5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition (63 page)

People with
personality disorders
have longstanding, maladaptive thought and behavior patterns that are troublesome to others, harmful, or illegal. Although these patterns impair
people’s social functioning, individuals do not experience anxiety, depression, or delusions. DSM-IV classifies personality disorders on Axis II grouped into three clusters: odd/eccentric (including paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal), dramatic/emotionally problematic (including histrionic, narcissistic, borderline, and antisocial), and chronic fearfulness/avoidant (including avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive).

Table 16.1 Personality Disorders

Disorders of infancy, childhood, and adolescence include attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, infantile autism, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa.

• Children with
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) are unable to focus their attention, are easily distracted, and often act impulsively—quickly changing activities, which results in failure to complete tasks. Their inattention and inappropriate behaviors often lead to personal, social, and academic problems. ADHD is diagnosed 10 times more frequently in boys than in girls.

•
Autism
can be an extremely serious childhood disorder. Diagnosis is based on three primary symptoms that become evident early in life: lack of responsiveness to other people, impairment in verbal and nonverbal communications, and very limited activities and interests. Children with autism engage in repetitive behaviors.

• Eating disorders have become more common, especially in adolescent females in North America and Western Europe.
Anorexia nervosa
is an eating disorder characterized by a weight of less than 85% of normal, abnormally restrictive food consumption, and an unrealistic body image. No matter how emaciated they become, people with anorexia still think they are fat and may continue to lose weight, which can result in death.
Bulimia nervosa
is an eating disorder characterized by a pattern of eating binges involving intake of thousands of calories, followed by purging by either vomiting or using laxatives. Following the purge, people with bulimia typically feel guilty, self-critical, and depressed. Purging can cause sore throat, swollen glands, loss of tooth enamel, nutritional deficiencies, dehydration, and intestinal damage.

Directions:
For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1.
Hani was unable to tell the difference between right and wrong. Which of the following definitions of abnormal behavior is described in this example?

(A) maladaptive

(B) insanity

(C) commitment

(D) statistical

(E) personal

2.
The behavioral approach attributes the cause of abnormal behavior to

(A) internal conflict from early childhood trauma

(B) the result of neurochemical imbalances

(C) poor self-concept

(D) reinforcement of maladaptive behaviors learned through experience

(E) irrational and illogical perceptions of reality

3.
Which of the following best characterizes a person experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder?

(A) Anna, who hyperventilates whenever she is trapped in an elevator

(B) Ben, who returns home seven times to see if he has turned off the stove

(C) Katia, who complains constantly about feeling sick and goes to many different doctors

(D) Kabir, who keeps remembering the plane crash that killed the other members of his family

(E) Miguel, who wanders about town in a daze, not sure who he is or how he got there

4.
A soldier who experiences sudden blindness after seeing his buddies killed in battle is best diagnosed with

(A) a phobic disorder

(B) hypochondriasis

(C) bipolar disorder

(D) dissociative fugue

(E) conversion disorder

5.
A common feature among people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder is

(A) early childhood sexual or physical abuse

(B) repeated physical complaints

(C) relatives suffering from bipolar disorder

(D) excess of dopamine

(E) hallucinations and delusions

6.
Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the manic state of bipolar disorder?

(A) inflated ego

(B) excessive talking

(C) shopping sprees

(D) fearlessness

(E) too much sleep

7.
Paranoid personality disorder is characterized by

(A) unwarranted suspiciousness and mistrust of other people

(B) lack of interest in social relationships

(C) unusual preoccupation with rules and schedules

(D) instability revolving around problems of mood and thought processes

(E) pleasure-seeking, shallow feelings, lack of conscience

8.
When Herb physically abuses his dates, he considers himself good with the ladies, has little remorse for his actions, and has had repeated trouble with authority figures. His likely diagnosis is

(A) autism

(B) narcissistic personality disorder

(C) antisocial personality disorder

(D) borderline personality disorder

(E) schizophrenia

9.
A delusion is a

(A) phobia of being in social situations

(B) misperception of auditory and visual stimuli

(C) faulty and disordered thought pattern

(D) first indication of dissociative disorders

(E) characteristic of people suffering from dependent personality disorder

10.
DSM-IV is most helpful for

(A) identifying the causes of psychological disorders

(B) recommending treatment for psychological disorders

(C) classifying psychological disorders

(D) distinguishing between sanity and insanity

(E) suggesting where consumers can get help for mental health issues

11.
All of the following are classified as anxiety disorders EXCEPT

(A) phobias

(B) post-traumatic stress

(C) panic

(D) obsessive-compulsive disorder

(E) hypochondriasis

12.
Which of the following is a negative symptom of schizophrenia?

(A) delusional thinking

(B) incoherent speech

(C) hyperexcitability

(D) hearing voices

(E) flat affect

13.
Which of the following disorders is most closely associated with excessive levels of dopamine?

(A) histrionic personality

(B) dependent personality

(C) paranoid schizophrenia

(D) bipolar disorder

(E) major depression

14.
Estrella always goes shopping with Maria. Because she has no confidence in her own decisions, she lets Maria decide what she should buy, and pays for clothes for Maria with money she was saving for a haircut. Estrella shows signs of which of the following personality disorders?

