AP Psychology: Psychological Disorders Notes

These AP Psychology study notes give a high-level overview of what you’ve learned about psychological disorders. Psychological disorders may manifest in a person’s behavior and/or thoughts. The field of psychological disorders (or abnormal psychology) encompasses the study of relatively common problems such as depression, substance abuse, and learning difficulties as well as the study of fairly rare, and particularly severe, disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Keep reading to learn more key concepts and terms you should know for the AP Psychology exam.

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AP Psychology Psychological Disorders: Key Takeaways 

Review some key concepts about psychological disorders you should know for the AP Psychology exam.

1. To identify a psychological disorder, we must first define it. This task is surprisingly difficult. Disorders are often characterized by causing dysfunction, by resulting in distress, and as being deviant (different) from what is typical.
   
2. An important question is how psychologists determine whether or not someone has a psychological disorder. To do so, psychologists use resources developed through practice and periodically updated. The World Health Organization (WHO) created the International Classification of Mental Disorders (ICD) for this purpose, and the American Psychiatric Association uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
   
3. The DSM, as its name suggests, provides a way for psychologists to diagnose their patients. The DSM-5, which is the most recent edition, contains the symptoms of everything currently considered to be a psychological disorder.
   
4. The DSM-5 lists hundreds of different psychological disorders, most of which lie beyond the scope of your introductory course. Keep in mind that many psychologists do not strictly adhere to any one perspective

AP Psychology Psychological Disorders: Key Terms 

Review the following key terms related to psychological disorders for the AP exam.

• Autism spectrum disorder: Children with autism spectrum disorder seek out less social and emotional contact than do other children and are less likely to seek out parental support when distressed. In addition, people with autism spectrum disorder tend to be hypersensitive to sensory stimulation. They often exhibit intense interest in objects not viewed as interesting by most people.
• Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one example. A child with ADHD may have difficulty paying attention or sitting still. People with ADHD are not incapable of focusing; in fact, they hyper focus on things of interest to them.
• Anxiety disorders: Anxiety disorders, as their name suggests, share a common symptom of anxiety. We will discuss three anxiety disorders: phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.
• Dissociation: Dissociative disorders involve a disruption in conscious processes; dissociation involves a break or separation from memories and thoughts or even a sense of who the person is.
• Dissociative identity disorder: Dissociative identity disorder (DID, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is when a person has several personalities rather than one integrated personality. Someone with DID can have any number of personalities.
• Major depressive disorder: Major depressive disorder, also known as unipolar depression, is the most common mood disorder and is often referred to as the common cold of all psychological disorders.
• Bipolar disorder: Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression, usually involves both depressed and manic episodes. The depressed episodes involve all the symptoms discussed above. People experience manic episodes in different ways, but they usually involve feelings of high energy.
• Schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are probably the most severe and debilitating of the psychological disorders. They tend to strike people who are entering young adulthood. The fundamental symptom of schizophrenia is disordered, distorted thinking often demonstrated through delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, disorganized speech, and/or disorganized motor behavior.
• Delusions: Beliefs that have no basis in reality.
• Dopamine Hypothesis: One of the most popular ideas about the cause of schizophrenia is biological and is called the dopamine hypothesis. The basic idea behind the dopamine hypothesis is that high levels of dopamine seem to be associated with schizophrenia.
• Antisocial personality disorder: People with antisocial personality disorder have little regard for other people’s feelings. They view the world as a hostile place where people need to look out for themselves.

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is when persistent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one example of this type of disorder included in the AP Psychology curriculum. PTSD usually involves flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely troubling event such as a war or natural disaster. Memories of the event cause anxiety.
• Substance-related and addictive disorders: Substance-related and addictive disorders is a diagnosis made when the use of such substances or behaviors, like gambling, regularly negatively affects a person’s life.

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