LEARNING MODULE

1st Semester 2021-22

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND VICTIMOLOGY

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

For the Subject of Crim 3(Human Behavior and Victimology)
Saint Joseph College
College of Criminology
Maasin City Southern Leyte

Submitted by:

______________________________________
Student

Submitted to:

______________________________________

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 HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND VICTIMOLOGY

Part 1

Lesson 1
Why do we need to study human behavior?

As part of the professional subjects in Criminology, students of the course necessitate

the need of understanding behavior in order to know why people act in a certain manner.
Criminologist in their respective fields would require such comprehension in the aim to analyze
crimes, which human commit, provide a strategy for its prevention and devise methods but
proper treatment.
Criminology practitioners out in the field such as those assigned to law enforcement
agencies, correctional and detention facilities, private corporations such as banks and offices or
those who choose the industrial security field would be more effective in their endeavors
armed with this wisdom of how to handle, react and transact with the people around them.
(Bautista and Guevara, Human Behavior and Crisis Management)

Human Behavior – refers to the reaction to facts of relationship between the individual and his
environment. It is mainly influenced by both genes and environment. It is the manner of
conducting oneself which considerably involves action of a person in response to stimuli and
vice versa.
There are three significant contributors of this study, namely: Sigmund Freud, the Father
of Psychoanalysis, Francis Galton and his Heredity and Human Behavior model study as well as
Charles Darwin guided by his Evolution Theory.
According to Freud, human beings are just mechanical creatures that he views as
prisoners of primitive instincts and powers, which he can barely control. Further stating that
man’s purpose is to control these instincts and powers.
Behavioral genetics is a field of research in psychology that aims to determine
heritability and to determine how much of the behavior is accounted for by genetic factors.
Behavioral genetics began in England with Sir Francis Galton and his study of the inheritance of
genius in families. He revealed that genius runs in families and conducted that it is to a
significant degree a heritable behavioral trait.
Since Galton a lot of people tried to prove that genetics play an important role in many
aspects of behavior. Those people proved that complex behaviors related to personality,
psychopathology and cognition are influenced to some degree by genetics. They have also
ascertained that genetics alone is never enough to explain behavior because of the role of
environment.
Most psychologists believe that behavior reflects both genetic and environmental
aspects. They try to explain variability in a trait like intelligence or height or musicality in terms
of the genetic and environmental differences among people within that population. (Bautista
and Guevara, Human Behavior and Crisis Management)

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 Heredity which refers to the transmission of genes from parents to offspring or the sum
of qualities and potentialities genetically derived from one’s ancestors and the aggregate of
social and cultural conditions of a community wherein a person is situated will tremendously
shape and influence the development, character, type of human behavior of a person and
society in general.

Behavior

Behavior refers to the actions of an organism or system usually in relation to its

environment which includes the other organisms or systems around as well as the physical
environment. It is the response of the organism or system to various stimuli or inputs, whether
internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert and voluntary or involuntary
Behavior can also define as anything that you do that can be directly observed,
measured and repeated. Some examples of behavior are reading, crawling, singing, holding
hand and the like (TIcao, 2004).

Classification of Human Behavior

1. Habitual – refers to demeanors which are resorted to in a regular basis it may be further
characterized as: emotional and language.

Example, a child brushes his teeth every morning and after taking his meals and before
going to bed; Filipinos who have the knack of showing respect to elders by answering in
conversations with “po” and “opo” and mature persons crying when they are
sentimental and hugging and kissing in response to their emotions.

2. Instinctive – are human conduct which is unlearned and inherent, said to be present at
birth of a person and significantly influenced by heredity.

Example, a person will naturally eat and take nourishment the moment he/she becomes
hungry; drinking water when one is thirsty; resting if one is tired; crying if one is hurt;
and the most common instinct of man which is his instinct of self-preservation.

3. Symbolic – are human conduct in response to stimuli undertaken by means of

substitution.

Example, the conduct of keeping portraits and photographs to commit to memory an

pleasant experience or an important person; diplomas and awards in graduation to
signify one’s academic achievements and a handshake or contract signing to indicate an
agreement between persons.

4. Complex – refers to two or more habitual behavior which occurs in one situation.

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 Example, watching television while eating; texting while driving; singing while working
and the likes.

Human Emotions and Its Relation to Behavior

The word emotion includes a wide array of observation behaviors, expressed feelings
and changes in the body state. This variety in intended meanings of the word emotion makes it
hard to study. For most persons, emotions are very personal states, difficult to define or to
identify except in the most obvious instances. Moreover, many aspects of emotion give the
impression which is unconscious to us. Even simple emotional states appear to be much more
complicated than states as hunger and thirst.
To simplify the concept of emotions, three definitions of various aspects of emotions
can be distinguished:
a. Emotion is a feeling that is private and subjective. Humans can report an extraordinary
assortment of states, which they can feel or experience. Some reports are accomplished
by obvious signs of enjoyment or distress, but often these reports have no overt
indications. In many cases, the emotions we note in ourselves seem to be blends of
different states.
b. Emotion is a condition of psychological arousal an expression or display of distinctive
somatic and automatic responses. This emphasis implies that emotional states can be
defined by particular constellations of bodily responses. Specifically, these responses
involve autonomously innervated visceral organs, like the heart or stomach. This second
aspect of emotion allows us to observe emotions in both animals and human being.
c. Emotions are actions commonly deemed such as defending or attacking in reaction to a
threat. This aspect of emotion is especially relevant to Darwin’s point of view of the
functional roles of emotion. He said that emotions had an important endurance role
because they generated actions to dangerous situations.
These are three commonly accepted aspects of behavior, but some researchers
add two others aspects: motivational state and cognitive processing.

Categories

Many psychologists have tried to subdivide emotions in categories. For example

Wilhelm Wundt, the great nineteenth (19th) century psychologists, offered the outlook that
emotions consists of three fundamental dimensions, each one of a pair of opposite states:
 Pleasantness/unpleasantness
 Tension/release
 Excitement/relaxation

Plutchik’s advocated that there are eight basic emotions grouped in four pairs of opposites:
 Joy/sadness
 Acceptance/disgust
 Anger/fear
 Surprise/anticipation
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 In Plutchik’s standpoint, all emotions are a combination of these basic emotions. This
hypothesis can be summarized in a three dimensional cone with a vertical dimension reflecting
emotional intensity.

Gestures

Many of our gestures are unintended. We scratch our head to remove itch, but not to
convey a message to someone else. Although these acts have no specific purpose with regard
to inter-personal communication, they may reveal information about a person.

For example, people who are nervous, tend to scratch their head more frequently than others.
Therefore, it is hard to hide emotional feelings, since many unintentional movements do reveal
information.
If a student following a course lays his head to rest in his hands, it may be a sign of
fatigue, but will also reflect that the course is boring, as most people do not feel tired when
courses are interesting and exciting.

Those “unintentional” acts may also be used intentionally.

For example, a student who wants to make fun of a teacher may pretend that the course is
boring by putting his head at rest in his hands.

Body Language

Body language is usually more revealing than words. Words by other people usually tell
you what other people want to say, while body posture usually tells, what they really feel and
think. They convey for example emotions, thoughts and how they think. It is easier to lie with
words, than with body language.
Psychologists have discovered that when people try to simulate body language, they
change many other things. By walking more upright, people may really feel more confident.
When body language is changed, people will respond different to these changes. Body
language, therefore, has effects for the interaction with other people.

Meeting People

When you encounter a person for the first time, the first 10 seconds will give an idea,
which to a large extent will determine whether you will like this person or not. In these first ten
seconds, you will become aware of impressions like nervousness, seriousness, etc. these first
seconds will also manipulate to a large extent the rest of the conversation and any further
contacts. Therefore the first impression is very important.
During the first encounter, it is good to look carefully at the other person. If he or she
disapproves your behavior, you should adopt your behavior. Behavior should be appropriate for
the situation. For example, a firm and long hand shaking is quite usual for meeting a friend you
have not seen for a long time, but quite inappropriate on a funeral.

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Eyes

A significant factor in the first contact is the eyes. The eyes should gaze at the person. If
you want to astound the person, you should open your eyes slightly more than usual, since
raising the eye brows gives people the impression that they are welcome. After the first “hello”,
you should retain eye contact, which prevents the impression of nervousness with the other
person. You should also smile and look friendly.

The Way You Breathe

By breathing you not only supply oxygen for the body. Breathing also displays how you
feel. When you are nervous or angry you will breathe faster and when you are sad you often
breathe in jerks as if you are crying. Your breathing is also signs; when you want to disrupt a
speaking person you can do that by inhaling loudly and shortly, a loud sign means that you
comprehend the matter that is being conveyed to you.

Shrugged Shoulders

You can identify stressed shoulders by the fact that they are a bit shrugged, which does
make the head look smaller. The significance of the signal comes from crouching in dangerous
circumstances. The meaning of this posing relies on the combination. In combination with big
eyes it would mean that someone is concerned about something that is going to happen. In
concoction with a face that is turned away it means that the person wants to be left
unaccompanied. An introvert person has nearly always those stressed shoulders
By most of the people the left and the right shoulder are of the same height. When they
are not, it often means that someone is skeptical about what he is going to do. With this
movement we replicate unconscious that we are weighting the possibilities.
Sometimes when someone makes this movement, his head will move a little like he is
looking above.

Characteristics of Human Behavior

1. Primarily native or primarily learned. The extreme of the mechanistic view is the theory of
instincts. An instinct is an innate biological force, which commands the organism to behave
in a particular way. The main advocate of the instinct theory was the psychologist
McDougall. He theorized that all thinking and behavior is the result of instincts, which are
fixed from birth, but which can be adjusted and experience.
In this book Social Psychology McDougall enumerated several instinctive drives,
like fear, curiosity, aggression and reproduction. By changes and combinations of instincts
he tried to explain the whole repertoire of human behavior.
The instinct theory was supported by many psycho-analysts. For example, Freud
emphasized that human behavior could be rationalized by two major instincts: the instinct
survive and the instinct to avoid death which causes aggression.

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 It became obvious that many instincts were required to explain human behavior and
even worse, these instincts did not explain very much: so many instincts were postulated
such that any type of behavior could be explained. A better phrasing would be to say that
instincts provide a description of behavior, rather than an explanation.
In the 1920’s instinct theory was placed by the theory of drives. A driving force
originates from a natural need, like thirst. Such a situation stimulates the organism to
comply with the need. Lack of food causes chemical changes in the blood, which causes the
need for food, which stimulates the organism to look for food.
Behavior may also be attributed to the learning or cognitive process of man. Learning
denotes a permanent change as the result of specific experiences. Learning is basic for
understanding behavior. Learning may be defined as a relative permanent change in
behavior that occurs as the result of prior experience.
There are several types of learning:
 Associative learning which is the most basic form of learning. It is making a new
association between events in the environment. Psychologists distinguish two types
associative learning: the classical conditioning and the operant conditioning.
 Cognitive learning. It is the more complicated type of learning. This type of learning
a large overlap with memory and language.

2. Evoked by external stimuli or internal need. Philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth
century Like Descartes and Hobbes shared a mechanistic view. They thought that some of
our actions are the result of internal or external forces, which are not under voluntary
control. Hobbes, for example, claimed that underlying reasons for behavior are the
avoidance of pain and the quest for pleasure.
3. Automatic, Voluntary, Conscious. Every moment of the day your nervous system is active. It
exchanges millions of signals corresponding with feeling, thoughts and actions. A simple
example of how important the nervous system is your behavior is meeting an acquaintance,
relative or a friend or stranger.
The visual information of your eyes is sent to your brain by nervous cells. There the
information is interpreted and translated into a signal to take action. The brain sends a
command to your voice or to another action system like muscles or glands. For example,
you may start walking towards him.
Your nervous system enables this rapid recognition and action. The nervous system is
the most complex system of the human body. The human brain itself consists of at least 10
billion neurons. Single-cell creatures do not need a nervous system. They are in immediate
contact with their environment and do not need communication between cells. Multi-celled
creatures need the nervous system for the communication between their cells.

Attributes of Human Behavior

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 1. Duration – refers to the aspect of human behavior in terms of function of time, how
long or brief the internal may be.
2. Extensity – traits of human behavior which centers on size, distance, location.
3. Intensity – features of human behavior which focuses in terms of magnitude, mild,
strong.
4. Quantity – refers to the aspect of human behavior dealing with the normal and
abnormal traits.

There are basically three types on how does human behavior takes place:
1. Sensation – the feelings or impression of stimulus which are as follows;
a. Visual – refers to man’s sense of sight.
b. Olfactory – refers to our sense of smelling.
c. Cutaneous - refers to our sense of touch or feeling.
d. Auditory – man’s sense of hearing.
e. Gustatory – man’s sense of taste.

2. Perception – knowledge of stimulus

3. Awareness – psychological activity according to interpretation and experience of object
or stimulus.

People intermingle by three (3) psychological positions or behavioral patterns called ego states:
1. Parent ego state – which may be characterized as protective, idealistic, evaluative,
and righteous, refers to laws, rules and standards.
2. Adult ego states – which centers more upon reason, factual, flexible, views as co-
equal, worthy and reasonable human being.
3. Child ego state – which may be easily described as dependent, rebellious, selfish,
demanding, impatient and emotional.

The Id and Ego and the Superego the theory propagated by Freud which basically make
up man’s constitution including man’s conscience making him distinct from the rest of the
animal kingdom. The spirit of a newborn child just has an Id, the instinctive incentives and
reflexes that the human beings have developed during the last centuries. The only function of
the Id is to respond to the incentives. The Ego develops itself from the Id and from the
discovery that the behavior of the id can have tedious results. The Superego, a result of a
person’s socialization, is basically just the conscience, which mediates between needs of the Id
and the ego. When you are getting older, you start to develop more and more values.

Human performance, conduct and execution are classified into two (2) which are as follows:

1. Complimentary – This takes place if stimulus and response patterns from one ego state
to another are parallel.
2. Non-complimentary – This is performed if stimulus and response patterns from one ego
state to another are not parallel.

