Abn Psych Key Terms 1 Flashcards
abnormal psychology
the scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
norms
a society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.
culture
a people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.
dysfunction
interferes with daily functioning, upsets, distracts, or confuses people
Danger
behavior that is consistently careless, hostile, or confused may be placing themselves or those around them at risk. Danger is often cited as a feature of abnormal psychological functioning, research suggests that is actually the exception rather than the rule.
treatment
a systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior. Also called therapy.
trephination
an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut a way a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.
humors
according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning.
asylum
a type of institution that first became popular in the 16th century to provide care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons where patients were held in filthy conditions and treated with unspeakable cruelty. Bethlehem Hospital “Bedlam”, sole purpose was to confine the mentally ill. Patients were bound in chains and cried out. It was a popular tourist attractions where people paid to took at the howling and gibbering inmates. “Bedlam” came to mean chaotic uproar.
moral treatment
19th century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.
state hospital
state-run public mental institution in the US
somatogenic perspective
the view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes
psychogenic perspective
the view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological
psychotropic meds
drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction
deinstitutionalization
the practice, begun in 1960’s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals
private psychotherapy
an arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services
prevention
interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before the develop
positive psychology
the study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities
multicultural psychology
the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts, including abnormal behaviors and thoughts
managed care program
a system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely control the nature, cope, and cost of medical or psychological services.
case study
a detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems
diagnosis
a determination that a person’s psychological problems comprise a particular disorder. Chosen from DSM.
Syndrome
a cluster of symptoms is called a syndrome and follows a particular course
classification system
a list of categories, or disorders, with descriptions of the symptoms and guidelines for assigning individuals to the categories
Emil Kraepelin
developed the first modern classification system for abnormal behavior. His categories formed the foundations for the DSM.
DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
approx. 400 disorders
most widely used classification system in US, Most other countries use the International Classification of Diseases developed by the World Health Organization. The DSM changed over time. Now, DSM-5 Contains numerous additions and changes to the diagnostic categories, criteria, and organization found in past editions of the DSM
Categorical information
refers to the name of the category (disorder) indicated by the client’s symptoms.
Dimensional information
is a rating of how severe a client’s symptoms are and how dysfunctional the client is across various dimensions of personality.
reliability
means that different clinicians are likely to agree on the diagnosis when the use the system to diagnose the same client.
predictive validity
categories are most used when the demonstrate predictive validity. When they help predict future symptoms or events.
validity
accuracy of the information that is diagnostic categories provide.
clinical picture
after collecting assessment information, clinicians form a clinical picture and decide upon a diagnosis.
Can Diagnosis and Labeling Cause harm?
Even with trustworthy assessment data and reliable and valid classification categories clinicians will sometimes arrive at a wrong conclusion. Studies show, for example, that they are overly influenced by information gathered early in the assessment process, sometimes pay too much attention to certain sources of information and too little others. Their judgements can be distorted by personal biases–gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, etc. Limitations of assessment tools, assessors, and classification systems. Many theorists believe that diagnostic labels can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Our society attaches a stigma to abnormality. People labeled mentally ill may find it difficult to get a job, especially a position of responsibility, or to be welcomed into social relationships. Some clinicians would like to do away with diagnoses. Others believe we must work to increase what is known about psychological disorders and improve diagnostic techniques and hold that classification and diagnosis are critical to understanding and treating people in distress.
Thomas Szasz
places emphasis on society’s role that he finds the whole concept om mental illness to be invalid, a myth or sorts. According to Szasz, the deviations that society calls abnormal are simply “problems in living”.
eccentricity
unusual pattern with which others have no right to interfere.
abnormal functioning
generally considered to be deviant, distressful, dysfunctional, and dangerous. Behavior must also be considered in the contest which it occurs, however; and the concept of abnormality depends on the norms and values of the society in question.
Jerome Frank
states that all forms of therapy have three essential features. A sufferer who seeks relief from the healer. A trained, socially accepted healer, whose expertise is accepted by the sufferer and his or her social group. A series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer, through which the healer tries to produce certain changed in the sufferer’s emotional state, attitudes, and behavior.
Carol Rogers
pioneer in the modern clinical field. Noted that “therapists are not in agreement as to their goals or aims…they are not in agreement as to what constitutes a successful outcome of their work. They cannot agrees as to what constitutes a failure. It seems as though the field is completely chaotic and divided.”
clinical view of abnormality
some clinicians view abnormality as an illness and so consider therapy a procedure that helps cure the illness and call people “patients”. Others see abnormality as a problem in living and therapists as teachers of more functional behavior and thought, and call people “clients”.
Hippocrates
often called the father of modern medicine, taught that illnesses had natural causes. He saw abnormal behavior as a disease arising from internal physical problems. He believed that some form of brain pathology was the culprit and that it resulted–like all other forms of disease, in his view–from an imbalance of four fluids, or humors, that flowed through the body: yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm. He sought to correct the underlying physical pathology. His focus on internal causes for abnormal behavior was shared by the great Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle and by influential Greek and Roman physicians.
mass madness
large numbers of people apparently shared absurd false beliefs and imagined sights or sounds.
tarantism (aka Saint Vitus’ dance)
an example of mass madness. Groups of people would suddenly start to jump, dance, and go into convulsions. All were convinced that they had been bitten and possessed by by a wolf spider, now called a tarantula.
lycanthropy
example of mass madness where people thought they were possessed by wolves or other animals. They acted wolf-like and imagined that fur was growing all over their bodies.
Ancient views and treatments
probably regarded abnormal behavior as the work of evil spirits. Apparently believed that all events around and within them resulted form the actions of magical beings who controlled the world. They viewed the human body and mind as a battleground between external forces of good and evil Abnormal behavior was typically interpreted as a victory by evil spirits, and the cure for such behavior was to force the demons from a victim’s body.
exorcism
The idea was to coax the evil spirits to leave or to make the person’s body an uncomfortable place in which to live. A shaman, or priest, mights recite prayers, plead with the evil spirits, insult the spirits, perform magic, make loud noises, or have the person ingest bitter drinks. If these techniques failed, the shaman performed a more extreme form of exorcism, such as whipping or starving the person.
Johann Weyer, German physician
the first physician to specialize in mental illness, believed that the mind was susceptible to sickness as the body was. He is now considered the founder of the modern study of psychopathology.
Shrine of Gheel
Across Europe religious shrines were devoted to the humane and loving treatment of people with mental disorders. Perhaps the best known of these shrines was at Gheel in Belgium.
