Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context Flashcards
What is a psychological disorder?
A psychological dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typically expected
What is a phobia?
A psychological disorder characterized by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation
What’s the criteria that defines a psychological disorder?
- Psychological Dysfunction
- Distress or Impairment
- Atypical Response
Define Psychological Dysfunction
A breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning
Define Personal distress/impairment
Causing emotional and/or physical pain or harm
Define Atypical response
A person’s behavior that deviates from the average and violates social norms
What is Psychopathology?
Scientific study of psychological disorders
Define Scientist-practitioners
Mental-health professionals who take a scientific approach to their clinical work
Define “presenting problem”
Why the person came to the clinic
What are the three major categories which make up the study of psychological disorders?
- Clinical Description
- Causation (etiology)
- Treatment and Outcome
Define Clinical Description
The unique combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that make up a specific disorder
Define Prevalence
How many people in the population as a whole, who have the disorder
Define Incidence
How many new cases of a disorder occur during a given period e.g., one year
What is a ‘Chronic Course’?
Generally a long-term disorder
What is an ‘Episodic Course’?
Disorder that may end after a few months only to reoccur at a later time
What is a ‘Time-limited Course’?
The disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period
Define an ‘Acute Onset’
Disorder begins suddenly
What is an ‘Insidious Onset’?
Development of a disorder that occurs gradually over an extended period
What is a ‘Prognosis’?
The anticipated course of a disorder
What is Developmental Psychology?
The study of changes in behavior over time
What is Developmental Psychopathology?
The study of changes in abnormal behavior
What is ‘Etiology’?
The study of origins; what causes a disorder and includes biological, psychological, and social dimensions
What is the Supernatural Model?
Explanation of human behavior & it’s dysfunction that assumes important roles for spirits, and demons
Define ‘Exorcism’
Various religious rituals performed in an effort to rid the victim of evil spirits
What is ‘Saint Vitus’s Dance’?
Instance of mass hysteria in which groups of people experienced simultaneous compulsion to dance and shout in the streets
What is ‘Emotion Contagion’?
The experience of an emotion seemingly spreading to others nearby
Who was Hippocrates?
The Greek Physician who is considered the ‘father of modern Western medicine’ and believed that psychological disorders could be treated like any other disease
Who was Galen?
The Roman Physician who later adopted Hippocrates ideas and developed them further, to create a powerful and influential thought within the biological tradition
What is the ‘Humoral Theory of Disorders’?
Normal brain functioning was related to four bodily fluids or humors:
- Blood
- Black Bile
- Yellow Bile
- Phlegm
What is the ‘Biological Model’?
Explanation of psychological dysfunction that primarily emphasizes brain disorder or illness as the cause
Define ‘Psychosis’
Psychological disorders in which contact with reality is lost or highly distorted
What is the ‘Psychological Model’?
Explanation of human behavior and its dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not typical
What is Psychosocial Treatment?
Treatment practices that focus on social and cultural factors, as well as psychological influences
What is Moral Therapy?
It’s basic premises included treating institutionalized patients as normally as possible
Define ‘Psychoanalysis’
Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
Define ‘Unconscious’
The part of the mind in which the primary source of human behavior derives from
Define ‘Catharsis’
The release of emotional material
What is the Psychoanalytic Model?
Theory constructed on the development and structure of our personalities
What are the three structures of the psyche?
- The id
- The Ego
- The Superego
Define the aspects that characterize the ‘id’
- The source of our strong sexual and aggressive feelings
- The energy or drive within the id is the libido
- The id is ruled by the ‘Pleasure Principle’
- Has it’s own way of processing information; referred to as the ‘primary process’
- This type of thinking is emotional, irrational and illogical
Define the aspects that characterize the ‘ego’
- The ego is ruled by the ‘Reality Principle’ instead of the ‘Pleasure Principle’
- The cognitive operations/thinking styles are referred to as the ‘secondary process’
- This type of thinking is characterized by logic and reason
- The role of the ‘ego’ is to mediate conflict between the ‘id’ and the ‘superego’
Define the aspects that characterize the ‘superego’
- The superego, or what we might call conscious, represents the ‘Moral Principles’ instilled in us by our parents and our culture
- Purpose is to counteract the potentially dangerous aggressive and sexual drives of the ‘id’
What are ‘Intrapsychic Conflicts’?
Conflicts within the mind that result from the interplay of the ‘id’, ‘ego’, and ‘superego’
What are defense mechanisms?
The ‘Ego’s’ protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Define Displacement
A defense mechanism that transfers one’s reaction from the original object to a more acceptable one`
Define Sublimation
Modifying the natural expression of an impulse or instinct to one that is socially acceptable
Define Projection
A defense mechanism by which your own traits and emotions are attributed to someone else
Define Rationalization
A defense mechanism that conceals the true motivation for actions, thoughts, or feelings, through elaborate reassurance but incorrect explanations
What are the Psychosexual Stages of Development?
- Oral Stage
- Anal Stage
- Phallic Stage
- Latency Stage
- Genital Stage
Define the ‘Oral Stage’
From birth to about 18 months
-Fixation on the mouth
Define the ‘Anal Stage’
18 months to about 3 years
-Fixation on passing and retention of feces
Define the ‘Phallic Stage’
3 years to about 5 or 6 years
-Fixation on genital stimulation
Define the ‘Latency Stage’
Between ages 6 to 12
-‘Id’ impulses do not play a major role in stimulating behavior
Define the ‘Genital Stage’
12 through to adulthood
-Heterosexual interests predominate
What is ‘Ego Psychology’?
Failure of the ‘ego’ to manage impulses and internal conflicts can be attributed to psychological disorders being developed
What are Object Relations?
The study of how children incorporate the images, the memories, and sometimes the values of a person who was important to them and to whom they were emotionally attached
What is classical conditioning?
A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a response until it elicits that response
What is behavior therapy?
Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviours
