Psy 201 Final (Ch. 12) Matthews

Biopsychosocial Views

Many cases of anxiety disorders reflect the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. Biological imbalances may initially trigger attacks in panic disorder. But subsequent fear of attacks—and of the bodily cues that signal their onset—may heighten discomfort and give one the idea there is nothing one can do about them. Feelings of helplessness increase fear. People with panic disorder therefore can be helped by psychological methods that provide ways of reducing physical discomfort—including regular breathing—and show them that there are, after all, things they can do to cope with attacks.

Psychological Views

Most learning theorists have explained schizophrenia in terms of conditioning and observational learning. They have suggested that people engage in schizophrenic behavior when it is more likely to be reinforced than normal behavior. This may occur when a person is reared in a socially unrewarding or punitive situation. Inner fantasies then become more reinforcing than social realities.

OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

An anxiety disorder defined by recurrent, anxiety-provoking thoughts or images that seem irrational and beyond control (obsessions) and seemingly irresistible urges to engage in thoughts or behaviors that tend to reduce the anxiety (compulsions). The obsessions are so compelling and recurrent that they disrupt daily life. They may include doubts whether one has locked the doors and shut the windows or images such as one's mother's repeated fantasy that her child has been run over on the way home from school. Compulsions are seemingly irresistible urges to engage in specific acts, often repeatedly, such as elaborate washing after using the bathroom or repeatedly checking that one has locked the door or turned off the gas burners before leaving home. The impulse is recurrent and forceful, interfering with daily life.

Biopsychosocial Views

Because biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors are implicated in schizophrenia, most investigators today favor the -- model. According to this model, genetic factors create a predisposition toward—or vulnerability to—schizophrenia. Genetic vulnerability to the disorder interacts with other factors, such as complications of pregnancy and birth, stress, quality of parenting, and social conditions to give rise to the disorder.

Demonological, medical, and biopsychosocial

What are the perspectives of psychological disorders?

Dissociative identity disorder, derealization disorder, dissociative amnesia

What are the types of dissociative disorders?

Bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder

What are the types of mood disorders?

Illness anxiety disorder, conversion disorder

What are the types of somatoform disorders?

Social Phobias (Social Anxiety Disorder)

An irrational, excessive fear of public scrutiny. Defined by excessive fears of social situations in which the individual is exposed to the scrutiny of others or might do something that will be humiliating or embarrassing. Example is excessive fear of public speaking. Other examples are stage fright, speech anxiety, and dating fears. People with this may find excuses for declining social invitations. They may find themselves in social situations and attempt a quick escape at the first sign of anxiety.

They suggest severe personal distress (Characteristic)

Anxiety, exaggerated fears, and other psychological states cause --, and -- may be considered abnormal.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

The diagnosis given a person who is in frequent conflict with society, yet who is undeterred by punishment and experiences little or no guilt and anxiety. People with this often show a superficial charm and are at least average in intelligence. They do not form strong bonds with other people. Though they are often heavily punished by their parents and rejected by peers, they continue in their impulsive, careless styles of life. Women are more likely than men to have anxiety and depressive disorders. However, -- personality disorder is more common among men than women.

Psychological Factors

Learning theorists suggest that childhood experiences can contribute to maladaptive ways of relating to others in adulthood—that is, can lead to personality disorders. Cognitive psychologists find that antisocial adolescents encode social information in ways that bolster their misdeeds. Aggressive individuals often find it difficult to solve social problems in useful ways.

Psychological Disorders

Patterns of behavior or mental processes that are connected with emotional distress or significant impairment in functioning. They are not predictable responses to specific events

Specific Phobias

Persistent fear of a specific object or situation. They are excessive, irrational fears of specific objects or situations, such as spiders, snakes, or heights. Other types are claustrophobia, acrophobia, and agoraphobia.

Disorganized, paranoid, catatonic

What are some issues that occur with schizophrenia?

Unusual, suggest faulty perception of reality, suggest severe personal distress, self-defeating, dangerous, individual's behavior is socially unacceptable.

What are the characteristics of psychological disorders?

Psychological, sociocultural, biological, biopsychosocial

What are the explanations for schizophrenia? (Views)

Positive and negative

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?

