Psychological Dysfunction and Treatment Disorders are given psychological

Psychological Dysfunction and Treatment Disorders are given psychological labels and listed in the DSM

Source of Psychological Disorders • Nurture or Nature • Biological or Learned • Though our culture believes in the biological model, there is extensive research showing that our experiences play a significant role

Early Trauma results in an overly developed Stress Axis: HPA Axis

Need HPA Axis to survive and protect • But if have overly developed Stress Axis, we go through life over-reacting to life’s stressors. • If Brain gives too much priority to the development of stress axis, it will give too little priority to the development of the cerebral cortex & hippocampus • Likely partially explain why children who have experienced early traumas show serious

How can children learn to become anxious: Raised in Stressful Environment • Overly protective, intrusive &/or demanding parents • Very unstable and unpredictable early environment • Parents model excessive number of anxieties and fears, as Mrs. Hughes did for Howard toward germs

These Factors Cause Children to Learn to become Anxious • Observational Learning: Parents or caregivers or siblings display frequent anxiety • Very nerve-wracking to be over-controlled as well as given pressure of unreasonable demands • Too early and extensive day care &/or too little stability in one’s early environment

Classical Conditioning Paradigm • Howard Hughes develop phobia toward germs UCS UCR CS CR

In the film Shine, David Helfgot and volitile, demanding & abusive father UCS CS UCR CR

Anxiety Disorders

General Anxiety Disorder

Panic Disorder: Anxiety Levels can result in Panic Attacks Symptoms: Racing heart Feel faint and/or dizzy Tingling or numbness in hands or arms Sense of impending doom Chest pains Difficulty with breathing Feel a loss of control

Social Anxiety Disorder

Behavioral Clinic that teaches socially phobic people to learn how to reach out • Model and rehearse simple and appropriate ways to initiate a social interaction • Give weekly assignments that start very simple and move forward step-by-step • Report back to group every week on successes the previous week

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Common Thoughts or Obsessions • Fear of dirt or contamination by germs • Fear of doing harm to another • Obsess if proper order and neatness has not been maintained • Excessive doubt and need for constant reassurances • Fear of thinking evil or sinful thoughts

Common Compulsions • Repeatedly showering or washing hands • Refuse to shake hands or touch door knobs • Repeatedly checking things, as locks • Constantly arranging things in certain order • Collecting or hoarding items of no value

Aviator: Life Howard Hughes

Childhood of Howard Hughes • 1) He grew up with a mother who forced him to endure odd cleaning rituals, as dousing himself with mineral oil daily. • 2) She disapproved of him making friends as believed they were carriers of disease, resulting in him spending much of his childhood alone or with his mother. • 3) Mother insisted on giving Howard hand baths until he reached his teens. • 4) She watched for slightest changed in physical condition, sniffles, a cough as well as any abnormality in his feet, teeth or digestion and then would whisk to a doctor, in the process lavishing much attention and sympathy. • 5) Observers were amazed at the extreme closeness between Howard and his mother and how often they would kiss and hug.

Hughes also developed life-long obsession with germs • Not like anyone touching him • Over-react to people around him to be messy or dirty, especially when under stress • Wash his hands many times every day • Become more and more reclusive through the years

Last 20 years live alone in hotel room

Cognitive therapy for anxiety: challenge a person’s distorted perceptions • Will touching doorknobs cause contamination & then serious illness? • What will be the dire consequences of not washing your hands more than 5 times a day? • Are people really watching and judging you when you walk into a restaurant or library? • Are you really having a heart attack during a panic episode? • So what if not do a job perfectly? ! So what if not get an A on every tests? ! • Can control habitual anxious thinking & so reduce anxious feelings

Behavioral Therapy: Exposure & Response Prevention Using Systematic Desensitization expose a person to their fear in small steps Create a hierarchy of fears from the most to the least Then prevent habitual response that person usually makes to that feared stimulus

Behavioral Changes for Anxiety • Practice the “relaxation response: " Starts with the mind which, in turn, relaxes the body • Learn deep muscle relaxation exercises: Starts with the body which, in turn, relaxes the mind (Yoga)

Behavioral Therapy: Can learn behaviors that effectively reduce anxiety • Meditation

Yoga

Depression

Causes of Depression: operant conditioning • Child receive much extinction &/or lots of discouraging feedback • Receive very little positive, encouraging feedback • Not encouraged to become independent—or develop a sense of autonomy • Given sense that they are not valued, lovable or competent

Social Learning Explanation of Cause of Depression • Determine how one’s thinking patterns are overly negative—always focusing on what one has done wrong. • One’s negative thinking leads to negative moods and depression • Negative moods leads to inactivity which, in turn, increases ones negative thinking.

What are examples of negative thinking when we are depressed? • Believe cannot control environment so feeling helpless and hopeless • Learn selective perception: focus on what did wrong, not what did right as what parents did • Develop pessimistic attitude and low self-esteem • When experience loss or set-backs, over-react and become depressed and blame self

Feeling Good Handbook • All or nothing thinking • Discounting the positive • Believe need to be perfect or have failed • Buy into view ‘am a loser, ’ no matter what

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy • Identify cognitive distortions and practice more positive and productive thinking patterns • Change behavior patterns from being inactive and start to become engaged and involved with a social community, volunteer work, exercise, etc—working in small steps

Behaviors to reduce depression • Step-by-step increase in level of exercise do on daily basis: start at 250 steps per day & week by week increase up to 10, 000 • Increase social network: create one social interaction during a week • Join new social groups via meetup. com

Cure for Depression—Become active and productive

Books Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Books focused on specific problems

Schizophrenia is most serious psychological dysfunction • Diathesis-Stress Model: Born with genetic defect that predisposes them to overreact to stressors OR • Early severe stressful events cause abnormal neurodevelopment that has caused nervous system to be hyper sensitive to stressors

Abnormalities found in schizophrenics • Over-reactivity of hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis • Structural brain changes, including hippocampus damage and cerebral atrophy • Elevation of release of cortisol and dopamine when exposed to stress

What could these neurological abnormalities explain? • Oversensitivity to stress • Cognitive impairments • Relationship between psychotic and hallucinations, delusions and paranoia

Problem with biological model • Impede adequate consideration of relevance of stress, trauma, neglect and loss in early childhood • Diathesis-stress model only measure stressors a few weeks or months prior to outbreak so not consider early life events • Gross imbalance in examining biological psychological and social factors

“Genotype-environment interaction in schizophrenic-spectrum disorder” • British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) • 36% of high-genetic risk adoptees raised in dysfunctional families develop symptoms • 5. 8% of high-genetic risk adoptees raised in healthy families • Demonstrates protective effect of family

Factors in Environment: High Degree of Stress Early in Life • Genetic risk combined with volatile, hostile unpredictable, judgmental and/or overly protective environment

Healthy Families • Have good sense of humor and can laugh at themselves • Respect each other’s need for privacy and not engage in mind reading • Negotiate and compromise

Findings of Adoptee studies • Genes do not operate alone • Environmental factors play a significant role • Much of environmental influences are result of family environment • Developing brain vulnerable early in life

Traits of Healthy Families • Speak clearly and are not rigid nor confusing • Friendly environment & able to disagree without upsetting other members • Can express happiness or sadness to each other

Treatment for Schizophrenia: Limited to Biological Treatments

Biological Treatments • Medications

Thorazine one popular anti-psychotic medication: very strong sedative

Action of Antidepressants

ECT: Electro-convulsive therapy

Deep Stimulation of the Reward Centers in the Brain

Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation