Intro to Child Psychopathology Flashcards
What is illness anxiety disorder?
Being afraid that you have a really serious illness that nobody has identified yet and it’s going to emerge at some point soon but its not a current medical emergency
ex: seeing a mark on your skin and thinking that it means you have a serious skin disorder
What is panic disorder?
Becoming afraid of a normal body sensation (ex: pain in the chest) that feels like a current medical emergency but is not
ex: misinterpreting the sensations of anxiety as a heart attack or a medical emergency
what does the duration of a panic attack look like?
Peaks within a few minutes
- quickly ramps up, reaches a peak and slowly calms down
Where do people with panic disorder generally end up?
- The emergency room
- They think they are having an extreme medical emergency but it’s just a panic attack
How can we treat a panic disorder/panic attack?
Bring on the sensations the person is afraid of on purpose = interoceptive exposure
ex: hyperventilate on purpose, jog on the spot
What are we talking about when discussing psychological disorders?
something that is related to the brain (mind): the most complicated entity that we know about in the entire universe at this point
Differences in the brain (everything causes differences)
What is something we tend to do when talking about psychopathologies that relate to the brain?
- end up with oversimplified explanations
- but just because a system is highly complex and we don’t understand it doesn’t mean we can’t do anything to make it run better/worse
Naming 3 things, how are children different from adults?
- children experience rapid developmental changes (emotions, language, relationships, cognitive functions)
- patterns of development are not the same for every child
- can be challenging when identifying how different is different enough to label something a psychopathology - Children depend on adults
Infancy
- a lot of social interactions at 8-9 months
- very dependent on parents
- a lot of learning and developmental change and they don’t remember any of it
- they get moody, burst into tears, and cry, and then just a moment later they smile and laugh (totally normal for a baby)
- If an adult were to do this we would
think they have a psychological disorder,
some kind of emotional imbalance
Toddlerhood: 2
- start walking around and say more words
- Interactions may occur between toddlers: stealing toys, and a lot of hitting
- executive functioning is still very early in development, and there is not a lot of inhibition
- they don’t solve traditional theory of mind tasks very well
Preschoolers: 3-5
- they are funny, and can hold a full conversation
- brand new and say interesting things
- 3 and 5 year olds are very different animals, no game will work for both ages - 5 yr olds are way more advanced
School age: 6-10
- core years of elementary school and a huge amount of development
- learning to read and write
- reading and writing are not innate, so it is incredible we can teach people who are 6 how to do that
- Socially: friendships, increasing intimacy in peer relationships, becomes clear what people are interested in (individual differences), increase in emotional control, vocabulary increases
What is the difference between age 6 and 9 on a vocabulary subtest of the WISC?
- The average vocabulary score (WISC) at age 6 is in the 2nd percentile by age 9 (2 SDs!)
- age 9 and age 6 would have different average raw scores
- If you were 9 and got the same score as the average 6-year-old, we would say there is an intellectual disability
What is the difference between age 6 and 9 on a digit span subtest of the WISC?
- The average digit span score at age 6 is in the 5th percentile by age 9 (that’s 1.67 SDs!)
- Big difference again
Preadolescence: 11-12
- puberty is just getting started/ has started
- increasing complexity in social relationships and intimacy between peers
- transition from becoming more peer-oriented than parent-oriented
- more conceptual cognitively
- better capacity to imagine possible futures
- the social world is becoming more and more complicated
What is the difference between grade 3 and grade 11 on a Self-report anxiety scale: RCADS?
- the average RCADS anxiety score at Grade 3 would be at the 81st percentile by Grade 11 (that’s 0.75 of an SD)
- that’s a big difference
- why: young children are afraid of death, being kidnapped, afraid of the dark, separation fear, fear of bugs, fear of being injured
adolescence: 13-17
- further complexity in emotional development
- romantic relationships
- identity development + exploration
- body of an adult
- challenging adult authority
- mainly more present-oriented
Ex: cutting behaviour example - didn’t think ahead to what the cuts would look like when wearing a bathing suit in the summer
emerging adulthood: 18-29
- more freedoms and all the decisions matter more
- a lot of identity exploration
- clarifying values
- trying to work out religiosity, spirituality
- work, finances
- romantic relationships, separating from parents
- autonomy
does abnormality = statistically uncommon? why?
in some ways but not a perfect way of determining psychopathology
ex: If below the second percentile on a cognitive test, it’s likely you have an intellectual disability (2% of test takers fall in that range) but we also have the top 2% that fall in that range which is also statistically uncommon (intellectual giftedness - wouldn’t consider this a psychopathology)
does abnormality = significant distress? why?
also not a perfect way of determining psychopathology
ex: it’s normal to experience distress when, for example, losing someone
ex: Ego-syntonic (ex: eating disorder and being content with controlling eating behavior) vs. ego-dystonic (Candice doesn’t like that she does all of these things to prevent a panic attack)
does abnormality = impairment in social or school functioning? why?
not a good way to define
- how much impairment is enough impairment?
what is a characteristic of “abnormality”? and what are 2 ways of getting to a disorder?
not dependent on CAUSE
(exception: PTSD - we know it is caused by the traumatic stress)
multifinality + equifinality
multifinality
same cause, multiple final outcomes
ex: early childhood maltreatment can cause an ED, mood disorder, and conduct disorder
equifinality
different causes, same final outcome
ex: a genetic pattern + familial characteristics + environment can cause conduct disorder
Etiology
- factors that contribute to the development of psychological disorder
- for any one person, we can’t say exactly what the etiological factors are
- psychopathology researchers and clinicians use theories of etiology to help explain disorders and allow treatments to be rationally derived
not one theory of etiology can adequately explain all psychological disorders ( biological, cognitive-behavioral, attachment, family systems, psychodynamic)
Etiology: Diathesis-Stress
- diathesis (pre-disposition) and stress (some external circumstance) are both necessary for the emergence of psychopathology
- having a predisposition (vulnerability factor) that makes it possible to develop a psychological disorder and then something happens (a stressor) and in combination it begins the process of a psychological disorder and this theory
- can be biological, psychological or social
Bio-Psycho-Social Model: what are the potential biological, psychological,and social factors that come together that contribute to developing a psychological disorder?
Biological: Semi-heritable trait/ heritable traits
Psychological: Beliefs about responsibility/ body sensations (panic disorder)
Social: Media: social media, T.V show