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Transactional Analysis

The study of social interactions of the people its objective is to provide better
understanding of how people relate to each other so that they may develop improve
communication and human relationship.
As we mature and develop in our lives, we also acquire social attitudes which strongly
influence our behavior. We internalize the outlook of the society around us by making the
attitudes our own. Besides attitudes, people internalize social expectations about how to
behave. The process through which society influences individuals to internalize attitudes and
expectations is called “socialization”. Individuals do not automatically recognize but gradually
accept cultural attitudes and roles. The individual is often unconscious of is acceptance of these
socially derived roles, roles are often accepted unconsciously. This is usually accomplished
through the imitation of role models.
When individuals play these character dictated by the culture within which they live,
they are sometimes contradictory with their own inner beliefs. Frequently, we may act as if we
concur with our perceived social expectations, however we do not want to disappoint the
people who expect us to meet a particular set of requirements. This may create an imbalance
which may cause one’s behavior to become illogical due to these perceived social influences.

Lesson 2

Abnormal Behavior and Criminal Psychology

Criminal Psychology is a study that deals on criminal behavior. It is a must for

police officers has a knowledge to assess the difference in abnormal behavior can enable them
to make important judgments regarding the seriousness of criminal behavior (Bautista and
Guevara)

Abnormal Behavior

Abnormal Behavior is something deviating from the normal or differing from

the typical, is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or
dysfunctional conditions. It may be abnormal when it is unusual, socially unacceptable, self-
defeating, dangerous or suggestive of faulty interpretation of reality or of personal distress
(Rathus, 1991).
Abnormal Behavior is behavior that is deviant, maladaptive or personally
distressful over a long period of time (King, 2008).
American Psychiatric Association (2001-2006) defines abnormal behavior in
medical terms as a mental illness that affects or is manifested in a person’s brain and can affect
that way a person thinks, behaves and interacts with people.

Psychopathology

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 Psychopathology is the scientific study of mental, emotional and behavior disorders as
well as abnormal or maladaptive behavior.

Abnormal Behavior could be recognized through any of the following:

1. Deviation from Statistical Norm – the word abnormal means “away from the norm”.
Many population facts are measured such as height, weight and intelligence. Most of
the people fall within the middle range of intelligence, but a few are abnormally stupid.
But according to this definition, a person who is extremely intelligent should be
classified as abnormal. Examples are:
a. Intelligence – it is statistically abnormal for a person to get a score about 145 on an
IQ test or to get a score below 55, but only the lower score is considered abnormal
(Wakefield, 1992).
b. Anxiety – a person who is anxious all the time or has a high level of anxiety and
someone who almost never feels anxiety are all considered to be abnormal.

2. Deviation from Social Norm – every culture has certain standards for acceptable
behavior; behavior that deviates from that standard is considered to be abnormal
behavior. But those standards can change with time and vary from one society to
another.
3. Maladaptive Behavior – this third criterion is how the behavior affects the well-being of
the individual and/or social group. A man who attempts suicide or a paranoid individual
who tries to assassinate national leaders are illustrations under this criterion. The two
aspects of Maladaptive Behavior are:
a. Maladaptive to One’s Self– it refers to the inability of a person to reach goals or to
adapt the demands of life.
b. Maladaptive to Society – it refers to a person’s obstruction or disruption to social
group functioning.

4. Personal Distress – the fourth criterion considers abnormally in terms of the individual’s
subjective feelings, personal stress, rather than his behavior. Most people commonly
diagnosed as mentally ill feel miserable, anxious, depressed and may suffer from
insomnia (whitford, 2006)

Symptoms of Abnormal Behavior

1. Long Periods of Discomfort - this could be anything as simple as worrying about a

calculus test or grieving the death of a loved one. This distress, however, is related to a
real, related or threatened event and passes with time. When such distressing feelings,
however, persist for an extended period of time and seem to be unrelated to events

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 surrounding the person, they would be considered abnormal and could suggest a
psychological disorder.
2. Impaired Functioning – a distinction must be made between simply a passing period of
inefficiency and prolonged inefficiency which seems unexplainable. For instance, a very
brilliant person consistently fails in his classes or someone who constantly changes his
jobs for no apparent reason.
3. Bizarre Behavior – has no rational basis seems to indicate that the individual is confused.
The psychoses frequently results to hallucinations or delusions.
4. Disruptive Behavior – means impulsive, apparently uncontrollable behavior that disrupts
the lives of others or deprives them of their human rights on a regular basis. This type of
behavior is characteristics of a severe psychological disorder. An example of this is the
antisocial personality disorder (spoor, 1999).

Mental Disorder

Mental disorder refers to the significant impairment in psychological functioning.

Types of Mental Disorders

a. Psychosis – it refers to a severe mental disorder characterized by a retreat from reality,

by hallucinations and delusions and by social withdrawal.
b. Organic Mental Disorder – it refers to a mental or emotional problem caused by brain
diseases or injuries.
c. Substance - related Disorder – refers to an abuse or dependence on a mood or behavior
altering drug.
d. Mood Disorder – it refers to a disturbance in mood or emotion, such as depression or
mania.
e. Anxiety Disorder – it refers to a disruptive feeling of fear, apprehension or anxiety or a
distortion in behavioral anxiety.
f. Somatoform Disorder – it refers to a physical symptom that mimics a disease or an
injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause.
g. Dissociative Disorder – it refers to a psychological disorder that involves a sudden loss of
memory or changes in identity.
h. Personality Disorder – it is a maladaptive personality pattern. It is a psychological
disorder that is believed to have resulted from personalities that developed during
childhood.
i. Sexual and Gender Identity Disorder - it refers to any of a wide range of difficulties with
sexual identity, deviant sexual behavior or sexual adjustment.
j. Neurosis – it is an outdated term once used to refer, as a group, to anxiety disorders,
somatoform disorders and some forms of depression.

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Insanity

Insanity is not a psychological or psychiatric term but a legal term. Insanity has not one
but three different legal meanings, depending on whether it’s used as a criminal defense, in a
hearing on competency to stand trial or in a hearing on involuntary commitment to mental
institution (santrock, 2000).
A person is insane if he/she is not able to judge between right and wrong. It is the
mental inability in managing one’s affairs or to be aware of the consequences of one’s actions
and it is established
United States Federal Court legally defines insanity as the inability to appreciate the
nature and quality or wrongfulness of one’s acts (redding, 2006).

Rule of Intelligence in Criminal Case

McNaughton Rule - In 1724 an English court maintained that a man was not responsible
for act if “he does not know what he is doing, no more a wild beast”
Modern standards of legal responsibility, however, have been based on the
McNaughton decisions of 1843. The McNaughton rule was a standard to be applied by the jury,
after hearing medical testimony from prosecution and defense experts. The rule created a
presumption of sanity, unless the defense proved “at the time of committing the act, the
accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not know the
nature and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know what he
was doing was wrong”.
The rule was adopted in the US, and the disposition of knowing right from wrong
remained the basis for most decisions of legal insanity (smith, et al, 2003).
Durham Rule – states that “an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act is
the product of mental disease or mental defect”. Some State added to their statutes this
doctrine which is also known as “irresistible impulse” recognizing some ill individuals may
respond correctly but may be unable to control their behavior (smith, et al, 2003).

The Intellectual Quotient (IQ)

IQ Category Equivalent Capacity

1 to25 Idiot - A child from 1 to 3 years old
26 to 50 Imbecile - A child from 3 to 6 years old
51 to 75 Moron - A child from 6 to 8 years old
76 to 90 Dull-minded - A child from 9 to 11 years old
91 to 120 Normal (average) - A child from 11 to 14 years old
121 to 130 Superior - Above average capacity
131 to 140 Talented - High Development
140 Above Genius - Very High Development

Table 1

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Mental Retardation Base on IQ

Mental retardation is a condition of limited ability in which an individual has a low IQ,
usually below 70 on a traditional intelligence test, and has difficulty adapting to everyday life;
he/she first exhibited these characteristics during the so called development period – by age
18(santrock, 2000).

Four Categories of Mental Retardation

IQ 50 to 70 - Mild Retardation - Able to care their selves; could finish basic

education, holds semi-skilled jobs, can be married
and serve as adequate parents
IQ 35 to 49 - Moderate - May be trained to care their selves; reach primary
Retardation level of education, holds mental jobs often sheltered
workshops, difficulty in maintaining social
relationships, rarely marry.
IQ 20 to 34 - Severe Retardation - May learn sedimentary language and work skills,
unable to care for themselves.
IQ 20 Below - Profound - Spend their lives in institution that provides custodial
Retardation care, not capable of true interaction.

Table 2

Both tables above present that individuals with intellectual deficiency marked by IQ
below 70 have difficulties performing in everyday life (Landsman and Ramey, 1989). These
difficulties show in self care (such as eating and dressing), school work (such as reading and
arithmetic) and social relationship (such as conversing and developing friendships), (Dizon, et.
al., 1999)

The following provisions of the Revised Penal Code Book 1 Article 12 exempt a person from
crime commission in consideration of intelligence.
1. Any person who has committed a crime while the said person was imbecile or insane
during the commission.
2. Any person above 9 years old but below 15 years old who has committed a crime
provided he acted without discernment. Thus those who acted with discernment of the
same age in the commission of crime are not exempted but would serve to mitigate only
the penalty.
3. Any person having an age of 9 years old and below.
4. Any person who acted under the compulsion of irresistible force.

Note: R.A 9344 otherwise known as Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 raised the criminal
exemption from 9 to 15 years old. In addition, a person of this age is totally exempted whether
he/she acted with or without discernment during the commission of crime.

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 Fifteen (15) years old is within the stage of adolescence the transition age which is
characterized by curiosity, try-outs and identity crisis. These circumstances expose them to
risky and delinquent behavior. At this age, children are not yet emotionally stable and their
social judgment has not yet matured.

PSYCHOSIS AND NEUROSIS

Psychosis came from the word “psyche”, for mind/soul, and “osis” for abnormal
condition/ it means abnormal condition of the mind and is a genetic psychiatric term for a
mental state often described as involving a “loss of contact with reality”.
People suffering from psychosis are said to the psychotic. Disorganization of personality
marked by impaired vocational and social functioning and intellectual deterioration. It has the
following characteristics: disorientation of time, place and/or person: delusion (false beliefs);
hallucination (false perception); bizarre behavior; inappropriate emotion responses; distortion
of thinking, association and judgment.

Symptoms of Psychosis are the following:

a. Involution Reaction – demonstrates severe depression during the involution period

without previous history of psychosis.
b. Affective Reaction – there is a presence of inappropriately exaggerated mood and
marked change in activity level with associated though disorder.
c. Manic-Depressive Reaction – manic-depressive reaction shows cyclical disturbances
involving various combination of or alternation between excitement and delusional
optimism on the one hand and immobilizing, delusional depression on the other.
d. Schizophrenic Reaction – schizophrenic reactions are bizarre behavior, disturbances of
thought and reality testing; emotional withdrawal; and varying levels of psychotic
thinking and behavior (Beltran, 1996).

Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorder involving distress but neither delusion
nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms.
Neurosis is also known as “psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder”, and thus those
suffering from it care said to be neurotic. It involves impaired social, intellectual and/or
vocational functioning without disorganization of personality or loss of contact with reality.

Symptoms of Neurosis are the following:

a. Anxiety Reaction – anxiety reaction has diffused fearfulness; tension and restlessness
with sometimes snowball into episodes of panic.
b. Dissociative Reaction – is a massive repression or dissociation of certain aspect of
experience or memory varying in intensity from sleepwalking to amnesias and multiple
personality disturbances.
c. Phobic Reaction – refers to intense irrational fear of specific objects or events that may
have a symbolic significance on the afflicted individual.

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 d. Obsessive-Compulsive Reaction – Obsessive-compulsive reaction has repetitive,
irrational thoughts and/or actions (compulsions) which usually involve some symbolic
effort at conflict resolution.
e. Depressive Reaction – refers to depression usually accompanied by guilt, feelings of
inferiority and anxiety (Beltran, 1996).

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Criminal Behavior refers to antisocial acts that place the actor at risk of becoming a
focus of the attention of criminal and juvenile justice professionals. It refers to acts that are
injurious, acts prohibited under the law and that render the actor subject to intervention by
justice professionals (Lud-ayen, notes on Human Behavior, 2006).
According to Kalalang, 2001, Criminal Behavior refers to a behavior which is criminal in
nature; a behavior which violates a law. Thus, the moment a person violates the law, he has
already committed criminal behavior.

Legal Definition of Criminal Behavior

Criminal Behavior refers to actions that are prohibited by the state and punished under
the law.

Moral Definition of Criminal Behavior

Criminal Behavior refers to an action that may be rewarding to the actor but that inflicts
pain or loss to others. That is, criminal behavior is anti-social behavior.

Origins of Criminal Behavior

The following are possible sources of criminal behavior:

1. Biological Factor – heredity as a factor implies that criminal acts are unavoidable,
inevitable consequences of the bad seed or bad blood. It emphasizes genetic
predisposition toward antisocial and criminal conduct. The following are some studies
and theories related to biological causes of crime:
a. Born Criminal by Cesare Lombroso.
b. Physique and Crime by Cesare Lombroso’s Anthropology.
c. Duke and Kalikkak Study by Richard Dugdale and Henry Goddard.
d. Eysenck’s Theory of Personality and Crime.

2. Personality Disorder Factor – refers to an act that exhibits pervasive pattern of disregard
for and violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence
and continuous to adulthood such as Anti-Social Personality Disorder.
3. Learning Factor – learning factors explains that criminal behavior is learned primarily by
observing or listening to people around us. The following are related learning theories:
a. Differential Association Theory by Edwin Sutherland.

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 b. Imitation Theory by Gabriel Tarde.
c. Identification Theory by Daniel Classer.

