ch 1 Flashcards
Psychopathology:
Psychopathology:
study of the nature, development and treatment of psychological disorders
Challenges to the study of psychopathology
- Maintain objectivity
- Avoid preconceived notions
- Reduce stigma
stigma
Stigma:
the destructive belief and attitudes held by a society towards groups considered to be different
Four characteristics of stigma:
- Distinguishing label applied
- Label refers to undesirable attributes
- People w/ label seen as different
- People with label discriminated against
Mental (psychological) Disorder:
and what it contains
Contains several characteristics, but not all disorders contain all the characteristics
contains:
- Personal distress
- Violation of Social Norms
- Disability and
- Dysfunction
Violation of Social Norms
violating widely held cultural standards, makes others uncomfortable/causes problems
disability
daily function is impaired (work, relationships)
Ex: chronic substance abuse results in job loss
Dysfunction:
something not working as it should- developmental, psychological and biological systems are impaired
DSM-5 Definition of psychological disorder
- disorder occurs within the individual
- Involves clinically significant difficulties in thinking, feeling, or behaving
- involves dysfunction in the processes that support mental functioning
- not a culturally specific reaction to an event
- not primarily a result of a social deviance or conflict w/ society
Early Demonology
Possession by evil beings/spirits as explanation for disordered behavior
Exorcism to drive out evil spirits
hippocrates (5th c BC)
- Mental disturbances have natural causes (problems w/ brain)
- Three categories of mental disorders: mania, melancholia, phrenitis (brain fever)
- Brain functioning dependent of balance of 4 humors
dark ages (2nd c AD)
Monks cared and prayed for mentally ill
Witch hunts (13th century AD)
- Torture sometimes led to bizarre delusional sounding confessions
Historians believed many of the accused were mentally ill, little support for this conclusion
Asylums(15th century AD)
- Large establishments for confinement and care of mentally ill
- No treatment or harmful treatment
bloodletting
Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) used bloodletting, believed mental illness caused by excess blood in the brain
Neumonic: guy with blood filled head being bloodlet saying come on I’m in a rush!
Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem (founded in 1243)
- One of first mental institutions
- Wealthy paid to watch as entertainment
- Origin of term bedlam: wild uproar or confusion
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)
Pioneered humanitarian treatment at LaBicetre
Was only for the wealthy though
moral treatment
Moral Treatment:
- Small privately funded humanitarian mental hospitals (no more than 250 people)
- Friends Asylum (1817)
- Patients engaged in purposeful calming activities, Talked with attendants
Dorthea Dix (1802-1887)
- Crusader for prisoners and mentally ill
- Urged improvement of institutions
- Worked to establish 32 new public hospitals
- Unfortunately small staffs
- Administered by physicians- biological rather than psychological aspects of mental illness- very primitive
mental hospitals 1960s/70s
concerns about the restrictiveness of mental hospitals along with idealistic hopes of community based treatments led to large amounts of deinstitutionalization
mental hospitals today
Treatments in public hospitals provide the bare minimum
Funded by federal gov’t or state
jails became the de facto mental hospital
forensic hospitals
Forensic hospitals: mental hospital for those arrested and deemed unable to stand trial/ acquitted due to insanity
Less likely to reoffend
General paresis and Syphilis
Degenerative disorder with psychological symptoms (delusions of grandeur) and physical symptoms (progressive paralysis)
by mid 1800’s known that some patients had both syphilis and general paresis together
what did the pairing of general paresis and syphilis mean
biological cause of syphilis found: Microorganism that caused syphilis- caused damage to certain areas of the brain- caused general paresis
Since general paresis had biological cause, this meant other mental illnesses might also!!
- Biological causes of psychopathology gained credibility
nature vs nurture
Galton’s (1822-1911) work lead to the belief that mental illness can be inhereted
- coined term nature vs nurture
- unfortunately was proponent of eugenics
Neumonic: be a gals gal and don’t play around w eugenics