Abnormal Psychology5.2 Psychological disorders

DP2Ms Lindstrom

Learning Outcomes• Evaluate psychological research (through theories and studies)

relevant to the study of abnormal behaviour• Discuss the interaction of biological, cognitive, and

sociocultural factors in abnormal behaviour• Discuss symptoms and prevalence of one disorder from two of

the following groups: Anxiety disorders (PTSD) and affective disorders (major depression), eating disorders (bulimia)

• Analyze the etiologies ( the cause in terms of biological, cognitive, and sociocultural factors) of one disorder from two of the following groups: anxiety disorders, affective disorders, eating disorders (for example: PTSD and unipolar depression)

• Discuss cultural and gender variations in prevalence of disorders

Psychological Tests

On paper: Test by human realtions department • Yale- BOCSMany psychological online tests:• http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/in

dex_surveys.shtml• http://www.psychologytoday.com/tests• http://www.healthyplace.com/psychological-tests/• http://testyourself.psychtests.com/PTSD TEST online:• http://www.healthyplace.com/psychological-tests/pt

sd-test/

Introduction to psychological disorders

Symptomology:Refers to the identification of the symptoms.For example by using a diagnostic manual (DSM-IV)

Finding out WHAT the person suffers from

Etiology:More difficult to do

IB course focuses on: the biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors

WHY people suffers from a disorder

Data which assist in the diagnosis

Prevalence rate:Is the measure of the total number of cases of the disorder in a given population

Lifetime prevalence:Is the percentage of the population that will experience the disorder at some time in their life

Onset age:Is the average age at which the disorder is likely to appear

We are going to study two disorders from two different classifications of abnormal ehaviour

• Two from:• Anxiety disorders (for example PTSD)• Affective disorder (major depression)• Eating disorder (bulimia)

Which two are we going to do?In class we decided: Major depression and bulimia