The Terrible Triad for Serial Killers

The three characteristics of almost all serial killers during their childhood are:

1. Bed Wetting – is the most intimate of these “triad” symptoms and is less likely to be
willfully divulged. By some estimates, 60% of multiple murderers wet their beds past
adolescence. Kenneth Bianchi apparently spent many a night marinating in urine-soaked
sheets.
2. Fire Starting (Fascination of Fire) – Otis Toole and Carl Panzram were two serial killers
who started fires during their childhood. Carl Panzram burned down the reformatory he
was sent to. Toole set fire to a neighbor’s house. Fire fascination (interest) was an early
manifestation of their obsession (passion) with destruction.
3. Animal Torture – most serial killers, before moving to human victims, start with animals.
Ed Kemper killed neighborhood cats. A dog’s severed head was found on a stick in the
wood near Jeffrey Dahmer’s childhood home.

Childhood Characteristics of Serial Killer

a. Majority of serial killers have a history of sexual and physical abuse during their
childhood.
b. Half of the serial killers families, the biological father had left before the child were 12
years old. In cases where the father didn’t leave, he was domineering and abusive.
c. Delinquent acts such as pyromania, theft and cruelty to animals were present during the
childhood of most serial killers.

Two Types of Serial Killers Based on the Serial Killer’s Motive:

1. Act-focused

This killer generally doesn’t kill for the psychological gratification of the kill, making the
act itself their primary emphasis. He usually kills quickly, with little pomp and circumstance.

Two Subtypes:
a.Visionary – this killer usually receives a vision or hears a voice telling him to kill.
Sometimes the vision or voice comes from God or the devil, both of which legitimate
his violence.
b. Missionary – this killer is on “missions” to eradicate a specific group of people, such as
prostitutes, white-collared bankers, etc.

2. Process-Focused

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 The majority of serial killers are process-focused. They get off on the method of their
kill. They kill for the enjoyment of it and usually get a perverse sexual thrill out of it, so
therefore they take their time and go very slowly. Hedonism (pleasure seeking or self-
indulgence) at it’s worse.

Four Subtypes:

a. Gain
Murdering someone for profit or personal gain. Most females usually fall into
this category, like Lavinia Fisher, who would murder her hotel guests and keep whatever
belongings and cash they had. You can read up on the 10 most infamous females here
and almost every one of them stood to get personal gain.

b. Thrill
Killing someone gives these people a rush or high. They especially like to watch
the lights to out in their victim’s eyes. It’s the ultimate adrenaline (prepare the body to
fight or flight) rush makes them feel alive and euphoric. They typically don’t engage in
sex either before or after.

c. Power
The pleasure comes from manipulating and dominating although the argument
could be made for this category to fall in with any of the above. Usually sex is involved,
but it’s not as important to this killer as to the lust killer. That’s confusing some research
found led that this is considered the “sociopath”.

d. Lust
Murder is associated with sexual pleasure in the minds of these killers. These sick
folk actually will have sex while in the process of killing or engage in necrophilia after
they have killed. Either or twisted, it seems that Lust Killers are the most prevalent in
the media and certain fiction genres (Read the case of Theodore Bundy).
Lust Killers basically have sexual gratification as their main motivation. They
almost always exhibit sadism (inflicting pain on others for their pleasure). They usually
are not opportunistic killers, but rather highly organized, with vast amounts of planning
and forethought put into their kills

Four Phases of Lust Killers:

Phase 1. Fantasy
This killer act out the crime over and over in his mind, maybe with the use of
pornographic material. His desire to kill is manifested and this time period may last
years before he progresses to phase two.

Phase 2. The Hunt

The killer might focus primarily on the “right” type of victim or he may focus on
the “right’ type of location. Once he finds the victim, he may stalk them for a long time,

17
 memorizing their schedule down to the minute. It could take many more years to go
through this phase, and cover 100s of miles.

Phase 3. The Kill

The victim is lured into the trap and then the killer makes real on his fantasy.
Depending on how elaborate the kill ritual is, this could take a while several days or
longer, even. There will almost definitely be “overkill”, in that there could be extreme
torture, mutilation or dismemberment (the action cutting off a person’s or animal’s
limbs). The killer might have sex with the corpse, drink their blood, and eat body parts
whatsoever they can do to preserve their moment of ecstasy however they can. The
killer might take a token of their kill or leave a calling card but not always.

Phase 4. Post-Kill
The killer will likely feel empty or dresses, because their inner torment was only
relieved short term. More lives will have to be taken in order to have temporary relief. It
would be during this stage that a killer would write a confession to the police or media.
Unless caught, it is inevitable that he will kill again, starting the cycle back over
(Campbell, 2013).

PERSONALITY

Personality refers to the sum total of typing ways of acting, thinking and feeling that
makes each person unique. People are not alike. There are noticeable differences in the ways
they act, think and feel. In other words, different people have a variety of different
personalities.
Personality is a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives
and emotions that characterizes an individual throughout life (wade, et, al, 2003).

Two type of Personality According to Carl Jung

1. Introvert – an introvert is a person whose attention is focused inward. He/she is usually

shy, reserved and self-centered person.
2. Extrovert – an extrovert is a person whose attention is directed outward. He/she is a
bold and outgoing person.

Six (6) Approaches to Personality:

1. Psychoanalytic Approach – psychoanalytic approach argues that people’s unconscious

minds are largely responsible for important differences in their behavior styles.
Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes childhood experiences as critically important in
shaping adult personality. It stresses the role of the unconscious in motivating human
actions. This theory was initiated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

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The Structure of Personality
The structure of personality is made up of three major systems; the Id, the Ego and
Super Ego. Behavior is always the product of an inter action among these three systems; rarely
does one system operate to the exclusion of the other two.
a. Id – Id allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the Id is based on
the pleasure principle i.e. it wants immediate satisfaction, with no consideration for
the reality of the situation. Id refers to the selfish, primitive, childish, pleasure-
oriented part of the personality with no ability to delay gratification. Freud called the
Id the “true psychic reality” because it represents the inner world of subjective
experience and has no knowledge of objective reality.

b. Ego – as the child interacts more with the world, the ego begins to develop. The
ego’s is to meet the needs of the Id, whilst taking into account the constraints of
reality. The ego acknowledges that being impulsive or selfish can sometimes hurt us,
so the Id must be constrained (reality principle). Ego is the moderator between the
Id and superego which seeks compromises to pacify both. It can be viewed as our
“sense of time and place”.

c. Superego (conscience of man) – the superego develops during the phallic stage as a
result of the moral constraints placed on us by our parents. It is generally believe
that a strong superego serves to inhibit the biological instincts of the Id (resulting in
a high level of guilt), whereas a weak superego allows the Id more expression
resulting in a low level of guilt. Superego internalizes societal and parental standards
of “good” and “bad”, “right” and “wrong” behavior (Burger, 2000).

Level of Awareness (Topographical Model by Freud)

a. The conscious Level – it consists of whatever sensations and experience you are
aware of at a given moment of time.
b. The preconscious Level – this domain is sometimes called “available memory” that
encompasses all experiences that are not conscious at the moment but which can
easily be retrieved into awareness either spontaneously or with a minimum of effort.
Examples might include memories of everything you did last Saturday night, all the
towns you ever lived in, your favorite books or an argument you had with a friend
yesterday.
c. The Unconscious Level – it is the deepest and major stratum of the human mind. It
is the storehouse for primitive instinctual drives plus emotion and memories that are
so threatening to the conscious mind that they have been repressed or
unconsciously pushed into the unconscious mind. Examples of material that might
be found in your unconscious include a forgotten trauma in childhood, hidden
feelings of hostility toward a present and repressed sexual desire of which you are
unaware (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992).

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 2. Trait Approach – Trait approach identifies where a person might lie along continuum of
various personality characteristics. Trait theories attempt to learn and explain the traits
that make up personality, the differences between people in terms of their personal
characteristics and how they relate to actual behavior.

TRAIT

- Refers to the characteristics of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving,

thinking and feeling (wade, et. Al, 2003).

Kinds of Trait
According to Allport (1961), the following are the different kinds of traits:

a. Common Traits – these are personality traits that are shared by most members of a
particular culture.
b. Individual Traits – these are personality traits that define a person’s unique individual
qualities.
c. Cardinal Traits – these are personality traits that are so basic that all person activities
relate to it. It is a powerful and dominating behavioral predisposition that provides the
pivotal points in a person’s entire life. Allport said that only few people have cardinal
traits.
d. Secondary Traits – these are traits that are inconsistent or relatively superficial, less
generalized and far less enduring that affects our behaviors in specific circumstances.

Lewis Goldberg’s Trait Theory

Goldberg proposed a five-dimension personality model with a nickname of “Big Five’ or

“Five Factor Theory” and they are as follows:
a. Extraversion – this dimension contrast such traits as sociable, outgoing, talkative,
assertive, persuasive, decisive and active with more introverted traits such as
withdrawal, quiet, passive, retiring, and reserved.
b. Neuroticism – people high on neuroticism are prone to emotional instability. They
tend to experience negative emotions and to be moody, irritable, nervous and prone
to worry.
c. Conscientiousness – this factor differentiates individuals who are dependable,
organized, reliable, responsible, thorough, hard-working and preserving from those
undependable, disorganized, impulsive, unreliable, irresponsible, careless, negligent
and lazy.
d. Agreeableness – this factor is composed of a collection of traits that range from
compassion to antagonism towards others. A person high on agreeableness would
be a pleasant person, good-natured, warm, sympathetic and cooperative.
e. Openness to Experience – this factor contrast individuals who are imaginative,
curious, broad-minded and cultured with those who are concrete-minded and
practical and whose interest are narrow (Hogan, et al., 1994 & King, 2008).

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Hans Eysenk’s Personality Trait

Eysenk believed that many personalities are classified as introvert or extrovert and
emotionally stable or unstable.
a. Extrovert – it refers to a person that is sociable, out-going and active.
b. Introvert – it refers to a person that is withdrawn, quiet and introspective.
c. Emotionally Unstable – it is a trait that is being anxious, excitable and easily disturbed.

Four Types of Temperament

a. Melancholic - Sad, Gloomy

b. Choleric - Hot-tempered, irritable
c. Phlegmatic - Sluggish, Calm
d. Sanguine - Cheerful, Hopeful

3. Biological Approach – Biological approach points to inherited predispositions and

physiological to explain individual differences in personality. It is a perspective that
emphasizes the role of biological processes and heredity as the key to understanding
behavior.

4. Humanistic Approach – Humanistic approach identifies personal responsibility and

feeling of self-acceptance as the key causes of differences in personality. This
perspective focuses on how humans have evolved and adapted behaviors required for
survival against various environment pressures over the long course of evolution.

5. Behavioral/Social Learning Approach – Behavioral/Social Learning Approach explains

consistent behavior patterns as the result of conditioning and expectations. This
emphasizes the role of environment in shaping behavior.

Behavioral Personality Theory

It is a model of personality that emphasizes learning and observable behavior.

Social Learning Theory

It is an explanation of personality that combines learning principles, cognition and the

effects of social relationships.

Self-Reinforcement

It is the praising or rewarding oneself for having made a particular response.

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Identification

It is a feeling from which one is emotionally connected to a person and a way of seeing
oneself as himself or herself. The child admires adults who love and care for him/her and this
encourages imitation.

6. Cognitive Approach – cognitive approach looks at differences in the way people process
information to explain differences in behavior. This perspective emphasizes the role of
mental processes that underlie behavior (Burger, 2000).

Freud’s Model of Personality Development (Psychosexual Stages)

1. Oral Stage (0-18 Months)

This is the first psychosexual stage in which the infant’s source of Id gratification is the
mouth. Infant gets pleasure from sucking and swallowing. Later when he has teeth, infant
enjoys the aggressive pleasure of biting and chewing. A child who is frustrated at this stage
may develop an adult personality that is characterized by pessimism, envy and suspicion.
The over indulged child may develop to be optimistic, gullible, and full of admiration for
others.

2. Anal Stage (18 Months – 3 years)

When parents decide to toilet train their children during anal stage, the children learn how
much control they can exert over others with anal sphincter muscles. Children can have the
immediate pleasure of expelling feces, but that may cause their parents to punish them.
This represents the conflict between the Id which derives pleasure from the expulsion of
bodily wastes, and the super-ego which represents external pressure to control bodily
functions. If the parents are too lenient in this conflict, it will result in the formation of an anal
expulsive character of the child who is disorganized, reckless and defiant. Conversely, a child
may opt to retain feces, thereby spiting his parent and may develop an anal retentive character
which is neat, stingy (unwilling to give or spend) and obstinate (stubborn).

3. Phallic Stage (3-6 years)

Genitals become the primary source of pleasure. The child’s erotic pleasure focuses on
masturbation, that is, on self-manipulation of the genitals. He develops a sexual attraction to
the parent of the opposite sex; boys develop unconscious desires for their parent and become
rivals with their father for her affection.
This reminiscent with Little Han’s case study, so the boys develop a fear that their father
will punish them for these feelings so decide to identify with him rather than fight him. As a

22
result, the boy develops masculine characteristics and represses his sexual feeling towards his
mother.
a. Oedipus complex – this refers to an instance where in boys build up a warm and loving
relationship with mothers (mommy’s boy).
b. Electra complex – this refers to an occasion where in girls experience an intense
emotional attachment for their fathers (daddy’s girl).

Note: The Oedipus complex is name for the king of Thebes who killed his father and married
his mother.

4. Latency Stage (6-11 years)

Sexual interest is relatively inactive in this stage. Sexual energy is going through the
process of sublimation and is being converted into interest in school work, riding bicycles
playing house and sports.

5. Genitals Stage (11 years on)

This refers to the start of puberty and genital stage; there is renewed interest in obtaining
sexual pleasure through the genitals. Masturbation often becomes frequent and leads to
orgasm for the first time. Sexual and romantic interests in others also become a central motive.
Interest how turns to heterosexual relationships. The lesser fixation the child has in earlier
stages, the more chances of developing a “normal” personality, and thus develops healthy
meaningful relationships with those of the opposite sex (rathus, 2003.

Lesson 3

Altering Behavior and Coping Mechanisms

This chapter presents the factors affecting human behavior such as: emotion, conflict,
depression, stress, frustration and coping mechanisms.

