14.11 SUMMARY

• The DSM–5 is a classification system that defines a mental disorder as occurring when the person experiences disturbances of thought, emotion, or behavior that produce distress or impairment and that arise from internal sources.
• According to the biopsychosocial perspective, mental disorders arise from an interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors, often thought of as a combination of a diathesis (internal predisposition) and stress (environmental life event).
• The RDoC is a new classification system that focuses on biological, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of mental disorders.

• People with anxiety disorders have irrational worries and fears that undermine their ability to function normally.
• Phobic disorders are characterized by excessive fear and avoidance of specific objects, activities, or situations, whereas generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves a chronic state of anxiety not focused on any particular threat.
• People who suffer from panic disorder experience a sudden and intense attack of anxiety that is terrifying and can lead them to become agoraphobic and housebound for fear of public humiliation.

• People with obsessive-compulsive disorder experience recurring, anxiety-provoking thoughts that compel them to engage in ritualistic, irrational behavior.

• In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a person experiences chronic physiological arousal, unwanted thoughts or images of the trauma, and avoidance of things that remind the person of a traumatic event.

• Mood disorders are mental disorders in which a disturbance in mood is the predominant feature.
• Major depression (or unipolar depression) is characterized by a severely depressed mood; symptoms include an inability to experience pleasure, feelings of worthlessness, lethargy, and sleep and appetite disturbances.
• Bipolar disorder is an unstable emotional condition involving extreme mood swings of depression and mania, periods of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood.

• Schizophrenia is a severe psychological disorder involving hallucinations, disorganized thoughts and behavior, and emotional and social withdrawal.
• Schizophrenia affects only 1% of the population, but it accounts for a disproportionate share of psychiatric hospitalizations.
• The first drugs that reduced the availability of dopamine sometimes reduced the symptoms of schizophrenia, suggesting that the disorder involved an excess of dopamine activity, but recent research suggests that schizophrenia may involve a complex interaction among a variety of neurotransmitters.
• Risks for developing schizophrenia include genetic factors, biochemical factors, brain abnormalities, and a stressful home environment.

• ASD emerges in early childhood and is a condition in which a person has persistent communication deficits as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.
• ADHD begins by age 12 and involves persistent severe problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity or impulsiveness that cause significant impairments in functioning.

• Conduct disorder begins in childhood or adolescence and involves persistent behavior involving aggression against people or animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, or serious rule violations.

• Personality disorders are enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, relating to others, or controlling impulses that cause distress or impaired functioning.
• Antisocial personality disorder is associated with a lack of moral emotions and behavior; people with antisocial personality disorder can be manipulative, dangerous, and reckless, often hurting others and sometimes hurting themselves.

• Suicide is among the leading causes of death in the United States and the world. Most people who die by suicide have a mental disorder, and suicide attempts are often motivated by an attempt to escape intolerable mental states or situations.
• Although NSSI is performed without suicidal intent, like suicidal behavior, it is most often motivated by an attempt to escape from painful mental states.