Acute Stress Disorder

A disorder, like PTSD, that is characterized by feelings of anxiety and helplessness and caused by a traumatic event; occurs within a month of the event and lasts from two days to four weeks. Example is women who have been raped. They may go on to experience PTSD, however.

Anxiety Disorders

Disorders characterized by excessive worrying, fear of losing control, nervousness, and inability to relax. They have psychological and physical symptoms. The psychological symptoms include worrying, fear of the worst happening, fear of losing control, nervousness, and inability to relax. The physical symptoms reflect arousal of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system: trembling, sweating, a racing heart, elevated blood pressure (flushed face), and faintness. It is an appropriate response to real threats, but it can be abnormal when it is excessive, when it comes out of nowhere (when events do not seem to warrant it), and when it prevents us from doing important things such as going to medical exams.

Dissociative Disorders

Disorders in which there are sudden, temporary changes in consciousness or self-identity. In these, mental processes such as thoughts, emotions, memory, consciousness, even knowledge of one's own identity—the processes that make a person feel whole—may seem to be split off from one another.

Medical

During the Age of Reason, many health professionals began to view psychological disorders as diseases of the mind, and they encouraged humane treatment. Researchers have also assumed that other physical abnormalities can have psychological effects. This model assumes that illnesses have physical or biological causes that can be identified and that people afflicted by them are to be cured through treatment or therapy.

Demonological

Early on, people assumed the behaviors associated with psychological disorders were caused by possession by the Devil. Throughout history, people have attributed unusual behavior and psychological disorders to demons. This often led to brutal treatments.

Biological Factors

Genetic factors are apparently involved in some personality disorders. Personality traits are to some degree heritable, and many personality disorders seem to be extreme variations of normal personality traits. Referring to the five-factor model of personality, people with schizoid personalities tend to be highly introverted. People with avoidant personalities tend to be both introverted and emotionally unstable (neurotic). Perhaps the genetics of antisocial personality involve the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is connected with emotional responses. There is some evidence that people with antisocial personality, as a group, have less gray matter in the prefrontal cortex than other people do. Adrian Raine suggests that specific genes lead to this impairment and also predispose people to antisocial behavior. In addition, rapid heartbeat is a symptom of anxiety, and it may be that a lower heart rate than average is associated with less fear of consequences among children and adolescents who are contemplating antisocial behavior.

Prevalence of Disorders in the Population

Psychological disorders might seem to affect only a few of us. Relatively few people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Most people will never seek the help of a psychologist or psychiatrist. Nonetheless, psychological disorders affect us all in one way or another. About half of us will meet the criteria for a DSM disorder at some time or another in our lives, with the disorder most often beginning in childhood or adolescence. Slightly more than a fourth of us will experience a psychological disorder in any given year.

Biopsychosocial Views

Relationships between depressive disorders and biological factors are complex and under intense study. Even if people are biologically predisposed toward depression, self-efficacy expectations and aptitudes—particularly attitudes about whether one can change things for the better—may play a role. Although depressive disorders reflect processes within the individual, many kinds of situations are also connected with depression. Depression may be a reaction to losses and stress. We tend to be more depressed by things we bring on ourselves, such as academic and financial problems, unwanted pregnancy, and arguments. However, some people recover from depression less readily than others. People who remain depressed have lower self-esteem, are less likely to be able to solve social problems and have less social support.

Disorganized

Schizophrenia has been called a "thought disorder" because people with it have problems in thinking, language, memory, and attention. Their thinking and communication ability become unraveled. Their speech may be jumbled. They may combine parts of words into new words or make meaningless rhymes. They may jump from topic to topic, conveying little useful information. They usually do not recognize that their thoughts and behavior are abnormal.

Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

A disorder in which one feels detached from oneself or that one's surroundings are not real. People with this experience episodes of feeling detached from themselves or feeling that the world around them is unreal. They may feel as if they are in a walking dream or as if they are going through the motions like a robot.

The individual's behavior is socially unacceptable (Characteristic)

We must consider the cultural context of a behavior pattern in judging whether it is normal. Example is women respected for being outspoken in US but considered disrespectful and having personality problems in other countries.