1. EMOTION

Emotion refers to feelings affective responses as a result of physiological arousal, thoughts

and beliefs, subjective evaluation and bodily expression. It is a state characterized by facial
expressions, gestures, postures and subjective feelings (Uriarte, 2009).
Emotion is associated with mood, temperament, personality and disposition. The English
word “emotion” is derived from the French word emouvoir. This is based on the Latin emovere,

23
where e- (variant of ex-) means “out” and movere means “move”. The related term
“motivation” is also derived from movere (santrock, 2000).

Theories of Emotion are:

a. James-Lange Theory by William James and Carl Lange – James-Lange theory states that
emotion results from physiological states triggered by stimuli in the environment:
Emotions occurs after physiological reactions. This theory and its derivatives states that
a changes situation leads to a changes bodily state. As James says “the perception of
bodily changes as they occur is the emotion.
James further claims that “we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike,
afraid because we tremble and neither have we cried, strike, nor tremble because we
are sorry, angry or fearful, as the case may be”. The James-Lange theory has now been
all but abandoned by most scholars.

b. Cannon-Bard Theory by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard – this suggests that people feel
emotions first and then act upon them. This is a theory that emotion and physiological
reactions occur simultaneously. These actions include changes in muscular tension,
perspiration (process of sweating), etc. the theory was formulated following the
introduction of the James-Lange theory of emotion in the late 1800s, which alternately
suggested that emotion is the result of one’s perception of their reaction or “bodily
change”.

Example: I see a man outside my window. I am afraid. I begin to perspire.

The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion is based on the premise that one reacts to a
specific stimulus and experiences the corresponding emotion simultaneously. Cannon
and Bard posited that one is able to react to a stimulus only after experiencing the
related emotion and experience.

Model for Cannon-Bard Theory

Stimulus (Bear) Emotion (fear) Reaction (Run Away)

c. Two Factor Theory – this theory was provided by Schachter & Singer, in which they
posited that emotion is the cognitive interpretation of a physiological response. For
many, this remains the best formulation of emotion. Most people consider this to be the
“common sense” theory to explain physiological changes; their physiology changes as a
result of their emotion (Santrock, 2000).

2. CONFLICT

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 Conflict is a stressful condition that occurs when a person must choose between
incompatible or contradictory alternatives. It is a negative emotional state caused by an
inability to choose between two or more incompatible goals or impulsive (Uriarte, 2009).
Conflict is the state in which two or more motives cannot be satisfied they interfere with
one another (Lahey, 2001).

Types of Conflict

a. Psychological Conflict (Internal Conflict) – psychological conflict could be going on inside

the person and no one would know. Freud would say unconscious Id battling superego
and further claimed that our personalities are always in conflict.
b. Social Conflict – the different kinds of social conflict are:
 Interpersonal Conflict.
 Two individuals me against you.
 Inter-group struggles – us against them;
 Individual Opposing a Group – me against them, them against me;
 Intra-group Conflict – members of group all against each other on a task.
c. Approach-Avoidance – conflict can be described as having features of approach and
avoidance: approach-approach; avoidance-avoidance; approach-avoidance. Approach
speaks to things that we want while Avoidance refers to things that we do not want.

Kinds of Approach-Avoidance

a. Approach-Approach Conflict – in Approach-Approach conflict, the individual must

choose between two positive goals of approximately equal value. In this, two pleasing
things are wanted but only one option should be chosen.

Example: Choice between two colleges, two roommates or two ways of spending the
summer.

b. Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict – Avoidance-Avoidance conflict involves more obvious

sources of stress. The individual must choose between two or more negative outcomes.

Examples: Study or do the dishes. I don’t want this and I don’t want that. A woman with
an unwanted pregnancy may be morally opposed by abortion.

c. Approach-Avoidance Conflict – Approach-Avoidance conflict exists when there is an

attractive and unattractive part to both sides. It arises when obtaining a positive goal
necessitates a negative outcome as well.

Example: Gina is beautiful but she is lazy. “I want this but I don’t want what this entails”.
Another is the dilemma of the student who is offered a stolen copy of an important final
exam. Cheating will bring guilt and reduced self-esteem, but also a good grade.

25
 d. Multiple-Approach-Avoidance Conflict – this refers to conflict with complex
combinations of approach and avoidance conflicts. It requires individual to choose
between alternatives that contain both positive and negative consequences (Lahey,
2001).

Functional vs. Dysfunctional Conflict

1) Dysfunctional Conflict – there is dysfunctional conflict if conflict disrupts, hinders job

performances and upsets personal psychological functioning.
2) Functional Conflict – there is functional conflict if conflict is responsive and
innovative aiding in creativity and viability.

3. DEPRESSION

Depression is an illness that causes a person to feel sad and hopeless much of the time.
It is different normal feelings of sadness, grief or low energy. Anyone can have depression. It
often runs in families. But it can also happen to someone who doesn’t have a family history of
depression. You can have depression one time or many times.

Causes of Depression

Things that may trigger depression include:

a. Major events that create stress, such as childbirth or a death in the family.
b. Illness, such as arthritis, heart disease or cancer.
c. Certain medicines, such as steroids or narcotics for pain relief.
d. Drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs.

Symptoms of Depression

a. Think and speak more slowly than normal.

b. Have trouble concentrating, remembering and making decisions.
c. Have changes in their eating and sleeping habits.
d. Lose interests in things they enjoyed before they were depressed.
e. Have feelings of guilt and hopelessness, wondering if life is worth living.
f. Think a lot about death or suicide.
g. Complain about problems that don’t have a physical cause, such as headache and
stomachache (Zemla, 2012).

Different Forms of Depression

1. Major Depressive Disorder – this is also called major depression. It is characterized by a

combination of symptoms that interfere with a person’s ability to work, sleep, study, eat
and enjoy once-pleasurable activities. Major depression is disabling and prevents a

26
 person from functioning normally. An episode of major depression may occur only once
in a person’s lifetime, but more often, it recurs throughout a person’s life.
2. Dysthymic Disorder - also refer to as “Dysthymia”. The symptoms do not occur for more
than two months at a time. Generally, this type of depression is described as having
persistent but less severe depressive symptoms than major depression. Manifest nearly
constant depressed mood for a least 2 years accompanied by a least two or more of the
following:
a. Decrease or increase in eating.
b. Difficulty sleeping or increase in sleeping.
c. Low energy or fatigue.
d. Low self-esteem.
e. Difficulty concentrating or making decisions; and
f. Feeling hopeless.

3. Psychotic Depression – this occurs when a severe depressive illness is accompanied by

some form of psychosis, such as a break with reality, hallucinations and delusions.
4. Postpartum Depression – this is major depressive episode that occurs after having a
baby. A new mother develops a major depressive episode within one month after
delivery. It is estimated that 10 to 15 percent of women experience postpartum
depression after giving birth. In rare case, a woman may have a severe form of
depression called “postpartum psychosis”. She may act strangely, see or hear things that
aren’t there and be a danger to herself and her baby.
5. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – this is characterized by the onset of a depressive
illness during the winter months, when there is less natural sunlight. The depression
generally lifts during spring and summer. SAD may be effectively treated with light
therapy, but nearly half of those with SAD do not respond to light therapy alone.
Antidepressant medication and psychotherapy can reduce SAD symptoms, either alone
or in combination with light therapy.
6. Bipolar Disorder – this is also called manic-depressive illness, is not as common as major
depression or dysthymia. Bipolar disorder is characterized by cyclical mood changes-
from extreme highs (e.g., mania) to extreme lows (e.g., depression).
7. Endogenous Depression – endogenous means from within the body. This type of
depression is defined a feeling depressed for no apparent reason.
8. Situational Depression or Reactive Depression (also known as adjustment disorder with
depresses mood) – depressive symptoms develop in response to a specific stressful
situation or event (e.g. job loss, relationship ending). These symptoms occur within 3
months of the stressor and last no longer than 6 months after the stressor (of its
consequences) has ended. Depression symptoms cause significant distress or impairs
usual functioning (e.g. relationships, work, school) and do not meet the criteria for
major depressive disorder.
9. Agitated Depression – this kind of major depressive disorder is characterized by
agitation such as physical and emotional restlessness, irritability and insomnia, which is
the opposite of many depressed individuals who have low energy and feel slowed down
physically and mentally inappropriate social behavior (Dryden-Edwards, 2003).

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How to Battle Depression

a. Socializing – eating out, movies, ballgames with family or friends.

b. Helping others in need – volunteer work, feeling the homeless, etc.
c. Praying - works for all moods, especially depression (Aquino, 1999).

4. STRESS

Stress refers to the consequences of the failure of an organism - human or animal – to

respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. Stress
is a form of the Middle English destresse, derived via Old French from the Latin stringere, to
draw tight. The term stress was first employed in a biological context by the endocrinologist
Hans Selye in the 1930s.
Stress can thought of as any event that strains or exceeds an individual’s ability to cope
(Lazarus, 1999).

What is Stressor?
Stressor is anything (physical or psychological) that produces stress (negative or
positive). For example, getting a promotion is appositive event, but may also produce a great
deal of stress with all the new responsibilities, work load, etc.

Two Types of Stress

1. Eustress (positive) – eustress is a word consisting of two parts. The prefix derives from
the Greek eu meaning either “well” or “good”. When attached to the word “stress”, it
literally means “good stress”.
It is a stress that is healthy or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive
feelings. Eustress is aprocess of exploring potential gains. A stress that enhances
function (physical or mental), such as through strength training or challenging work is
considered eustress.
2. Distress (Negative) – Distress is known as the negative stress. Persistent stress that is
not resolved through coping or adaptation, deemed distress, may lead to anxiety or
withdrawal (depression) behavior (Lazarus, 1974).

Effects of Distress are:

a. Ineffectiveness at tasks f. Poor decision making
b. Self-defeating behavior g. Dangerous action
c. Transitional suicidal behavior h. Accidents, and
d. Anxiety and fear i. Apathy and cynicism.
e. Loss of interest and initiative

Three Stages of Stress

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 a. Alarm – alarm is the first stage. When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the
body’s stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced
in order to bring about the fight or fight response.
b. Resistance – resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persist, it becomes necessary
to attempt some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try adapt
to the strains or demands of the environment the body cannot keep this up indefinitely,
so its resources are gradually depleted.
c. Exhaustion – exhaustion is the third and final stage in the General Arousal Syndrome
(GAS) model. At this point, all of the body’s resources are eventually depleted and the
body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic nervous system
symptoms may reappear sweating and raised of heart rate etc. (Selve, 1976 and Lahey,
2001).
The result can manifest itself in obvious illness such as ulcers, depression, and
diabetes, trouble with the digestive system or even cardiovascular problems, along with
other mental illnesses.

Types of Short Term Stress

1. Acute Time – acute time refers to limited stress that come on suddenly (acute) and are
over relatively quickly. Situations like public speaking and doing math in your head fall
into this category. These things may come on without warning but are short in duration.
2. Brief Naturalistic Stress – brief naturalistic stress is relatively short in duration. Think of a
classroom test or a final exam. These are stresses that rise out of other things (like a
course of study) and are over quickly.

Types of Long Stress

a. Stressful Event Sequences – is a single event that starts from a chain of challenging
situations, for example, losing a job or surviving a natural disaster.
b. Chronic Stress – chronic stress lacks a clear and point. Often they force people to
assume new roles or change their self-perception. Think of a refugee leaving their native
country or an injury leading to permanent disability. These are life-changing events you
rarely get to go back to the way things were.
c. Distant Stress – distant stress may have been initiated in the past (like childhood abuse
or trauma resulting from combat experiences) but continue to affect the immune
system. Distant stressors have long lasting effects on emotional and mental health
(Scott, 2011).

5. FRUSTRATION

Frustration is a negative emotional state that occurs when one is prevented from
reaching a goal. Frustration is an unpleasant state of tension and heightened sympathetic
activity, resulting from a blocked goal. Frustration is associated with motivation since we won’t

29
be frustrated if we were not motivated to achieve the goal. Frustration may be external or
personal.

External Frustration
External frustration is a distress caused by outwardly perceivable conditions that
impedes progress towards a goal.

Personal Frustration
Personal frustration is a distress caused by the individual’s inner characteristic’s that
impedes progress toward a goal (Uriarte, 2009).

Sources of Frustration

a. Physical Obstacles such as: drought, typhoons, flat tire, etc. that prevents a person from
doing his plans or fulfilling his wishes.
b. Social Circumstances such as: obstacles through the restrictions imposed by other
people and customs and laws of social being.
c. Personal Shortcoming such as: handicapped by diseases, blindness, deafness or
paralysis.
d. Conflicts between Motives such as: wanting to leave college for a year to try painting,
but also wanting to please one’s parents by remaining in school.

The following are Common Responses to Frustration:

a. Aggression – it refers to any response made with the intent of harming some person or
objects. The intentional infliction may be a physical or psychological harm.
b. Displaced Aggression – it refers to the redirecting of aggression to a target other than
the actual source of one’s frustration.
c. Scapegoating – it refers to the act of blaming a person or group of people for conditions
not of their making.
d. Escape – it is the act of reducing discomfort by leaving frustrating situation or by
psychologically withdrawal from them such as apathy (pretending not to care) or illegal
drug use (Uriarte, 2009).

6. COPING MECHANISM vs DEFENSE MECHANISM

Coping Mechanisms are the sum total of ways in which people deal with minor to
major stress and trauma. Some of these processes are unconsciousness ones, others are
learned behavior and still others are skills that individuals consciously master in order to reduce
stress or other intense emotions like depression. Not all ways of coping are equally beneficial
and some can actually be very detrimental.

Defense Mechanisms refer to an individual’s way of reacting to frustration. These are

unconscious psychological strategies brought into play by various entities to scope with reality

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and to maintain self-image. Healthy persons normally use different defenses throughout life.
According to Freud, defense mechanisms are methods that ego uses to avoid recognizing ideas
or emotions that may cause personal anxiety; it is the unrealistic strategies used by the ego to
discharge tension (Lahey, 2001 and Rathus, 2003).

