lecture 2 Flashcards
What is a Paradigm
- …a set of basic assumptions, a general perspective, that
defines how to: - conceptualize and study a subject
- gather and interpret relevant data
- think about a particular subject
- A paradigm is a framework, or perspective, that shapes
the way we think about problems in the world (in our
case, human behaviour).
Paradigms in the Study of Mental
Disorders
- Biological Paradigm
- Cognitive-Behavioural Paradigm
-Behavioural perspective - Cognitive perspective
- Psychoanalytic paradigm
- Humanistic Paradigm
- Integrative Paradigms
- Diathesis–stress
- Biopsychosocial
Etiology
the cause or origin of a disease
Symptomatology
the study of, or the treatment of, the
symptoms of a disease
Biological Paradigm
Mental disorders caused by aberrant or
defective biological processes
what does the biological paradigm focus on
Focuses on
* Genetic Heritability
* Neurochemical Communication
* Brain Structure
Focus on interaction between organic functioning
(genetics, physiological & neurological systems) and
behaviour (normal & abnormal).
Genotype
unobservable genetic constitution
* The total genetic makeup of an individual
* Fixed at birth, but it should not be viewed as a static entity
Phenotype
totality of observable, behavioural
characteristics
* Dynamic (i.e., it changes over time)
* Product of an interaction between genotype and environment
Family method
Can be used to study a genetic
predisposition among members of a
family b/c the average number of
genes shared by two blood relatives is
known
* Index cases, or probands
* Individuals who bear the diagnosis in
question.
Twin method
- Concordance rates
- When the MZ concordance rate is higher
than the DZ rate, the characteristic being
studied is said to be heritable.
adoptees method
In the adoptees’ study method, researchers identify proband birth parents with a certain characteristic (e.g., alcoholism) and then examine the outcome of these probands’ adopted-away children.
Molecular genetic studies identify:
which genes are involved
in behavioural disorders
Linkage analysis
uses genetic markers as a clue in locating
genes controlling disorders
Genetic Marker
a gene for which we know the location and
function.
* Genes have a tendency to be passed along in clusters, so if we can
find some characteristic that is generally inherited along with the
disorder (and if we know the gene location for that characteristic),
then we can look at nearby genes to find a gene for the disorder.10
Molecular Genetics: Method
Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD):
The second most common type of dementia other
than Alzheimer’s disease
Epigenetics
heritable changes in gene activity that are
caused by environmental experience
Dias & Ressler (2014)
- Examined an inherited fear response
- Trained male mice to fear the smell of acetophenone (a chemical scent comparable to cherries or almonds) by
exposing them to the smell while being given a series of electric shocks - The mice eventually gave a fear response (shuddering) to the smell
-The mice were then bred, and the offspring were tested
with the smell (descendants had no contact with male
parent)
Each neuron has four major parts:
- (1) the cell body
- (2) several dendrites
- (3) one or more axons of varying lengths
- (4) terminal buttons
Nerve impulse
A change in the electric potential of the cell that
travels down the axon to the terminal endings
Synapse and neurotransmitters
Chemical substances that allow a nerve impulse
to cross the synapse.
Mental Disorder in regards to synapse
Imbalance in levels of
one or more
neurotransmitters
* Receptors are the issue
Neurotransmitters & Abnormal Behaviour
Abnormal behaviour can result from disturbances in
neurotransmitter systems in various ways:
* Too much/little of the neurotransmitter produced or released
* Too few/many receptors on the dendrites
* Excess/deficit of the transmitter-deactivating substance in
the synapse
* Reuptake process may be too rapid/slow
* In addition, the effects may change depending on the
location of the disturbance
Biological Approaches to Treatment of mental disorders
Prevention or treatment of mental disorders should
be possible by altering bodily functioning
* Psychoactive medications
* Deep brain stimulation
Behavioral Paradigm: Learning
- Learning is an adaptive process in which the tendency to perform a particular behaviour is changed by experience.
- Behavioural theories attempt to relate units of behaviour, called responses, to units of the environment, called stimuli.
Behavioral Paradigm:
Classical Conditioning
- Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
- Unconditioned response (UCR)
- Conditioned stimulus (CS)
- Conditioned response (CR)
What happens to the CR when the repeated CS is not
followed by UCS
fewer and fewer CRs are elicited and
the CR gradually disappears
Conditioned
Emotional Responses
- Many stimuli are able to arouse emotional responses
- Phobias are probably an example of a conditioned
emotional response
- Phobias
an unreasonable fear of specific objects or situations, learned through classical conditioning
The Two-factor Theory of Avoidance Learning in phobias (Mowrer, 1947)
- Classical conditioning establishes the aversive response to the
neutral stimulus - Thereafter, the organism avoids the CS in order to prevent
feeling afraid. This removal/avoidance of the CS diminishes the
fear response (which is rewarding the avoidant behaviour)
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
- Behaviour that is followed by + consequences will be repeated.
