Chapter 1 - History of Abnormal Psychology Flashcards
What is Abnormal Psychology?
The field devoted to the scientific study of abnormal behaviour undertaken to describe, predict, explain and change abnormal patterns of functioning
What do Clinical scientists do?
Gather information systematically so as to describe, predict, and explain abnormal psychology
What do Clinical practitioners?
Use the knowledge acquired by clinical scientists to detect, assess, and treat abnormal patterns of functioning
What are norms?
A society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct
Often called the 4 D’s to describe the patterns of psychological abnormality, What are the certain features common in most definitions of abnormality?
Deviance, Distress, Dysfunction, and Danger
What is abnormal behaviour, thoughts, and emotions?
Those that differ from a society’s ideas about proper psychological functioning
Do judgments about what constitutes abnormality vary from society to society?
Yes, they differ as a society’s norm grow from its particular culture
Can a society’s understanding of what is psychologically abnormal change?
Yes, when a society’s values change, what is defined as psychologically abnormal can change too
What constitutes abnormality?
specific circumstances (context) as well as cultural norms, it can be unusual but explainable
Is Danger the exception or the rule?
Research suggests that danger is actually more often the exception as most people struggling with anxiety, depression, etc pose no immediate danger to themselves or others
What is eccentricity?
an unusual pattern with which others have no right to interefere
Behaviour considered abnormal requires?
intervention, if a professional does not deem the unusual behaviour as abnormal than it is considered eccentric
What is psychological abnormalities?
Patterns of functioning that are deviant, distressful, dysfunctional, and sometimes dangerous (vague and subjective)
What is therapy/treatment?
A procedure designed to change abnormal behaviour into more normal behaviour
What is needed to be considered therapy/treatment
A special, systematic procedure for helping the client overcome their psychological difficulties, its designed to change abnormal behaviour into more normal behaviour
What are the three essential features of therapy?
- A sufferer who seeks relief from the healer
- A trained, socially accepted healer, whose expertise is accepted by the sufferer and his or her social group
- A series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer
Job of the healer?
To produce certain changes in the sufferer’s emotional state, attitudes, and behaviour
Clinicians who see abnormality as a illness define the person as
A patient
Clinicians who see abnormality as a problem in living define the person as
A client
What is trephination
An ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skill to treat abnormal behaviour
In ancient times, how was abnormality interpreted?
Abnormal behaviour was typically interpreted as a victory by evil spirits, and the cure for such behaviour was to force the demons from a victims’s body
What is proof of how early societies interpreted abnormality?
Egyptian, Chinese, and Hebrew writings as well as the Bible, all account for psychological deviance in this way
What would these early societies do to cure it?
Exorcisms, idea to coax the evil spirits to leave the body or make the body “uncomfortable” to live in
What are the Greek and Roman Views of abnormality?
Hippocrates taught that illnesses had natural causes, abnormal behaviour was a disease arising from internal physical problems
What is Hippocrate’s theory?
Abnormality was the cause of brain pathology that resulted from an imbalance of four fluids/humors and brain disease
What are humors?
Bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning (personality). Yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm
What are the Greek and Roman treatments of abnormality?
Hippocrates sought to correct the underlying physical pathology
What were the beliefs in Europe during the Middle Ages concerning abnormality?
Demonology returns, a growing distrust of science spread through Europe as the power of the clergy increased, religious beliefs fuelled the belief that abnormality was the cause of demons “Satan’s influence”
What were the outbreaks of mass madness during the Middle Ages?
Large numbers of people shared delusions and hallucinations
What caused societies to reject demons as the cause of abnormality?
Governments were formed and as part of their responsibilities, they ran hospitals and direct care of people suffering from mental disorders
Who is Johann Weyer?
the first physician to specialize in mental illness, believed the mind was as susceptible to sickness as the body was. Considered the founder of the modern study of psychopathology
What do community mental health programs show us?
They demonstrate that people with psychological disorders can respond to loving care and respectful treatments
What lead to the creation of Asylums?
Mental hospitals, private homes and community residences could only house a small percentage of those with severe mental disorders
What is an Asylum?
A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for persons with mental disorders.
What was the problem with Asylums?
