feared stimulus. *Flooding: -expose client to the worst case scenario of their phobia. -can work faster than systematic desensitization, but is much more distressing to the client.
Emotions are Adaptive
*Darwin speculated that our ancestors communicated with facial expressions in the absence of language. -nonverbal facial expressions led to our ancestor's survival.
Social Cognitive perspective on Depressive and Bipolar Disorders
*Depression is a vicious cycle of negative events interpreted in a negative way, leading to more negative events. *Negative explanatory style: make stable, global and internal reasons leading to depression exp: breakup with romantic partner -Stable: "I'll never get over this" -Global: "Without him, I can't do anything right" -Internal: "Our breakup was all my fault"
Phase 2 (General Adaptation Syndrome)-Resistance
*Designed to help body cope *temperature, blood pressure, and respiration rates are high -outpouring of stress hormones from adrenal glands -temporary dulling of pain
Classifying Psychological Disorders
*Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition. (book) -provides detailed description of the symptoms and prevalence of disorders.
Happiness
*Emotion affects thoughts, memories and behaviors. *People are generally bad affective forecasters -how we will feel in the future -Happiness and sadness are both more short-lived than we expect.
Causes of Schizophrenia
*Environmental factors: -Prenatal environment: maternal flu during the 2nd trimester can increase risk of disorder in the fetus. -Correlated factors: low birth weight, maternal diabetes, older paternal age, oxygen deprivation during delivery, malnutrition, child abuse. ~risk is 3x higher for those who experience child abuse.
Gender and Emotion
*Expression: women express a wider range of emotions than men on average. *Experience: little gender difference in experience of emotions, including anger.
Genes that influence Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
*Genetic vulnerability tied with fearless personality. -individuals who excrete less adrenaline likely to exhibit criminal behaviors. -levels of stress hormones (adrenaline) lower than average in criminals before they ever committed a crime.
Cognitive Therapy
*Goal: Change the way clients think about themselves and the world by systematically challenging irrational and negative beliefs. *Rationale: If a client learns to think more realistically and positively, the client will worry less and be less despondent and their lives. *Technique: -Therapist helps the client to identify recurrent beliefs that are a source of distress. -Stress-inoculation training: Teach clients to think differently during a stressful situation, in a way that promotes calm rather than distress. -Therapist helps clients experiment with more realistic thinking.
Genes that influence Eating Disorders
*Heritability of anorexia is estimated to be around 60%. *Family environment: -personality profile: low self-esteem, set perfectionist standards, intensely concerned with how others perceive them. -mothers intensely focused on their own weight and daughter's weight and appearance. -higher than usual incidence of childhood obesity in families of patients with Bulimia. -families of patients with anorexia tend to be competitive, high achieving, and protective.
Facial Feedback effect
*If facial expressions are manipulated (like furrowing brows), people feel sad while looking at sad pictures. exp. an individual forced to smile at a social event, will actual start to find the event more enjoyable.
Poverty and Mental Health
*Incidence of psychological disorders is doubly high among those living below the poverty line. -Dysfunction associated with disorder can lead to difficulty finding and holding a job. -Stresses and demoralization of poverty can lead to mental health issues.
Causes of Anxiety Disorders, OCD and PTSD
*Learning Perspective: -Conditioning: fear conditioned through generalization and reinforcement. -Observational: learn fears from watching others. *Biological Perspective: -Natural Selection: Fear would have aided survival. Fear of dangerous animals. -Genes: create a predisposition to disorders by influencing the regulation of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and glutamate.
Phase 1 (General Adaptation Syndrome)-Alarm Reaction
*Mobilize resources to face challenge *Heart rate increases and blood is diverted to skeletal muscles.
Prevalence of Psychological Disorders
*Most prevalent disorders in U.S are depressive disorders (including Bipolar Disorder) and phobias. -most disorders manifested by age 24. *In 2004, U.S demonstrated highest rate of reported mental disorders during prior year out of 20 countries surveyed. *Depression and Schizophrenia found worldwide. -other disorders are culture bound. -U.S ranks the highest in "any mental disorder" and "serious mental disorders".
