1. Abnormal Behavior

2. What is abnormal behavior?
Deviance – atypical from what is normal
Maladaptive Behavior – everyday adaptive behavior is impaired
Personal Distress – usually depression, anxiety disorders

3. Once Upon A Time
People with mental disorders were feared as demons, and witches
Many were mistreated – sometimes torture & death

4. Medical Model
150 to 175 years ago institutions established to help the mentally disordered.
The mentally disabled treated as victims of illness
Scientific treatment gradually improved

5. De - Institutionalization
The Process of releasing patients form mental institutions
New drugs
Save government money
Where did the former patients go?
Jail
Homelessness

6. Recent Critics of Medical Model
Diagnosis can pin derogatory labels
Social Stigma
Stereotypes and prejudice

7. Abnormal or Normal? Difficult to draw the line
Many people display some maladaptive behavior at times
Are they crazy?
Only a disorder when behavior becomes extremely deviant, maladaptive, or distressing

8. Abnormal or Normal?
Judgements on mental illness reflect prevailing cultural values, social trends, and political forces After all this how are these judgements resolved on an individual basis? - Through diagnosis

9. Diagnosis Distinguishing one illness from another
How are illnesses diagnosed?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders
( DSM – 5 )

10. Medical Model Terms
Diagnosis Etiology: apparent causation and developmental history of an illness Prognosis: Forecast about the probable course of an illness Epidemiology: study of the distribution of mental or physical disorders in a population Prevalence: % of the population that exhibit a disorder

11. Prevalence of Disorders
Difficult to obtain a good estimate
Disorders are common
44% of population will struggle with a disorder during their life.
Most common: substance abuse, anxiety disorders, mood disorders

12. Anxiety Disorders General Anxiety: Chronic high anxiety
Phobia: Irrational fears of specific objects or situations
Panic: Recurring panic attacks / Agoraphobia
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ): Disturbances following experience of a major traumatic event

13. Anxiety Disorders: Biology & Conditioning
Twin Studies: weak genetic dispositions
Anxiety disorders may be more likely in people who are sensitive to physiological symptoms of anxiety
Abnormalities at GABA or Serotonin synapses may play a role
Many anxieties may be caused by Classical Conditioning and maintained by Operant Conditioning

14. Anxiety: Stress & Cognitive Factors
Stress may predispose people
Styles of thinking may influence
Tendency to interpret harmless situations as threatening

15. Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Amnesia: sudden memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting
Dissociative Fugue: People lose their sense of identity
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Coexistence of two or more very different personalities. Since the 1970’s there has been a dramatic increase

16. Etiology of Dissociative Disorder
Some believe that DID are engaging in intentional role playing to save face for personal failings
Others view DID as an authentic disorder rooted in emotional trauma that occurred in childhood.

17. Mood Disorders
Major Depression: Profound Sadness Slowed thought process Loss of interest in previous pleasures Bipolar Disorder: Experience both Manic Episodes and Depression Episodes

18. Suicide 11th cause of death in U.S. / 30,000 annually
90% suffer from psychological disorders
Women attempt 3 times more than Men
Men complete 4 times more then women
Prevention: take seriously, empathy, clarify problems, no secrecy, acute crisis – don’t leave alone, encourage help

19. Mood Disorders: Factors
Genetics: vulnerability varies
Neurochemical activity change in brain
Abnormalities at norepinephrine and serotonin synapses
Reduced Hippocampal volume suppresses neurogenesis

20. Mood Disorder & Cognitive Factors
Negative thinking can lead to depression
Pessimistic explanatory style
Susan Nolen – Hoeksma: Tendency to Ruminate

21. Mood Disorders: Interpersonal and Stress Factors
Interpersonal inadequacies may contribute
Poor social skills – may lead to shortage support
Maybe precipitated by high stress – especially those vulnerable to mood disorders

22. Personality Disorders
Extreme, inflexible personality traits that cause subjective stress or impaired social and occupational functioning
Anxious - fearful
Odd – eccentric
Dramatic – impulsive
1% - 2%

23. Personality Disorder Histrionic - overly dramatic
Narcissistic – Overly self important
Borderline – Unstable self image, mood, impulsive, unpredictable
Antisocial – Impulsive, callous, manipulative, aggressive, irresponsible, failure to accept social norms

24. Insanity :Legal status – cannot be held responsible for a crime
M’Naghten Law

25. Involuntary Confinement
People hospitalized against their will
Danger to themselves
Danger to others
Unable to provide care for themselves
Short Term and Long Term Confinement