Psychology2016

Psychological Disorders 583

14.8 Summarize explanations for dissociative disorders.

• Psychodynamic explanations point to repression of memories,
  seeing dissociation as a defense mechanism against anxiety.


• Cognitive and behavioral explanations see dissociative disor-
  ders as a kind of avoidance learning. Biological explanations
  point to lower-than-normal activity levels in the areas of the
  brain responsible for body awareness.

Disorders of Mood: The Effect of Affect

14.9 Describe different disorders of mood, including
major depressive disorder and bipolar disorders.

• Mood disorders, also called affective disorders, are severe dis-
  turbances in emotion.


• Major depressive disorder has a fairly sudden onset and is
  extreme sadness and despair, typically with no obvious external
  cause. It is the most common of the mood disorders and is more
  common in women than in men.


• Bipolar disorders are characterized by shifts in mood that may
  range from normal to manic, with or without episodes of depres-
  sion (bipolar I disorder) or spans of normal mood interspersed with
  episodes of major depression and hypomania (bipolar II disorder).

14.10 Compare and contrast behavioral, social
cognitive, and biological explanations for depression and
other disorders of mood.

• Learning theories link depression to learned helplessness.


• Cognitive theories see depression as the result of distorted,
  illogical thinking.


• Biological explanations of mood disorders look at the function of
  serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine systems in the brain.


• Mood disorders are more likely to appear in genetically related
  people, with higher rates of risk for closer genetic relatives.

Eating Disorders and Sexual Dysfunction

14.11 Identify the symptoms and risk factors
associated with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and
binge-eating disorder.

• Maladaptive eating problems include anorexia nervosa, bulimia
  nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.


• Genetics, increased sensitivity to the rewarding value of food,
  or food-related anxiety, altered brain function, and being female
  contribute to risk of being diagnosed with an eating disorder.

14.12 Describe types of sexual dysfunction and
explain how they may develop.

• Sexual dysfunctions are problems with sexual functioning. They
  may be caused by physical problems, interpersonal or sociocul-
  tural issues, or psychological problems and can affect sexual
  interest, arousal, and response.


• These dysfunctions include female sexual interest/arousal dis-
  order, male hypoactive sexual desire disorder, erectile disorder,
  genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder, premature (early) ejac-
  ulation, female orgasmic disorder, and delayed ejaculation.

Schizophrenia: Altered Reality

14.13 Distinguish between the positive and negative

symptoms of schizophrenia.

• Schizophrenia is a split among thoughts, emotions, and behav-
  ior. It is a long-lasting psychotic disorder in which reality and
  fantasy become confused.


• Symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions (false beliefs
  about the world), hallucinations, emotional disturbances,
  attentional difficulties, disturbed speech, and disordered
  thinking.


• Positive symptoms are excesses of behavior associated with
  increased dopamine activity in some parts of the brain, whereas
  negative symptoms are deficits in behavior associated with
  decreased dopamine activity in other parts of the brain.
  14.14 Evaluate the biological and environmental
  influences on schizophrenia.


• Biological explanations for schizophrenia focus on dopamine,
  structural defects in the brain, and genetic influences. Rates of
  risk of developing schizophrenia increase drastically as genetic
  relatedness increases, with the highest risk faced by an identical
  twin whose twin sibling has schizophrenia.

Personality Disorders: I’m Okay, It’s Everyone Else

Who’s Weird

14.15 Classify different types of personality disorders.

• Personality disorders are extremely rigid, maladaptive patterns
  of behavior that prevent a person from normal social interac-
  tions and relationships.


• The DSM-5 lists 10 primary types of personality disorders across
  three broad categories.


• In antisocial personality disorder, a person consistently violates
  the rights of others.


• In borderline personality disorder, a person is clingy, moody,
  unstable in relationships, and suffers from problems with
  identity.
  14.16 Identify potential causes of personality
  disorders.


• Cognitive-learning theorists see personality disorders as a set
  of learned behavior that has become maladaptive—bad hab-
  its learned early on in life. Belief systems of the personality-
  disordered person are seen as illogical.


• Biological relatives of people with personality disorders are
  more likely to develop similar disorders, supporting a genetic
  basis for such disorders.


• Biological explanations look at the lower-than-normal stress hor-
  mones in antisocial personality disordered persons as responsi-
  ble for their low responsiveness to threatening stimuli.


• Other possible causes of personality disorders may include dis-
  turbances in family communications and relationships, child-
  hood abuse, neglect, overly strict parenting, overprotective
  parenting, and parental rejection.