The Following is the Complete List of Coping Mechanisms:

1. Acting out 19. Passive aggression
2. Aim inhibition 20. Perfuming rituals
3. Altruism 21. Post-traumatic growth
4. Attack 22. Projection
5. Avoidance 23. Provocation
6. Compartmentalization 24. Rationalization
7. Compensation 25. Reaction Formation
8. Conversion 26. Regression
9. Denial 27. Repression
10. Displacement 28. Self-harming
11. Dissociation 29. Somatization
12. Emotionality 30. Sublimation
13. Fantasy 31. Substitution
14. Help-rejecting complaining 32. Suppression
15. Idealization 33. Symbolization
16. Identification 34. trivializing
17. Intellectualization 35. Undoing
18. Introjection 36. Positive coping

Lesson 4

DISORDERS

This chapter presents the common disorders that are somehow associated with
abnormal persons such abnormalities are: anxiety disorders, delusional disorders, mood
disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, sexual disorders, somatoform disorders and
dissociative disorders.

ANXIETY DISORDER

Anxiety is a psychological disorder that involves excessive levels of negative emotions

such as nervousness, tension, worry, fright, and anxiety. It is a generalized feeling of
apprehension, fear or tension that may be associated with a particular object or situation or
may be free-floating, not associated with anything specific. Anxiety can cause such distress that
it interferes with a person’s ability to lead a normal life.

Differences between Anxiety and Fear

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 Anxiety is defined as an unpleasant emotional state for which the cause is either not
readily identified or perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable, whereas, Fear is an
emotional and physiological response to a recognized external threat or a response to a real
danger or threat.

Symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder

Symptoms vary depending on the type of anxiety disorder, but general symptoms
include:
a. Feelings of panic, fear and uneasiness.
b. Uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts.
c. Repeated thoughts or flashbacks of traumatic experiences.
d. Nightmares
e. Ritualistic behaviors, such as repeated hand washing.
f. Problems sleeping
g. Cold or sweaty hands and/or feet
h. Shortness of breath
i. Palpitations
j. An inability to be still and calm.
k. Dry mouth.
l. Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.
m. Nausea
n. Muscle tension.
o. Dizziness

Types of Anxiety Disorders

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder – this disorder involves excessive, unrealistic worry and
tension, even if there is little or nothing to provoke the anxiety. Accordingly, symptoms
include restlessness or feeling keyed up, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle
tension and jitteriness, deep disturbance and unwanted, intrusive worries.
2. Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) – people with OCD are plagued by constant
thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing
thoughts are called “obsessions” – are anxiety provoking thoughts that will not go away
(ex. One may have repetitive thoughts of killing a child, of becoming contaminated by a
handshake or of having unknowingly hurt someone in a traffic accident; and the rituals
are called “compulsions” – are irresistible urges to engage in behaviors (ex. A person
with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands, compulsive
counting, touching and checking).
3. Panic Disorder – this disorder keeps recurring attacks to a person of intense fear or
panic, often with feelings of impending doom of death. People with this condition have
feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Other symptoms
of a panic attack include sweating, chest pain, palpitations (irregular heartbeats) and a

32
 feeling of choking, which may make the person feel like he or she is having a heart
attack or “going crazy”.
4. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – PTSD is a condition that can develop following a
traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected
death of a loved one, or a natural disaster. People with PTSD often have lasting and
frightening thoughts and memories of the event and tend to be emotionally numb.
The Vietnam War appears to have produced an unprecedented 500,000 veterans
with at least mild problems of PTSD (santrock, 2003).
5. Specific Phobias – A specific Phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation,
such as snakes, heights or flying, Phobia is an exaggerated, unrealistic fear of a specific
situation, activity or object.
The level of fear usually is inappropriate to the situation and may cause the
person to avoid common everyday situations. Some specific phobias are:
 Acrophobia - fear of heights
 Ailorophobia - fear of cats
 Amaxophobia - fear of vehicles or driving
 Anuptaphobia - fear of staying single
 Aquaphobia - fear of water or swimming
 Arachnophobia - fear of spiders
 Astraphobia - fear of storms, thunder and lighting
 Airophobia - fear of flying, airplanes
 Biblophobia - fear of books
 Blennophobia - fear of slime
 Bogyphobia - fear of demons
 Cathisophobia - fear of sitting down
 Cibophobia - fear of food
 Claustrophobia -fear of confinement
 Coitophobia - fear of sexual intercourse
 Cremnophobia - fear of precipices
 Cynophobia - fear of dogs
 Demophobia - fear of crowds
 Dromophobia - fear of crossing streets
 Ecophobia - fear of home
 Entomophobia - fear of insects
 Gamophobia - fear of marriage
 Geascophobia - fear of crossing a bridge or a large body of water.
 Gymnophobia - fear of nudity
 Hamatophobia - fear of sins or sinning
 Hapephobia - fear of touching or being touched.
 Hematophobia - fear of blood
 Hodophobia - fear of travels
 Homilophobia - fear of sermons
 Kinesophobia - fear of motion

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  Kopophobia - fear of mental or physical exams.
 Lygophobia - fear of the dark
 Microphobia - fear of germs
 Nyctophobia - fear of fear of darkness.
 Odontiatophobia - fear of dentists
 Ophiophobia - fear of snakes
 Opthalomophobia - fear of being stared at
 Onomatophobia - fear of a certain word or name.
 Panophobia - fear of everything
 Paralipophobia - fear of responsibility
 Pathophobia - fear of disease
 Philophobia - fear of falling in love or being love
 Phobophobia - fear of fears
 Pyrophobia - fear of fire
 Phyrotophobia - fear of getting wrinkles
 Selenophobia - fear of the moon
 Telephonophobia - fear of using the telephone.
 Trophophobia - fear of moving
 Thanotophobia - fear of death or dying.
 Zenophobia - fear of strangers
 Zoophobia - fear of animals in general

6. Social Anxiety Disorder – this is also called “social phobia”. It involves overwhelming
worry and self-consciousness about everyday situations. The worry often centers on a
fear of being judged by others or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or
lead to ridicule (wade, 2004).

Three Types of Anxiety according to Freud

1. Reality Anxiety – refers to fear of real dangers in the external world.

2. Neurotic Anxiety – refers to fear that instincts will get out of control and cause the
person to do something for which he or she will be punished.
3. Moral Anxiety – is the fear of the conscience. People with well-developed superegos
tend to feel guilty when they do something that is contrary to the moral code by which
they have been raised (Hall and Lindzey, 1978).

DELUSIONAL DISORDER (false belief)

Delusional disorder is sometimes referred to as “paranoia”. Delusions are false,

sometimes even preposterous, beliefs that are not part of the person’s culture. One might think
he is Jesus Christ; another Napoleon (King, 2008).

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Types of Delusional Disorder

1. Persecutory Type (Delusion of Perception) – the person of this type believes that he or
she is being threatened or mistreated by others.
2. Grandiose Type (Delusion of Grandeur) – victims of this disorder believe that they are
extraordinary important people or are possessed with extraordinary power, knowledge
or ability.
3. Jealous Type – this delusion centers on the suspected unfaithfulness of a spouse or
sexual partner. This delusion is more common than others.
4. Erotomatic Type – this is a type of delusional disorder where a person has an erotic
delusion that he/she is loved by another person, especially by someone famous or of
higher status.
5. Somatic Type – the false belief focuses on a delusional physical abnormality or disorder.
The somatic delusion relates to the patient’s body. No matter what the mirror says, a
person suffering from this type of delusion believes his/her body is under attack. The
attack can be from bugs or bad odors or just the belief that there is something terribly
wrong with his/her body.
6. Guilt Delusion – this person believes he/she has done something terribly wrong. One
extremely rare instance of this disease is called “folie a deux” (Uriarte, 2009).

MOOD DISORDERS

Mood Disorders are disorders characterized by extreme and unwanted disturbances in

feeling or mood. These are major disturbances in one’s condition of emotion, such as
depression and mania. It is otherwise known as “affective disorder” (DSM-IV-TR, 2000).

Symptoms of a Mood Disorder

a. Sadness g. Dejection
b. Difficulty sleeping h. Exaggerated guilt
c. Fatigue i. Changes in appetite
d. Hopelessness j. Feelings of incompetence
e. Despair k. Loss of interest
f. Sense of inferiority l. Inability to function effectively

Types of Mood Disorder:

1. Bipolar Disorder – in bipolar disorder, formerly known as “manic depression”, there are
swings in mood from elation (extreme happiness) to depression (extreme sadness) with
no discernable external cause.

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 Two Phases of Bipolar
a. Manic Phase – during the manic phase of the disorder, the patient may show
excessive, unwarranted excitement or silliness, carrying jokes too far. They may also
show poor judgment and recklessness and may be argumentative. Manic may speak
rapidly, have unrealistic ideas, and jump from subject to subject. They may not be
able to sleep or sit still for very long.
b. Depressive Episode – the other side of the bipolar coin is the depressive episode.
Bipolar depressed patients often sleep more than usual and are lethargic. During
bipolar depressive episodes, a patient may also show irritability and withdrawal.
Accordingly, (Wade, 2004). The depressed person speaks slowly and
monotonously while the manic person speaks rapidly, dramatically, often with many
jokes and puns. The depressed person has low self-esteem while the manic person
has inflated self-esteem.

2. Depressive Disorder – Depressive disorder is when the person experience extended,

unexplainable periods of sadness.

Three Types of Depressive Disorder

a. Major Depressive Disorder – a person suffering from major depressive disorder is
in depressed mood for most of the day, nearly every day or has lost interest or
pleasure in all, activities for a period of a least two weeks
b. Single Episode – single depression is like major depression only it strikes in one
dramatic episode.
c. Recurrent – recurrent depression is an extended pattern of depressed episodes.
Depressed episodes can include any of the features of major depressive disorder
(Santrock, 2003).

PERSONALITY DISORDER

Personality disorders are chronic, maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are

thoroughly integrated into the individual’s personality and that are troublesome to others or
whose pleasure sources are either harmful or illegal (Livesly, 2001).

Types of Personality Disorder

According to the diagnostic and statistical manual, a reference used to clinically define
mental illness, there are ten (10) different personality disorders categorized into three main
groupings or clusters

Cluster A: Odd or Eccentric Behaviors

a. Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD) – Those with SPD may be perceived by others a
somber, aloof and often are referred to as “loners”.

Manifestation:
 Social isolation and a lack of desire for close personal relationships.

36
  Prefers to be alone and seem withdrawal and emotionally detached.
 Seem indifferent to praise or criticism from other people.

b. Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD) – although they are prone to unjustified angry or
aggressive outbursts when they perceive others as disloyal or deceitful, those with PPD
more often come across as emotionally “cold” or excessively serious.

Manifestation:
 They feel constant suspicion and distrust toward other people.
 They believe that others are against them and constantly look for evidence to
support their suspicions.
 They are hostile toward others are react angrily to perceived insults.

c. Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) – This disorder is characterized both by a need for
isolation as well as odd, outlandish or paranoid beliefs. Some researchers suggest this
disorder is less severe than schizophrenia.

Manifestation:
 They engage in odd thinking, speech and behavior.
 They may ramble or use words and phrases in unusual ways.
 They may believe they have magical control over others.
 They feel very uncomfortable with close personal relationships and tend to be
suspicion of others.

CLUSTER B: Dramatic, Emotional or Erratic Behaviors

a. Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) – APD is characterized by lack of empathy or

conscience, a difficulty controlling impulses and manipulative behaviors. Antisocial
behavior in people less than 18 years old is called conduct disorder.

Manifestation:
 Act in a way that disregards the feelings and the rights of other people.
 Anti-social personalities often break the law.
 Use or exploit other people for their own gain.
 They may lie repeatedly, act impulsively and get into physical fights.
 They may mistreat their spouse, neglect or abuse their children and exploit their
employees.
 They may even kill other people.
 People with this disorder are also sometimes called “sociopaths” or “psychopaths”.

People with this disorder are at high risk for premature and violent death, injury,
imprisonment, loss of employment, bankruptcy, alcoholism, drug dependence and failed
personal relationships.

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 b. Borderline Personality Disorder (BSD) – this mental illness interferes with an individual’s
ability to regulate emotion. Borderlines are highly sensitive to rejection and fear of
abandonment may result in frantic efforts to avoid left alone, such as suicide threats and
attempts.

Manifestation:
 They have intense instability, particularly in relationship with other.
 They make frantic efforts to avoid real imagined abandonment by others.
 They may experience minor problems as major crises.
 They express their anger, frustration and dismay through suicidal gestures, self-
mutilation and others self-destructive acts.
 They tend to have an unstable self-image or sense of self.

Borderline personalities are at high risk for developing depression, alcoholism, drug
dependence and bulimia; dissociate disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore,
10 percent of people with this disorder commit suicide by the age of 30.

c. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) – NPD is characterized primarily by grandiosity,

need for admiration and lack of empathy. Narcissistic tend to be extremely self-
absorbed, intolerant of others perspectives, insensitive to others needs and indifferent
to the effect of their own egocentric behavior.

Manifestation:
 They a grandiose sense of self-importance.
 They seek excessive admiration from others and fantasize about unlimited success
or power.
 They believe they are special, unique or superior to others. However, they often
have very fragile self-esteem.

d. Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) – individuals with this personality disorders exhibit
a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attempt to get attention in unusual
ways, such as bizarre appearance or speech.

Manifestation:
 They strive to be the center of attention.
 They act overtly flirtations or dress in ways that draw attention.
 They may also talk in dramatic or theatrical style and display exaggerated emotional
reactions.

CLUSTER C. Anxious, Fearful Behaviors

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 a. Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD) – those with avoidant personalities are often
hypersensitive for rejection and unwilling to take social risks. Avoidance displays a high
level of social discomfort, timidity, fear of criticism, avoidance of activities that involve
interpersonal contact

Manifestations:
 They possess intense, anxious shyness.
 They are reluctant to interact with others unless they feel certain of being liked.
 They fear being criticized and rejected.
 They often view themselves as socially inept and inferior to others.

b. Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD) – people with dependent disorder typically

exhibits a pattern of needy and submissive behavior, and rely on others to make
decisions for them.