Psychological, biological, biopsychosocial

What are the origins of anxiety disorders? (Views)

Psychological, biological, biopyschosocial

What are the origins of mood disorders? (Views)

Biological, psychological, sociocultural

What are the origins of personality disorders? (Factors)

Specific phobias, social phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, PTSD, acute stress disorder

What are the types of anxiety disorders?

Paranoid personality disorder, schizotypal, schizoid, borderline, antisocial, avoidant

What are the types of personality disorders?

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

(Formerly termed multiple personality disorder) a disorder in which a person appears to have two or more identities or personalities that may alternately emerge. In this, two or more identities or personalities, each with distinct traits and memories, "occupy" the same person. Each identity may or may not be aware of the others or of events experienced by the others. The identities of an individual with this might have different eyeglass prescriptions and different allergic responses. Sometimes, different identities within a person might show various responses to the same medicine. Or one identity might exhibit color blindness while others have normal vision.

Conversion Disorder

A disorder in which anxiety or unconscious conflicts are "--" into physical symptoms that often have the effect of helping the person cope with anxiety or conflict. It is characterized by a major change in, or loss of, physical functioning, although there are no medical findings to explain the loss of functioning. The behaviors are not intentionally produced. That is, the person is not faking. It is named so because it appears to "convert" a source of stress into a physical difficulty.

Bipolar Disorder

A disorder in which the mood alternates between two extreme poles (elation and depression); also referred to as manic depression. People with this, earlier known as manic-depressive disorder, have mood swings from ecstatic elation to deep depression. The cycles seem to be unrelated to external events. In the elated, or manic (elated, showing excessive excitement) phase, the person may show excessive excitement or silliness, carrying jokes too far. The manic person may be argumentative, show poor judgment, destroy property, make huge contributions to charity, or give away expensive possessions. People often find manic individuals abrasive and avoid them. They are often oversexed and too restless to sit still or sleep restfully. They often speak rapidly (showing pressured speech) and jump from topic to topic (showing rapid flight of ideas (rapid speech and topic changes, characteristic of manic behavior)). It can be hard to get a word in edgewise. Depression is the other side of the coin. People with this often sleep more than usual and are lethargic. People with major (or unipolar) depression are more likely to have insomnia and agitation. Those with this also exhibit social withdrawal and irritability. Some people with this attempt suicide when the mood shifts from the elated phase toward depression. They will do almost anything to escape the depths of depression that lie ahead. Imbalances in the neurotransmitter serotonin apparently play a role in --. Twin and adoption studies also support a role for genetic factors in --.

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

A disorder that follows a distressing event outside the range of normal human experience and that is characterized by features such as intense fear, avoidance. Characterized by rapid heart rate and feelings of anxiety and helplessness that are caused by a traumatic experience. Such experiences may include a natural or human-made disaster, a threat or assault, or witnessing a death. It may occur months or years after the event. It frequently occurs among firefighters, combat veterans, and people whose homes and communities have been swept away by natural disasters or who have been victims of accidents or interpersonal violence. The traumatic event is revisited in the form of intrusive memories, recurrent dreams, and flashbacks—the feeling that the event is recurring. People with this typically try to avoid thoughts and activities connected to the traumatic events. They may also find it more difficult to enjoy life, and they often have sleep problems, irritable outburst, difficulty concentrating, extreme vigilance, and an intensified "startle" response. Women, who are more likely than men to ruminate about stressors, were also more likely than men to report difficulty falling asleep.

Dissociative Amnesia

A dissociative disorder marked by loss of memory or self-identity; skills and general knowledge are usually retained. A person with this is suddenly unable to recall important personal information. The loss of memory cannot be attributed to organic problems such as a blow to the head or alcoholic intoxication. It is thus a psychological dissociative disorder and not an organic one. In the most common example, the person cannot recall events for a number of hours after a stressful incident, a in warfare or in the case of an uninjured survivor of an accident. In general, people with this forget their entire lives. It may las for hours or years.

