Intro to Psychopathology Flashcards
psychopathology
- aka: abnormal behaviour
- behaviour considered pathological when it comes more intense/frequent than normal behaviour
- creates problems for defining abnormality: where do you draw the line between normal, eccentric/idiosyncratic, and abnormal?
- – at any time, 30% of population have symptoms of depression or anxiety that qualify for treatment
examples of normal behaviours vs. psychopathology
- depression: most people feel depressed, identify source, cope, and then it goes away (normal) BUT some people feel intense depression that influences ability to do normal tasks, without identifiable reason (pathological)
- anxiety: most people feel anxious, are motivated to get rid of anxiety, and it passes once the anxiety-invoking event is over (normal) BUT some people experience intense anxiety at any time for no identifiable reason (pathological)
- intrusive thoughts/mental intrusions: most people get thoughts/songs stuck in their head for a bit (normal) BUT some have intrusive thoughts 30-40x/minute -> can’t concentrate or carry a conversation (pathological)
- lapses/alterations in consciousness: most people drive “on autopilot” or read textbooks without consciously processing info (normal), BUT some do this for extended periods of time (weeks, months, years, etc.) (pathological)
Medical Student Syndrome
Medical students studying a particular disease come to believe that they have it – same thing can happen to psych students studying personality disorders
Approaches to Defining Abnormality
- Statistical Approach
- Subjective Discomfort Approach
- Maladaptive Functioning Approach
Statistical Approach
- Comparing someone’s behaviour with societal norms for behaviour
- ex. Naked man on Robson (doesn’t fit societal norms for behaviour)
- Limitation: difficult to define what a statistical norm is (ie. alcoholism - used to be 1 drink/day but now that’s healthy; it’s common for college students binge drink, should that be taken into account? etc.)
Subjective Discomfort Approach
- Asking people to define for themselves what behaviour is normal or abnormal for them
- ex. Person working with snakes might say their snake discomfort is abnormal, even if it’s normal for the rest of the population
- Limitation: individuals may not always have enough insight to feel their behaviour is a problem
Maladaptive Functioning Approach
- professionals interview/test people to determine whether their behaviour is pathological or not (ex. someone who lost their wife and job because of their drinking)
- examines 2 spheres: interpersonal sphere (interfering with ability to form interpersonal relationships) and achievement sphere (interfering with ability to be successful in school/career)
2 hallmarks of schizophrenia
- Hallucinations: Seeing/hearing things that others can’t
- Delusions: unusual, atypical beliefs (ie. small aliens live in lecture hall)
Issues regarding defining abnormality
- Discrete vs. continuous/constant vs. changing
- temporal element
Issues: discrete vs. continuous/constant vs. changing
- Viewing normal vs. abnormal as a dichotomy (2 discrete categories) doesn’t always work
- Better to think of it as a continuum between normal and abnormal
- BUT DSM-5 is a binary/dichotomous system (you either have the disorder or you don’t)
Issues: Temporal element
- something that’s normal in childhood may be abnormal in adulthood
- ex. if an adult comes in to your office, curls up into a ball and struggles to interact -> as a child they lived in an abusive family where being invisible kept them safe, BUT this behaviour is not adaptive in adulthood (where standing out is necessary for getting jobs, relationships, etc.)
Normal Distribution of Behaviour
Very few people who are so maladaptive that they need full-time care, and very few people who aren’t at all negatively affected by stress, depression, etc. -> most of us are in the normal curve
Harmful Dysfunction
1) Some adaptive internal mechanism is not performing normal function
2) Causes some harm
Getting Diagnosed
- Need to have a certain number of symptoms (ex. Depression: 9/12 symptoms)
- Still a binary decision (you either have it or you don’t)
- Sub-clinical levels: having symptoms that don’t meet the threshold for diagnosis
Results of “Human Face of Mental Health & Mental Illness in Canada” survey (2006)
- 3 disorders most common: depression (ie. major depressive episode), anxiety (ie. social phobia), substance dependence (ie. alcohol dependence)
- 1 in 10 people have one of the above 3 disorders
- 1 in 20 meet criteria for mood disorder or an anxiety disorer (ie. panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia)
- 1 in 30 met criteria for substance abuse (drug or alcohol)
- no major differences between provinces, but NFLD & PEI had best results, QB showed low
