Abnormal Behaviour Flashcards
What systems are used for identifying disorders?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
International Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (ICD-10)
What are the 5 factors playing part in defining behaviours as abnormal?
1) Statistical rarity
2) Personal distress
3) Dysfunction
4) Violations of social norms
5) Diagnosis by an expert
Psychological abnormality
Behaviour, speech, or thought that impairs the ability of a person to function normally
Mental illness
Similar to psychological abnormality but more on medical side
Psychological disorder
Manifestation of abnormal impairment of functioning
Why can statistical rarity be unclear?
Some extremists have advantageous functioning
Some extremely common conditions are considered an illness
Why can personal distress be unclear?
Some disorders don’t cause distress
Everyone can feel distressed any any point of their lives
What is Wakefield’s definition of harmful dysfunction?
Failures of internal mechanisms to perform naturally selected functions
The design failure harms the individual
How are violation of norms relevant with depression? Why is it culturally relative?
Depression more prevalent in western countries
Asian cultures puts more emphasis on physical symptoms of depression (which is similar to Neurasthenia) and also has stigma against mental disorders
How are violation of norms unclear?
Criminals (not meeting diagnostic criteria) violate norns
Most individuals with a mental disorder aren’t dangerous
Social norms change over time and across cultures
Clinical psychologist vs Psychiatrist
Clinical psychologist: Carries out treatments/psychological interventions
Psychiatrist: Diagnoses and does medical treatments for mental disorders
Differential diagnosis
When there are many potential diagnoses
What did eugenicists conclude from Darwin’s work?
Those whose intellectual, social, or economic functioning was seen as inferior were defective
Those who met this criteria should be sterilized (or exterminated)
What was psychological dysfunction thought to he caused by in early history?
Possession by demons
Witchcraft of evil people
Trephination
Done in Stone age
Skulls found with holes on them to let out evil spirits that were supposedly causing abnormal behaviour
May also be caused from removing bone splinters or blood clots caused by blows to the head during warfare
Temples of healing
Created in golden age of Greece
Emphasized natural causes for mental disorders and developed greater understanding of the causes and treatments of them
What did Hippocrates believe?
Denied popular belief of the time that psychological problems were caused by the intervention of gods and demons
Thought psychological problems had natural causes and that dreams could help understand them
Humours
Hippocrates’ idea that disorders were caused by disturbances from body fluid (humours)
Vomiting and bleeding would reduce humours
Hysteria
Hippocrates believed it only happened in women because of their “wandering uterus”
What did Plato focus on?
Emphasis on sociocultural influences on thought and behaviour
Foreshadowing Freud: Dreams satisfy desires because higher faculties aren’t present and can’t inhibit them during sleep
Foreshadowing modern law: Mentally disordered ppl who commit crimes can’t be held guilty because they don’t understand what they did
Foreshadowing modern therapy: Thought mentally ill ppl should be cared for in homes of relatives and promoted a kind of conversational therapy