personality

-  characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving

trait

a stable personality characteristic

temperament

a child’s pattern of mood, activity, or emotional responsiveness linked to later personality

Three Criteria for a Disorder

distressing, harmful to self or others (keeps you from doing things you need to do - maladaptive), and deviant

psychodynamic

-  a theory put forward by Sigmund Freud in which psychic energy moves among the compartments of the personality: id, ego, and superego.

-  id: literally means “it”, it present at birth and contains the primitive drives that serve as a source of energy for the personality, such as hinger, thirst, and sex. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, in which it seeks immediate gratification and relief.

-  ego: the component of the personality that is readily seen by others, so it acts as the person’s “self”, its task is to coordinate the needs of the id with reality.

         -superego: develops when a child begins to internalize

his/her society’s rules for the right and wrong, forming a conscience

 Big Five Personality Theory

-  1) Openness: characterized by an appreciation for fantasy, feelings, actions, ideas, values, and aesthetics

-  2) Conscientiousness: characterized by competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and deliberation

-  3) Extroversion: characterized by warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, and positive emotion

-  4) Agreeableness: characterized by trustworthiness, altruism, trust, compliance, modesty, and tender-mindedness

-  5) Neuroticism: characterized by anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsivity, and vulnerability

locus of control

a cognitive expectancy featured in social-cognitive learning theories of personality about the source of individual outcomes; an external locus of control sees outcomes as resulting from luck or chance, while an internal locus of control sees outcomes as the result of individual effort

Freud

-  believed that we can retrieve information voluntarily from the conscious but not the unconscious mind, he thought that unacceptable an threatening ideas maintained in the unconscious mind are actively repressed or blocked from entering consciousness.

  Freud’s Level of Conscious Awareness (Iceberg Model)

-  EGO (self, coordinates needs of id with reality) - Conscious (ideas, thoughts, and feelings of which we are aware) tops of iceberg out of water - Preconscious (material that can be easily recalled) right underneath surface of water

-  SUPEREGO (internalization of morality, conscience) right below EGO

-  ID (pleasure principle, inborn drives) bottom of iceberg - Unconscious (well below the surface of awareness) underneath EGO/SUPEREGO

defense mechanism

in Freud’s personality theory, a protective behavior that reduces anxiety - according to Freud each of these mechanisms (there are 9) helps us channel potentially self-destructive or painful psychic energy into more constructive or manageable behaviors.

stages of psychosexual development

Freud believed that the origins of problems could be found in a patients developmental past - these stages being oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital

fixations

Freud’s term for what is not called anxiety disorder, represents a continuing conflict between the ego and the id, superego, or both. This conflict can produce abnormal behaviors  characteristics of schizophrenia and other serious disorders.

Jung

-  a Swiss psychiatrist, divided the unconscious mind into two components, added a deeper level, the collective unconscious - comprised of our common psychological predispositions as human beings passes through generations

-  analytical psychology: Jung argues that generations of experience with concepts such as darkness, power, death, and parents would lead to characteristic ways of unconsciously thinking about such topics

-  extroversion (outgoing) vs introversion (relatively less outgoing) - differences in personality

 Adler

-  suggested the notion of an inferiority complex of psychodynamic thought, according to Adler, an inferiority complex (overwhelming feelings of inferiority) can lead to overcompensation, usually in the form of seeking the appearance of superiority rather than substance

Maslow

-  humanist, interested in human motivation. He observed biographies of Einstein, Lincoln, etc and found that exceptional people had a number of common traits - they had few friends, well-developed senses of humor, and periodic mystic or peak experiences

 Rogers

-  humanist, put forward the theory of personality based on his experience as a therapist. He believed that humans strive towards self-actualization, or maximizing their individual potential

-  believed people who follow their laid out path by their feelings will lead healthy productive lives - they will experience congruence (similarity) between their real selves and their ideal selves

-  self concept: a collection of beliefs about ones own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior, a persons mental picture of themselves

-  3 types - ideal self (how the person would like to be), self image (the person you think you are), and true self (the person you actually are)

person centered theory

focus on persons subjective point of view

 Skinner

-  the principles of operant conditioning would lead to development of stable tendencies that might appear to others as traits, these tendencies were more flexible and subject to change

-  determinism - not having a choice

-  personality as response tendencies - acquired through learning

Bandura

-  social-cognitive learning theory: a theory of personality that features cognition and learning, especially from the social environment, as important sources of individual differences in personality

-  reciprocal determinism: a social-cognitive learning theory of personality that features the mutual influence of the person and the situation on each other - the person and the environment effect one another

-  believed that observation of others behavior played an important role in the development of personality, most of his work was centered around aggression

Mischel

argued that trait theories could not explain the variation in an individuals behavior across situations

psychodynamic perspective

-  pros - insight regarding the unconscious, the role of internal conflict, the importance of early childhood