- Behaviour that is followed by – consequences will be
discouraged.
positive and negative reinforcement
- Positive reinforcement: Strengthening of a tendency to respond
by virtue of the presentation of a pleasant event - Positive
reinforcer - Negative reinforcement: Strengthens a response by the
removal of aversive events
Behaviour Modification
- Uses extinction
- Not giving the desired reaction to the problem
behaviour - Combined with reinforcement
-Giving some sort of reward, such as parental
attention, when the individual is engaging in a desired behaviour
Cognitive Perspective:
- Focuses on abnormal behavior as the product of dysfunctional or
faulty beliefs - Many psychological disorders involve cognitive disturbances
(hallucinations, disordered thinking, irrational thought patterns &
beliefs) - Cognitive disturbances may be the cause of some disorders
(maladaptive attributions, learned helplessness)
Cognitive Distortions
Disorders are often associated with specific patterns of
faulty or disordered thinking
* Magnification
* Overgeneralization
* Selective abstraction
Negative Cognitive Triad
Pessimistic view of the self, the world, and the future
Cognitive Appraisal and its attributions
evaluating the stimulus and/or
interpreting the situation
- Attributions:
- events happen
- we attempt to explain “why” the event happened (search for
a cause) - we come up with a “causal ascription” (an explanation of why
the event occurred)
Learned Helplessness
When a person faces uncontrollable stress in their
lives, they are at risk of becoming depressed.
The individual makes an attribution that they have no
control, and this leads to feeling depressed
Hankin 2008
Assessed 350 youth (ages 11-17) in four waves over five
months
* Measured: cognitive style, anxious and depressive
symptoms, mood state, general internalizing (emotional)
and externalizing (conduct, hyperactivity-inattention)
emotional and behavioural problems, and life events
* Results using hierarchical linear modeling show that a
negative inferential style interacted with negative events to
predict prospective symptoms depression
irrational beliefs
maladaptive behaviour is due to the
individual’s response to events. Responses are based on
irrational beliefs about the world
a belief is irrational if:
it distorts reality, it is illogical, it
prevents you from reaching your goals, it leads to unhealthy
emotions, it leads to self-defeating behaviours
psychoanalytic paradigm
- ID (pleasure)
-Ego (reality)
-Superego (perfection)
objective anxiety
When one’s life is in jeopardy, one feels objective
(realistic) anxiety—the ego’s reaction, according to
Freud, to danger in the external world.
neurotic anxiety
a feeling of fear that is not connected to reality or to any
real threat.
moral anxiety
arises when the impulses of the superego punish an
individual for not meeting expectations and thereby
satisfying the principle that drives the superego—
namely, the perfection principle
psychoanalytic therapy
An insight therapy that attempts to remove the earlier
repression and help the client face the childhood conflict,
gain insight into it, and resolve it in the light of adult reality.
- free association
- dream analysis.
Key components:
- transference
- countertransference
- interpretation
interpersonal psychotherapy
- Focus on current interpersonal difficulties and discuss with
client ways of relating to others. - No free association, dream analysis, indefinite treatment,
dissection of early childhood, or dependence on
therapist/treatment. - Shown to be an efficacious treatment relative to other
treatments - But less so for clients in treatment for depression and who
experienced childhood abuse or maltreatment
why is the psychoanalytic paradigm still relevant?
- Long-term psychoanalytic therapy has a moderate-to-high
success rate - Short-term psychodynamic therapy is better than waitlist,
TAU, and other comparable treatments
The humanistic paradigm
Emphasis is on the conscious awareness of needs, choice,
and personal responsibility
* Human nature is positive and life-affirming
* Human need for growth and realizing one’s full potential
Approach is a counter/response to psychoanalytic and
behavioural traditions, both of which hold that people
have little free will in determining their actions
Carl rogers
Focused on ways to foster and attain self-actualization
* Self-actualization: Working toward reaching our highest
potential in all areas of functioning. Not being
distracted by other, more basic, motives
* Fully functioning person: Person who is working toward
self-actualization
* All individuals have an innate need for positive regard
-Anxiety results when people get off track in pursuit of
self-actualization
the humanistic paradigm, three basic premises provide the foundation for therapy:
- Phenomenological Approach: Importance of
understanding and entering into the patient’s
subjective world - Positive Growth: The promise of human potential and
its uniqueness - Free Will: The importance of authenticity and its
relation to freedom and responsibility
Diathesis-stress model
Diathesis: some predisposition that increases the
risk/susceptibility for developing a disorder
* Diatheses can be either biological (genetic coding for the
functioning of a particular neurotransmitter system;
teratogens during gestation) or psychological (childhood
abuse; cultural pressures; cognitive style)
* Stress: the predisposition will not necessarily lead to the
development of a disorder without some stress to act as
a trigger
* Stressors can be biological (a physical illness), psychological
(relationship stress, or mourning the loss of a loved one), or
social (cultural pressure to meet certain standards)
three research focuses of stress
- The environment: stress as a stimulus (stressors)
- Reaction to stress: stress as a response (distress)
- Stress as a process that includes stressors and
strains, but includes relationship between person
and the environment (coping)
defining stress
“The circumstance in which transactions lead a
person to perceive a discrepancy between the
physical or psychological demands of a situation
and the resources of his or her biological,
psychological, or social systems.
transactional model
1) Encounter a potentially stressful event or situation
2) Cognitive appraisals:
* Primary appraisal – is this event positive, neutral
or negative; and if negative, how bad?
* Secondary appraisal – do I have the resources or skills to handle the event or demand of the situation?