Borderline Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by instability in relationships, self-image, mood, and lack of impulse control. They tend to be uncertain of their values, goals, loyalties, careers, choices of friends, and sometimes even their sexual orientations. Instability in self-image or identity may leave them with feelings of emptiness and boredom. Many cannot tolerate being alone and make desperate attempts to avoid feelings of abandonment. They may be clinging and demanding in social relationships, but clinging often pushes away the people on whom they depend. They alternate between extremes of adulation in their relationships (when their needs are met) and loathing (when they feel scorned). They tend to view other people as all good or all bad, shifting abruptly from one extreme to the other. As a result, they may flit from partner to partner in brief and stormy relationships. People they had idealized are treated with contempt when they feel the other person has failed them. Instability of moods is a central characteristic. Moods run the gamut from anger and irritability to depression and anxiety, with each lasting from a few hours to a few days. People with the disorder have difficulty controlling anger and are prone to fights or smashing things. They often act on impulse, like eloping with someone they have just met. This impulsive and unpredictable behavior is often self-destructive and linked to a risk of suicidal attempts and gestures. It may involve spending sprees, gambling, drug abuse, engaging in unsafe sexual activity, reckless driving, binge eating, or shoplifting. People with the disorder may also engage in self-mutilation, such as scratching their wrists or burning their arms with cigarettes. Self-mutilation is sometimes a means of manipulating others, particularly in times of stress. Frequent self-mutilation is also associated with suicide attempts.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by oddities of thought and behavior but not involving bizarre psychotic behaviors. It is characterized by peculiarities of thought, perception, or behaviors, such as excessive fantasy and suspiciousness, feeling of being unreal, or the odd use of words. There are no complex delusions, no hallucinations, and no unusual motor activities, so this disorder is --, not schizophrenic.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by persistent suspiciousness but not involving the disorganization of -- schizophrenia. The defining trait of this is a tendency to interpret other people's behavior as threatening or demeaning. They are mistrustful of others, and their relationships suffer for it. They may be suspicious of coworkers and supervisors, but they can generally hold a job.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by social withdrawal. It is characterized by indifference to relationships and flat emotional response. People with this disorder are "loner." They do not develop warm, tender feelings for others. They have few friends and rarely maintain long-term relationships. Some people with this do very well on the job provided that continuous social interaction is not required. They do not have hallucinations or delusions.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A personality disorder in which the person is unwilling to enter into relationships without assurance of acceptance because of fears of rejection and criticism. As a result, they may have few close relationships outside their immediate families. Unlike people with schizoid personality disorder, however, they have some interest in, and feelings of warmth toward, other people.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A serious to sever depressive disorder in which the person may show loss of appetite, psychomotor retardation, and impaired reality testing. According to a nationally representative sample of more than 9,000 adults in the US, this disorder affects 5-7% of us within any given year and one person in six or seven over the course of our lives. About half of those with this experience severe symptoms such as poor appetite, serious weight loss, and agitation or psychomotor retardation (slowness in motor activity and (apparently) in thought). They may be unable to concentrate and make decisions. They may say that they do not care anymore and, in some cases, attempt suicide. A minority may display faulty perception of reality—so-called psychotic behaviors. These include delusions of unworthiness, guilt for imagined wrongdoings, even the notion that one is rotting from disease. There may also be delusions, as of the devil administering deserved punishment, or hallucinations, as of strange bodily sensations.

Schizophrenia

A severe psychological disorder that touches every aspect of a person's life. It is characterized by disturbances in thought and language, perception and attention, motor activity, and mood, as well as withdrawal and absorption in daydreams or fantasy. It has been referred to as the worst psychological disorder affecting human beings. It afflicts nearly 1% of the population worldwide. Its onset occurs relatively early in life, and its adverse effects tend to endure.

Illness Anxiety Disorder

A somatoform disorder characterized by persistent belief that one is ill despite lack of medical findings. This is a more common type of somatic disorder (earlier called hypochondria). People with this disorder become preoccupied with minor physical sensations and continue to believe that they are ill despite the reassurance of physicians that they are healthy. They may run from doctor to doctor, seeking the one who will find the causes of the sensations. Fear of illness may disrupt their work or home life.

Origins of Dissociative Disorders

According to learning theorists and cognitive psychologists, people with dissociative disorders have learned not to think about bad memories or disturbing impulses to avoid feeling of anxiety, guilt, and shame. Both psychodynamic and learning theories suggest that dissociative disorders help people keep disturbing memories or ideas out of the mind.