-  cons - vagueness, inadequate empirical based (can’t test it), sexist views

 behavioral perspective

-  pros - based on rigorous research, insights into effects of learning and environmental factors

-  cons - over dependence on animal research, doesn’t integrate biological factors, fragmental view of personality

humanistic psychology

-  deals with values, beliefs, and consciousness, including spirituality and guiding principles by which people live their lives

-  deals with the whole person

-  personality depends on what people believe and how they perceive and understand the world

projective tests

a test of personality based on Freudian theory that provides an ambiguous stimulus onto which the test taker “projects” his or her personality (ex: inkblot images)

abnormal behavior

behavior that is not typical, usual, or regular

comorbidity

the presence of two or more disorders in the same individual

 Anxiety Disorders

-  a disorder featuring anxiety that is not proportional to a person’s circumstances

-  characteristics - unrealistic and counterproductive levels or anxiety, strong negative emotions and physical tension due to the anticipation of danger

generalized anxiety disorder

a disorder characterized by excessive anxiety and worry that is not correlated with particular objects or situations

panic disorder

-  a disorder characterized by repeated panic attacks and fear of future attacks

-  panic attacks: the experience of intense fear and autonomic arousal in the absence of real threat

-  panic disorder is different from anxiety because anxiety seems to relate to more distant threats whereas panic is associated with nearby, imminent threats

phobia

-  unrealistic fear of an object or situation

-  phobias differ from anxiety because people with phobias know exactly what

agoraphobia

-  unrealistic fear of open spaces, being outside the home alone, or being in a crowd

-  is a common outcome of a panic disorder, when someone becomes afraid/embarrassed of having panic attacks in public, they may simply stay home

social anxiety disorder

-  a disorder characterized by an unrealistic fear of being scrutinized and criticized by others

-  caused by anxiety, begins to show in adolescence

obsessive compulsion disorder

-  OCD) a disorder associated with intrusive obsessions  (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (ritualistic behavior)

-  common obsessions include concern about contamination(catching disease from hand shaking), repeated doubts (wondering of you have hurt somebody), ordering (needing things arranged in a specific order), inappropriate impulses (hurting someone physically or verbally), and sexual imagery

-  compulsions are efforts to ward off the anxiety produced by obsessions or feared events

body dysmorphic order

-  BDD is a body-image disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive preoccupations with an imagined or slight defect in one's appearance.

-  people with BDD can dislike any part of their body, although they often find fault with their hair, skin, nose, chest, or stomach. In reality, a perceived defect may be only a slight imperfection or nonexistent. But for someone with BDD, the flaw is significant and prominent, often causing severe emotional distress and difficulties in daily functioning

trichotillomania

an irresistible urge to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other areas of your body. Hair pulling from the scalp often leaves patchy bald spots, which people with trichotillomania may go to great lengths to disguise

hoarding disorder

the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions

excoriation

any superficial loss of substance, as that produced on the skin by scratching

Somatic Symptom Disorders

-  somatic symptom disorder: a disorder characterized by physical symptoms that do not have any underlying medical issues (hypochondriacs)

-  symptoms - vague pain complaints, sexual problems, amnesia, breathing problems, unexplained sensory or motor problems, etc.

-  illness anxiety disorder: real, physical symptoms but you don’t identify the appropriate cause

-  conversion disorder: functional neurological symptom disorder, you have a real deficit but no physical cause for it

-  factitious disorder: mental illness describes abnormal cognitive or emotional patterns related to how a person thinks, feels, acts, and/or relates to others and his or her surroundings. Factitious Disorder is a mental disorder in which a person acts as if he or she has a physical or mental illness when, in fact, he or she has consciously created their symptoms

  Dissociative Disorders

-  dissociative disorder: a disorder characterized by disruptions in a person’s identity, memory, or consciousness

-  depersonalization (derealization) disorder: when a person experiences strong feelings of unreality about either the self or the surrounding environment

-  people may feel they are watching themselves outside their body, their world is dreamlike

-  dissociative amnesia: forgetting and event/events in your life

-  dissociative identity disorder: characterized by the experience of two distinct personality states or experience of possession that is mot consistent with the person’s religious or cultural beliefs

-  etiology - sever emotional trauma during childhood

-  controversy - media creation, disorder is extremely rare

Mood Disorders

-  disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: for children up to age 18 years who exhibit persistent irritability and frequent episodes of extreme behavioral dyscontrol

-  Many children are irritable, upset or moody from time to time. Occasional temper tantrums are also a normal part of growing up. However, when children are usually irritable or angry or when temper tantrums are frequent, intense and ongoing, it may be signs of a mood disorder such as DMDD

-  major depressive disorder: characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy once-pleasurable activities. Major depression is disabling and prevents a person from functioning normally

-  anhedonia: a psychological condition characterized by inability to experience pleasure in normally pleasurable acts

