Psychological Disorders and therapies
Monday, 29 November 2021 4:24 PM
Behaviors can be normal but it depends on the frequency
- Some people wash their hands too much
Psychological disorder
- Statistical deviation
○ Most people in the middle of the distribution
○ Cutoff vs continuum
○ Problem
§ How extreme does it have to be?
§ Can be a good trait e.g. intelligence
□ But people on lower end labeled badly compared to those on
the higher end
§ How do we set the cutoffs?
□ Instead we adopt a continuum scale
® Can change in different times
○ Trying to be objective
- Deviation from the ideal
○ What is the ideal in our society
§ Then if deviates from this then considered disorder
○ E.g. homosexuality
§ Before it was called a disorder
§ But not anymore
○ Changes overtime
○ How we see a disorder determines how we'll treat them too
○ "Distressing behavior that may harm themselves or others"
- Multiple perspective
○ Multiple causes
○ Multiple therapies
§ Psychoanalytic
□ Disorders were caused by unconscious conflicts
□ So treatment is to give insight into those conflicts
§ Biological
□ Psychiatry
® Psychiatrists received medical training
□ So focus on medicine to treat disorders
§ Humanistic
□ Clinical psychologists
□ Focus on therapeutic function of relationship
§ Cognitive
□ If disorder has harmful thoughts, then to cure would be to
challenge thoughts
, § Humanistic
□ Clinical psychologists
□ Focus on therapeutic function of relationship
§ Cognitive
□ If disorder has harmful thoughts, then to cure would be to
challenge thoughts
□ Cure is to challenge thoughts
§ Behavioral
□ Nothing but a maladaptive behavioral pattern
□ So cure is to learn a new behavioral pattern
Neurodevelopmental disorder
- Based on inborn neural abnormalities
- Little we can do to undo it
- Developed inside the womb
Autism spectrum disorder
- can be concorded with many other disorders
○ Can be high functioning / low
○ Use spectrum since theres no specific character to their characteristics
- old names
○ Autism
○ Asperger's syndrome
- Symptoms
○ Sensory sensitivity
§ Sensitives to noises / stimuli that we don’t realise
§ May develop stubborn tendencies
○ Social skills deficit
§ Not interested
§ Or do not understand other peoples intentions
□ Theory of mind
○ Lack of interest in social contact
- No single definite cause of ASD
○ No diagnosable cause
§ Makes parents very eager to make their kids normal and
communicate with others
○ Risk factors and or biological differences
§ Genetics
§ Cortical brain abnormalities
□ Smaller mini columns
□ Higher information discrimination
§ Environmental factors
□ Parental age
□ Teratogens / prenatal exposure
§ MMR vaccine
□ Some believe causes ASD
○ Has treatment but no cure
Clinical disorders
- Schizophrenia
○ Less prevalent
Monday, 29 November 2021 4:24 PM
Behaviors can be normal but it depends on the frequency
- Some people wash their hands too much
Psychological disorder
- Statistical deviation
○ Most people in the middle of the distribution
○ Cutoff vs continuum
○ Problem
§ How extreme does it have to be?
§ Can be a good trait e.g. intelligence
□ But people on lower end labeled badly compared to those on
the higher end
§ How do we set the cutoffs?
□ Instead we adopt a continuum scale
® Can change in different times
○ Trying to be objective
- Deviation from the ideal
○ What is the ideal in our society
§ Then if deviates from this then considered disorder
○ E.g. homosexuality
§ Before it was called a disorder
§ But not anymore
○ Changes overtime
○ How we see a disorder determines how we'll treat them too
○ "Distressing behavior that may harm themselves or others"
- Multiple perspective
○ Multiple causes
○ Multiple therapies
§ Psychoanalytic
□ Disorders were caused by unconscious conflicts
□ So treatment is to give insight into those conflicts
§ Biological
□ Psychiatry
® Psychiatrists received medical training
□ So focus on medicine to treat disorders
§ Humanistic
□ Clinical psychologists
□ Focus on therapeutic function of relationship
§ Cognitive
□ If disorder has harmful thoughts, then to cure would be to
challenge thoughts
, § Humanistic
□ Clinical psychologists
□ Focus on therapeutic function of relationship
§ Cognitive
□ If disorder has harmful thoughts, then to cure would be to
challenge thoughts
□ Cure is to challenge thoughts
§ Behavioral
□ Nothing but a maladaptive behavioral pattern
□ So cure is to learn a new behavioral pattern
Neurodevelopmental disorder
- Based on inborn neural abnormalities
- Little we can do to undo it
- Developed inside the womb
Autism spectrum disorder
- can be concorded with many other disorders
○ Can be high functioning / low
○ Use spectrum since theres no specific character to their characteristics
- old names
○ Autism
○ Asperger's syndrome
- Symptoms
○ Sensory sensitivity
§ Sensitives to noises / stimuli that we don’t realise
§ May develop stubborn tendencies
○ Social skills deficit
§ Not interested
§ Or do not understand other peoples intentions
□ Theory of mind
○ Lack of interest in social contact
- No single definite cause of ASD
○ No diagnosable cause
§ Makes parents very eager to make their kids normal and
communicate with others
○ Risk factors and or biological differences
§ Genetics
§ Cortical brain abnormalities
□ Smaller mini columns
□ Higher information discrimination
§ Environmental factors
□ Parental age
□ Teratogens / prenatal exposure
§ MMR vaccine
□ Some believe causes ASD
○ Has treatment but no cure
Clinical disorders
- Schizophrenia
○ Less prevalent
