psychological disorder
Summary
A psychological disorder is a persistent pattern of thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that is deviant, distressing, and dysfunctional, and in some cases dangerous. The testable point is that being unusual is not enough; distress or impaired functioning is usually central.
Detail
Meaning: A psychological disorder is a clinically significant disturbance in thinking, emotion regulation, or behavior. Textbooks often judge it with the "four Ds": deviance (atypical for the person's culture), distress (suffering), dysfunction (impaired work, relationships, or daily living), and danger (risk to self or others, which is present only in some cases). Disorders are grouped into categories in the DSM, such as anxiety, mood, psychotic, personality, and substance-related disorders. Causes are usually explained with the biopsychosocial approach, which combines genes and brain chemistry, learning and cognition, and social or cultural context. The diathesis-stress model says a predisposition (diathesis) plus an environmental stressor can trigger a disorder.
On the MCAT: A passage describes a person's symptoms or a study of a condition. You may be asked whether the behavior meets the criteria, which category fits, or which perspective (biological, psychological, sociocultural) the explanation reflects. For diathesis-stress, predict that a person with higher vulnerability may develop symptoms under less stress.
Common confusion: Unusual behavior is not automatically a disorder. Norms vary across cultures, and an atypical behavior that causes no distress or impairment generally does not qualify. Danger is also not required for a diagnosis.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Abnormal Psychology (Comer)
- Psychology (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.