Brain differences in Anxiety Disorders, OCD and PTSD
*OCD: hyperactivity in anterior cingulate cortex (monitors actions and checks for errors) -those with hoarding disorder showed this as well. *PTSD: smaller than average amygdala that demonstrates higher than normal activity when viewing traumatic images.
Defining Psychological Disorders
*Ongoing patterns of feelings, actions and thoughts that are deviant, distressful and dysfunctional. *Being different isn't enough: -In the Wodaabe tribe, men wear costumes to attract women. In Western society this would be considered abnormal. 1. Deviant behavior in one culture may be considered normal in another. 2. What is deviant changes over time. exp: being gay until 1973 3. What is considered healthy varies by gender.
Universal Emotional Expression
*People from all cultures did fairly well at identifying basic facial expressions.
Optimism (Coping with Stress)
*People with an optimistic (instead of pessimistic) explanatory style tend to have more control over stressors, cope better with stressful events, have better moods, and have a stronger immune system.
Bulimia Nervosa (Eating Disorder)
*Person alternates binge-eating with purging or fasting. -People tend to be of normal weight. -Dental decay, colon issues (laxative use)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Anxiety Disorder)
*Person is continually and unexplainably tense and uneasy for 6 months or more.
Anorexia Nervosa (Eating Disorder)
*Person maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight (15% or more below normal body weight). -can be associated with extreme exercising. -increased risk for osteoporosis, low BP, halt of menstrual cycle. -highest death rate of any psychiatric disorder.
Labeling Psychological Disorders
*Pros: -aims to predict future course, suggest appropriate treatment, prompt research. -makes diagnosis more objective and reliable. -provides mental health professionals with a way to organize and communicate symptoms. exp: mental history. *Cons: -Stigmatizes individual. May make it difficult for person to get a job or find a place to live. -DSM casts too wide of a net. Classifying almost any kind of deviant behavior as a disorder.
Schizophrenia
*Psychosis: disorders that involve a break or split from reality. -not diagnosed in children *Symptoms: positive vs. negative -Positive: presence of inappropriate behaviors exps: Hallucinations,Delusions, disorganized thinking and speech (word salad), inappropriate emotion and motor movements. -Negative: absence of appropriate behaviors exps:toneless voice, expressionless face ("flat affect"), rigid body ("catatonia"), absence of self care (hygienic routine).
Social Support (Coping with Stress)
*Receiving support from close others has been shown to lower blood pressure and inhibit the release of stress hormones.
Brain differences in people with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
*Reduced activity in frontal lobes -violent repeat offenders had 11% less frontal lobe tissue than normal. *Interaction with environment: One study found that childhood maltreatment and genetic predisposition together, predicted antisocial problems.
Committing violent crimes and psychological disorders?
*Research has shown that the majority of people who commit violent crimes, have not been diagnosed with a psychological disorder. -exception: Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) linked to crime.
Phase 3 (General Adaptation Syndrome)- Exhaustion
*Resources have been depleted *Body is especially vulnerable to illness and infection
Eccentric or odd behaviors (Personality Disorder)
*Schizotypal personality disorder
Third wave Behavior Therapies
*Shifting away from focusing on the context of clients' thoughts towards a skill-defecit model (help a client become more detached). *Skill-defecit model: suggests that common psychological disorders can be treated by teaching clients new ways to respond to their thoughts and emotions.
Historical Background (Psychological Disorders)
*Strange behaviors viewed as a result of supernatural *Cruel and unusual "treatment" like beatings, removal of teeth, genital mutilation. *1800's reform of treatment: led by Dorothea Dix and others. -suggested talking to patients, unchaining them, etc. -discovery that Syphillis had affects on the brain.
Perceived Control
*The absence of control over stressors is a predictor of health problems. -exp: Nursing home patients who feel that they have little control over their activities decline faster and die sooner than those who are given more control.
