Chapter 1: Abnormal Psychology, Past & Present

Question 1

What is meant by “abnormality”?

Answer 1

• is generally considered to be deviant, distressful, dysfunctional, and dangerous. Behavior must also be considered in the context in which it occurs, however, and the concept of abnormality depends on the norms and values of the society
• Culture: a people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts
• Norms: a society’s states and unstated rules for proper conduct

Question 2

Does society have a role in abnormal behavior?

Answer 2

Yes, because it depends on what that certain/specific society deems what is normal and abnormal behavior.

Question 3

What is the importance of Deviance in identifying and diagnosing abnormal behavior?

Answer 3

Abnormal behavior, thoughts, and emotions are those that differ markedly from a society’s ideas about proper functioning. They deviate from society’s ideas about the proper functioning

Question 4

What is the importance of Distress in identifying and diagnosing abnormal behavior?

Answer 4

According to many clinical theorists, behavior, ideas, or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can be labeled abnormal

Question 5

What is the importance of Dysfunction in identifying and diagnosing abnormal behavior?

Answer 5

It interferes with daily functioning. It so upsets, distracts, or confuses people that they cannot care for themselves properly, participate in ordinary social interactions, or work productively

Question 6

What is the importance of Danger in identifying and diagnosing abnormal behavior?

Answer 6

Behavior can become dangerous to oneself and others. Individuals whose behavior is consistently careless, hostile, or confused may be placing themselves or those around them at risk. However, although the danger is often cited as a feature of abnormal psychological functioning, research suggests that it is actually the exception rather than the rule

Question 7

Greek & Roman Treatment Approaches

Answer 7

• Offered more enlightened explanations of mental disorders. Hippocrates believed that abnormal behavior was caused by an imbalance of the four bodily fluids, or humors, that affected personality.
• believed that illnesses had natural causes, abnormal behavior was a disease arising from internal physical problems
• Humors: according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning

Question 8

Middle Ages Treatment Approaches

Answer 8

• Returned to demonological explanations of abnormal behavior. The clergy was very influential and held that mental disorders were the work of the devil. As the Middle Ages drew to a close, such explanations and treatments began to decline, and people with mental disorders were increasingly treated in hospitals instead of by the clergy
• The church controlled a lot, rejected scientific forms of investigation, and controlled education. Deviant behavior, particularly psychological abnormality, was seen as evidence of Satan’s influence

Question 9

Renaissance Treatment Approaches

Answer 9

• Care of people with mental disorders continued to improve during the early part of the Renaissance. Certain religious shrines became dedicated to the humane treatment of such individuals. By the middle of the sixteenth century, however, persons with mental disorders were being warehoused in asylums
• Founder of the modern study of psychopathology, Johann Weyer, believed that the mind was as susceptible to sickness as the body was

Question 10

Somatogenic Treatment Approaches

Answer 10

• Somatogenic Perspective: the view that abnormal functioning has physical causes
• Not until the 1950s where a number of effective medications were finally discovered

Question 11

Psychogenic Treatment Approaches

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Deinstitutionalization

Answer 12

the practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals

Question 13

Biological Perspective

Answer 13

Biological theorists look at the biological processes of human functioning to explain abnormal behavior, pointing to anatomical or biochemical problems in the brain and body. Such abnormalities are sometimes the result of genetic inheritance of abnormalities or normal evolution.

Question 14

Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 14

• Psychanalytic perspective with its emphasis on unconscious psychological problems as the cause of abnormal behavior was dominant
• Psychodynamic Model: the theoretical perspective that sees all human functioning as being shaped by dynamic (interacting) psychological forces and explains people’s behavior by reference to unconscious internal conflicts

Question 15

Behavioral Perspective

Answer 15

• On the behavioral dimension, the theorists hold that 3 types of conditioning – classical conditioning, modeling, and operant conditioning – account for behavior, whether normal or dysfunctional

Question 16

Humanistic Perspective

Answer 16

• The humanistic-existential model focuses on the human need to successfully deal with philosophical issues such as self-awareness, values, meaning, and choice. Humanists believe that people are driven to self-actualize. When this drive is interfered with, abnormal behavior may result

Question 17

Cross-Cultural Perspective

Answer 17

• The family-social perspective looks outward to 3 kinds of factors: social labels and roles, social connections and supports, and the family system.
• The multicultural perspective, another sociocultural perspective, holds that an individual’s behavior, whether normal or abnormal, is best understood when examined in the light of his or her unique cultural context, including the values of that culture and the special external pressures faced by members of that culture. Practitioners of this perspective may practice culture-sensitive therapies