Chapter 1 - Abnormal Psychology Past & Present Flashcards
Pyschological Abnormality
There is no accepted definition. Most definitions have things in commons (the 4 D’s).
4 D’s of Psychological Abnormality
- Deviance - abnormal behavior seen as unusual or bizarre, can change from culture to culture due to a culture’s norms.
- Distress - Many clinical theorists believe that ideas, behaviors, or emotions have to cause distress before they are seen as abnormal. There is an issue w/ this because abnormal psychology does not always cause distress.
- Dysfunction - means that it interferes w/ daily functioning. The presence of dysfunction alone does not necessarily mean psychological abnormality.
- Danger - careless, hostile, or confused behaviors that may be dangerous to oneself or others. This is actually the exception of most psychological abnormalities rather than the rule.
Elusive Nature of Abnormality
Society selects “criteria” for what is abnormal and uses that criteria for future cases.
Thomas Szasz believes that society plays such a big role on this that he believes mental illness is just a myth or invalid. He believes society invents this to get rid of deviance and uphold societal norms. He also calls “abnormal,” “problems of living.”
It’s also hard to define abnormality. ex. college student drinking a lot. This also applies because it’s hard to determine what’s eccentric and what’s abnormal.
Categories of Abnormality continues to be debated by clinicians.
Treatment (Therapy)
Designed to change abnormal behavior to normal
Even though there’s a straightforward definition, treatment is usually filled with confusion and conflict. This results because there’s a difference in agreement between goals/aims of certain clinicians. ex. If a clinicians goal is to cure, then there’s a belief that their patient has a mental illness. If a clinicians goal is to teach, there’s a belief that their patient just has a problem and not an illness.
Most clinicians agree a ton of people need therapy, and research shows that it is helpful.
Ancient Views and Treatments
Prehistoric societies appeared to regard abnormal behavior as the work of evil spirits and treatment involved cutting holes in the skull (called trephination) to allow the spirits to escape or performing an exorcism.
Greek and Roman Views and Treatments
Time Period: 500 BCE to 500 CE
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, believed that abnormality had natural causes and resulted from internal physical problems related to fluids and the goal of treatment was to “rebalance” these fluids using warm baths, massage, and blood letting.
Europe in the Middle Ages Views and Treatment
Time Period: 500 CE to 1350 CE
After the fall of Rome, demonological views resurged as disbelief in the Sciences gained popularity. Abnormality was a conflict between good and evil, deviance was a cause of the devil. Abnormal behavior increased greatly and mass outbreaks of madness occurred. Things like exorcism was used as treatment.
Renaissance and Rise of Asylums
Time Period: 1400 CE to 1700 CE
German physician Johann Weyer, the founder of modern psychopathology, believed the mind was susceptible to sickness. Care improved as religious shrines were devoted to the humane and loving treatment of people with mental disorders. Asylums emerged with good intentions, but they were overcrowded and became virtual prisons.
The Nineteenth Century: Reform and Moral Treatment
As 1800 approached, Pinel (France) and Tuke (England) advocated for moral treatment. Benjamin Rush, father of American Psychiatry, carried this over to the United States along with Boston schoolteacher Dorothea Dix. Moral treatment declined at the end of the century for multiple reasons: money/staff shortages, declining recovery rates, overcrowding, some patients needed more extensive treatment, prejudice also emerged against the mentally ill. Moral treatment stopped and long-term hospital care reemerged.
The Early Twentieth Century
The somatogenic (abnormal functioning has physical causes) and the psychogenic (abnormal function has psychological causes) emerged.
Somatogenic Perspective
Two main reasons for emergence: 1. Emil Kraepelin’s textbook (1883) argued that physical factors (such as fatigue) are responsible for mental dysfunction and proposed the first modern system for classifying mental disorders. 2. New biological discoveries were made, such as the link between untreated syphilis and general paresis. Overall the biological approaches yielded mostly disappointing results throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It was not until the 1950s when the somatogenic perspective took root after effective medications were finally discovered.
Psychogenic Perspective
Based on work with hypnotism. Mesmer used “mesmerism” to treat hysterical disorder. Later researchers studied and refined these procedures, calling it hypnotism. They showed that hysterical symptoms could be created during a hypnotic state which gave credence to the psychogenic perspective. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, argued that largely unconscious processes are at the root of abnormal functioning. By the early twentieth century, psychoanalytic theory and treatment were widely accepted.
Recent Decades and Current Trends
Summary: We do not yet live in a period of great enlightenment about psychological disorder, nor do we have dependable treatment of these disorders. 43 percent interviewed believe people bring mental health disorders on themselves. 31 percent view disorders as the result of personal weaknesses. 35 percent consider sinful behavior to be the cause. Nevertheless, the past 70 years have brought major changes in the ways clinicians understand and treat abnormal functioning.
Recent Decades and Current Trends of Treatment (Deinstitutionalization)
The 1950s discovered antipsychotic drugs antidepressant drugs antianxiety drugs. This led to deinstitutionalization and more outpatient care. Ex. in 1950 there was 600,000 people in US public psychiatric institutions and there are 75,000 today. This posed an issue because most communities lack the resources to heal those w/ mental illness. Problem Ex. Estimates are that as many as 144,000 individuals with chronic mental illnesses now live on the streets and another 440,000 are incarcerated in jails and prisons across the country.
Recent Decades and Current Trends of Treatment (Outpatient Care)
Outpatient care is now the primary form of care. When patients do need more intensive care, they are placed in an institution for a short time with hopes of going back to outpatient forms of therapies. This has been helpful for many people, but there is a lack of community programs. It is estimated that 40 to 60 percent of people w/ severe disturbances receive treatments of any kind.
