Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology- a "harmful dysfunction" in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, or unjustifiable

DSM IV- classifies disorders and describes symptoms

• Neurotic Disorders- distressing but one can still function in society and act rationally
• Psychotic Disorders- person loses contact with reality

Anxiety Disorders- conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety; patient fears something awful will happen to them

• Phobia- person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread, must be an irrational fear
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder - person is continuously tense, apprehensive,  and in a state of automatic nervous system arousal
• Panic Disorder- marked by a minute-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, and other symptoms
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder- persistent unwanted thoughts(obsessions) cause someone to feel the need to engage in a particular action
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- flashback or nightmares following a person's involvement in an observation of an extremely stressful event

Somatoform Disorders- psychological problem stemming from physiological problem

• Hypochondriasis- has frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause
• Coversion- report the existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason

Dissociative Disorders- involve a disruption in the conscious process; 3 types

• Psychogenic Amnesia- person cannot remember things with no physiological basis for the disruption of memory
• Dissociative Fugue- people find themselves in an unfamiliar environment
• Dissociative Identity Disorder- person has several rather than one integrated personality

Mood Disorders

• Major Depression- unhappy for at least 2 weeks with no apparent cause
• Dysthymic Disorder- suffering from mild depression everyday for at least 2 years
• Seasonal Affective Disorder- experience depression during winter months 

Personality Disorders- well established, maldaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect people's ability to function

• Antisocial Personality- lack of empathy;little regard for others' feelings; view the world as hostile and look out for themselves
• Dependent Personality- rely too much on the attention and help of others
• Histrionic Personality- needs to be the center of attention; acting silly
• Narcissistic Personality- having an unwarranted sense of self-importance 

Schizophrenic Disorders- Disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions, inappropriate emotions and actions

• Disorganized- thinking is fragmented and bizarre; distorted with false beliefs; comes from a breakdown of selective attention; flat or inappropriate actions
• Paranoid- preoccupations with delusions or hallucinations
• Catatonic- parrot like repeating of another's speech or movements
• Undifferentiated- many and varied symptoms