Lecture 2 - Assessment, classification and diagnosis

Question 1

Psychiatric Epidemiology: Important Terms

Answer 1

Psychiatric Epidemiology =Frequency and distribution of traits in a population

*Prevalence: % of people in a population with a disorder at a
particular point in time.
-e.g., past month, year, or lifetime
* Incidence: the % of people who develop a disorder for the 1
st
time during a specific time period.
-1st onset cases.
*Risk Factor: for epidemiologists, a correlate (most often
demographic variables) associated with different disorders.
-Psychologists use this term to mean predictor, or cause.

Question 2

Prevalence of psychological disorders

Answer 2

See graphs

Why mental health worse in non college students (possibly)
-couldn’t afford college because of less resources (less ressources often correlated with poor mental health)
-can’t go to uni because of poor mental health
-not in college also very stressful jobs

Question 3

Etiological Models

Answer 3

Etiological Models = Cause of things… why

Environmental
*Environmental/
learning experiences
*Freudian theories
*“schizophrenogenic
mother” = lack of mother warmth caused schizophrenia
*“refrigerator mother” = lack of mother warmth caused autism
But if link, maybe could be because of genetic basis?

Genetics
*Genes are not deterministic
*Most genes are probabilistic
-Make small contributions (with other
genes) to create the ultimate
outcome
-Researchers identifying dozens of
genes that, in certain combinations,
lead to symptoms of different forms
of psychopathology
*Polygenic - influenced by many genes
-How many genes you have
determines where you fall on
dimension
Strong evidence that psychopathology runs in families
No mental illness has been found to be heritable, because genes are not deterministic
Ex: height, unlike mental illness, is heritable, but will not EXACTLY determine child’s height

Diathesis-Stress Models
Genes x environment interaction
Diathesis= vulnerability/predisposition (early experiences, attachment styles, cognitive abilities, genes(?))
Stress absent + diathesis absent = WELL
Stress absent + diathesis present = WELL
Diathesis absent + stress present = WELL
Diathesis present + stress present = ILL
*According to this model, only if you have both will you develop psychopathology
BUT
Different levels of diathesis and stress
Even if really low diathesis, if exposed to enough stress, can develop disorder
*Etiological
heterogeneity
*Assumes diathesis and
stress are independent
*Gene-Environment
Correlation

Vulnerability-Stress Correlations
*Often non-independent in important
ways
*Stress Generation
- e.g., excessive reassurance seeking
* “Scars” as vulnerability
*-Cognitive vulnerabilities following MDD
ep
*Vulnerability may shape perception of
the stress
*Stress can influence the development
of the diathesis
- Gestational stress and mental illness
Import

Question 4

Important terms in etiology

Answer 4

Equifinality:refers to how different early experiences in life (e.g., parental divorce, physical abuse, parental substance abuse) can lead to similar outcomes (e.g., childhood depression). In other words, there are many different early experiences that can lead to the same psychological disorder.
*Final common
pathway: motoneuron that forms the terminal step of one or more reflex circuits transmitting their stimuli to an effector end organ.
*Multifinality: This refers to people having similar histories (e.g., child sexual abuse, death of a parent, or a secure attachment history) yet their developmental outcomes can vary widely.

see VIDEO! I missed the beginning*