Chapter 1- Abnormal Psychology: An Overview

Question 1

How are mental disorders defined in the DSM – 5?

Answer 1

A behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that is present in an individual and that reflects some kind of underlying psychobiological dysfunction. Importantly, this behavioural syndrome should result in clinically significant distress, disability, or impairment in key areas of functioning.

Question 2

Why do we need to classify mental disorders?

Answer 2

Most sciences rely on classification. Classification systems provide us with a nomenclature or a naming system, and enable us to structure information in a more helpful manner.

Organizing information also allows us to study the different disorders that we classify and therefore to learn more not only about what causes them but also how they might best be treated.

The classification of mental disorders has social and political implications. Defining the domain of what is considered to be pathological establishes the range of problems that the mental health profession can address. As a consequence, it furthermore delineates which types of psychological difficulties warrant insurance reimbursement and the extent of such reimbursement

Question 3

How does culture affect what is considered abnormal?

Answer 3

Within a given culture, there exist many shared beliefs and behaviours that are widely accepted and that may constitute one or more customary practices. There is also considerable variation in the way different cultures describe psychological distress.

Example: there is no word for “depressed” in the languages of certain Native Americans, Alaska natives, and South East Asian cultures. In China, individuals with depression frequently focus on physical concerns rather than verbalizing their psychological concerns

Question 4

Discuss the prevalence rates for mental disorders

Answer 4

The lifetime prevalence of having any DSM – IV disorder is 46.4%

Question 5

Explain the difference between the prevalence and the incidences of mental disorders

Answer 5

The term prevalence refers to the number of active cases in a population during any given period of time, or the percentage of the population that has the disorder.
Incidence refers to the number of new cases that occur over a given period of time.

Incidence figures tend to be lower than prevalence figures because they exclude pre-existing cases.

Four example, if we were assessing the one-year incidence of schizophrenia, we would not count people whose schizophrenia began before our given starting date even if they were still ill because they are not “new” cases of schizophrenia. On the other hand, someone who is quite well previously but then develop schizophrenia during our one-your window would be included in our incidence estimate

Question 6

Explain inpatient and outpatient treatment

Answer 6

People are receiving outpatient treatment when they are treated by their family physician rather then by a mental health specialist. The vast majority of mental health treatment is now administered on an outpatient basis. Outpatient treatment requires that a patient visit a mental health facility practitioner; however, the patient does not have to be admitted to the hospital or stay there overnight. A patient may attend a community mental health center, see a private therapist, or receive treatment through the outpatient department of the hospital

Inpatient care and hospitalization are the preferred options for people who need more intensive treatment than can be provided on an outpatient basis. Patients who need inpatient care are usually admitted to the psychiatric units of General Hospital’s or to private psychiatric hospitals specializing in particular mental disorders

Question 7

What are seven indicators or difficulties that make it more likely that an individual has some form of mental disorder?

Answer 7

1. Suffering
2. Maladaptiveness: interferes with our well-being and with our ability to enjoy our work and our relationships
3. Statistical deviancy: if something is statistically rare and undesirable, we are more likely to consider it abnormal than something that is statistically rare and highly desirable or something that is undesirable but statistically common
4. Violation of the standards of society: although many social rules are arbitrary to some extent, when people fail to follow the conventional social and moral rules of their cultural group we may consider their behaviour abnormal.
   Much depends on the magnitude of the violation and how commonly the rule is violated by others.
5. Social discomfort: when someone violates a social rule, those around him or her may experience a sense of discomfort or unease
6. Irrationality and unpredictability
7. Dangerousness

It is important to note that decisions about abnormal behaviour always involves social judgement and are based on the values and expectations of society at large. This means that culture plays a role in determining what is and is not abnormal and this also changes with time

Question 8

Why is it difficult to agree on a definition of abnormal behavior?

Answer 8

There are no sufficient or necessary conditions. Also, what is abnormal at one point in time may no longer be considered abnormal at another time.

Question 9

What are the benefits of classifying mental disorders?

Answer 9

Allows information to be organized, needed for research, most sciences do it, establishes the range of problems mental health professionals can address

Question 10

Discuss one disadvantage of developing a classification system for mental disorders

Answer 10

Multiple answers:

There is a loss of information when a classification scheme is applied to behavior, as will happen when any single word is used to convey something as complex as a mental disorder

There may be some stigma attached to receiving a psychiatric diagnosis

Stereotyping may occur, leading to incorrect assumptions about and expectations of an individual who has received a psychiatric diagnosis

Question 11

Explain what a culture-specific syndrome is and provide an example of one

Answer 11

A culture specific syndrome is a disorder that occurs most commonly in or exclusively in a specific culture. While many disorders may present themselves differently in different cultures, these are disorders that are unique to a particular culture.

