Psychology / Unit 9: Personality and Psychological Disorders
9.5 Major Categories of Disorders
Notes
Disorders are grouped by their main features. This is an overview only.
| Category | Main features |
|---|---|
| Anxiety disorders | Intense, lasting worry or fear (generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety) |
| Mood disorders | Major changes in mood (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder) |
| Obsessive-compulsive and related | Unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repeated behaviors (compulsions) |
| Trauma-related | Lasting distress after a very stressful event (PTSD) |
| Neurodevelopmental | Differences in how the brain develops (ADHD, autism spectrum) |
| Eating disorders | Serious disturbances in eating behavior and thoughts about body |
| Schizophrenia spectrum | Hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking |
| Personality disorders | Long-lasting, inflexible patterns that cause problems in relationships |
- Most people with a disorder are not violent. Having a disorder does not define a person.
- A phobia is an intense, irrational fear that interferes with life. Feeling sad or nervous sometimes is normal and is not a disorder.
Practice
Marcus has a fear of heights so strong that he cannot go on a school trip to a tall building. This would most likely be a:
An intense fear of a specific thing that interferes with life is a phobia.
Repeated unwanted thoughts and rituals that a person feels they must do are central features of:
Obsessions and compulsions define OCD.
Which statement about people with psychological disorders is accurate?
Stereotypes are inaccurate; most people with disorders are not violent.
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