Invitation to Psychology

398 Chapter 11 Psychological Disorders

APD, culture also plays a big role. A culture that

rewards ruthless behavior in work and politics

will generate many “snakes in suits,” and a cul-

ture that rewards the slaughter of innocents for

purposes of political or religious genocide will

generate many cases of heartless violence and lack

of empathy.

biological factors interact with environmental

influences. In fact, contrary to popular belief,

some children and even adults who score high on

measures of psychopathy can change with inten-

sive treatment (Skeem et al., 2011).

Whatever the possible genetic or biological

influences on psychopathy and other forms of

Recite & Review

Recite: Everyone is curious about mental disorders, so here is a chance for you to tell a classmate

about borderline personality disorder, psychopathy, and antisocial personality disorder.

Review: Next, read this section again.

Now take this Quick Quiz:

A. Can you diagnose each of the following disorders?

1. Ann can barely get out of bed in the morning. She feels that life is hopeless and despairs of
   ever feeling good about herself.


2. Brad constantly feels a sense of impending doom; for days, he has been extremely worried
   about everything and cannot relax.


3. Connie is emotionally dependent on others and panics or becomes angry when she thinks
   her friends have left her, even for vacation. She cuts herself and frequently threatens to
   commit suicide if she doesn’t get what she wants.


4. Damon is the most charming of con artists; he can rob a widow of her life’s savings without
   a moment’s remorse.
   B. Suppose you read that a gang member has killed a child in a drive-by shooting. Should you
   assume that he is a psychopath? What evidence would you need to answer that question?
   Answers:

Study and Review at MyPsychLab

The gang B. psychopathy 4. borderline personality disorder3. generalized anxiety disorder2. major depression1. A.

member might or might not be a psychopath or even have antisocial personality disorder. He might have killed the child to

conform to the norms of his fellow gang members, yet privately feel terrible remorse. You would need to know whether he has

a behavioral history of violence and rule breaking starting in childhood, and whether he is able to feel empathy and connection

to anyone, such as his gang and family.

You are about to learn...

•    the origins of alcoholism.

•    why alcoholism is more common in some

cultures than others.

•    why social policies of abstinence from alcohol

do not reduce problem drinking.

•    why narcotics are not usually addictive when

people take them for severe pain.

Substance-related and

addictive Disorders

Most people who use drugs (legal, illegal, or

prescription) use them in moderation; but some

people depend too much on them, and others

abuse drugs even at the cost of their own health.

The DSM-5 category of substance-related and

addictive disorders covers the abuse of 10 classes of

drugs, including alcohol, caffeine, hallucinogens,

inhalants, cocaine, and tobacco, and adds “other

(or unknown) substances,” in case as-yet-uniden-

tified ways of getting high turn up. The DSM-5

has also added “gambling disorder” in this cat-

egory, on the grounds that compulsive gambling

activates the brain’s reward mechanisms just as

drugs do. But it relegated “Internet gaming dis-

order” to the appendix, as a condition warranting

further study, and decided not to include exces-

sive behavioral patterns popularly called “sex

addiction,” “shopping addiction,” or “exercise

addiction,” because, as the manual explains, there

is little evidence that these constitute mental

disorders.