Lecture 1: Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present

Question 1

what is psychopathology

Answer 1

the scientific study of psychological dysfunction, with the aim of describing, predicting, explaining, and changing abnormal patterns of functioning

Question 2

psychological abnormality

Answer 2

four common features:
- deviance
- distress
- dysfunction
- danger

Question 3

deviance

Answer 3

abnormal behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that differ from a society’s ideas (norms/culture) about proper functioning

Question 4

distress

Answer 4

behaviors, thoughts, and emotions have to cause distress before they can be labelled abnormal

Question 5

dysfunction

Answer 5

abnormal behavior tends to interfere with daily functioning

Question 6

danger

Answer 6

behavior becomes dangerous to oneself or others

Question 7

Thomas Szasz

Answer 7

thought that the concept of mental illness is a myth because what is defined as abnormal depends on the society one lives in and not on problems with oneself

Question 8

eccentric

Answer 8

a person who deviates from common behavior patterns or displays odd behavior, out of pleasure and not a mental disorder

Question 9

treatment/therapy

Answer 9

systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior
- sufferer
- healer
- series of contacts

Question 10

trephination

Answer 10

during the stone age, circular sections of the skull were cut out with a stone (trephine) to let evil spirits out

Question 11

exorcism

Answer 11

Egyptian, Chinese, and Hebrew societies practiced forms of exorcism in which evil spirits were expelled from the body

Question 12

humors (bodily chemicals)

Answer 12

Hippocrates came up with the theory of humors and when there was an imbalance it resulted in illness
- treatment was changing your life, diet, or letting blood out

Question 13

middle ages

Answer 13

mental disorders had demonic causes

Question 14

renaissance

Answer 14

demonological views continued to decline

Question 15

Johann Weyer

Answer 15

• considered the founder of the modern study of psychopathology
• believed that the mind could get sick just like the body

Question 16

mid-sixteenth century

Answer 16

people with mental disorders were housed in asylums

Question 17

nineteenth century

Answer 17

moral treatment
- respectful and humane techniques

Question 18

Benjamin Rush

Answer 18

spread moral treatment in the United States and is considered the founder of American Psychiatry

Question 19

Dorothea Dix

Answer 19

made human care a political concern leading to state hospitals

Question 20

somatogenic perspective

Answer 20

abnormal functioning has physical causes

Question 21

psychogenic perspective

Answer 21

abnormal functioning has psychological causes

Question 22

psychoanalysis

Answer 22

Freud
- treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces

Question 23

psychotropic medications

Answer 23

drugs mainly affect the brain and reduce mental dysfunction
- development of these drugs led to deinstitutionalization

Question 24

managed care program

Answer 24

health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services

Question 25

telemental health

Answer 25

use of digital technologies to deliver mental health services without a therapist being physically present

Question 26

epidemiological study

Answer 26

form of correlational study that investigates the incidence (new cases) and prevalence (total cases) of a disorder in a population

Question 27

matched design

Answer 27

design that matches experimental participants with control participants who are similar in key characteristics

Question 28

analogue experiment

Answer 28

experimenters produce real life environment to conduct experiments