Lecture 1: Introduction and History Flashcards
What is clinical psychology?
The study of psychopathology. The field concerned with the nature, development and treatment of psychological disorders
What is stigma concerning clinical psychology?
Stigma = destructive beliefs/attitudes held by society that are ascribed to groups considered different in some manner
People with psychological disorders are often stigmatized
What are the 4 characteristics of stigma?
- Label is applied to a group of people that distinguishes them from others
- Label is linked to deviant/undesirable attributes by society
- People with label are seen as essentially different from those without the label (us vs. them)
- People with label are discriminated against unfairly
What are 2 factors that can reduce stigma?
- Contact: get contact with someone with a disorder
- Familiarity: whether a person knows someone with a disorder
How can greater familiarity (e.g. as a caretaker or mental health professional) be associated with more stigma?
Family burden and job burnout can foster stigma. So it’s important that these people also are provided with support
What does DSM-5 stand for?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition
What are the 6 aspects of a mental disorder concerning the DSM?
- Disorder is within an individual
- Involves clinically significant difficulties in thinking, feeling and behaving
- Involves personal distress
- Involves dysfunction in processes that support mental functioning
- Not culturally specific reaction to an event
- Not primarily result of social deviance/conflict with society
What are 3 key characteristics of psychological disorders?
- Personal distress
- Disability and dysfunction
- Violation of social norms
What is personal distress in a psychological disorder?
Suffering from distress in a disorder. But not all behavior that causes distress is disordered.
What is disability and dysfunction in a psychological disorder?
Disability = impairment in some important area of life
Dysfunction = something that has gone wrong and isn’t working as it should
What is violation of social norms in a psychological disorder?
Social norms are beliefs that people use to make judgments about whether a behavior is right or wrong. If someone violates this, it can be seen as disordered.
What were explanations of mental disorders before the age of scientific inquiry?
Supernatural explanations, displeasure of gods, possession by demons, bad spirits
What is exorcism?
Ritualistic casting out of evil spirits
Why were Hippocrates’ views so changing for his time?
He rejected Greek belief that the gods sent mental disturbances as punishment and insisted that such illnesses had natural causes and should be treated like other common maladies
What was Hippocrates’ explanation of the brain?
It was the organ for consciousness, intellect and emotion. Disordered thinking/behavior were indications of brain pathology
What were Hippocrates’ 3 categories of psychological disorders?
- Mania
- Melancholia
- Phrenetis/brain fever
With which 4 body fluids did Hippocrates explain healthy brain functioning?
- Blood
- Black bile (secreted by kidneys)
- Yellow bile (vomit)
- Phlegm (nose/mouth slime)
What was the main belief about the cause of psychological disorders in the middle ages (dark ages)?
Belief in supernatural causes
What are asylums? When were they constituted?
Hospitals for people with psychological disorders. The conditions in these hospitals were very poor
Established after 15th century
Why was Pinel an important person in the development of treatment?
Pinel was an important figure for more humane treatment of people with psychological disorders in the 18th century. He removed the chains of the people and thought people should be approached with compassion and understanding and treated with dignity
However lower class people were still subjected to terror
What is the moral treatment and how was it established? Who was an important person in this and why did her good ideas not last?
Humane treatment in asylums. People were encouraged to engage in purposeful activity and lived as close to normal as possible
Established in 19th century in America
Dorothea Dix made asylums more humane, but their good ideas didn’t last, since mental hospitals became overcrowded and understaffed
What was Pasteur’s germ theory of disease? (1870) What disease was important in this research?
Disease is caused by infection of the body by minute organisms
Syphilis
What was Galton’s importance for genetic research? Why is he controversial?
He attributed many behavioral characteristics to heredity and coined the terms nature and nurture to talk about differences in genetics and environment
Controversial: he sought to eliminate undesirable characteristics from population by restricting ability of certain people to have children
What encouraged experimentation with radical interventions in the 20th century?
More people went to mental hospitals and there was a shortage of professional staff
E.g. treatment of schizophrenia with large doses of insulin
What is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)? How was it developed and how is it used today?
Applying electric shocks to the head to people with schizophrenia and severe depression
Developed in the 20th century when people sought a way to induce epileptic seizures.
Used today in cases of very severe depression and the technique has been refined