They are dangerous (Characteristic)

Behavior or mental processes that are hazardous to the self or others may be considered suggestive of psychological disorders. Example is people who threaten or attempt suicide and people who threaten or attack others.

They are self-defeating (Characteristic)

Behavior or mental processes that cause misery rather than happiness and fulfillment may suggest psychological disorder. Those who have depressive disorders suffer a great deal. Example of this is chronic drinking, as it is threatening to one's heath and one's social and vocational life.

Somatoform Disorders

Disorders in which people complain of physical (somatic) problems even though no physical abnormality can be found.

Personality Disorders

Enduring patterns of maladaptive behavior that are sources of distress to the individual or others. Like personality traits, they are characterized by enduring patterns of behavior. They are inflexible and maladaptive. They impair personal or social functioning and are a source of distress to the individual or to other people.

Suicide

Every year about 38,000 people in the US takes their own lives. It is the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year old, following accidents and assaults. Most -- are linked to feelings of depression and hopelessness. -- adolescents tend to experience confusion about who they are and where they are going, impulsiveness, emotional instability, and social problems. Some -- teenagers, like suicidal adults, are highly achieving, rigid perfectionists who have set impossibly high expectations for themselves. Many people throw themselves into feelings of depression and hopelessness by comparing themselves negatively with others. Contributors to -- behavior among adolescents include concerns over sexuality, sexual abuse, grades, problems at home, and substance abuse. It is not always a stressful event itself that precipitates -- but the individual's anxiety or fear of being "found out" about something, such as failing a course or getting arrested. People who consider -- are apparently less capable of solving problems, especially social problems, than others. They are thus less likely to find productive ways of changing the stressful situation. They want a magical solution to problems that require work or else a quick way out. There is a tendency for -- to run in families. Many -- attempters have family members with serious psychological problems, and about one in four has family members who have taken their own lives. The causal connections are unclear, however.

They suggest faulty perception of reality (Characteristic)

Example is being inspired by religion vs. speaking to God literally. Hallucinations (a perception in the absence of sensory stimulation that is confused with reality) like hearing voices and seeing things. Ideas of persecution (erroneous beliefs that one is being victimized or persecuted) such as believing the FBI is out to get you. Both of these are signs of disorder.

They are Unusual (Characteristic)

Example of this is feeling panicked before a term paper that is due tomorrow. These are not panic attacks that come out of the blue. Unpredictable panic attacks are suggestive of psychological disorders.

GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)

Feelings of dread and foreboding and sympathetic arousal of at least six months' duration. The central symptom is persistent anxiety that cannot be attributed to a phobic object, situation, or activity. Rather, it seems to be free floating. The core of the disorder appears to be pervasive worrying about numerous stressors. Symptoms include motor tension, autonomic over arousal, and excessive vigilance, as shown by irritability, insomnia, and a tendency to be easily distracted.

Mood Disorders

People with this experience disturbances in mood that are unusually severe or prolonged and impair their ability to function. Some people become severely depressed when things are going well or when they encounter mildly upsetting events that others take in stride. Still others experience extreme mood swings. They ride an emotional roller coaster with dizzying heights and

Catatonic

For individuals with schizophrenia, motor activity may become wild or slowed that the person is said to be in a stupor (a condition in which the senses, thought, and movement are dulled)—that is, a condition in which the senses, thought, and movement are inhibited. There may be strange gestures and facial expressions. People with the condition termed -- (a psychotic condition characterized by striking motor impairment) show striking impairment in motor activity. A stupor may suddenly change into agitation. -- individuals may maintain unusual, sometimes difficult postures for hours, even as their limbs grow swollen or stiff. A striking feature of this condition is waxy flexibility (a feature of -- schizophrenia in which people can be modeled into postures that they maintain for quite some time) in which the person maintains positions into which he or she has been manipulated by others. -- individuals may also show mutism, but afterward, they usually report that they heard what others were saying at the time. The schizophrenic person's emotional responses may be flat or blunted or completely inappropriate—as in giggling upon hearing bad news. People with schizophrenia tend to withdraw from social contracts and become wrapped up in their own thoughts and fantasies.

