Medical perspective: says that psychological disorders are illnesses and can be cured.
Bio-Psycho-Social perspective: assumes biological, psychological and socio-cultural factors combine to interact causing disorders.
DSM-IV: big book of disorders
Psychotic Disorders: Person loses contact with reality, distorted perceptions.
Anxiety Disorders: a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety. The patient fears something awful will happen to them. They are in a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty or fear.
Phobia: a person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread. An irrational fear.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): An anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense and apprehensive, patient feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can't concentrate and suffers from insomnia.
Panic Disorder: an anxiety disorder marked by a minute long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and chest pains
Obsessive compulsive disorder: persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): flashbacks following a traumatic event, memories causing anxiety.
Somatoform Disorders
Happens when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physical symptom.
Hypochondria: frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause. Believe minor issues are indications of more severe illnesses.
Conversion disorders: report the existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason. Like blindness or paralysis.
Dissociative Disorders
These disorders involve a disruption in the conscious process.
Psychogenic Amnesia: a person cannot remember things with no psychological basis for the disruption in memory.
Retrograde Amnesia: temporary amnesia.
Dissocative Fugue: People with psychogenic amnesia find themselves in unfamiliar environments.
Dissocative Identity Disorder: multiple personality disorder. History of child abuse and drama.
Mood Disorders
Extreme or inappropriate emotion.
Major Depression: Unhappy for at least 2 weeks with no apparent cause.Known as the "common cold' of psychological disorders.
Seasonal Affective Disorder: experiences depression during the winter months, treated with light therapy.
Bipolar Disorder: periods of depression and manic episodes, highs and lows.
Personality disorders
Well established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affects people's ability to function, ways dominate personality.Antisocial personality disorder: Lack of empathy, little regard for other's feelings, view the world as hostile.
Dependent personality disorder: Rely too much on the attention and help of others.
Histrionic personality disorder: Needs to be the center of attention.
Narcissistic personality disorder: Having an unwarranted sense of self importance (big ego)