As they begun to overflow, they became virtual prisons where patients were held in filthy conditions and treated cruelly
What is Moral Treatment?
A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment. Care became individualized to the person
Who is Benjamin Rush?
The father of American Psychiatry, he developed humane approaches to treatment
Who is Dorothea Dix?
She made humane care a public and political concern in the United States, spoke to state legislatures about the horrors of asylums
What was Dorothea Dix’s impact?
Her campaign led to new laws and greater government funding to improve the treatment of people with mental disorders
What caused the decline of Moral Treatment?
As mental hospitals multiplied, severe money and staffing shortages developed, recovery rates declined, and overcrowding in hospitals became a major problem
What was another factor that caused the decline of Moral Treatment?
The assumption behind moral treatment that all patients could be cured if treated with inhumanity, some patients required more effective treatments that had yet to be developed
What was another factor that caused the decline of Moral Treatment?
The emergence of a new wave of prejudice against people with mental disorders. The public came to view them as strange and dangerous, as well as racial and class discrimination
What is the Somatogenic perspective?
The view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes
What triggered the rise of the somatogenic perspective?
Discovery that an organic disease, syphilis, led to general paresis, an irreversible disorder with both mental and physical symptoms
Who is Emil Kraepelin?
Argued that physical factors, such as fatigue, are responsible for mental dysfunction. He developed the first modern system for classifying abnormal behaviour, listing their physical causes and discussing their expected course. Supporting the somatogenic perspective
What is a lobotomy?
A surgical cutting of certain nerve fibres in the brain
What is the Psychogenic perspective?
The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological
What supported the psychogenic perspective?
Hypnotism
What is hypnotism?
A procedure in which a person is placed in a trancelike mental state during which he or she becomes extremely suggestible
What are hysterical disorders?
Mysterious bodily ailments that had no apparent physical basis
What conclusions were made about hypnotism?
A mental process - hypnotic suggestion- could both cause and cure even a physical dysfunction
What is psychoanalysis?
Developed by Sigmund Freud, is the theory/treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of abnormal and normal psychological functioning (psychopathology - psychogenic)
How did Freud help develop the technique of psychoanalysis?
A form of discussion in which clinicians help troubled people gain insight into their unconscious psychological processes. Did not require hypnotic procedures to overcome their problems
What is outpatient therapy?
A form of psychoanalytic therapy where patients sat in their offices for sessions of approximately an hour, most common form of treatment instead of institutionalizing people
What does deinstitutionalization mean?
The practice, begun in the 1960’s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from the public mental hospitals due to new discoveries in medications
What are psychotropic medications?
Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction
What are antipsychotic drugs?
medication that corrects extremely confused and distorted thinking
For example, antidepressant drugs, antianxiety drugs
How does institutionalization work now?
Typically those who need institutionalization, remain there for a short period of time and then provided with outpatient psychotherapy and medication in community programs/residences
How has outpatient care grown since the 1950’s?
Outpatient care now includes programs devoted exclusively to specific psychological problems example suicide prevention centers
What is the importance of prevention?
Many community programs try to correct the social conditions that underlie psychological problems (example violence in the community) and to help those who are at risk of developing emotional problems
What is positive psychology?
The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities (social skills
How do clinical practitioners use positive psychology treatment?
Teach people coping skills to help protect them from stress and adversity while encouraging them to become more involved in personally meaningful activities and relationships - thus helping to prevent mental disorders
What is multicultural psychology?
The field that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity and gender on behaviours and thoughts.
Focuses on how such factors may influence the origin, nature, and treatment of abnormal behaviour
What do multicultural psychologists do?
Seek to understand how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors affect behavior and thoughts and how people of different cultures, races, genders may differ psychologically
What are managed care programs?
Programs in which the insurance company determines such key issues as which therapists its clients may choose, the cost of sessions, and the number of sessions for which a client may be reimbursed
What are the new schools of thought that have emerged since psychoanalytic theory?
Biological, cognitive-biological, humanistic-existential, sociocultural, and developmental
What do clinical researchers do?
Work to determine which concepts best explain and predict abnormal behavior, which treatments are most effective, and what kinds of changes may be required
What is telemental health?
The use of digital technologies to deliver mental health services without the therapist being physically present
