2. DEFINING A PSYCHOLOGICAL
DISORDER
• DSM-V definition:
• Behavioral, cognitive, and emotional
dysfunction
• Unexpected in cultural context
• Personal distress
• Substantial impairment in function
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF
GOOD MENTAL HEALTH
• Feels good about
themselves
• Feels comfortable with
others
• Optimistic
• Expresses emotions in
a healthy way
• Group player
• Able to meet demands of
life
• Uses health skills – stress
management, decision
making, conflict resolution,
and “I” messages
• Copes and adapts to
change
• Assertive
• Active listener
4. CHARACTERISTICS OF
POOR MENTAL HEALTH
• Does not share feelings
• Emotions control
behaviors
• Pessimistic
• Ignores/denies problems
• Cannot accept change
• Lets stress control life
• “You” messages (blaming)
• Aggressive and passive
• Depressed
• Runs from conflict
• Close minded
• Needs to “run” the group
5. WHAT IS A MENTAL ILLNESS?
• Patterns of thinking or behavior that
cause a person significant emotional
pain or prevents normal functioning
6. GENERAL CAUSES OF
MENTAL ILLNESS
• Inherited traits
• Traumatic life experiences
• Environmental exposures before birth
• Viruses, toxins, alcohol, drugs
• Brain chemistry
• Hormonal imbalances
7. 2000 DSM IV TR
• Multiaxial System
• Axis I: Major Disorder
• Axis II: Personality Disorder and MR
• Axis III: General Medical Conditions
• Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems
• Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (0 to
100)
• Sexual Disorder not otherwise specified
8.
9. 2013 DSM V
• Combines all mental disorders, including
personality disorders and intellectual
disability, as well as other medical diagnoses
• GAF replaced by World Health Organization
Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS
2.0) – best current measure of disability for
routine clinical use and applicable for any
health condition
10. ASSESSMENT VS. TESTING
• Psychological Assessment
• Integrating psychological data for the purpose
of making a psychological evaluation
• Psychological Test
• Device or procedure used to measure variables
related to psychology
11. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
• Clinical Interview
• Demographic data, psychiatric medical history,
family history, reason for visit
• Mental Status Exam
• Appearance, behavioral disturbances,
awareness of surroundings, mood/affect
• Behavioral Observations
• Informal observations provide information from
the natural environment through controlled
settings
12. PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
• Projective Tests
• Rorschach Inkblot or Thematic Apperception
Test
• Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test
• Evaluates neuropsychological status – visual
motor maturity to developmental disorders
• MMPI-2
• Personality test
• Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales
• Assesses personal and social skills in children
14. AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
• Disorders
• Autistic Disorder
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder
• Asperger’s Disorder
• Cause
• Unknown
• Genetic/environmental factors
• Brain structure abnormalities
• Large total brain mass
• Small frontal cortex
• Abnormal cerebellum
15. AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
• Signs/Symptoms
• Lack of social skills
• Avoidance of eye contact and physical contact
• Aggressive or passive
• Resistant to change
• Don’t listen
• Throw tantrums
• Echolalia – meaningless repetition of another
person’s spoken words
16. AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
• Early Indicators
• No babbling, pointing, words, or response to
name
• Loss of language or social skills
• Poor eye contact
• No social responsiveness
• Late Indicators
• Impaired ability to make friends, initiate
conversation, or play
• Inflexible adherence to routines and rituals
18. ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY
DISORDER
• The inability to focus on one thing in all aspects
of life
• Impairs functioning
• Diagnosis must have all three:
• Inattention
• Hyperactivity
• Impulsivity
20. TOURETTE’S SYNDROME
• Classification
• Transient Tic Disorder – do not persist for
more than one year
• Chronic Tic Disorder – duration over many
years w/ an unchanging character
• Chronic Multiple Tics – several chronic
motor tics
• Tourette’s – multiform frequency changing
motor and phone tics; unknown cause
21. BIPOLAR DISEASE
• Combination of euphoria and depression
• Signs/Symptoms in Kids
• Continuous, rapid-cycling, irritable, mixed
symptom state
• May co-occur with other disruptive
behaviors
24. CONDUCT DISORDERS
• Fighting, bullying, intimidating, physically
assaulting, or sexually coercing others
• Cruelty to humans and animals
• Vandalism, theft, and truancy
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Precocious sexual activity
27. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Excessive worry for at least 6 months
• Focus of worry will shift between topics
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Extreme anxiety about being judged by others or
being embarrassed
• Causes avoidance behaviors
• Specific Phobias
• Fear of a specific thing that is at a level which is
inappropriate and recognized as irrational
28. ANXIETY DISORDERS
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Persistent, recurring thoughts and obsessions
• Repetitive, obsessive behaviors
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Follows exposure to a traumatic event
• Three characteristic symptoms: reliving the disaster,
avoidance behavior, and emotional detachment from
other
• Panic Disorder
• Unexpected Panic Attacks
• Situational Panic Attacks
• Situationally Pre-Disposed Panic Attacks
29. DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS
• Major Depression
• Combination of symptoms that interfere with
work, sleeping, eating, and social activities
• Dysthymia
• Less severe form of depression
• Chronic, but does not interfere w/everyday life
• Bipolar Disorder
• Cyclic mood swings with mania and depression
30. MA JOR DEPRESSION:
SIGNS/SYMPTOMS
• Depressed Mood
• Diminished Interest
• Weight Loss/Gain
• Sleep Disturbance
• Restlessness
• Being Slowed Down
• Fatigue
• Loss of Energy
• Feelings of Worthlessness
• Feelings of Excessive Guilt
• Difficulty
Thinking/Concentrating
• Symptoms Occur Every Day
• Significant Distress
• Significant Impairment
• Thoughts of Death
31. BIPOLAR DISORDER
• Manic Episodes
• Elevated mood
• Grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep
• Talkativeness
• Racing thoughts
• Increased goal-directed activity
• Marked Impairment
• Hospitalization, Psychotic Features
• May Alternate w/ Depressive Episodes
32. DELUSIONAL DISORDERS
• Delusional Paranoid Disorder
• Persistent, non-bizarre delusions
• No symptoms of other mental disorders
• Delusions of being persecuted
33. SCHIZOPHRENIA
• Characteristic Symptoms
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Disorganized speech and behavior
• Negative symptoms
• Flat affect
• Lack of motivation
• Social and Occupational Dysfunction
• Lasting at least 6 months
34.