General Adaptation Syndrome (3 stages)
*The body's resistance to stress can only last so long before exhaustion sets in.
Personality and Heart Disease
*Type A: competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive and anger-prone people. -69% of 257 men who had suffered heart attacks, were Type A. -Anger prone aspect of Type A is linked to increase in risk of heart attack. *Type B: easygoing, relaxed people. -none of Type B men suffered heart attacks.
Anger
*Venting: not helpful for dispensing anger in the long run. *Tips for managing anger: -Wait: anger dissipates with time -Distract yourself -Approach the source of conflict when you are no longer emotionally charged
Happiness and Wealth
*Wealth is not associated with happiness. *Adaptation-level phenomenon: tendency to form judgement based on past experience. *Social comparison: compare ourselves to others. *If you are already above the poverty line (meeting your basic needs), adding more wealth will not increase your overall happiness.
Phobias (Anxiety)
*characterized by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation. -A strong fear becomes a phobia if it provokes a compelling but irrational desire to avoid the dreaded object/situation. -17% of people in experiment had a fear of heights, only 5% had a phobia.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
*characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience.
Panic Disorder (Anxiety)
*characterized by unpredictable, minutes long episodes of intense fear accompanied by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, trembling and/or dizziness.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
*characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).
Stress and Immune System Functioning
*chronic stress can weaken our immune system, making us more susceptible to disease and infection -wounds on people who are stressed heal slower *People with the highest life stress score, were also the most vulnerable when exposed to a cold virus -50% of high stressed individuals got a cold in an experiment
Medical Model (Psychological Disorders)
*concept that a psychological disorder is a mental illness that can be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms, and needs to be treated through therapy administered by mental health professionals, possibly in a hospital setting.
Display rules
*cultural rules for how often we display emotions and what emotions we are "allowed" to display. -after a breakup: women become sad, men become angry. exp: Individualistic cultures tend to be more emotionally expressive than communal cultures. -Individualistic countries: U.S, Western Europe -Communal countries: Asia, Central America, South America.
Stress
*dependent on our appraisal of a situation. -emotion at its root exp: Stressful event: tough math test. -Threat (appraisal): stressed to distraction. -Challenge (appraisal): aroused, focused. *Occurs when we feel that the requirements of a task (stressor) exceed, or push us to the limits of our resources. -exps. money, winning an award, school, work, competition, etc.
Problem-focused coping
*developing a strategy and taking steps to eliminate a stressor.
Two Factor Theory
*emotions have two factors: -physical arousal: exp. pounding heart -cognitive label: "I'm afraid" ~overall feeling of fear.
Persistent Depressive Disorder (Depressive)
*experience a mildly depressed mood more often than not for two or more years. *Symptoms: feeling hopeless, difficulty concentrating, poor self-esteem, reduced energy, problems regulating sleep and appetite.
Attention-defecit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
*extreme inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. -Are we less tolerant of kids being kids? Too high expectations? *Critics: -diagnosed 3x more in boys than girls -sudden increase in diagnosis after 1987 -diagnosis often results from teacher referrals and rate varies by county. *Proponents: -increase in diagnoses reflects awareness. -different brain activity patterns in those diagnosed with ADHD. -evidence that disorder is heritable -can be treated with stimulant medications (to focus)
The Stress Response System
*fight or flight response: marked by the outpouring of epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands, increasing heart and respiration rates, mobilizing sugar and fat, and dulling pain.
Emotion-focused coping
*focus on managing the negative emotions associated with stress. -Rumination vs. distraction ~rumination: the tendency to repetitively think about the causes, situational factors, and consequences of one's negative emotional experience.
Causes of Eating Disorders
*higher prevalence in U.S and is only found in Western countries where food is plentiful. *Sociocultural causes: cultural obsession with thinness for women and unrealistic muscularity for men. -change over the last 60 years -Marilyn Monroe size to Kate Moss.
Social Anxiety Disorder (Anxiety)
*intense fear of other people's negative judgements.
10 Basic Emotions
*joy, interest/excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt.
