General Psychology

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Disorders


Main ideas:
How criteria are used to determine each symptom
How symptoms are combined for each disorder
How disorders are grouped into categories
How the concept of abnormal is a social construction

Terms & Information:
(1) 4 categories of disorders
(2) A disorder or two from each category,
(3) A symptom or two from a disorder in each category
(4) General criteria


Example questions

 

6.         Read the case study on Karen on line.  Choose the two general criteria for a disorder that you think she is closest to meeting (that is, that you are closest to saying, “she has the disorder”). the behavior, thoughts or feelings from the case that supports your judgment.  Choose one symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder and describe why it is a symptom and not just a behavior.

Notes:   general criteria are described in the beginning of the chatper.  It doesn’t ask for 2 disorders.  I’m looking for you to pull out the impact of illness on her.

Location:         http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/tlink/general/disorders_karen.html

 

10.        Describe two different reasons why gender may influence the experience of anxiety disorders.  Be sure they are different; be sure to describe the process (how does it affect their thinking, their feeling, the movement from a worry to full blown anxiety). Describe at least 2 behaviors that would give proof for one reason but not the other.

1. Describe how both mania and depression can be the mind’s attempt to solve another problem (albeit solving that problem poorly).  Use at least two symptoms of each disorder in your answer.  Be sure to describe the experience of the person in these states, not only the symptoms.

 

7.      Describe ways in which rituals are similar and different than obsessions and compulsions.

 

7.     Choose 2 symptoms of depression.  Your goal is to describe that symptom at 3 levels: (a) clearly meets the criteria for a symptom, (b) behavior approaching the symptom, but not quite there, and (c) behavior that is similar (everyday blues) that is not moving toward the disorder.  The descriptions are not repeating what’s in the text.  Use example cases found anywhere, the descriptions read out or seen in class, from friends, on the web, etc.  I have more cases.

Note: it’s using “it’s a place, not a feeling,” descriptions.  A good book for this is Julia Boyd’s Can I Get a Witness
in our library.

 

Disorders – Deborah Blau

 

8.     Use the fictional case of Deborah Blau on the website.  Describe which general criteria you think she most clearly meets and the behavior, thoughts or feelings from the reading that supports your judgment.  Also, for each of the three areas of schizophrenia -- disturbed thoughts, disturbed (sense) perceptions, and emotional withdrawal/disturbed emotions -- give an example of a symptom that meets the criteria.

 

            http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/tlink/general/disorders_deborah.html

 

 

2. Use the reading about Ken Steele (handout). Describe which general criteria you think he most clearly meets and the behavior, thoughts or feelings from the reading that supports your judgment. Also, give an example where his behavior is severe enough to meet the criteria for each : disturbed thoughts, disturbed (sense) perceptions, and emotional withdrawal/disturbed emotions.

5. A woman comes into clothing store at the Tacoma Mall. Talks to herself in the mirror, sometimes yelling "you shouldn't do that". She comes to the counter and opens a bottle of glitter gel, accidentally spilling it over her face. She complains that it is causing a chemical reaction on her face, and it happened because there are bombs exploding in the back room. She scoops the gel off her face, puts it back in the bottle and asks for a discount because of the chemical reaction. The clerk says no, she buys it anyway. Name one behavior in this example that meets the criteria for schizophrenia. Which criteria?

2. Use the same reading as for question #1. Describe what you hear from this person that sounds most like an anxiety disorder, OR what keeps it from being a disorder. Add one descriptive piece to the story to make it one of the particular anxiety disorders (in other words, if you think he has a disorder, what would you look for to confirm your diagnosis). Name the type of anxiety disorder.

Reading for Questions #1 & #2:

Prologue

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids , and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination , indeed, everything and anything except me. Nor is my invisibility exactly a matter of a biochemical accident to my epidermis. That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. Matter of the construction of their inner eyes, those eyes with which they look through their physical eyes upon reality. I'm not complaining, nor am I protesting either. It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves. Then too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. Or again, you often doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy. It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful.

This is the prologue to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

12. Use the fictional case of Deborah Blau on the website. Describe which general criteria you think she most clearly meets and the behavior, thoughts or feelings from the reading that supports your judgment. Also, give an example where his behavior is severe enough to meet the criteria for each: disturbed thoughts, disturbed (sense) perceptions, and emotional withdrawal/disturbed emotions. http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/tlink/general/disorders_deborah.html

1. Over the last three months, Ivana's feelings of despondency have intensified for no apparent reason. Although her friends have tried to be encouraging and supportive, Ivana says she feels detached from people, worthless. Choose one of the general criteria and discuss how it may apply to Ivana's situation. Add details to the story that would help you sort out which category of disorder it was. ("If she was also doing _. then it would be more likely _.category")

1. Over the last three months, Ivana's feelings of despondency have intensified for no apparent reason. Although her friends have tried to be encouraging and supportive, Ivana says she feels detached from people, worthless. Choose one of the general criteria and discuss how it may apply to Ivana's situation. And add details to the story that would help you sort out which category of disorder it was.

2. Choose one symptom of an anxiety disorder and describe an ... example of symptom in severe form: example of "normal" or "common" behavior that shows absence of symptom:____ example of behavior in between the two above:

1. Describe one criteria for determining normal from mentally ill. You can use a specific symptom or general criteria.

3. A woman comes into clothing store at the Tacoma Mall. Talks to herself in the mirror, sometimes yelling "you shouldn't do that". She comes to the counter and opens a bottle of glitter gel, accidentally spilling it over her face. She complains that it is causing a chemical reaction on her face, and it happened because there are bombs exploding in the back room. She scoops the gel off her face, puts it back in the bottle and asks for a discount because of the chemical reaction. The clerk says no, she buys it anyway. Name one behavior in this example that meets the criteria for schizophrenia. Which criteria?

4. Choose one symptom of a personality disorder and describe an ... example of symptom in severe form: example of "normal" or "common" behavior that shows absence of symptom: example of behavior in between the two above:

5. Steve complains of unwanted thoughts. He tries to get them out of his head. What would you look for to determine whether Steve has obsessive-compulsive (anxiety) disorder or schizophrenia? (Add one other behavior or symptom to this description that would distinguish the two types of disorders.)

2. Choose one disorder and describe symptoms (description of their general life) that are SIMILAR to the disorder BUT DO NOT meet the criteria for the disorder. The goal is to see how gray and subjective the line is between normal and abnormal.

5 & 6. Joan has been let go from two jobs in the last few months, and has begun feeling down about it. She has cut back on her country dancing from once a week to once a month, and believes her luck with jobs probably won't change no matter what she does. (1) Name the type of disorder she is MOST LIKELY suffering from, and (2) describe whether you think the symptoms meet the criteria for the disorder. Feel free to add details about her life or perceptions that would help you clarify your diagnosis.

7. Angela has been having trouble concentrating on work lately. She hasn't been sleeping well and feels generally tired. She is becoming increasingly worried that she won't shake off this pattern and will lose her job. What would you look for to determine whether Angela has a depressive disorder or an anxiety disorder? (Name one other behavior or symptom that would distinguish the two types of disorders.)