Lecture 3 - Theoretical Perspectives Part I Flashcards
What causes mental illness?
complex
clinical psychology seeks to understand …
… the nature of relationships among variables
- observe variables and outcome associations
Time factor of cause
- distal (distant, earlier) causal factors
- proximal (immediate) causal factors
- reinforcing contributory (cause maintains maladaptive behavior that is already occurring)
Bi-directionality
- cause or effect?
- bidirectional influence
- e.g. alcohol dependence w/ comorbid major depressive disorder
diathesis-stress models
combination of diathesis and stress to cause the disorder
diathesis
a predisposition to developing a disorder (biological, psychological, sociocultural)
stress
the response of an individual to demands perceived as taxing
influential factors
protective factors and resilience
protective factors
- modify stress response
- adverse consequences less likely
- e.g. the warmth of one parents/person in your life who validates you, you cares for you, who makes you feel you matter, who boosts your self esteem
resilience
- successful adaptation
- “overcoming the odds”
theoretical perspectives
- organize observations
- provide systems of thought
- suggest areas of focus
in clinical fields, referred to as Theoretical Orientation
the Biopsychosocial Model
integration of biological perspective, psychological perspective, sociocultural perspective, and biopsychosocial perspective
Biological Perspective
- genetics
- temperament
- neurotransmitters
- brain dysfunction
- neuroendocrine
- medical model is also included in this
Medical Model
- mental disorders are diseases
- posits that abnormal behaviors represent symptoms of underlying disorders or diseases (mental illnesses) that have biological causes
Impact of the biological perspective
- pharmacological and other biological interventions may alter the severity and course of certain mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia)
- generally accepted that most if not all behavior (normal and abnormal) has a biological substrate
- DSM-5; pros and cons of biological focus
the Psychological Perspective
- psychoanalytic (psychodynamic)
- behavioral
- cognitive-behavioral
(note: there is a historical progression)
Freud-Psychoanalytic Theory
- Psychological Problems arise from unconscious motives and conflicts that are traced back to childhood
- Revolve around primitive sexual and aggressive instincts
- Structure of the Mind: conscious, preconscious and unconscious
- Structure of Personality
- Defense Mechanisms
- Psychosexual Developmental Theory
psychoanalysis consists of the …
therapeutic method and mechanism of change
therapeutic method
- free association
- childhood experiences
- therapeutic relationship - the Analyst and Analysand
(transference, countertransference)
mechanism of change
- making the “unconscious, conscious”
- therapeutic relationship as a model
Freud: structure of the mind
- Accessing the unconscious through the conscious and preconscious
- Superego and Ego is at every level (all three), but Id is only at unconscious
Structure of the personality
Freud theorized that a person’s behavior results from the interaction of three components of the psyche, the Id, the Ego, and the Superego
Id
the source of instinctual drives
- life (constructive, sexual) and death (destructive) instincts, pleasure principle, primary process thinking (mental images and wish-fulfilling fantasies)
Ego
mediates between the demands of the id and the realities of the external world
- reality principle, secondary process thinking (adaptive)
Superego
the outgrowth of internalizing the taboos and moral values of society, conscience
Freud: Structure of Psyche
Freud theorized that a person’s behavior results from the interaction of three components of the psyche
- Id: pleasure principle
- Ego: reason and good sense, Reality Principle, defense mechanisms
- Superego: internalization of moral standards and values from parents and society
According to Freud, mental disorder may result from …
… intrapsychic conflict
- conflicts due to unique goals of the Id, Ego, and Superego
anxiety is prominent in the psychoanalytic viewpoint b/c …
… Freud felt it played a key casual role in psychopathology
- b/c may be experienced overtly or repressed
- ego can cope w/ anxiety through rational measures except when it exists only in the unconscious; when we are not aware of instead it copes with irrational, protective measures known as Ego Defense mechanisms
Ego Defense Mechanisms
reduce anxiety by helping a person push painful ideas out of consciousness
- repression, denial, rationalization, displacement, projection, reaction formation, regression, sublimation
repression
banishment of unacceptable urges, wishes, or impulses to the unconscious mind
- e.g. a man is unaware of having hateful or destructive impulses toward his own father
denial
refusal to accept the reality of a threatening impulse or unsafe behavior
- e.g. a person w/ a heart condition refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of the condition and avoids seeking medical attention or making healthy changes in his lifestyle
rationalization
self-justifications for unacceptable behavior used as a form of self-deception
- e.g. a man accused of rape justifies his behavior to himself by thinking that the woman had dressed and acted so provocatively that she was “just asking for it”
displacement
directing one’s unacceptable impulses toward threatening objects onto safer or less threatening objects
- after a woman is chewed out by her boss at work, she picks a fight with her daughter upon returning home
projection
attributing one’s own impulses or wishes to another person
- a hostile and argumentative person perceives others as having difficulty controlling their tempers
