Abnormal Psychology

Home Study School -Self Paced Abnormal Psychology Course

Understand abnormal psychology. A useful course for anyone interested in the human mind.

 In this course you will learn to:

• understand more about common psychological disorders, their causes and treatment
• identify a range of psychological disorders
• determine when to refer clients for treatment
• learn about mood, anxiety and drug related disorders as well as psychotic, gender, food and personality disorders

This course is particularly beneficial for counsellors or support workers, for it will develop their ability to distinguish different types of psychological disorder, and determine when to refer clients for treatment. It will also be of interest to anyone who wants to understand more about common psychological disorders, their causes and treatment.

Lesson Structure

There are 11 lessons in this course:

1. Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence
   • Identify disorders first prevalent under 18 years of age.
2. Delirium, Dementia, Amnesic & Other Cognitive Disorders
   • Compare and contrast delirium and dementia.
3. Substance-Related Disorders
   • Distinguish between substance abuse disorders and substance dependence disorders.
4. Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
   • Differentiate between psychotic disorders
5. Mood Disorders
   • Distinguish between Unipolar disorders and Bipolar disorders.
6. Anxiety Disorders
   • Describe different types of Anxiety Disorders
7. Somatoform, Factitious, and Dissociative Disorders
   • Distinguish between Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
8. Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
   • Discuss Gender Identity Disorder, Paraphilias and Sexual Dysfunction.
9. Eating & Sleep Disorders
   • Identify Eating Disorders and Sleep Disorders
10. Impulse-Control Disorders; Adjustment Disorder
    • Distinguish between Impulse Control Disorders and Adjustment disorders.
11. Personality Disorders
    • Distinguish between different types of Personality Disorder.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

What You Will Do

• Identify disorders first prevalent under 18 years of age;
• Describe how you would diagnose a case of suspected Autism in a child of 4 years of age;
• Compare and contrast delirium and dementia;
• Do an internet search for images of PET scans and MRI of brains affected by delirium or dementia include the images an essay discussing these disorders;
• Distinguish between substance abuse disorders and substance dependence disorders;
• Differentiate between psychotic disorders;
• Describe briefly the subtypes of Schizophrenia;
• Distinguish between Unipolar disorders and Bipolar disorders;
• Outline a cognitive model of depression;
• Describe different types of Anxiety Disorders;
• Distinguish between Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders;
• Explain the primary criticisms of dissociative identity disorder;
• Provide a diagnosis of a case study and justify your diagnosis;
• Discuss Gender Identity Disorder, Paraphilias and Sexual Dysfunction;
• Explain what distinguishes a preference of sexual act or object as a paraphilia;
• Identify Eating Disorders and Sleep Disorders;
• Explain how eating disorders develop;
• Distinguish between Impulse Control Disorders and Adjustment disorders;
• Develop a diagnostic table for impulse control disorders;
• Distinguish between different types of Personality Disorder;
• Differentiate between Narcissistic and Histrionic personality disorders.

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Mental health professionals apply various criteria in making judgements on whether a client’s behaviour is normal or not. They may use the above criteria or they may conduct their own criteria for the definition of the problem. They may also look at different elements such as biological or medical, behavioural, or cognitive. Cultural differences also need to be noted and looked as they can play a part in one’s behaviour and the manifestation of that behaviour. What may be okay in one culture and seem normal – can be seen as something quite different in another culture.

How do we determine whether a person's behaviour is normal or not?

Deviation from statistical norms: The word abnormal means 'away from the norm'. Many different population facts are measured, such as height, weight and intelligence. Most people fall within the middle range of intelligence, but a few are abnormally stupid. However, according to this definition, a person who is extremely intelligent would also be classified as abnormal. Thus in defining 'abnormal behaviour' we must consider more.

 

Deviation from social norms: every culture has certain standards for acceptable behaviour - behaviour that deviates from that standard is considered to be abnormal behaviour. But those standards can change with time and vary from one society to another.

Maladaptiveness of behaviour: this third part is how the behaviour affects the well-being of the individual and/or social group. Examples are a man who attempts suicide, an alcoholic who drinks so heavily that he or she cannot keep a job or a paranoid individual who tries to assassinate national leaders.

Personal distress: the fourth part considers abnormality in terms of the individual's subjective feelings, personal distress, rather than his behaviour. Most people diagnosed as 'mentally ill' feel miserable, anxious, depressed and may suffer from insomnia. In the type of abnormality called neurosis, personal distress may be the only symptom, because the individual's behaviour seems normal.

 

Depression in Childhood

There is often the image of happy-go-lucky children, but this may not always be the case. However, children can experience depression. There are some similarities and some differences in depression in adults and children. Children aged seven to seventeen may resemble adults in terms of their depressed mood, inability to experience pleasure, fatigue, concentration problems and thoughts of suicide. They differ because the rates of suicide attempts are higher, they may experience more guilt, more frequent early waking, more weight loss, loss of appetite and early morning depression than adults. Depression in children is also recurrent. Children who have had a major depression are likely to continue to show significant depressive symptoms four to eight years later. Estimates of the amount of children experiencing depression depend on the country, sample used and age of children.

Depression can also be inferred from some behaviours, such as acting aggressively and misbehaving, which would not be used in adults as showing an underlying depression. Depression has been found to occur in less than 1% of pre-school age children, 2 – 3% of school age children, but 7 – 13% of adolescents. In adolescence, females outweigh males by a ratio of 2:1 in experiencing depression, but prior to the age of 12, boys are more likely to experience depression.

There is a problem with diagnosing depression due to the presence of other factors. Up to 70% of children with depression will also have an anxiety disorder or significant anxiety symptoms. Depression is also common with children with conduct disorders or attention deficit disorders.

 

 

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