Manifestation:
 They have severe and disabling emotional dependency on others.
 They have difficulty in making decisions without a great deal of advice and
reassurance from other.
 They urgently seek out another relationship when a close relationship ends.
 They feel uncomfortable by themselves.

c. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) – individuals with OCPD, also called

“anankastic personality”, are so focused on order and perfection that their lack of
flexibility interferes with productivity and efficiency. They can also be workaholics,
preferring the control of working alone, as they are afraid that work completed by
others will not be done correctly.

Manifestation:
 They have a preoccupation with details, orderliness, perfection and control.
 They devote excessive amounts of time to work and productivity and fail to take
time for leisure activities and friendships.
 They tend to be rigid, formal, stubborn and serious.

This disorder differs from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which often includes more
bizarre behavior and rituals (Lahey, 2001 and Snatrock, 2003).

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia is a group of disorders characterized by loss of contact with reality, marked

disturbances of thought and perception and bizarre behavior. At some phase delusions or
hallucinations almost always occur.

39
 Emil Kraepelin first identified the illness in 1896 when he distinguished it from the mood
disorders. He called it “dementia praecox”, which means a premature deterioration of the
brain. Emil’s thoughts were later disputed by many psychiatrists. One of these was Eugene
Bleuler, an eminent Swiss psychiatrist, who in 1911 gave the term “schizophrenia”. He
developed the word by combining two Greek words “schizein” meaning “to split” and “phren”
meaning “mind”. This emphasized a splitting apart of the patient’s affective and cognitive
functioning, which are heavily affected by the disease. Also schizophrenia came from the new
Latin words “schizo” meaning “split” and “phrenia”, meaning “mind” (King, 2008).

Schizophrenic Hallucinations

Hallucinations can be broken down into the following categories:

1. Tactile (touch) – people with schizophrenia often have the sensation that there are
things (like bugs or insects) crawling across their skin.
2. Visual (sight) – this kind of hallucination causes the person to see things that are not
really there.
3. Auditory (hearing) – this is the most common type of hallucination. People with auditory
hallucinations hear voices and sounds that others cannot hear.
4. Olfactory (smell) – the person experiencing an olfactory hallucination smells things
(usually foul smelling things) that others do not smell.
5. Command (hearing) – when a voice commands the person to do something he/she
would not ordinarily do.

Characteristics of Schizophrenia

1. Disturbances of Thought and Attention – people suffering schizophrenia often cannot

think logically and as the result of this they cannot write a story, because every word
they write down might make sense, but are meaningless in relation to each other. And
they cannot keep their attention to the writing. The principal disturbances in the
schizophrenic’s thought a process is multiple delusions. This is divided into two sub-
categories:
a. Persecutory Delusion – the schizophrenic believes that he/she is being talked about,
spied upon or his/her death being planned.
b. Delusions of Reference – the schizophrenic give personal importance to completely
unrelated incidents, objects or people.

2. Disturbances of Perception – during acute schizophrenic episodes, people say that the
world appears different to them, their bodies appear longer, colors seem more intense
and they cannot recognize themselves in a mirror.
3. Disturbances of Affect – schizophrenic persons fail to show ‘normal’ emotions. This
symptom is easiest described as an excessive lack of correlation between what an
individual is saying and what emotion they are expressing. (e.g. recounting an

40
 experience of serious horror while chuckling or a patient may smile while talking over
tragic events).
4. Withdrawal from Reality – during schizophrenic episodes, the individual becomes
absorbed in his inner thoughts and fantasies. The self-absorption may be so intense that
the individual may not know the month or day or the place where he is staying.
5. Delusions and Hallucinations – in most cases it is accompanied by delusions. Delusions
are inflexible misleading beliefs. They appear as a result of exaggerations or distortions
of reasoning, as well as false interpretations of things and events.
The most common are beliefs that other persons are trying to control his
thoughts, he may become suspicious of friends (paranoid) and this is the reason why
Robert Kennedy was assassinated (Spoor, 1999).

Kinds of Schizophrenia

a. Paranoid Schizophrenia – if a person has paranoid schizophrenia, he/she:

 Is very suspicious of others.
 Has a great scheme of persecution at the root of the behavior.
 Have hallucinations and delusions which are also the symptoms of this type of
schizophrenia.
 Displays the psychotic symptoms.

b. Residual Schizophrenia – residual schizophrenia is usually:

 Expressed thought a person’s having no motivation of interest in everyday life.
 Advised when an individual has been through at least one episode of schizophrenia
(6 month) but then “recover”.

c. Disorganized Schizophrenia (hebephrenic schizophrenia) – this schizophrenia is

characterized by:
 Person is incoherent verbally and to his/her feeling.
 Expressing emotions that are not appropriate to the situations.

d. Catatonic Schizophrenia – a person diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia is:

 Extremely withdrawn, negative, isolated and has obvious psychomotor disturbances.
 The subject may be almost immobile or exhibit agitated purposeless movement.
 Symptoms can include catatonic stupor and waxy flexibility.

e. Undifferentiated Schizophrenia – people with undifferentiated schizophrenia exhibit the

symptoms of more than one of the above mentioned types of schizophrenia, but
without a clear predominance of a particular set of diagnostic characteristics. This is
used when the patient’s symptoms clearly point to schizophrenia but are so clouded
that classification into the different types of schizophrenia is very difficult (Santrock,
2003).

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Schizophrenia develops through any of the following causes:
a. Genetic Cause – a cause of schizophrenia usually lies in a person’s having immediate
relatives with a history of schizophrenia or other psychiatric diseases (schizoaffective
disorder, bipolar disorder and depression). Some researchers consider schizophrenia to
be highly heritable (estimate are a high as 70%).
b. Environmental/Social Cause – there is considerable evidence indicating that stress may
trigger episodes of schizophrenia psychosis. For example, emotionally turbulent families
and stressful life events have shown to be some of the risk factors for he relapses or
triggers of schizophrenia episodes.
The “Social drift hypothesis” suggests that people affected by schizophrenia may
be less able to hold steady, demanding or high-paying jobs. As a result, low income and
problems increases stress levels and leave such people susceptible to lapsing into a
schizophrenic episode.
3. Prenatal Cause – casual factors are thought to initially come together in early
neurodevelopment to increase the risk of later developing schizophrenia (Ex. Prenatal
exposure to infection). One curious finding is that people diagnosed with schizophrenia
are some likely to have been born in winter or spring (at least in the northern
hemisphere).
4. Substance Abuse Cause – in a recent study of people with schizophrenia and a
substance abuse disorder, over a ten year period, “substantial proportions were above
cutoffs selected by dual diagnosis clients as indicators of recovery. “Example, illegal
drugs, tobacco and the like” (Spoor, 1999).
However, Eugene Bleuler, one of the pioneers in the diagnosis and study of
schizophrenia, divided the disorder into two forms, they are:
a. Reactive or Acute Schizophrenia – reactive schizophrenia is usually sudden and
seems to be a reaction to some life crisis. Reactive schizophrenia is a more
treatable form of the illness than process or chronic schizophrenia.
b. Process Schizophrenia/Chronic Schizophrenia – process schizophrenia is also
referred to as “poor premorbid schizophrenia”, this type is characterized by lengthy
periods of its development with a gradual deterioration and exclusively negative
symptoms. It doesn’t seem to be related to any major life change or negative event.
Usually this type of schizophrenia is associated with “loners” who are rejected by
society, tend not to develop social skills and don’t excel out of high school (Carlson,
1990).

SEXUAL DISORDERS

Sexual Dysfunction are disorders related to a particular phase of the sexual response
cycle. Sexual disorders include problems of sexual identity, sexual performance and sexual aim.

Major Categories of Sexual Disorder

1. Sexual dysfunctions

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 2. Paraphilia
3. Gender identity disorders

Category I. SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION

Sexual dysfunction is a persistent or recurrent problem that causes marked distress and
interpersonal difficulty and that may involve any some combination of the following:
a. Sexual arousal or the pleasure associated with sex; and
b. Orgasm

It is a disturbance in any phase of the Human Sexual Response Cycle (Lahey, 2001)

What is the Human Sexual Response Cycle?

The Human Sexual Response Cycle is a four stage model of physiological responses
during sexual stimulation. The term was coined by William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson in
their 1966 book Human Sexual Response. The cycles are:
1. Excitement Phase – it is also known as the “arousal phase” or “initial excitement phase”.
It is the first stage of the human response cycle. It occurs as the result of any erotic
physical or mental stimulation, such as kissing, petting or viewing erotic images that lead
to sexual arousal. It is characterized by an erection in males and a swelling of the clitoris
and vaginal lubrication in females.
2. Plateau Phase – it is the period of sexual excitement prior to organism. The plateau
phase is the second phase of the sexual cycle, after the excitement phase with the
following manifestation such as: further increases in circulation and heart rate occur in
both sexes, sexual pleasure increases with increases stimulation, muscle tension
increases further, fort those who never achieve orgasm; this is the peak to sexual
excitement. Both men and women may also begin to vocalize involuntarily at this stage.
Prolonged time in the plateau phase without progression to the orgasmic phase may
result in frustration if continued for too long.
3. Orgasmic Phase – orgasm is the conclusion of the plateau phase of the sexual response
cycle, and is experienced by both males and females. It is accompanied by quick cycles
of muscle contraction in the lower pelvic muscles, which surrounded both the anus and
the primary sexual organs; women also experience uterine and vaginal contractions;
orgasms are often associated with other involuntary actions, including vocalizations and
muscular spasms with other areas of the body and a generally euphoric sensation; in
men, orgasm is usually associated with ejaculation. Each ejection is associated with a
wave of sexual pleasure, especially in the penis and loins; the first and second
convulsions are usually the most intense in sensation and produce the greatest quantity
of semen. Thereafter, each contraction is associated with a diminishing volume of
semen and a milder wave of pleasure. Orgasms in females may also play a significant
role in fertilization. The muscular spasms are theorized to aid in the locomotion of
sperm up the vaginal walls into the uterus.

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 4. Resolution Phase (Refractory Period) – the resolution phase occurs after orgasm and
allows the muscles to relax, blood pressure to drop and the body to slow down from its
excited state. Men and women may or may not experience a refractory period and
further stimulation may cause a return to the plateau stage.
This allows the possibility of multiple orgasms in both sexes. However, typically
men enter this refractory period and some may find continued stimulation to be painful
after the orgasmic phase. Women may not have a similar refractory period and may be
able to repeat the cycle almost immediately (Uriarte, 2009).

Types of Sexual Dysfunction

1. Dysfunctions of Sexual Desire (occurs during the excitement phase);

a. Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder – it is marked by lack or no sexual drive or
interest in sexual activity. It is characterized by a persistent, upsetting loss of sexual
desire.
b. Sexual Aversion Disorder – it is characterized by a desire to avoid genital contact
with a sexual partner. It refers to persistent feelings of fear, anxiety or disgust about
engaging in sex.

2. Dysfunctions of Sexual Arousal (occurs during the arousal/plateau phase);

a. Male Erectile Disorder – it refers to the inability to maintain or achieve an erection
(previously called as “impotence”).
b. Female Sexual Arousal Disorder – it refers to none responsiveness to erotic
stimulation both physically and emotionally (previously called as “frigidity”).

3. Dysfunctions of Orgasm (occurs during the orgasmic phase):

a. Premature Ejaculation – it is the unsatisfactory brief period between the beginning
or sexual stimulation and the occurrence of ejaculation.
b. Male Orgasmic Disorder – it refers to the inability to ejaculate during sexual
intercourse.
c. Female Orgasmic Disorder – it refers to the difficulty in achieving orgasm, either
manually or during sexual intercourse.

4. Sexual Pain Disorders

a. Vaginismus - it is the involuntary muscle spasm at the entrance to the vagina that
prevents penetration and sexual intercourse.
b. Dyspareunia – it refers to painful coitus that may have either an organic or
psychological basis.
5. Hyper Sexuality
a. Nymphomania (or furor uterinus) – a female psychological disorder characterized by
an overactive libido and an obsession with sex (etymology of the word is “nymph”).
b. Satyriasis – in males the disorder is called satyriasis and the etymology is “satyr” (at
Health, Inc., 1996-2013).

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Category II. PARAPHILIA

Paraphilia (in Greek “para” means over and “philia means friendship) is a rare mental
health disorder term recently used to indicate sexual arousal in response to sexual objects or
situations that are not part of societal normative arousal/activity patterns or which may
interfere with the capacity for reciprocal affectionate sexual activity.
The disorder is characterized by a 6 month period of recurrent, intense, sexually
arousing fantasies or sexual urges involving a specific act, depending on the paraphilia.

Common forms Paraphilia are:

a. Exhibitionism – this is also known as flashing, is behavior by a person that involves the
exposure of private parts of his/her body to another person in a situation when they would
not normally be exposed.
When the term is used to refer to the psychological compulsion for such exposure, it
may be called “apodysophilia” or “a Lady Godiva syndrome”.

Types of Exposure
Various types of behavior classified as exhibitionism includes:
1. Flashing – it is the display of bare breasts and/or buttocks by a woman with an up-
and-down lifting of the shirt and/or bra or a person exposing and/or stroking his or
her genitals.
2. Mooning - refers to the display of the bare buttocks while bending down by the
pulling-down of trousers and underwear. This act is note often done for the sake of
humor and/or mockery than for sexual excitement.
3. Anasyrma – lifting up of the skirt when not wearing underwear, to expose genitals.
4. Martymachlia – is a paraphilia which involves sexual attraction to having others
watch the execution of a sexual act.

b. Fetishism – people with a fetish experience sexual urges and behavior which are associated
with non-living objects. For example, the object of the fetish could be an article of female
clothing, like female underwear. Usually the fetish begins in adolescence and tends to be
quite chronic into adult life. Sexual fetishism, first described as such by Sigmund Freud.

