Chapter 1 Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context Flashcards
Psychological disorder
psychological dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected.
Phobia
psychological disorder characterized by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation
Abnormal Behavior
- psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected
- May seem obvious but not easily arrived at
- No one criterion has yet been developed that fully defines abnormality - Behavior characterized as atypical, socially unacceptable, distressing to the individual or others, maladaptive, and/or the result of distorted cognition
Psychopathology
scientific study of psychological disorders
Etiology
- study of origins
- Why a disorder begins (what causes it) and includes biological, psychological, and social dimensions
Exorcism
various religious rituals were performed in an effort to rid the victim of evil spirits
Psychosocial treatment
- precursor
- Focus not only on psychological factors but also on social and cultural ones as well
- Aristotle: the influence of social environment and early learning on later psychopathology
- The importance of fantacies, dreams,and cognitions
Moral therapy
During the first half of the 19th century, a strong psychosocial approach.
Mental hygiene movement
the deplorable conditions imposed on patients with insanity, and she made it her life’s work to inform the American public and their leaders of these abuses
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
-The structure of the mind and the role of unconscious processes in determining behavior
Behaviorism
- John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner
- Focuses on how learning and adaptation affect the development of psychopathology
Unconscious
- the material seemed to be beyond the awareness of the patient
- Influence on the production of psychological disorders
Catharsis
therapeutic to recall and relive emotional trauma that has been made unconscious and to release the accompanying tension
Insight
a fuller understanding of the relationship between current emotions and earlier events
Psychoanalytic model
- the most comprehensive theory yet constructed on the development and structure of our personalities.
- The structure of the mind and the distinct functions of personality that sometimes clash with one another
- The defense mechanisms with which the mind defends itself from these clashes, or conflicts
- The stages of early psychosexual development that provide grist for the mill of our inner conflicts
Id
source of our strong sexual and aggressive feelings or energies
Primary process
type of thinking is emotional, irrational, illogical, filled with fantasies, and preoccupied with sex, aggression, selfishness, and envy
Ego
ensures that we act realistically
- Mediates successfully -> we can go on to the higher intellectual and creative pursuits of life
- Unsuccessful -> the id or superego becomes too strong, conflict will overtake us and psychological disorders will develop
Superego
- conscience, represents the moral principles instilled in us by our parents and our culture
- Voice within us that nags at us when we know we’re doing something wrong
- Counteract the potentially dangerous aggressive and sexual drives of the id
- Mediate conflict between the id and the superego, juggling their demands with the realities of the world
Intrapsychic conflicts
conflicts are all within the mind
Defense mechanisms
- their conflicts produce anxiety that threatens to overwhelm the ego -> anxiety is a signal that alerts the ego to marshal
- Coping styles
Denial
Refuses to acknowledge some aspect of objective reality or subjective experience that is apparent to others
Displacement
Transfers a feeling about, or a response to, an object that causes discomfort onto another, usually less-threatening, object or person
Projection
Falsely attributes own unacceptable feelings, impulses, or thoughts to another individual or objective
Rationalization
Conceals the true motivations for actions, thoughts, or feelings through elaborate reassuring or self-serving but incorrect explanations
Reaction formation
Substitutes behavior, thoughts, or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones
Repression
Blocks disturbing wishes, thoughts, or experiences from conscious awareness
Sublimation
Directs potentially maladaptive feelings or impulses into socially acceptable behavior
Psychosexual stages of development
- Freud also theorized that during infancy and early childhood we pass through a number of psychosexual stages of development
- Profound and lasting impact
- Developmental perspective on the study of abnormal behavior
Castration anxiety
strong fears develop that the father may punish that lust by removing the son’s penis
Neuroses
neurotic disorders; disorders of the nervous system
Ego psychology
- defensive reactions of the ego determine our behavior
- Individual slowly accumulates adaptational capacities, skill in reality testing, and defenses
- Abnormal behavior develops when the ego is deficient in regulating such functions as delaying and controlling impulses or in marshaling appropriate normal defenses to strong internal conflicts
Self-psychology
the formation of self-concept and the crucial attributes of the self that allow an individual to progress toward health, or conversely, to develop neurosis.
