Abnormal Psychology (Chapter 18)

1
Abnormal Psychology (Chapter 18)

• Second Lecture Outline
• Dissociative Disorders
• Depression and Mood Disorders
• Suicide (Interview tape)

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Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociative amnesia Memory loss for specific
  events or people
• Fugue Total memory loss after stress,
  relocation and starting a new life
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD)
• two or more identities that coexist
• associated with child trauma such as abuse
• abused children leave their bodies
• hearing voices

3
Mood Disorders

• Unipolar depression
• 10-20 depressed at some point in life
• multiple causes
• low self-esteem, loss of motivation, pessimism
• women gt men

• Bipolar disorder
• 1 of population
• genetically mediated
• depressive and manic symptoms
• mania related to high energy and shifts of
  attention

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Symptoms of depression
Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood Loss of
interest or pleasure in activities Restlessness,
irritability, crying Feelings of guilt,
worthlessness, helplessness, hopelessness
Sleeping disruption, early-morning awakening
Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and
weight gain Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling
"slowed down" Thoughts of death or suicide
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making
decisions
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Causes of Depression

• Psychodynamic Intrapsychic conflict
• anger at other turned inward after loss
• Behavioral Learned helplessness due to
  uncontrollable punishment. Dogs.
• Cognitive Becks errors in thinking
• Arbitrary inference They hate me.
• Selective abstraction Lawn has weeds
• Overgeneralization I am a failure
• Magnification, minimization, personalization

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Psychophysiology of Depression

• Low levels of neurotransmitters are linked to
  depression
• Drugs affect serotonin reuptake (SRIs)
• Prozac
• Mania treated with lithium carbonate
  mood-leveling drug
• Epinephrine decreased during depression --
  hormonal factors

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Biological basis NMR Scans
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Suicide

• Suicide rate 20 in 100,000 in the US
• 10 attempts for every success
• Men more successful because of lethal means
  (e.g., guns) as opposed to pills
• Suicide linked to depression, but sometimes
  follows it or unrelated
• Often rational, follows warnings, intent to die
  is unclear, cry for help