Types of Fetishism

1. Sexual Transvestic Fetishism (Transvestism) – like most paraphilia, “transveric fetishism”

begins in adolescence, usually around the onset of puberty. Most practitioners are male
who are aroused by wearing, fondling or seeing female clothing. Lingerie (bras, panties,
girdles, corsets and slips), stockings, shoes or boots may all be the fetishistic object.
2. Foot Fetishism – it is a pronounced fetishistic sexual interest in human feet. It is also one of
the most common fetishistic interests among humans. A foot fetishist can be sexually
aroused by viewing, handling, licking, tickling, sniffing or kissing the feet and toes of
another person or by having another person doing the same to his/her own feet.

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3. Tickling Fetishism – a sexual related to gaining a specific sexual thrill from either tickling a
sex partner or being subjected to tickling themselves, usually to the point of helpless
laughter. Often this involves some form of restraint to prevent escape and/or accidentally
hurting the tickler.
4. Wet and Messy Fetish (WAM) – A form of sexual fetishism that has a person getting
aroused by substances applied on the body like mud, shaving foam, custard pudding,
chocolate sauce, etc. It could also involve wet clothes or any combination of the above.

Four (4) Major Categories of WAM

a. Messy – the applying of largely opaque substances not usually used in this fashion. This
includes food, shaving cream and mud. A major, subdivision of food play involves
striking people with cream pies much like in silent comedy films. This category also
includes wrestling in mud, oil or gelatin.
b. Wet – the major varieties are of images of people in completely soaked clothing, usually
involving full clothing ensembles.
c. Quicksand – images of people sinking in quicksand. In drawn images, the stage where
female characters sink up to their chests and their breast are up in response is a
favorite.
d. Underwater – also called “aquaphilia”. It involves images of people swimming or posing
underwater. Some subsets of this category are underwater fashion (models posing
underwater, often while fully clothed), scuba, rubber (people in skin-tight runner
wetsuits), simulated drowning and underwater sex.
e. Pygmalionism – it is sexual deviation whereby a person has sexual desire for statues.
f. Incendiarism – it is sexual deviation whereby a person derives sexual pleasure from
setting fire.
g. Frotteurism (Frottage) – Frotteurism is the act of obtaining sexual arousal and
gratification by rubbing one’s genitals against others in public places or crowds or sexual
urges are related to the touching or rubbing of their body against a non-consenting,
unfair woman.
h. Pedophilia – pedophilia is used to refer to child sexual abuse which comes from the
Greek word “paidophilia”, “pais” means “child” and “philia” means ‘friendship”. It is
called “pedophilic behavior”.
i. Masochism – sexual masochism involves acts in which a person derives sexual
excitement from being humiliated, beaten, bound or otherwise abused.
j. Sadism – sadism is the act attaining sexual pleasure or gratification by the infliction of
pain and suffering upon another person. The word is derived from the same of the
“Marquis de Sade”, a prolific French writer of sadistic novels.
k. Voyeurism (peeping tom) – voyeurism came from the French voyeur meaning, “One
who looks”. This is the act of reaching sexual pleasure or gratification by watching or
observing the subject from a distance or by stealth to observe the subject with the use
of peep-holes, two-way mirrors, hidden cameras, secret photography and other devices
and strategies.
l. Scatologia – it is also called “Coprolalia”, deviant sexual practice in which sexual
pleasure is obtained through the compulsive use of obscene language. The affected

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 person commonly satisfies his desires through obscene telephone calls (telephone
scatologia), usually to strangers, related terms are “copropraxia”, performing obsence
or forbidden gestures and “coprographia” making obscene writing or drawings.
m. Necrophilia – is also called “thanatophilia” and “necrolagnia” is the sexual attraction to
corpses. The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek “nekros” meas corpse or
dead and “philia” means friendship.
n. Coprophilia – coprophilia from Greek “kopros” means escrement and “filia” means
liking, fondness, also called “scatophilia or scat”, is the paraphilia involving sexual
pleasure from feces.
o. Zoophilia - is the practice sex between humans and animals, also known as
“bestiality/bestosexual”. It came from the Greek “zoion” means animal and “philia
means friendship or love, also known as “zoosexuality’. A person who practices
zoophilia is known as a “zoophile”.
p. Urophilia (Urolagnia) – a paraphilia of the fetishistic/talismanic type in which
sexuoerotic arousal and facilitation or attainment of orgasmis responsive to and being
urinated upon and/or swallowing urine in Greek “ouron”, means urine.
q. Gerontophilia (sexual preference for the elderly) – Gerontophilai describes a specific
sexual inclination towards the elderly and may at times explain the sadistic attacks made
upon them.
r. Mysophilia – mysophilia is obtaining sexual arousal and gratification by filth or filthy
surrounding. Put simply, this is getting horny from smelling, chewing or rubbing against
dirty underwear in Greek “mysos” means uncleanness.
s. Hypoxyphilia – is the desire to achieve an altered state of consciousness as an
enhancement to the experience of orgasm.
In this disorder, the individual may use a drug such as nitrous oxide to produce
“hypoxia” or a “high” due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. Autoerotic asphyxiation is
also associated with hypoxic states, but it is classified as a form of sexual masochism.

Category III: GENDER IDENTITY DISORDER (Transsexualism)

Gender identity disorder exists when a person experiences confusion, vagueness or

conflict in his/her feelings about his/her own sexual identity. It is condition in which the
individual feels trapped in a body of the wrong sex. A person who is anatomically male feels
that he is actually a woman who somehow was given the wrong body is an example of this
(Lahey, 2001).

Category of Sexual Abnormalities

A. Sexual Abnormalities as to the Choice of Sexual Partner:

1. Heterosexual – this refers to a sexual desire towards the opposite sex. This is a normal
sexual behavior, socially and medically acceptable.

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2. Homosexual – this refers to a relationship or having a sexual desire towards members of
his/her own gender. The term homosexual can be applied to either a man or woman but
female homosexual are usually called “lesbians”.

Kinds of Homosexual

a. Overt – persons who are conscious of their homosexual cravings, and who make no
attempts to disguise their intention. They make advances towards members of their
own gender.
b. Latent – persons who may or may not be aware of the tendency in that direction
but are inclined to repress the urge to give way to their homosexual yearning.

3. Infantosexual – this refers to a sexual desire towards an immature person such as

“pedophilia”.
4. Bestosexual – this refers to a sexual gratification towards animals. This is similar to
“bestiality and zoophilia”
5. Autosexual (self-gratification or masturbation”) – it is a form of “self-abuse” or “solitary
vice “ carried without the cooperation of another person or the induction of a state of
erection of the genital organs and the achievement of orgasm by manual or mechanical
stimulation.

Types Masturbation

a. Conscious Type – the person deliberately resorts to some mechanical means of

producing sexual excitement with or without orgasm.

Ways of Masturbation:
1. In Male
 By manual manipulation to the point of emission.
 Ejaculation produced by rubbing his sex organ against some part of the female body
without the use of the hand.

2. In Female
 Manual manipulation of clitoris.
 Introduction of penis-substitute.

b. Unconscious Type – the release of sexual tension may come about via the mechanism of
nocturnal stimulation with or without emission, which may also be as “masturbation
equivalent”.
6. Gerontophilia - this refers to sexual desire with elder person.
7. Necrophilia – this refers to a sexual perversion characteristics by erotic desire or actual
sexual intercourse with a corpse.
8. Incest – this refers to sexual relations between persons who, by reason of blood
relationship cannot legally marry.

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B. Sexual Abnormalities as to instinctual Strength of Sexual Urges:

1. Over Sex
a. Satyriasis – this refers to an excessive sexual desire of men to intercourse.
b. Nymphomania – this refers to the strong sexual feeling of women. They are
commonly called “hot” or “fighter”.

2. Under Sex
a. Sexual Anesthesia – this refers to the absence of sexual desire or arousal during
sexual act in woman.
b. Dyspareunia – refers to the painful sexual act in women.
c. Vaginismus – it refers to the painful spasm of the vagina during sexual act.

C. Sexual Abnormalities as to Mode of Sexual Expression or Way of Sexual Satisfaction:

1. Oralism – this refers to the use of the mouth as a way of sexual gratification. This
includes any of the following:
a. Fellatio (irrumation) – the female agent receives the penis of a man into her mouth
and by friction with the lips and tongue coupled with the act sucking the sexual
organ.
b. Cunnilingus – the sexual gratification is attained by licking or sucking the external
female genitalia.
c. Anilism (anilingus) – it is a form of sexual perversion wherein a person derives
excitement by licking the anus of another person of either sex.

2. Sado-Masochism (algolagnia) - this refers to a painful or cruel act as a factor for

gratification. The example of this is “flagellation”, it is a sexual deviation associated
specifically with the act of whipping or being whipped.
a. Sadism (active algolagnia) – this refers to a form of sexual perversion in which the
infliction of pain on another is necessary or sometimes the sole factor in sexual
enjoyment.
b. Masochism (passive algolagnia) – this refers to the attainment of pain and
humiliation from the opposite sex as the primary factor for sexual gratification.

3. Fetishism – it is form of sexual perversion wherein the real or fantasized presence of an

object or bodily part is necessary for sexual stimulation and/or gratification.

D. Sexual Abnormalities as to the Part of the Body:

1. Sodomy – this refers to as sexual act through anus of another human being.
2. Uranism – this refers to the attainment of sexual gratification by fingering, fondling with
the breast, licking parts of the body, etc.

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 3. Frottage (frotteurism) – it is a form of sexual gratification characterized by the
compulsive desire of a person to rub his sex organ against some parts of the body of
another.
4. Partialism – it is a form of sexual deviation wherein a person has special affinity to
certain parts of the female body. Sexual libido may develop to the breast, buttock, foot,
legs, etc. of women,

E. Sexual Abnormalities as to Visual Stimulus:

1. Voyeurism – it is a form of sexual perversion characterized by a compulsion to peep to

see persons undress or perform other personal activities. The offender is sometimes
called “peeping tom”. Usually, after peeping, the person masturbates in excess.
2. Mixoscopia (scoptophilia) – it refers to a perversion wherein sexual pleasure is attained
by watching couple undress or during their sex intimacies.

F. Sexual Abnormalities as to Number of Sex Partners:

1. Triolism – from French word “trios” which means “three”, it is a form of sexual
perversion in which three persons are participating in the sexual orgies. The
combination may consist of two and a woman or two women and a man.
Troilist (a person) becomes aroused and gratified by the “sharing”.

2. Pluralism – it is form of sexual deviation in which a group of person participates in the

sexual orgies. Two or more couples may perform sexual act in a room and they may
even agree to exchange partners for “variety sake” during “sexual festival”.

G. Sexual Abnormalities as to Sexual Reversal:

1. Transvertism – (sexo-esthetic inversion, psychical hermaphroditism or metamorphosis

sexualis paranoiac) – it is a form of deviation wherein a male individual derives pleasure
from wearing the female apparel. This condition is found sometimes in females who
desire to dress themselves in male attire. A female transvestite may imagine that she
possesses a penis.
2. Transexualism – the dominant desire in some person to identify themselves with the
opposite sex as completely as possible to discard forever their anatomical sex refers to
transexualism.
3. Intersexuality – it is a genetic defect wherein an individual show intermingling, in
varying degrees of the characteristics of both sexes including physical form,.
Reproductive organs and sexual behavior.

Classification of Intersexuality:

a. Gonadal Agenesis – the sex organ (testes or ovaries) have never developed.

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 b. Gonadal Dysgenesis – the externals sexual structures are present but at puberty the
testes or the ovaries fail to develop.
c. True Hermaphroditism – a state of bisexuality, having both ovaries and testicles. The
nuclear sex is usually female. The character may be neutral or whichever is dominant.
d. Pseudohermaphrodite – the sex organ is anatomically of one sex but the sex character is
that of the opposite sex.

SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

Somatoform Disorder is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms that

mimic physical disease or injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause. The symptoms
that result from a somatoform disorder are due to mental factors. In people who have
somatoform disorder, medical test results are either normal or don’t explain the person’s
symptoms. People who have this disorder may undergo several medical evaluations and tests
to be sure that they do not have an illness related to a physical cause or central lesion. Patients
with this disorder often become very worried about their health because the doctors are
unable to find a cause for their health problems.

Six (6) Major Types of Somatoform Disorder

1. Conversion Disorder (Hysteria) – this is a condition where a patient displays neurological

symptoms such as numbness, paralysis or fits, even though no neurological explanation
is found and it is determined that the symptoms are due to the patient’s psychological
response to stress.

Symptoms are grouped as follows:

a. Sensory Symptoms – these include anesthesia, excessive sensitivity to strong stimulation
(hyper anesthesia), loss of sense of pain (analgesia) and unusual symptoms such as
tingling or crawling sensations.
b. Motor Symptoms – in motor symptoms, any of the body’s muscle groups may be
involved: arms, legs, vocal chords, included are tremors, tics (involuntary twitches), and
disorganized mobility or paralysis.
c. Visceral Symptoms – examples, includes trouble swallowing, frequent belching, and
spells of coughing or vomiting all carried to an uncommon extreme. In both sensory and
motor symptoms, the areas affected may not correspond at all to the nerve distribution
in the area.

2. Hypochondriasis – it is a somatoform disorder in which persons are preoccupied with

their health and are convinced that they have some serious disorder despite
reassurance from doctors to the contrary.
3. Somatization Disorder – also “Briquet’s Disorder” or in antiquity, “hysteria” is a
psychiatric diagnosis applied to patients who chronically and persistently complain of
varied physical symptoms that have no identifiable physical origin.

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 4. Pain Disorder – it is when a patient experiences chronic pain in one or more areas, and is
thought to be caused by psychological stress. The pain is often so severe that it disables
the patient from proper functioning. It can last as short as a few days, to as long as many
years.
5. Body Dysmorophic Disorder (BDD) – it is previously known as “Dysmorphophobia” and
sometimes referred to as “body dysmorphia” or “dysmorphic syndrome”. It is a
(psychological) somatoform disorder in which the affected person if excessively
concerned about and preoccupied by a perceived defect in his or her physical features
(body image).
6. Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder – only one unexplained symptoms is required for
at least 6 months. Included among these disorders are false pregnancy, psychogenic
urinary retention and mass psychogenic illness (so-called “mass hysteria”) (Sppor, 1999).