Object relations
- 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 (or are) emotionally attached.
- Object: these important people
- Introjecrtion: the process of incorporation
- Introjected objects can become an integrated part of the ego or may assume onflicting rolees in determining the identity, or self
- To the extent that these varying positions have been incorporated, the potential for conflict arises.
- You tend to see the world through the eyes of the person incorporated into your self.
- Focus on how these disparate images come together to make up a person’s identity and on the conflicts that may emerge
Collective unconscious
wisdom accumulated by society and culture that is stored deep in individual memories and passed down from generation to generation
Free association
- patients are instructed to say whatever comes to mind without the usual socially required censoring
- Reveal emotionally charged material that may be repressed because it is too painful or threatening to bring into consciousness
- Couch: symbol of psychotherapy
Dream analysis
- therapist interprets the content of dreams, supposedly reflecting the primary-process thinking of the id, and systematically relates the dreams to symbolic aspects of unconsious conflicts.
- Often difficult
- Patient may resist the efforts of the therapist to uncover repressed and sensitive conflicts and may deny the interpretations
- Help the patient gain insight into the nature of the conflicts
Transference
patients come to relate to the therapist much as they did to important figures in their childhood, particularly their parents.
Countertransference
therapists project some of their own personal issues and feelings, usually positive, onto the patient.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy
- although conflicts and unconscious processes are still emphasized, and efforts are made to identify trauma and active defense mechanisms, therapists use an eclectic mixture of tactics, with a social and interpersonal focus.
- Focus on affect and the expression of patients’ emotions
- Exploration of patients’ attempts to avoid topics or engage in activities that hinder the progress of therapy
- Identification of patterns in patients’ actions, thoughts, feelings, experiences, and relationships
- Emphasis on past experiences
- Focus on patients’ interpersonal experiences
- Emphasis on the therapeutic relationship
- Exploration of patients’ wishes, dreams, or fantasies
- Significantly briefer than classical psychoanalysis
- Psychodynamic therapists deemphasize the goal of personality reconstruction, focusing instead on relieving the suffering associated with psychological disorders
Self-actualizing
- all of us could reach our highest potential, in all areas of functioning, if only we had the freedom to grow
- A variety of conditions may block our actualization
- Every person is basically good and whole, most blocks originate outside the individual - “Be all you can be!”, according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential
Person-centered therapy
- The therapist takes a passive role, making as few interpretations as possible
- Give the individual a chance to develop during the course of therapy, unfettered by threats to the self
- an approach to therapy that assumes all individuals have a tendency toward growth and that this growth can be facilitated by acceptance and genuine reactions from the therapist
Unconditional positive regard
complete and almost unqualified acceptance of most of the client’s feelings and actions, is critical to the humanistic approach
-Carl Rogers- if you don’t love yourself, you can’t love others
Empathy
sympathetic understanding of the individual’s particular view of the world
The hoped-for result of person-centered therapy
clients will be more straight-forward and honest with themselves and will access their innate tendencies toward growth
Behavioral model
- cognitive-behavioral model/ social learning model
-Systematic development of a more scientific approach to psychological aspects of psychopathology - Pavlov/skinner
Classical/Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
- Physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) of St. Petersburg Russia
- A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a response until it elicits that response
- Conditioning/conditioned response: a response that occurred only on the condition of the presence of a particularevent or situation (stimulus)
- Is one way in which we acquire new information, particularly information that is somewhat emotional in nature
- Quite automatic
- Law of association
Pathological behavior is learned
Associate x->y
Extinction
presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the food for a long enough period would eventually eliminate the conditioned response to the food
Introspection
- Edward Titchener (1867-1927)
- Subjects simply reported on their inner thoughts and feelings after experiencing certain stimuli
- Inconsistent and discouraging
Systematic desensitization
- individuals were gradually introduced to the objects or situations they feared so that their fear could extinguish; that is, they could test reality and see that nothing bad happened in the presence of the phobic object or scene
Behavior therapy
- Wolpe, working with fellow pioneers Hans Eysenck and Stanley Rachman in London
- Paved the way for modern-day fear and anxiety reducion procedures in which severe phobias can eliminated in as liittle as 1 day
Reinforcement
to “reward” because it connotes the effect on the behavior
Shaping
a process of reinforcing successive approximations to a final behavior or set of behaviors
-Using reinforcement to slowly get a ultimate desired behavior
Personal Distress
a disorder characterized by subjective pain and suffering whether or not the person also exhibits deviant or maladaptive behavior
Impairment
the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness
Not culturally expected
It deviates from the average & violates social norms
Prototype
a standard or typical example
Clinical Psychologist
Doctoral holding professionals, who follow a graduate-lever study, lasting approximately 5 years, that prepares them to conduct research, treat, diagnose, and assess psychological disorders.
