Study sheet: Etiology of Mental Disorders

📋 Course Outline

1. Perspectives on Disorder Causes
2. Behavioral and Biological Feedback
3. Emotional Social and Developmental Effects
4. Diathesis Stress Model
5. Neurotransmitters and Disorders
6. Agonists and Antagonists
7. Learning and Mental Illness Factors
8. Equifinality and Contributing Domains

📖 1. Perspectives on Disorder Causes

★ Must-know

📌 The bio-psycho-social-spiritual perspective explains mental disorders through biological, psychological, social, and spiritual influences.

Further detail

• Historically, disordered behavior was believed to have a spiritual cause.

• The biological perspective includes instinctual influences on disordered behavior.

💡 Memory Hook

Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual

📖 2. Behavioral and Biological Feedback

📝 Essential Points

• Conditioning can transform a normal fear after encountering a black widow spider into an overblown fear of spiders or even of places where spiders might be found.

📌 Completely avoiding places where spiders might be found can reinforce avoidance behavior instead of allowing the person to confront or deal with the issue, which can worsen the condition.

• A phobia is an irrational fear that develops when a normal fear becomes overblown.

• During a fight-or-flight response, heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure can increase, while compensation through lowered heart rate and blood pressure can cause fainting.

💡 Memory Hook

Avoidance → reinforced behavior → greater fear

📖 3. Emotional Social and Developmental Effects

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Agoraphobia : a disorder involving fear of the unknown and usually staying home or inside because of fear of unfamiliar places

★ Must-know

• Emotional responses can intensify physiological reactions and lead a person to avoid spider-related areas or stay inside most of the time.

• Past events and the age at which they occur, especially during early developmental years, can influence the intensity of a person’s response.

Further detail

• When friends and family minimize a person’s fear by saying it is no big deal, the person may experience guilt, confusion, self-doubt, and emotional upset.

💡 Memory Hook

Emotion → social response → developmental sensitivity

📖 4. Diathesis Stress Model

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Diathesis : a predisposition for a particular disorder, such as a family history or genetic vulnerability

★ Must-know

📐 Formula — The diathesis-stress model proposes that $\text{diathesis} + \text{stress} = \text{disorder}$.

Further detail

• Examples of family or genetic disorders include:
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • bipolar disorder
  • Crohn’s disease
  • alcoholism

📌 Reducing stress can lessen the intensity with which genetic vulnerability affects health and psychological disorders.

💡 Memory Hook

Predisposition + stress → disorder

📖 5. Neurotransmitters and Disorders

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Neurotransmitter : a biochemical element that chemically communicates from one neuron in the brain to another

★ Must-know

• The five main neurotransmitters are:

  • glutamate
  • GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
  • serotonin
  • norepinephrine
  • dopamine

• GABA reduces activity between neurons and has a calming effect that can lessen anxiety, especially generalized anxiety.

• Very low serotonin is associated with impulsivity, overreactions, aggression, suicide, impulsive overeating, and excessive sexual behavior.

Further detail

• Glutamate excites other neurons, leading to action and behavior, while low glutamate is associated with insomnia, poor concentration, mental exhaustion, and low energy.

• Norepinephrine is involved in heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, and low levels can cause anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.

• Dopamine is involved in outgoing, exploratory, and pleasure-seeking behaviors, and too much dopamine has been found in people with schizophrenia.

📖 6. Agonists and Antagonists

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Agonist drug : intended to increase the activity of a neurotransmitter
• Antagonist drug : intended to decrease or block the impact of a neurotransmitter

💡 Memory Hook

Agonists increase neurotransmitter activity; antagonists decrease or block it

📖 7. Learning and Mental Illness Factors

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Learned helplessness : Learned helplessness occurs when a person believes there is nothing they can do to improve a situation, and despair and negative thinking can contribute to depression and anxiety.

★ Must-know

• Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory emphasizes observational learning or modeling, in which what a person observes or has modeled can strongly influence behavior, especially in children.

• Contributing experiences include:

  • severe childhood psychological trauma
  • early loss of a parent
  • neglect
  • poor ability to relate to others
  • death or divorce
  • dysfunctional family life

Further detail

• Examples of unhealthy learned patterns include:

  • despair
  • rage
  • significant suspicion or paranoia
  • symptoms associated with factitious disorder

• Additional factors include: low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, loneliness, bullying, changing jobs or schools, social or cultural expectations, substance abuse by the person or the person’s parents

📖 8. Equifinality and Contributing Domains

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Equifinality : the concept that a behavior or disorder may have several different causes

📝 Essential Points

• The major causal domains are:
  • biology: inherited potential
  • behavior: fight-or-flight and conditioning
  • emotion and cognition: emotional reactions and thinking
  • social factors: reactions of others, treatment, and support

📊 Synthesis Tables

Neurotransmitter Functions and Associations

Neurotransmitter	Main role	Associations in the course
Glutamate	Excites neurons and leads to action	Low levels: insomnia, poor concentration, exhaustion, low energy
GABA	Reduces neuronal activity and calms	Can lessen anxiety; may be addictive
Serotonin	Processes information; coordinates movement; regulates thought, behavior, and mood	Very low levels: impulsivity, aggression, suicide, overeating, excessive sexual behavior
Norepinephrine	Involved in heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure	Low levels: anxiety, depression, panic attacks
Dopamine	Involved in outgoing, exploratory, and pleasure-seeking behavior	Too much associated with schizophrenia; low levels with schizophrenia-like symptoms