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

Dissociative disorders are disorders in which, under stress, one loses the integration of
consciousness, identity and memories of important personal events. These include four
recognized varieties:
1. Psychogenic Amnesia – it is also known as “dissociative amnesia” is the temporary or
permanent loss of a part or all of the memory. When this is due to extreme
psychosocial stress, it is labeled psychogenic amnesia. This stress is most often
associated with catastrophic events.

Four Sub-Categories of Psychogenic Amnesia

a. Localized Amnesia – this is most often an outcome of a particular event. The disease
renders the afflicted unable to recall the details of a usually traumatic event, such as
a violent incestuous rape. This is undoubtedly the most common type of amnesia.
b. Selective Amnesia – as its name implies, this is similar to localized amnesia except
that the memory retained is very selective. Often a person can remember certain
general occurrences of the traumatic situation, but not the specific parts which
make it so.
c. Generalized and Continuous Amnesia – these less common forms of amnesia exists
when a person either forgets the details of his/her entire lifetime or as in the case of
continuous amnesia, he/she can’t recall the details prior to a certain point in time,
including the present.

2. Psychogenic Fugue – it is also known as “Dissociative Fugue”. Psychogenic fugue is

simply the addition to generalized amnesia of a flight from family, problem or location.
In highly uncommon cases, the person may create an entirely new life (fugue means
“flight”)
3. Multiple Personality Disorder – it is also known as “Dissociative Identity Disorder”. It is
defined as the occurrence of two or more personalities within the same individual, each
of which during sometime in the person’s life is able to take control. This is not often a
mentally healthy thing when the personalities vie for control.

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 4. Depersonalization Disorder – this is the continued presence of feelings that the person
is not himself/herself or that he/she can’t control his/her own actions. This is labeled as
disorder when it is recurrent and impairs social and occupational function (Santrock,
2000 and King, 2008)

PART II

VICTIMOLOGY

Victimology is the social scientific study of criminal victimization. As a sub-field of

criminology (the social scientific study of crime), it seeks to explain crime, but through more of
a focus on the victims of crime. This course will cover three general inter-related areas. One is
research and theory on victimization. Here, you will learn about rates of victimization and how
they differ according to social categories (race, ethnicity, age, class, gender, etc.) theories that
explain differential victimization (of individuals and social categories), and empirical tests of
these theories. The second are is the consequences of victimization. Here, you will learn mostly
about the impact of criminal victimization upon individual’s mental and physical health, but also
the macro-social costs of victimization (including economic). The third area is practical
responses to victimization. Here, you will learn about the history and development of the
“victims’ rights movement”, as well as social policy and services aimed at restoring victims.
To do well in this course, you will not only need to absorb information, but you must apply won
creative, critical thinking as well. (Danilo L. Tancangco)

Victimology – is the study of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. Likewise
it is the “scientific study of physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer because of
illegal activities. It is the study of the victim, including the offender and society. Furthermore, it
is a social-structural way of viewing crime and the law and the criminal.

Victimology is the study of victimization. Including the relationships between victims

and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system – that is, the
police and courts and corrections officials and the connections between victims and others
social groups and institutions, such as the media, businesses and social movements.
Victimology is, however, not restricted to the study of victims of crime alone but may include
others forms of human rights violation. One that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a
force or agent (the schools are victims of the social system): as a (1): one that is injured,
destroyed or sacrificed under any of various conditions (a victim or cancer), (a victim of the
auto crash), (a murder victim) (2): one that is subjected to oppression, hardship or
mistreatment (a frequent victim of political attack).
To understand this concept, first, we must understand what the terms victim and
perpetrator mean. The victim is a person who has been harmed by a perpetrator. A victim is a
person who suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional or financial harm as a result of an
act by someone else, which is a crime. A victim of misplaced confidence; a victim of swindler;
and a victim of an optical illusion; a person or animal sacrificed or regarded as sacrificed: war

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victims living creature sacrificed in religious rites. A living being sacrificed to a deity or in the
performance of a religious rite.
A victim is a person who has been hurt or taken advantage of, which most of us try to
avoid. Some people hit others over the head with this word. Some seem to like being
victimized; some almost complete over who is the biggest victim, a person who suffers from a
destructive or injurious action or agency a victim of an automobile accident who experiences
loss, injury or hardship for any reason.

Perpetrator – also known as the offender is an individual who has committed the crime against
the victim. Additionally, he is an aggressor, assailant, criminal, evil doer, felon, lawbreaker,
malefactor, malfeasant, one implicated in the commission of a crime, one who breaks the law,
one who commits a crime, pecan’s, sinner, transgressor, violator, wrongdoer. Law enforcement
agencies use the study of victimology and the theories of victimology to determine why the
victim was targeted by the offender.

Subsequently, some general facts have been gathered about victimization.

 Victimization is more likely at night (6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.). Personal larceny is more
common during the day, with more serious crime occurring at night.
 Crime occurs more in open public areas, although rapes and simple assaults tend to
occur in homes.
 Crime is most frequent in central city areas.
 Western urban areas have the highest crime rates, while the Northeast rural areas
have the lowest.
 The National Crime Survey indicates that 25% of U.S. households have at least one
individual who was victimized in some way during the past year.
 Personal theft is very common. About 99% of Americans will be the victim of
personal theft at some time in their lives and 87% will be a theft victim three or
more times.
 Men are twice as likely as women to be victims of robbery and assault. The violent
victimization rate for females has been fairly stable, but there has been a 20%
increase for males in the last 15 years.
 Victim risk diminishes rapidly after age 25. Contrary to popular belief, grandparents
are safer than their grandchildren.
 Unmarried/never married people are more likely to be victims than the married or
widowed.
 The poor are more likely to be victims of crime. They are far more likely to be victims
of violent crime, while the middle class are more likely to be victims of property
crime.
 African Americans are victimized at the highest rates. Crime tends to be intra-racial
(criminals and victims of the same race) rather than interracial (criminal and victim
of different races). About 75% of crime is intra-racial.
 Strangers commit about 60% of violent crimes. However, females Are more likely to
know their assailants.

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  In some studies, over half of offender’s report being under the influence of alcohol
and/or other drugs when they committed the offense resulting in incarceration.
 The characteristics of those mostly likely to be victimized might be summarized as:
Young, Black, Urban, Poor and Male.

Theory of Victimization

Is this it presents the different theories of victimization. Victimization is the outcome of

deliberate action taken by a person or institution to exploit, oppress or harm another or to
destroy or illegally obtain another’s property or possessions. The Latin word victima means
“sacrificial animal”, but the term victim has evolved to include a variety of targets, including
oneself, another individual, a household, a business, the state or the environment. The act
committed by the offender is usually a violation of a criminal or civil statute but does not
necessarily have to violate a law; Harm can include psychological/emotional damage, physical
or sexual injury or economic loss.
Victimology is the scientific study of victims. Victimologists focus on a range of victim-
related issues, including estimating the extent of different types of victimization, explaining why
victimization occurs to whom or what, the effects and consequences of victimization and
examining victims’ rights within the legal system. Different domains of victimization are also of
interest. Victimology is characterized as an interdisciplinary field – academics, practitioners and
advocates worldwide form the fields of criminology, psychology, social work, sociology, nursing
and medicine focus on victim’s plight.
The “victimization” in this report has two meaning, “an act that exploits of victimizes
someone” and “adversity resulting from being made a victim”. Despite these two descriptions
of the same word, both illustrate the problem of victimization, especially in number as high as
the U.S experiences each year. As a method of counterfeiting the problem of crime and of
dealing with the numerous victims left in their wake, criminologist turn to the study of victims
and their relationship to the criminal act. While caring and understanding the pain and anguish
of the victim and their circle of social influence is of essential, as is providing treatment and
counseling: criminologists now view the role of the victim in the criminal process as imperative
to understanding the crime itself. Studying and researching victimology helps in gaining a better
understanding of the victim as well as the criminal and how the crime may have been
precipitated.

1. The Victim Precipitation Theory

The victim precipitation theory, views victimology from the standpoint that the victims
themselves may actually initiate, either passively or actively, the criminal act that ultimately
leads to injury or death. During passive precipitation, the victim unconsciously exhibits
behaviors or characteristics that instigate or encourage the attack. Siegel (2006) list job
promotions, jobs status, successes, love interest and the like as examples of these unconscious
behaviors and characteristics. Additionally, political activists, minority groups, those of different
sexual orientations and other individuals pursuing alternate lifestyles may also find themselves
as targets of violence due to the inadvertent threat they pose to certain individuals of power.

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 The victim precipitation theory focuses on the idea that passive precipitation of violence
is a result of a power struggle. A politician may feel threatened by an activist group leader
because his action draws attention to negative aspects of his personality and actions that will or
may cause, a loss of power in society. This sort of passive precipitation may also be present
when the victim is not even aware of the existence of the attacker.
In this instance a new employee may push up the corporate ranks quickly, threatening
long-time employees; or a transsexual may be the victim of crime due to their existence
“threatening” the beliefs and/or ideas of another individual or group of individuals. The latter is
a good example of a hate crime, in which victims are often unaware of the individuals that
perpetrate the crime, yet their actions and/or characteristics trigger the crime.
Active precipitation – is the opposite of the afore described. Victimization under this
theory occurs through the threatening or provocative actions of the victim. One of the most
controversial points of this theory is the idea that women who are raped actively contributed in
some way, either through provocative dress, a relationship or suggested consent of intimacy
(Siegel, 2006). Because of this viewpoint, it is hard to convict an accused rapist who has had
some form of relationship with the accused or one that was behaving provocatively or
suggestively. When dealing with this theory we must ourselves whether or not it is really okay
to blame the occurrence of a crime on the victim. This is especially true in cases of rape when
flirtation may be present, yet there is no consent to sexual intercourse.

Example of Victim Precipitation

a. Active Precipitation
 A woman kills her husband due to a prolonged history of regular domestic violence.
 In the midst of a heated argument, the victim physically lashes out at the offender,
causing him to shove or hit the victim so hard that he/she falls and gravely injures
himself/herself.
 Constant derogation and humiliation of an employee, in public, by the employer,
causes the employees to lash out and physically harm the employer.
 A drunken man engages in eve-teasing a woman, keeps chasing her and eventually
tries to get physical with her. In desperation, the woman reaches for any sharp
object she can find and stabs the man.

b. Passive Precipitation
 The horrifying practice of lynching (hate crime) that was carried out by Americans
against people of African origins, due to racism.
 One employee is passed over for a promotion that is offered to his/her colleague
(victim). This motivates him to physically harm or spread rumors about the victim.
 Two men competing for the love of the same woman may indulge in antagonistic
acts towards each other.
 The act of terrorism against a select community of people.

2. The Lifestyle Theory

The next theory is the lifestyle theory. This theory purports that individuals are targeted

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based on their lifestyle choices and that these lifestyle choices expose them to criminal
offenders and situations in which crimes may be committed.
Examples of some lifestyle choices indicated by this theory include going out at night
alone, living in “bad” parts of town, associating with known felons, being promiscuous,
excessive alcohol use and doing drugs.
In addition to theorizing that victimization is not random, but rather a part of the
lifestyle the victims pursue, the lifestyle theory cites research that victims “share personality
traits also commonly found in law violators, namely impulsivity and low self-control” (Siegel,
2006). This statement was discussed in a psychology journal by Jared Dempsey, Gary Fireman
and Eugen Wang, in which they note the correlation between victims and the perpetrators of
crime, both exhibiting impulsive and antisocial like behaviors. These behaviors may contribute
to their victimization since they cause the individual to put themselves at higher risk for
victimization than their more conservative lifestyle counterparts.
Lifestyle theory in criminal justice focuses on crime victims rather than perpetrators. For
perpetrators, there is the closely related “routine activities” theory, which stresses the lack of
people and social structures that deter criminal activities. The main issue is that crime victims
often become victims because of their own choices as to where to live, how to socialize and
other lifestyle-related variables. Such as:
a. Features
b. Function
c. Benefits
d. Effects
e. Considerations

3. Deviant Places Theory

The deviant place theory states that greater exposures to dangerous places makes an
individual more likely to become the victim of a crime (Sigel, 2006). Unlike the victim
precipitation theory, the victims do not influence the crime by actively or passively encouraging
it, but rather are victimized as a result of being in “bad” areas. In order to lower the chance that
one will become the victim of a crime, the individual should avoid the “bad” areas of town
where crime rates are high.
For example, Tondo, Divisoria or Quiapo in Metro Manila are notorious for its gangs and
high crime rate. The more an individual venture into these areas, the more likely they are to
become the victim of a crime there. Sociologist William Julius Wilson discusses the social and
economic inequality that finds more minorities in the victim seat, since minorities are more
commonly from low income households that are unable to move away from crime-ridden areas
than their Caucasian peers are. Moreover, the deviant place theory suggests that taking safety
precautions in these areas may be of little use since it is the neighborhood and not the lifestyle
choices that affect victimization (Seigel, 2006). In a nutshell, if a neighborhood is “deviant”, the
only way to lower your risk of victimization is to leave the neighborhood for a less deviant, low
crime rate area.
Deviance – is any behavior that violates social norms and is usually of sufficient severity
to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or non-criminal.
The sociological discipline that deals with crime is criminology. Today, Americans consider such

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activities as alcoholism, excessive gambling, being nude in public places, playing with fire,
stealing, lying, refusing to bathe, purchasing the services of prostitutes and cross-dressing to
name only a few as deviant. People who engage in deviant behavior are referred to as
“deviants”.
The study of social deviance is the study of the violation of cultural norms in either
formal or informal contexts. Social deviance is a phenomenon that has existed in all societies
with norms. Sociological theories of deviance are those that use social context and social
pressures to explain deviance.
A number of theories related to deviance. Four of the most well-known theories follow:
a. Differential-Association Theory
b. Anomie Theory
c. Control Theory
d. Labelling Theory

References

1. Jesster P. Eduardo and Carlito R. Panganoron, Human Behavior and Crisis Management
2. Danilo L. Tancangco, Victimology

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