Bipolar and Related Disorders

-  bipolar disorder: a mood disorder characterized by alternating periods of mania and depression

-  mania: a period of unrealistically elevated mood

-  cyclothymic disorder: a moderate eversion of bipolar disorder

-  hypomania: mild mania, which can lead to feelings of helplessness and/or lack of energy

schizophrenia

-  a disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thought and speech, disorders of movement, restricted affect, and avolition/asociality

-  delusions: false beliefs that are maintained even though they clearly are out of touch with reality

-  hallucination: sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a real, external, stimulus or are gross distortions of perceptual input

-  psychosis: loss of contact with reality marked by hallucinations, delusions, disturbed thoughts and emotions, and personality disorganization

catatonia

a subtype of schizophrenia, the individual does not respond to stimuli. They seem to sit and stare or they move around a great deal but without purpose, tend to pace without purpose or flails arms.  With waxy flexibility the limbs can be moved to a position by another and will remain there for hours, they may also engage in echolalia or echopraxia

  Two Models of Addiction

-  Biological Model - biochemistry, metabolism, genetic predispositions affect whether or not one becomes addicted, changes in the brain can lead to addiction

-  Learning Model - environment, learning, culture - cultural practices and social environment, policies of abstinence increase addiction, not everyone experiences withdrawal symptoms, reasons for use impact likelihood of addiction

  Personality Disorders

-  personality disorder: a disorder characterized by impairments in identity, in personality traits, and in the establishment of empathy or intimacy

            - antisocial personality disorder:  an unusual lack of remorse and empathy

-  individuals with this disorder have little regard for normal social rules and conventions, their behavior is risky and irresponsible, for shallow relationships with others

-  borderline personality disorder: a disorder characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotion

autism

a disorder characterized by deficits in social relatedness and communication skills that are often accompanied by repetitive ritualistic behavior

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

-  a disorder characterized by either unusual inattentiveness, hyperactivity, with impulsivity, or both

-  children with this are loud and uncontrolled, seem to act without thinking

-  causes - genetics, slow develop of frontal cortex, medication given for this increases dopamine activity

post traumatic stress disorder

-  a disorder caused by the experience of trauma, which leads to flashbacks, dreams, hyper vigilance, and avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event

-  PTSD is correlated with smaller hippocampus volume in the brain

insanity

-  exists when a mental disorder makes a person unable to distinguish right from wrong - m’naghten rule

-  insane people may be a danger to themselves, others, and in need of treatment

innovative delivery system

most common problems for which people seek therapy

-  depression and anxiety

-  insight therapies - attempt to get insight into the nature of the clients problem and the sort through possible solutions

-  ex: “talk therapy” - includes psychodynamic, cognitive and behavioral, humanistic and existential, family and couples

psychotherapy

treatment designed to improve symptoms of psychological disorder through conversation between the therapist and patient and client

Behavioral Therapy

-  Skinner, a product of learning and therefore can be unlearned, goal is unlearning maladaptive behavior and learning adaptive ones

-  gradual exposure - client gradually confronts fear

-  flooding - confronts fear head on until panic subsides

-  systematic desensitization - Joseph Wolpe - classical conditioning, uses counterconditioning (3 steps)

-  anxiety hierarchy - anxiety arousing stimuli

-  deep relaxation techniques - learned

-  working through the hierarchy - learn to become in presence of stimuli from the anxiety hierarchy

cognitive-behavioral therapy

utilizes both cognitive and behavioral methods in the treatment of disorders, popular and works with multiple disorders (anxiety, OCD, insomnia, SSD, depression, phobias)

  Insight Therapy - Psychoanalysis

-  Sigmund Freud

-  goal: discover unresolved unconscious conflict

-  free association - clients spontaneously express their thoughts and feelings exactly as they occur, with as little censorship as possible.  The analyst looks for clues about what is going on in the unconscious.

Insight Therapy - Humanistic/Existential

-  Carl Rogers – Client Centered Therapy /counseling

-  goal: restructure self-concept to better correspond to reality

-  therapeutic Climate

-  genuineness –  being completely honest and spontaneous with client

-  unconditional positive regard – complete nonjudgmental acceptance of client

-  empathy –  understanding of the client’s point of view

  Insight Therapy - Cognitive

-  Aaron Beck

-  sees Depression as caused by errors in thinking

-  emphasizes recognizing and changing negative thoughts and maladaptive beliefs

-  goal - change the way clients think

-  do thought stopping – identify negative thoughts and stop

 Insight Therapy - Rational Emotive Therapy

-  Albert Ellis

-  stop musturbation – Ellis says we “ought,” “should,” and “must” ourselves to death.  We need to stop doing that

-  identify catastrophic thinking - ex: stop thinking “everyone must like me” and understand that some people do and that is great

evidence-based practice

trying to show its going to work, used to determine what course of treatment to use based on many factors