Defining Mental Health & Disorder

Question 1

Definition of Mental Health

Answer 1

State of well-being
Individual realises their own potential
Can cope with normal life stressors
Can work productively 
Are able to contribute to their community

Question 2

Definition of Health

Answer 2

A state of complete physical, mental & social well-being

Not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Question 3

Ways to measure deviance from normality

Answer 3

Psychometric approach;
Psychological measurements are abnormal when they deviate from average, ask people how they’re feeling, e.g IQ

Difference approach;
Behaviour out of character for individual
Need to know lots about individual, groups they’re involved in, how they behave in different groups

Question 4

The Statistical Model

Answer 4

What is normal

Does abnormality define psychopathology

Question 5

Cultural-Relativism

Answer 5

Classification of deviance depends on social group & culture

Religion, body piercings, eccentric or psychopathology?

Question 6

Definition of Mental Disorder/Illness

Answer 6

Psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning & a response that is not typical or culturally expected

Not always clear, cultural influences

Question 7

Historical Conceptions of mental health

Answer 7

Models overlap

Being more or less predominant

Question 8

Biological Perspective

Answer 8

Hippocrates (460-377 BC)
Psychological disorders can be treated like any other disease
Hereditary causes, head trauma/brain pathology
Hysteria
Galen (129-198 AD)
Humoral theory of disorders
Normal brain function related to blood, bile & phlegm
First example of chemical imbalance approach

Question 9

Psychological Perspective

Answer 9

Plato (428 BC)
Believes causes of maladaptive behaviour were social & cultural
Using reason to dominate over maladaptive responses

Moral therapy (19th century)
Treating patients in settings encouraging social interaction 
Reduced restraint (Pinel)
Asylum reform

Question 12

Supernatural model

Answer 12

Demonology
Ancient civilisation13-14th century
Unexplainable & irrational behaviour is evil
Caused by force in person
Christianity, exorcism, Salem witch trials (17th)
Treatment: scare evil spirit out
Large scale outbreaks of bizarre behaviour
Neuner: Ugandan child soldiers, spirit possession
May be a way of explaining dissociative symptoms caused by trauma

Question 13

Hypnosis & Salpetriere

Answer 13

Mesmer (1734-1815);
Psychiatric problems caused by undetectable fluid called animal magnetism

Charcot (1825-1893);
Power of suggestion, hypnosis as treatment
Freud studied with Charcot from 1855
Discovery of unconscious mind

Question 14

Hysteria

Answer 14

General psychological complaints of women
Up to late 19th century
Excessive nervousness, irritability, loss of appetite & insomnia
Believed to be caused by wandering womb due to sexual frustration

Question 15

Astrology

Answer 15

16th century
Moon & stars affect psychological functioning
Lunatic

Question 16

Notable psychologists of the Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 16

Freud (1856-1939); Austrian neurologist

Jung (1875-1961); collective consciousness

Adler (1879-1937); inferiority complex

Maslow (1908-1970); hierarchy of needs

Question 17

Freud

Answer 17

Catharsis; therapeutic value of recalling emotional trauma
Insight; relationship between emotions & earlier events
Case observation methodology
OAPLG psychosexual stages
Distinctive patterns of gratifying basic needs & satisfying pleasure drive
Neuroses; neurotic disorders, all non-psychotic disorders result from unconscious conflicts

Question 18

Behaviour model

Answer 18

More scientific approach
Way in which learning & adaptation effect psychopathology

Pavlov (1849-1936); conditioning

Watson (1878-1958); founder of behaviourism, little Albert
systematic desensitisation used to existinguish fear

Question 19

Integrative Approach

Answer 19

Biological, psychological & social aspects interact
Scientific methodologies limit ability to investigate interaction between these components
Realisation that no influence ever occurs in isolation

Question 20

The 19th century

Answer 20

Syphilis;
Psychotic experiences such as delusion of persecution & grandeur
Caused by bacterial infection in brain
Penicillin effective or die within 5 yrs
John Grey (1854)
Developed lunatic asylum, contained symptoms until found cure

Question 21

The beginnings of classification

Answer 21

Kraeplin (1856-1926); German psychiatrist
Asylums allowed for systematic study of symptoms
First to record symptoms in asylums
Grouped symptoms into disorders based on course & age of onset
First person to describe schizophrenia