Chapter 1: Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present Flashcards
Abnormal Psychology
The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning
Norms
A society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct
Culture
A people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts
Treatment
A systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior. Also called therapy.
Therapy
A systematic process for helping people overcome their psychological problems. Therapy consists of a client (patient), a trained therapist, and a series of contacts between them.
Trephination
An ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull to treat abnormal behavior
Humors
According to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning
Asylums
A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for people with mental disorders. Most asylums became virtual prisons.
Moral Treatment
A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment
State Hospitals
State-run public mental institutions in the United States
Somatogenic Perspective
The view that abnormal functioning has physical causes
Psychogenic Perspective
The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological
Psychoanalysis
Either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology
Psychotropic Medications
Drugs that mainly effect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction
Deinstitutionalization
The practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals
Private Psychotherapy
An arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services
Prevention
Interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they can develop
Positive Psychology
The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities
Multicultural Psychology
The field that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, and gender on behaviors and thoughts, and focuses on how such factors may influence the origin, nature, and treatment of abnormal behavior
Managed Care Programs
Health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services
Telemental Health
The use of remote technologies, such as long-distance video conferencing, to deliver mental health services without the therapist being physically present
Nomothetic
A general understanding of the nature, causes, and treatments of abnormal functioning, in the form of laws or principles that apply across people
Scientific Method
The process of systematically gathering and evaluating information, through careful observations, to understand a phenomenon
Hypothesis
A hunch or prediction that certain variables are related in certain ways