reaction formation
taking the opposite stance to what one truly wishes or believes so as to keep one’s genuine impulses repressed
- a woman who has difficulty accepting her own sexual impulses mounts a crusade against pornography
regression
return of behaviors associated w/ earlier stages of development, generally during times of stress
- after his marriage ends, a man becomes completely dependent on his parents
sublimation
channeling one’s own unacceptable impulses into more socially appropriate pursuits or activities
- a woman channels her aggressive impulses into her artistic pursuits
Psychosexual Stages of Development
Five stages that we all progress through
- gratification and resolution is necessary to avoid fixation
- erogenous zones: mouth, anus, genitals
- examples of events: weaning, toilet training
Five psychosexual stages of development w/ dominant mode of libidinal pleasure
- Oral stage (ages 0 to 2)
- Anal stage (ages 2 to 3)
- Phallic stage (ages 3 to 5 or 6) - Oedipal (castration anxiety) and Electra Complex (penis envy)
- Latency period (ages 6 to 12)
- Genital stage (after puberty
post Freud, three primary schools evolved out of Psychoanalytic Theory:
ego, object-relations, interpersonal
Ego Psychology
Anna Freud; Dysfunctional Ego and Defenses
Object-Relations Theory
- Klein, Mahler, Fairburn, Winnicott, Kernberg
- Real and imagined “objects,” introjection
- object: the symbolic representation of another person in the infant’s or child’s environment
- introjection: symbolically incorporates important people into their personality
The Interpersonal perspective
- Adler, Fromm, Horney, Erikson
- emphasizes social determinants of behavior
Attachment theory
- Bowlby, focus on early attachment relationships
- Emphasis on the infant and parent in shaping the relationship
impact of psychoanalytic theory
- first systematic approach to how psychological disorders evolve
- introduced the idea of the unconscious and intrapsychic conflict
- introduced the importance of early childhood experiences
- development of Therapeutic Techniques
critiques of psychoanalytic theory
- lack of empirical support
- over-emphasis on sex drive
- demeaning view of women
- pessimism about human nature
- exaggerating the unconscious
- length and commitment requirements
impact of psychodynamic theory
- advancements in empirical support
- attempts to prove validity, reliability, and effectiveness
- practically more “patient friendly”
Humanistic and Existential Theory
evolved due to lack of acknowledgment of choice and free will in Psychoanalytic/Dynamic Theory
Humanistic (Carl Rogers)
- Human nature “good”
- Love, hope, creativity, values, meaning, personal growth, self-fulfillment
- Self-actualization
- Psychopathology is the blocking or distortion of personal growth
Existential
- Greater emphasis on the irrational tendencies and difficulties in self-fulfillment
- Maladaptive Behavior is the result of an inability to cope authentically w/ the
human experience, e.g. death, freedom, existential isolation and meaninglessness - existential anxiety (normal-motivating) vs. neurotic anxiety (can be immobilizing)
Person Centered Therapy
- Humanists emphasize human nature as “good”
- Rogers developed the most systematic formulation of the self-concept
- the Self becomes disorganized as the result of incongruence between self and experience
conditional positive regard
valuing other people on the basis of whether their behavior meets one’s approval
self-actualization
the motive that drives one to reach one’s full potential
Three central components to therapy
- Unconditional positive regard: valuing other people as having basic worth regardless of their behavior at a particular time
- Genuineness: honesty, Self-Disclosure
- Empathic Understanding: see the world as the
client does
Learning Models include:
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Observational Learning
the behavioral perspective
Learning (the modification of behavior as a
consequence of experience) is the central theme
- Prominent Theories: Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning and Pavlov’s
Theory of Classical Conditioning - Additional Relevant Behavioral Theories include: Social Learning Theory, Observational Learning Theory, etc.
classical conditioning (Pavlov)
A formerly neutral stimulus (CS) acquires the capacity to elicit biologically adaptive responses through repeated pairings w/ the UCS
if a CS is repeatedly presented w/o the UCS, extinction will occur and may return at some future point in time (spontaneous recovery)
- Conditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Conditioned Response
- Watson and Rayner conditioned
“Little Albert” to fear white rats
operant conditioning (B.F. Skinner)
Responses are acquired and strengthened by their consequences
- positive and negative reinforcers increase behavior
- punishment decreases behavior
_____ and _____ occur in both classical and operant conditioning
generalization and discrimination
generalization
a response is conditioned to one stimulus it can be evoked by other similar stimuli
discrimination
a person learns to distinguish between similar stimuli
observational learning
learning through observation alone, w/o directly experiencing an unconditioned stimulus
- e.g. children developing fears by observing a fearful parent
examples of behavior therapy
- exposure-based treatments
- response prevention
- operant strategies
- modeling
- relaxation-based treatments
benefits of learning models
- basic concepts
- change specific behaviors and emotional responses (eliminate undesirable reactions and learn desirable ones)
- precision and objectivity
criticisms of learning models
- concerned w/ symptoms and not underlying causes
- oversimplifies human behavior, ignores complexity
