Introductions Flashcards
List approaches throughout history to identify psychopathology
- Supernatural and religious
- Biological approaches
- Psychological approaches
- Physiological approaches
- Sociocultural bias towards medication
Describe the supernatural and religious approach
Possession, structured religious ideas e.g. committing sins and being punished, exorcisms; the devil
Describe the biological approach
Has a basis in humours and anatomy
Describe psychological approaches
Started around the 1800s, asylums began to be thought of an inhumane, trying to work with people to see common symptoms, Freud started to think about psychological issues
Describe physiological approaches
This approach merged knowledge of anatomical structure with understanding of physiological functioning
What is the medical model?
Suggests that when someone has a disease, established treatments for the disease will help it remediate
What are the cons of using the medical model?
- there is not one clear causal pathway
- doesn’t tell us when disorders are serious enough for treatment
- most mental disorders are multi factorial
- many disorders appear to be normal aspects of human experience, just at extreme levels or rigid patterns
What are the pros of using the medical model?
Much of our research and classification has come from it and it can be good to help clients manage and cope with their symptoms
Describe the diathesis-stress approach
View that mental disorder onset is explained by both diathesis and stressors
Define diathesis
Things that render an individual vulnerable to development of a mental disorder; could be genetics, early childhood experiences, personality etc
Define stress (as in diathesis-stress)
Environmental triggers promoting the onset of a mental disorder e.g bereavement, work etc
Describe the biopsychosocial model
Considers the biological, psychological and social factors associated with client difficulties
List some biological examples of the biopsychosocial model
High blood pressure, cancer, brain injury, neurotransmitter function
List some psychological examples of the biopsychosocial model
Personality traits, cognitive functioning, attachment style
List some social examples of the biopsychosocial model
Romantic relationships, workplace satisfaction, identification as cultural minority
List the four case formulation factors in order
- predisposing
- precipitating
- perpetuating
- protective