Example: Koro, a disorder seen most commonly in young Asian males, is one example. This anxiety disorder is characterized by an extreme fear that a body part is shrinking

Question 12

What is mental health epidemiology? How is it studied

Answer 12

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of a health related problem within a population. Mental health epidemiology is the distribution and frequency of mental disorders. A key element in studying this is the frequency of mental disorder, which includes prevalence rates

Question 13

Discuss the difference between prevalence and incidence

Answer 13

Prevalence is the number of active cases of a disorder in a given population during a given period of time. Incidence is the number of new cases that occur over a given period of time

Question 14

What is comorbidity?

Answer 14

The presence of two or more disorders in the same person. This is common in serious mental disorders, rarer for mild disorders

Question 15

Briefly discuss why research in abnormal psychology is important

Answer 15

Through the use of research, the characteristics of disorders can be studied and our understanding of the etiology of disorders is furthered. In addition, research must be used to determine the effectiveness of treatment

Question 16

What is a case study and what are its benefits and drawbacks?

Answer 16

An in-depth, detailed account of a single case. They are good sources of research ideas and hypotheses. However, information from them does not generalize. They are uncontrolled and often impressionistic, so any conclusions drawn may be incorrect

Question 17

What is sampling and why is it important?

Answer 17

Sampling is the procedure used to select subject to study. As it is not possible to study all of the population of interest, a subset of the population is selected. The sample studied needs to resemble The larger population on all relevant variables so that findings made when studying the sample can be generalized to the population. In other words, results obtained with a sample should provide accurate information about the larger population

Question 18

Discuss the limitations of self-report data

Answer 18

Can be misleading, sometimes deliberately lie, misinterpret questions or try to present themselves more favourably or less favourably than is true

Question 19

What is an analogue study?

Answer 19

A study of an approximation of the real thing in which the researcher is interested. Often done if studying the real thing is difficult or it would be unethical to manipulate the variables of interest

Question 20

Discuss some of the difficulties involved in attempting to define abnormal behaviour

Answer 20

Abnormal presupposes some Norm from which behaviour deviates, but there is no definition of normal about which people can all agree. Abnormal is also related to behaviour that is deemed undesirable by society. Value issues therefore always complicate the objective definition of disorders. What, exactly, comprises distress, disability, or disfunction is also difficult to find. In addition, definitions of abnormality vary not only with culture, but over time

Question 21

What is the DSM and what is the proposed definition of a mental disorder for the DSM – five?

Answer 21

The DSM is the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Published by the American psychiatric Association and provides information to be used in identifying mental disorders. Does not provide information as to the cause of mental disorders. A mental disorder, according to the DSM, is a behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual. It reflects an underlying psychobiological dysfunction. The consequences of which are clinically significant distress or disability. It must not be a merely expected response to common stressors and losses or a culturally sanctioned response to a particular event. It is not primarily a result of social deviance or conflicts with society

Question 22

Describe the retrospective and prospect of research designs. What are the benefits and problems of these designs?

Answer 22

Retrospective: study people with a disorder by collecting information about their lives before they became sick. Problem is faulty and selective memory, bias on the part of the person and the researcher.

Prospect of: find people with high risk of developing a disorder before they have it, measure variables ahead of time and track the person to see who develops the disorder. The problem is you can’t know how many will develop the disorder, and a small sample size

Question 23

What is an observational research design and how can such an approach further our understanding of abnormal behavior. What limitations are there of such designs and how can these be overcome?

Answer 23

When an observational research design is employed, no manipulation is made, and data is merely gathered on the subject or subjects of interest. A group that is at risk for some disorder or one that has a particular disorder may be studied in order to gather information as to the factors that might influence the development of the disorder or the progression of the disorder. Just as a control group is used in an experiment, a control group must be used when conducting observational research. Is important, however, to recognize that no conclusions can be made about cause and effect. Correlational data, observing that two factors are related, does not permit such conclusions to be made as other factors may be the true cost for the observed relationship. For example, if a researcher observes a correlation between obesity and depression, it can’t be concluded that depression causes obesity or that obesity causes depression. Well either may be true, it cannot be determined from such data. In addition to these obvious causal connections, there could be additional factors that are causing both problems. Thus, while observational research designs provide information as to how things are related, no conclusions can be made as to cause and effect.

Question 24

Describe the ABAB research design and give an example

Answer 24

A type of single case research design. I way of using case study to develop and test therapy techniques within a scientific framework. The same subject is studied over time. Phase a – collect information about the subject but don’t intervene. Phase B – intervention. Repeating the phases tells whether it is what was done in the B phase that produced any changes.