1 Introduction and Conceptual Issues Flashcards
What is abnormal psychology?
The scientific study of psychological disorders/mental disorders/Abnormal behaviour
What entails the empirical method of studying abnormal psychology?
- Description (classification, diagnosis)
- Identify Causation of symptoms (biological, psychological, sociocultural)
- Maintenance
- Treatment (effectiveness, mechanisms)
What are the three D’s that abnormalities are defined in?
Deviance
Distress
Dysfunction
Dangerous
What is the historical definition of ‘Mental Disorders’?
Historically: Madness, insanity
Gross distortion of external reality (hallucinations, delusions) or disorganisation of speech, affect, behaviour (confusion, memory loss, etc)
What are mental disorders like today?
400+ different categories of ‘Mental disorders’
- Listed in DSM or the ICD
- Contain descriptions of symptom clusters: symptoms of abnormal behaviour that tend to cluster/appear together
e. g. schizophrenia, MDD, phobia etc treated by psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical psych, social workers etc
Explain the DSM-I and DSM-II in the evolution of classification of mental disorders
- Strongly influenced by psychoanalytic theory
- Problematic reliability (Inter-rater reliability)
- Problematic validity -> based on unproven theories about etiology: depression as a defence from unacceptable unconscious ambivalent feelings
Explain the DSM-III in the evolution of classification of mental disorders
A major development in classification -> through to 4 (200) follows the biomedical approach
Explain the DSM-5 in the evolution of classification of mental disorders
Reflects the medical/biological model and no theoretical assumptions about causation
If causation is not known:
- Description of symptoms (patient report, direct observation, measurement)
- No assumptions about unconscious processes
- Clear, explicit criteria and decision rules
Define Mental Disorder according to the DSM
A clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern
…associated with present distress or disability or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability or an important loss of freedom
…must not be merely an expectable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, for example, the death of a loved one
…whatever it’s the original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of behavioural, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual
What is the most serious flaw in psychiatric thinking?
Some critics argue we’re overestimating the rates of these disorders because some of the symptoms are not being considered as manifestations of internal dysfunctions —> overdiagnosis
List some critiques of DSM definition of mental disorders?
All symptoms, including those that are expectable reactions to environmental stressors and those that are forms of social deviance, are considered mental disorders
The failure to consider whether or not the symptoms of psychiatric disorders are actually harmful internal dysfunctions is the single most serious flaw in current psychiatric thinking
What is the main concern of clinicians/public health in regards to mental health? But why may this not reflect reality?
Large number of people with mental disorders receives no treatment.
But, more likely it is due to overestimation of mental disorder prevalence.
- Due to the classification of illnesses: increased % of diagnoses, or easy to meet criteria
Explain Deviance
Is the distress considered deviant
Explain Dysfunction
Does it interfere with how one carries their day-to-day functioning
Explain Distress
Does it cause distress to the individual