Biological Views

Genetic factors are implicated in most psychological disorders, including anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders tend to run in families. Identical twins are much more likely to both have the disorder than fraternal twins. Adoptee studies show that the biological parent places the child at greater risk for anxiety and related traits than does the adoptive parent. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that anxiety may reflect natural selection. Humans (and primates) are genetically predisposed to fear stimuli that may have posed a threat to their ancestors. Evolutionary forces would have favored the survival of individuals who were predisposed toward acquiring fears of large animals, spiders, snakes, heights, entrapment, sharp objects, and strangers. Thus, people who fearlessly encounter potentially harmful stimuli may be at a disadvantage, evolutionarily speaking, rather than at an advantage. Perhaps a predisposition toward anxiety—in the form of a highly reactive autonomic nervous system—can be inherited. The autonomic nervous system may stimulate the production of excessive quantities of adrenaline and noradrenaline. These chemicals normally pump up the body in preparation for the fight-or-flight response—both sides of which can make up self-preserving responses to threats. But when their production is so intense that they flood the body, we can feel shaky and drenched with sweat and incapable of doing anything useful.

Sociocultural Views

Many investigators have considered whether and how social and cultural factors such as poverty, poor parenting, discrimination, and overcrowding contribute to schizophrenia—especially among people who are genetically vulnerable to the disorder. Although quality of parenting is connected with the development of schizophrenia, critics note that many people who are reared I socially punitive settings are apparently immune to the disorder. Classic research in New Haven, Connecticut, showed that the rate of schizophrenia was twice as high in the lowest socioeconomic class as in the next higher class on the socioeconomic ladder. Some -- theorists therefore suggest that treatment of schizophrenia requires alleviation of poverty and other social ills rather than changing people whose behavior is deviant. But critics of this view suggest that low socioeconomic status may be a result, rather than a cause, of schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia may drift downward in social status—winding up in poor neighborhoods—because they lack the social skills and cognitive abilities to function at higher levels. Although any researchers continue to seek psychological and social risk factors for the development of schizophrenia, research has not discovered any environmental causes that will lead to the development of schizophrenia in people who are unrelated to people with the disorder.

Psychological Views

Many leaning theorists suggest that depressed people behave as though they cannot obtain reinforcement. For example, they appear to be inactive and apathetic. Many people with depressive disorders have an external locus of control. That is, they do not believe they can control events so as to achieve reinforcements. Research conducted by learning theorists has also found links between depression and learned helplessness (a possible explanation for some depressive behavior, based on findings that organisms in aversive situations learn to show inactivity when their behavior is not reinforced). Cognitive factors also contribute to depression. For example, perfectionists set themselves up for depression by making irrational demands on themselves. They are likely to fall short of their (unrealistic) expectations and to feel depressed as a result. Still other cognitions involve the ways people explain their failures and short-comings to themselves. Seligman suggested that when things go wrong, we may think of the causes of failure as either internal, external, stable or unstable, global or specific. These attributional styles (the tendency to attribute one's behavior to internal or external factors, stable or unstable factors, and global or specific factors) can be illustrated using the example of having a date that does not work out. An internal attribution involves self-blame. An external attribute places the blame elsewhere. A stable attribution suggests a problem that cannot be changed. An unstable attribution suggests a temporary condition. A global attribution of failure suggests that the problem is quite large. A specific attribution chops the problem down to a manageable size. Research has shown that people who are depressed are more likely to attribute the causes their failure to internal, stable, and global factors—factors that they are relatively powerless to change.

Paranoid

Many people with schizophrenia have unshakeable delusions (false, persistent beliefs that are unsubstantiated by sensory or objective evidence) of grandeur, persecution, or reference. The perceptual problems of people with this often include hallucinations—imagery in the absence of external stimulation that the person cannot distinguish from reality. People who experience hallucinations may see colors or even obscene words spelled out in midair. Auditory hallucinations are the most common type. People with delusional disorder (a psychotic disorder characterized by persistent false beliefs) hold persistent, clearly delusional beliefs, often involving paranoid themes. The delusional beliefs typically concern events that could possibly occur, such as the infidelity of a spouse, persecution by others, or attracting the love of a famous person. The possibility of such beliefs may lead others to take them seriously and check them out before deciding that they are unfounded. Apart from the delusion, the individual does not show obviously bizarre or odd behavior. But in some there is a single bizarre delusion, such as believing that aliens have implanted electrodes in the person's head.