Psy.D
Focus on clinical training
Ph.D
Integrate clinical and research training
Psychiatrist
a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders; can prescribe medication
Consumer of science
enhancing the practice
Evaluator of science
determining the effectiveness of the practice
Creator of science
conducting reasearch that leads to new procedures useful in practice
Consumer+Evaluator=Creator
Presenting problem
Original complaint reported by the client to the therapist
Clinical Description
Details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder.
Prevalence
Number or people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time
Incidence
Number of new cases of a disorder appearing during the specific period
Sex ratio
Percentage of males to females with specified disorder
Course
Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time
Chronic Course
A disorder tends to last a long time, sometimes a life time. Ex. schizophrenia
Episodic Course
Pattern of a disorder alternating between recovery and recurrence.
Time-limited Course
The disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period
Acute onset
disorder begins suddenly
Insidious Onset
Development of a disorder that occurs gradually over an extended period (contrast with acute onset).
Prognosis
a prediction of the course of a disease
Developmental Psychology
The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
Developmental Psychopathology
Study of changes in abnormal behavior that occur over time.
Life-span developmental psychopathology
Study of psychological disorders over the entire age range.
Supernatural Model
Explanation of human behavior and its dysfunction that posits important roles for spirits, demons, grace, sin, etc.
Psyche
The mind considered separate from the body
Biological Model
model of explaining behavior as caused by biological changes in the chemical, structural, or genetic systems of the body
Psychological Model
A view in which mental disorder is seen as arising from psychological processes.
Humoral theory of disorders
Normal brain functioning was related to four bodily fluids or humors. Physicians believed that disease resulted from too much or too little of one of the humors.
- blood
- black bile
- yellow bile (choler)
- phlegm
Hysteria
neurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks and disturbances of sensory and motor functions
Somatoform disorders
disorders characterized by physical symptoms for which no known physical cause exists
Advanced syphilis
A sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacterial microorganism entering the brain, include believing that everyone is plotting against you, that you are God, as well as other bizarre behaviors.
Psychosocial treatment
Treatment practices that focus on social and cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal methods.
Oral Stage
Mouth 0-1 years
Conflict: safety/nourishment
Major event: Breast feeding
Fixation: Talkative, smoker, chewing nails etc.
Anal Stage
1-3 years
Conflict: Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt
Major event: Potty training
Fixation: Anal retentive-Anal expulsive
Anal retentive
Inflexible/rigid/in control
Anal explusive
Slob-like
Punitive parenting
Yelling/shut your mouth style
Phallic stage (Boys)
3-5/6 years
Conflict: Oedipus complex
Resolution: Identifying with father
Sublimation coping: want to be like dad
Phallic stage (girls)
3-5/6 years
Conflict: Electra Complex
Resolution: Identifying with mother through her own marriage and birth giving
Latent stage
5/6-11/12 years
Conflict: School
The libido is transferred from parents to friends of the same sex, clubs and hero/role-model figures. The sexual and aggressive drives are expressed in socially accepted forms through the defense mechanisms of repression and sublimation.