(A) histrionic

(B) dependent

(C) antisocial

(D) obsessive-compulsive

(E) narcissistic

1. B—
Insanity is a legal definition of abnormal behavior. It means that a person, at the time he or she committed a crime, could not distinguish between right and wrong.

2. D—
The behavioral approach sees abnormal behavior as a result of faulty reinforcement of maladaptive behavior.

3. B—
Ben shows checking behavior, a common problem associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. His obsessive thought is that he may have left the stove on, and the ritualistic behavior or compulsion is the need to return home and “check” to make sure that it has been turned off.

4. E—
A conversion disorder is characterized by excessive anxiety that has been transformed into a physical symptom without an organic or biological cause. The blindness probably does not disturb the soldier as much as it would if it were physiological, because it protects him from having to “see” any other friends die in battle.

5. A—
Childhood sexual or physical abuse is a common feature found in those diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Psychoanalytically trained professionals believe that, as a result of the trauma, the child “dissociates” as a defense mechanism and that the amnesia experienced by one or more of the personalities is massive repression.

6. E—
Mania in the patient with bipolar disorder is characterized by little need for sleep. Sleep deprivation may actually trigger this phase of the disorder, and frequently during the manic cycle the patient gets 2 hours of sleep or less.

7. A—
People diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder tend to be unduly suspicious and to mistrust others. They are overly sensitive and prone to jealousy.

8. C—
Herb is clearly antisocial, and the lack of remorse or a guilty conscience for hurting others is a chief indicator of this personality disorder. It is difficult to treat people with this disorder.

9. C—
A delusion is a disordered thought pattern characteristic of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. Someone with paranoid schizophrenia might have delusions of grandeur, persecution, or reference.

10. C—
DSM-IV is a handbook that lists common symptoms of psychological disorders, which help professionals in the classifying and diagnosing of patients. It does not list either causes or treatments.

11. E—
Hypochondriasis is classified as a somatoform disorder characterized by physical symptoms for which there is no demonstrable physical cause, and by unrealistic interpretation of physical signs as evidence of serious diseases.

12. E—
Flat affect is a negative symptom, a lack of any particular mood state. Each of the other answers shows a positive symptom of schizophrenia, one that is present.

13. C—
Excessive dopamine is associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations and delusions.

14. B—
Estrella seems excessively lacking in self-confidence. She subordinates her own needs by buying clothes for Maria, and allows Maria to make decisions for her. These are characteristics of dependent personality disorder.

Defining abnormal behavior—statistically rare, violates cultural norms, personally interferes with day-to-day living, and legally may cause a person to be unable to know right from wrong (insanity)

Causes of abnormal behavior by psychological perspective—

• Psychoanalytic: unresolved internal conflict in the unconscious mind.

• Behavioral: maladaptive behaviors learned from inappropriate rewards and punishment.

• Humanistic: conditions of worth imposed by society, which cause lowered self-concept.

• Cognitive: irrational and faulty thinking.

• Biological: neurochemical or hormonal imbalances; abnormal brain structures or genetics.

Brief descriptions of common psychological problems—

• Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms include the panic attack: pain and tightness of muscles in chest or neck, feeling light-headed or faint, profuse sweating, clammy hands.

• Somatoform disorders include somatization disorder, conversion disorder, and hypochondriasis. Symptoms deal with the body and have no realistic physical cause for them.

• Dissociative disorders include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder. Symptoms involve a sudden loss of memory (amnesia) or change in identity. The Freudian explanation is repression for hurtful situations too painful for the individual to deal with.

• Mood disorders include unipolar (depressive) and bipolar (manic-depressive) disorders. Symptoms involve primary disturbance in affect or mood that colors the individual’s entire emotional state.

• Schizophrenia is a category including four major types: disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, and undifferentiated. These disorders are characterized by
psychosis—
lack of touch with reality evidenced by abnormal thinking, emotion, movement, socialization, and/or perception.
Delusions
are erroneous beliefs that are maintained
even when compelling evidence to the contrary is presented.
Hallucinations
are false sensory perceptions, such as the experience of seeing, hearing, or otherwise perceiving something that is not present.

• Personality disorders are classified on DSM-IV Axis II and grouped into three clusters: odd/eccentric (including paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal), dramatic/emotionally problematic (including histrionic, narcissistic, borderline, and antisocial), and chronic fearfulness/avoidant (including avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive). Personality disorders are characterized by persistent patterns of maladaptive and inflexible traits in personality.