DSM : DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Version 5)

Most of this in the US comes from --. Based largely on medical model, so the way it is written is similar to doctors' manuals are written. It is used only for classifying. Tells what kind of disorder a person may have. Suggests nothing about origins and treatments. Strictly classification.

Biological Views

Much focus today is one the -- aspects of schizophrenia—in its nature as a brain disease and on its likely -- origins. Many studies have shown that the brains of schizophrenic people differ from those of normal people. Studies have focused on the amount of gray matter in the brain, the size of the ventricles, activity levels in the brain, and brain chemistry. Imagining of the brain has shown that people with schizophrenia generally have less gray matter than other people, which suggests deficiencies in attention, working memory, abstract thinking, and language. People with schizophrenia have smaller brains than normal people and, in particular, a smaller prefrontal region of the cortex. PET scans reveal that people with schizophrenia also tend to have a lower level of activity in the prefrontal cortex—the region responsible for planning and decision making. Still other research connects the lower activity levels with a loss in synapses in the region, further decreasing the likelihood that people with schizophrenia will transmit neural messages efficiency. Schizophrenia, like many other psychological disorders, runs in families. People with schizophrenia make up about 1% of the global population, yet children with one schizophrenic parent have about a 6% chance of being diagnosed with it. There is about a 48% agreement rate for the diagnosis among pairs of identical twins, whose genetic codes are the same, compared with a 17% rate among pairs of fraternal twins. Moreover, adoptee studies find that the -- parent typically places the child at greater risk for schizophrenia than the adoptive parent. Many studies have been carried out to try to isolate the gene or genes involved in schizophrenia. Some studies find locations for multiple genes on several chromosomes. In many cases of schizophrenia, a genetic vulnerability may be a necessary factor but insufficient to cause its development. The mothers of many people who develop schizophrenia have undergone complications during pregnancy and birth. Complications during childbirth, especially prolonged labor, seem to be connected with the larger ventricles—hollow spaces—we find among people with schizophrenia. Poor maternal nutrition has been implicated as well. People with schizophrenia are also somewhat more likely to have been born during winter than would be predicted by chance; cold weather might heighten the risk of viral and other infections in the mother during late pregnancy and early infancy. Numerous chemical substances, including the neurotransmitter dopamine, have been suspected of playing a role in schizophrenia. According to the dopamine theory, people with schizophrenia "overutilize" dopamine (use more of it than most people do), although they may not produce more of it. Research suggests that they have increases concentrations of dopamine at the synapses in the brain and also larger numbers of dopamine receptors. It is a sort of "double hit" of neural transmission that may be connected with the confusion that characterizes schizophrenia.

Panic Disorder

Recurrent experiencing of attacks of extreme anxiety in the absence of external stimuli that usually elicits anxiety. It is an abrupt anxiety attack that is apparently unrelated to specific objects or situations. People with this experience strong cardiac-related sensations; shortness of breath, heavy sweating, tremors, and pounding of the heart. People with this disorder may also experience choking sensations, nausea, numbness or tingling, flushes or chills, and fear of going crazy or losing control. Panic attacks may last minutes or hours. Afterwards, the person usually feels drained. This diagnosis is reserved for those who undergo multiple attacks or live in fear of attacks. Panic attacks seem to some out of nowhere. Thus, some people who have had them stay at home for fear of having an attack in public.

Biological Views

Researchers are also searching for biological factors in depression. Depression, for example, is often associated with the trait of neuroticism (a personality trait characterized largely by persistent anxiety), which is heritable. Anxiety is also connected with neuroticism, and depressive and anxiety disorders are frequently found in the same person. Much research into depression focuses on underutilization of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Moreover, people with severe depression often respond to drugs that heighten the action of serotonin.