Genital Stage
12 years onward
Conflict: development into a psychosexually “healthy”(heterosexual) person
Repression
Unconsciously “bury” it
Regression
Return to childlike state
Ex: when a second child is born, the first regresses for attention
Humanistic model
Maslow hierarchy of needs Physiology Safety Love/belonging Self Esteem Self actualization
Reflex
Involuntary response to a stimulus that naturally brings on a response
Unconditioned stimulus
Ex: Food
Unconditioned Response
Ex: Salivate to sight of food
Conditioned Stimulus
in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
Ex: Lab tech
Neutral Stimulus
a stimulus that before conditioning does not produce a particular response
Ex: Bell
Conditioned Response
an acquired response that is under the control of (conditional on the occurrence of) a stimulus
Ex: Salivate at sight of lab tech
Learning process
[Repeat (N.S+U.S)]=C.S+C.R
Spontaneous recovery
the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
Law of Effect
behavior is either strengthened of weakened depending on the consequence of that behavior
3 Ds of maladaptiveness
distress
discomfort
deviance
Hippocrates
linking mental with physical, the brain
Galen
humoral theory: black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm; regulation of environment as a means for treatment
Plato and Aristotle
mental illness caused by social and environmental factors; treatment with moral therapy
Wakefield
harmful dysfunction
Dorothea Dix
increase to amount of access to therapy during large immigration time
Anton Mesmer
suggestibility and mesmerism
Jean Charcot and Josef Breuer
hypnosis
Benjamin Rush and Horace Mann
involved in bringing moral tradition to the United States
Carl Jung
collective unconscious and enduring personality traits; introversion vs. extroversion
Alfred Adler
birth order; inferiority complex; self actualization
Carl Rogers
person centered therapy; self direction and understanding one’s development; therapist acceptance and understanding
Abraham Maslow
hierarchy of needs
Pavlov
classical conditioning
B. F. Skinner
behavior shaping; behavior operates on environment
Freud’s students
de-emphasized the role of sexuality
John Watson
Behaviorism; against introspection; Little Albert
Mary Cover Jones
pre-existing phobia extinguished by exposure and modeling
Joseph Wolpe
systematic desensitization; relaxation
E. L. Thorndike
law of effect; consequences shape behavior
DSM-IV-TR
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4 Text Revision
Who is the father of modern medicine?
Hippocrates
Miguel recently began feeling sad and lonely. Although still able to function at work and fulfill other responsibilities, he finds himself feeling down much of the time and he worries about what is happening to him. Which of the definitions of abnormality apply to Miguel’s situation?
Distress
Three weeks ago, Jane, a 35-year-old business executive, stopped showering, refused to leave her apartment, and started watching television talk shows. Threats of being fired have failed to bring Jane back to reality, and she continues to spend her days staring blankly at the television screen. Which of the definitions seems to describe Jane’s behavior?
Impairment in functioning, dysfunction
Maria should recover quickly with no intervention necessary. Without treatment, John will deteriorate rapidly.
Prognosis
Three new cases of bulimia have been reported in this county during the past month and only one in the next county.
Incidence
Elizabeth visited the campus mental health center because of her increasing feelings of guilt and anxiety
Presenting problem
Biological, psychological, and social influences all contribute to a variety of disorders.
Etiology
The pattern a disorder follows can be chronic, time limited, or episodic.
Course
How many people in the population as a whole suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Prevalence
Supernatural causes; evil demons took over the victims’ bodies and controlled their behaviors.
Exorcism; burning at the stake
The humoral theory reflected the belief that normal functioning of the brain required a balance of four bodily fluids or humors.
Bloodletting; induced vomiting
Maladaptive behavior was caused by poor social and cultural influences within the environment.
Patient placed in socially facilitative environments
Treating institutionalized patients as normally as possible and encouraging social interaction and relationship development.
Moral therapy
Hypnosis, psychoanalysis-like free association and dream analysis, and balance of the id, ego, and superego
Psychoanalytic theory
Person-centered therapy with unconditional positive regard
Humanistic theory
Classical conditioning, systematic desensitization, and operant conditioning
Behavioral model
