Abnormal Flashcards
Abnormal Psych (Defined, 1-4)
- statistically infrequent (not all infrequent characteristics are ‘abnormal’ (e.g smart people)
- violate social norms (although social expectations change over time)
- cause distress (although normal in some situations)
- cause impairment (some are still highly functional)
abnormal behaviour occurs in clusters
- obsessions + compulsions
- hallucinations + delusions
Emile Kraepelin
first to classify types of mental disorders, seperated into different entities
DSM-5
Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders
- categorical
- based on criteria
- popular in Australia and USA
- 300 mental disorders as of 2013
Monozygotic
twins conceived from one cell (identical)
dizygotic
twins conceived from two cells
influence of environment on gene
GxE interaction
even the most highly heritable disorders are far from being entirely heritable
- identical twins share 100% genes, only 48% risk
- disorders are polygenetic
Diathesis Stress Model
individuals have genetic and biological vulnerabilities for developing disorder, which may be activated in the presence of certain life stressors
Caspi et al., 2005 (allele types predicting schiz)
groups of alleles:
- met/met
- met/val
- val/val
val/val highest likelihood of developing schizophrenia by 26
5HTT Serotonin-transporter Gene
difference in treatment in short/long alleles
- two short= highly severe maltreatment
- two long= least severe maltreatment
- one short/one long= moderate
Freud
id - basic drives
superego - moral standards
ego - manages id and superego
unresolved unconscious conflict cause stress on the ego and if defence mechanisms are overused then mental disorders are said to arise
defence mechanism: allows the ego to discharge id’s energy without allowing unconscious impulses into consciousness
projection: attributing one’s own unacceptable impulse to another person
reaction formation: converting unconscious impulses into their opposites
Behaviourist
changing client behaviour end up changing cognition, indirect
- tabula rasa
- maladaptive learned responses
- CS –> CR
- CS –> US –> UR
- CS –> CR
positive reinforcement: performing action produces reward, likely to repeat
negative reinforcement: performing action that removes aversive event, likely to repeat
Cognitive
Beck’s ABC Model
- A - activating event
- B - beliefs
- C - consequences
depressed cognitive style - people with depression tend to view negative events as global, stable and internal
focus on a persons cognition, their beliefs
Historical treatment
trepanning - drilling into head to release evil spirits
lobotomy - severing connections to prefrontal cortex
mosquito therapy - giving malaria
Biological Therapies
- pharmacological
- antidepressants
- anxiolytics
- antipsychotics
- ECT - treatment-refractory depression
- Deep Brain Stimulation - treatment-refractory OCD
Psychological Therapies
combination of cognition and behaviour
Behavioural - exposure therapy to allow extinction learning, effective for anxiety, remove avoidance behaviours
- offering external and internal rewards
(internal) behavioural activation: therapist will work on getting the client engaged in pleasure-based, mastery-based activities
Cognitive Restructuring - thought challenging, evidence for and against a belief, persuade them that it isn’t realistic
most effective treatment
psychotherapy + pharmacotherapy
anxiety is
- related to the fight or flight response (sympathetic nervous system)
- including increased heart rate, blood pressure, hyperventilation