Psychological Views

Some learning theorists—particularly behaviorists—consider phobias to be conditioned fears that were acquired in early childhood. Avoidance of feared stimuli is reinforced by the reductions of anxiety. Observational learning may also play a role in the acquisition of fears. Cognitive theorists note that people's appraisals of the magnitude of threats help determine whether they are traumatic and can lead to PTSD. People with panic attacks tend to misinterpret bodily cues and to view them as threats. Obsessions and compulsions may serve to divert attention from more frightening issues, such as "What am I going to do with my life?" When anxieties are acquired at a young age, we may later interpret them as enduring traits and label ourselves as someone who fears something. We then live up to the labels. We also entertain thoughts that heighten and perpetuate anxiety. Such ideas intensify physical signs of anxiety, disrupt planning, make stimuli seem worse than they really are, motivate avoidance, and decrease self-efficacy expectations. The belief that we will not be able to handle a threat heightens anxiety. The belief that we are in control reduces anxiety.

Sociocultural Factors of Suicide

Suicide is connected not only with feelings of depression and stressful events but also with age, educational status, ethnicity, and gender. Suicide is more common among college students than among people of the same age who are not in college. Each year, about 10,000 college students attempt suicide. Although teenage suicides loom large in the media spotlight, older people are more likely to commit suicide. The suicide rate among older people who are unmarried or divorced is double that of older people who are married. Rates of suicide and suicide attempts also vary among different ethnic groups and according to gender. African Americans are least likely to attempt suicide. About one in every six Native Americans has attempted suicide—a rate higher than that of other Americans. About three times as many females as males attempt suicide, but about five times as many males "succeed." Males are more likely to shoot or hang themselves; females more often use drugs, such as overdoses of tranquilizers or sleeping pills, or poisons. It takes a while for drugs to work, giving people the opportunity to find them and intervene.

Sociocultural Factors

The label of borderline personality has been applied to people as diverse as Marylin Monroe and Lawrence of Arabia. Some theorists believe we live in fragmented and alienating times that tend to create problems in forming a stable identity and stable relationships. "Living on the edge," or border, can be seen as a metaphor for an unstable society.

Origins of Somatoform Disorders

The somatoform disorders offer a fascinating study in which the biopsychosocial perspective. Psychologically speaking, the somatoform disorders have much to do with what one focuses on—actual social and financial problems, for example, or one's body. There is evidence that people with conversion disorder are susceptible to being hypnotized, and some investigators consider conversion disorder to be a form of self-hypnosis in which people focus so intently on an imaginary physical problem that they exclude conflicting information. Research evidence suggests that people who develop illness anxiety disorder are particularly sensitive to bodily sensations and tend to ruminate about them. Biologically speaking, tendencies toward perfectionism and rumination, which are found among many people with somatoform disorders, are thought to be at least partly heritable. Squeamishness about one's body may be too much of a god thing from the evolutionary perspective. That is, concern about bodily harm will presumably encourage one to avoid danger and provide advantages in survival and reproduction. But too much concern may lead to useless preoccupations.

Biopsychosocial

This model explains psychological disorders in terms of a combination of biological vulnerabilities, psychological factors such as exposure to stress, and sociocultural factors such as family relationships and cultural beliefs.

Positive Symptoms

Those symptoms of schizophrenia that indicate the presence of inappropriate behavior, such as hallucinations, delusions, agitation, and inappropriate giggling. They are the inappropriate kinds of behavior we find in afflicted people, including, for example, agitated behavior, vivid hallucinations, unshakeable delusions, disorganized thinking, and nonsensical speech.

Negative Symptoms

Those symptoms of schizophrenia that reflect the absence of appropriate behavior, such as blank faces, monotonic voices, and motionless bodies. They are those that reflect the absence of appropriate behavior. We see them in flat, emotionless voices, blank faces, rigid, motionless bodies, and mutism (refusal to talk).

Myths about Suicide

You may have heard that individuals who threaten suicide are only seeking attention. Those who are serious just do it. Not so. Most people who commit suicide give warnings about their intentions or have made prior attempts. Contrary to widespread belief, discussing suicide with a person who is depressed does not prompt the person to attempt suicide. Extracting a promise not to commit suicide before calling or visiting a helping professional seems to prevent some suicides. Some believe that only "insane" people would take their own lives. However, suicidal thinking is not necessarily a sign of psychosis, neurosis, or personality disorder. Instead, many people may consider suicide when they think they have run out of options.