Two Dimensions of Emotion
*low arousal/positive: relaxed feeling *high arousal/positive: elated/enthusiastic *low arousal/negative: sluggish or sad *high arousal/negative: fearful or angry
Classical Conditioning (Behavioral Therapy)
*mainly used to treat phobias. -Some phobias develop because a formerly unfeared stimulus was paired with a severe fear response. *Counter-conditioning: can be used to try to break the link between the feared stimulus and the fear response.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
*most popular form of therapy. -want therapy to be effective, target treatment in specific areas. *Goal: Integrate principles of cognitive and behavioral therapies to address thoughts and behaviors that may be sources of distress. *Rationale: Simultaneously changing behavior and the way a client thinks, will produce improvement faster together than either alone. *Technique: -Cognitive therapy and behavior modification. -Most commonly used psychotherapy at present.
Hoarding disorder -example of OCD
*obsessive thoughts revolve around getting rid of items; compulsion is not throwing anything away. -obsessions: repetitive thoughts exp: concern of germs, toxins -compulsions: repetitive behaviors exp: excessive handwashing
Major depressive disorder (Depressive)
*occurs when at least 5 symptoms of depression last 2 or more weeks. -episodic -most commonly diagnosed, #1 reason why people seek mental health services *Symptoms: depressed mood most of the time, reduced interest, challenges regulating weight and sleep, lethargy or agitation, less energy, feeling worthless/guilty, problems concentrating, repetitive thoughts of death and suicide.
Aversive Conditioning-Classical Conditioning (Behavioral Therapy)
*pair harmful stimulus with negative response. -Associate a drug like alcohol with unwanted physiological symptoms like nausea. -Problems with discrimination: Clients can learn the association in treatment, but the association may not carry outside the treatment room.
What is emotion?
*physiological arousal *expressive behaviors *consciously experienced thoughts
Faith effect (Spirituality and Faith Communities)
*religiously active people tend to live longer on average than those who are not religiously active.
Schachter and Singer (1962)
*responsible for the Two Factor Theory *reappraisal: may occur if new information is encountered. -may assist with coping and bringing stress down. exp: after an accident, hearing the paramedic say, "no one was hurt". -told side effects: both happy and angry confederate show no emotion. -not told side effects: happy confederate is happy and angry confederate is angry.
Binge-Eating Disorder (Eating Disorder)
*significant binge-eating episodes followed by distress, disgust, or guilt. -people may be overweight or obese -similar to Bulimia but without the purging/fasting.
Brain differences with Depressive and Bipolar Disorders
*slowed down activity during depression; overactive during mania. *Norepinephrine: scarce during depression and overabundant during mania. Increases in presence of serotonin associated with relief of depression symptoms.
Chronic Schizophrenia
*symptoms appear by late adolescence or early adulthood and worsen gradually with age. -can have recovery periods that tend to occur less as the person gets older. -slow progression.
Acute Schizophrenia
*symptoms can begin at any age and frequently occur in response to emotional trauma. -recovery is more likely
Brain differences in individuals with Schizophrenia
*too much dopamine can lead to excessive dopamine receptors. -excessive dopamine is intensifying brain signals (hallucinations, making it difficult to block out irrelevant stimuli). *abnormal activity in several brain areas -abnormally low activity in the frontal lobes -shrinkage of cerebral tissue leading to enlarged, fluid-filled areas of the brain
Aerobic Exercise (Coping with Stress)
*triggers the release of endorphins and serotonin which lowers tension, depression and anxiety.
Behavioral Therapy
*very focused on behaviors the client is focused on in everyday life. *Goal: replace maladaptive behaviors with adaptive behaviors. *Rationale: -According to the principles of behavior, a behavior that is reinforced will likely re-occur. -Careful study of a client's environment can allow a therapist to identify the behavioral contingency that is reinforcing maladaptive behavior. -If we can weaken the link between the maladaptive behavior and reinforcement, we can replace the unwanted behavior with a wanted behavior. *Techniques: -Classical and Operant Conditioning