35.
36. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
• Paranoid
• Continual mistrust; view everyone as an enemy
• Hypersensitive, defensive, and antagonistic
• Antisocial
• Long-standing pattern of a disregard for other people’s
rights
• Can only be diagnosed in ages 18 and older
• Avoidant
• Long-standing and complex pattern of feelings of
inadequacy, extreme sensitivity, and social inhibition
37. PERSONALITY DISORDERS
• Borderline
• Labile interpersonal relationships characterized by
instability, shallow, and impulsive behaviors
• Schizoid
• Detachment from social relationships
• Restricted range of expression of emotion in
interpersonal settings
• Narcissistic
• Pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration,
and lack of empathy
38. DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER
• Multiple Personality Disorder
• Two or more separate identities or traits
• Ability to control individual’s behavior and
thinking
• Create alters to distance themselves from
pain and trauma
39. SUBSTANCE ABUSE
• Addiction
• Physical or psychological craving need for
higher and higher doses of a substance
• Leads to bodily harm, social maladjustment,
or economic hardship
• Dependence on a substance, habit, or
behavior
40. ANOREXIA NERVOSA
• Irrational fear of becoming obese results in
severe weight loss from self-imposed starvation
• Warning Signs
• Dramatic weight loss
• Anxiety about gaining weight
• Denial of hunger
• Food rituals
• Excessive exercise
• Isolation
• Frequent comments about being “fat”
• Avoids food situations
42. PSYCHOTHERAPY
• Therapeutic treatment of mental illness
provided by trained mental health
professionals
• Explores thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors
• Seeks to improve an individual’s well-
being
43. SUPPORT GROUP
• Group meeting where members guide
each other towards the shared goal of
recovery
• Often comprised of nonprofessionals,
but peers that have suffered similar
experiences
44. HOSPITALIZATION
• May be necessary so an individual can
be closely monitored, accurately
diagnosed, or have medications
adjusted when his or her mental illness
temporarily worsens
48. ANTIPSYCHOTIC: THORAZINE
• Exact mechanism of action unknown
• Psychotropic agent that produces
sedative and antiemetic activities in the
CNS and other organ systems
• Weak anticholinergic activity; strong
antiadrenergic activity
49. ANTI-DEPRESSANTS
• Used to relieve symptoms of depression
• Sadness
• Feelings of failure
• Loss of interest in life
• Sleep disturbances
• Excessive guilt
• Loss of Energy/Fatigue
• Thoughts of Death
• Suicidal Thoughts
50. ANTI-DEPRESSANT: LEXAPRO
• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor
(SSRI)
• Enhances serotonergic activity in the
central nervous system as a result of its
inhibition of serotonin receptors in CNS
neurons
51. MOOD STABILIZERS
• Used to treat symptoms of mania
• Rapid talking
• Decreased need for sleep
• Racing thoughts
• Distractibility
• Irritability
• Behavioral excesses
• Grandiosity
52. MOOD STABILIZERS: LITHIUM
• Lithium alters sodium transport in nerve
and muscle cells
• Results in intraneuronal metabolism of
catecholamines
• Specific mechanism of action in mania is
unknown
53. ANTI-ANXIETY
• Used to treat symptoms of anxiety
• Nervousness
• Panic
• Shortness of breath
• Trembling
• Feeling of choking
• Heart palpitations
• Obsessions and compulsions
54. ANTI-ANXIETY: XANAX
• Unknown mechanism of action
• Benzodiazepine
• Binds to various specific receptors in
the central nervous system
• Exhibits antidepressant properties
55. ANTI-PARKINSONIANS
• Side Effects Medications
• Used to relieve side effects of anti-psychotics
• Stiff muscles
• Unsteady gait
• tremors
• Eyes rolling back
• Restless feeling
58. STIMULANTS: ADDERALL
• CNS stimulant activity
• Amphetamines block the reuptake of
norepinephrine and dopamine into the presynaptic
neuron, and increase their release into the
extraneuronal space
• Mechanism of therapeutic activity in ADHD is not
known
