Neuroscience and Clinical Semester 1 Week 4: Introduction to psychopathology Flashcards
What is psychopathology?
1) The study of psychological and behavioural dysfunction occurring in mental illness or in social disorganisation.
2) Disordered psychological and behavioural functioning.
What did ancient civilisations believe about psychopathology?
- Ancient civilisations (Egypt, China, Babylon and Greece) believed that symptoms of psychopathology were a manifestation of supernatural forces (devils, spirits, witchcraft) and required exorcism to force the ‘demon’ out (torture, starvation)
- Change in behaviour to exhibit symptoms of psychopathology -> possession
- Trepanning of the skull to release evil spirits
Demonology
Demonology survived as an explanation for mental health problems until the 18th century:
- Jesus curing suffering by means of exorcism
- Witch trials and inquisitions 1400-1700s
- Traditional African healers 1500s-today
Demonic possession as an explanation is still around today, often linked to religious beliefs e.g spirit possession in Ugandan child soldiers (Neuner et al.)
Psychopathology: Hippocrates, Rene Descartes & Emil Kraepelin
1) Hippocrates
- Saw mental illness as caused by four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow + black bile)
2) Rene Descartes
- Mind and body are separate, mental problems must be located in the brain because mind is unable to be diseased - medical model
3) Emil Kraepelin
- Mental illness on the basis of patterns of symptoms
Asylums to community care
- Asylums had bad living conditions, too many inmates, and crude treatments
- 19th century - movement towards more humane treatments for individuals in asylums - Philippe Pinel
- Moral treatment - approach to the treatment of asylum inmates, developed by the Quaker movement in the UK, which abandoned contemporary medical approaches in favour of understanding, hope, moral responsibility, and occupational therapy.
- In 1963, the US Congress passed a Community Mental Health Act that specified that, rather than be detained and treated in hospitals, people with mental health problems had the right to receive a broad range of services in their communities.
3 approaches to explaining psychopathology
1) Biological approach
2) Psychodynamic approach
3) Biopsychosocial approach
Biological approach to explaining psychopathology
- Mental illness is a product of the mechanics of the brain
- Problems: reductionist approach, stigmatising labels
- Neurochemical dysfunction:
Arvid Carlsson - Swedish neuropharmacologist who discovered dopamine as a neurotransmitter and derived the first SSRI. - Acquired lesions to brain structures:
Changes in biological functions of the brain due to damage
Henry Cushing - Discovered Cushing’s disease, pioneered method of removing pituitary tumour
Psychological approach to explaining psychopathology
- Mental illness as a response to an individual’s experience in the world
- Psychodynamic processes:
Sigmund Freud - mental illness arises because of failure of psychological mechanisms that were designed to repress certain thoughts and memories
Behaviour and learning:
Skinner - mental illness arises as a learned pattern of responses to experiences you have in your life
Cognitive factors:
Aaron T Beck - mental illness arose entirely from cognitive processes, from disordered or dysfunctional thinking
Humanistic-existential factors:
Carl Rogers - Mental illness arises from a lack of positive self-worth
Biopsychosocial approach to explaining psychopathology
Diathesis-stress model:
Genetics + environmental stress leads to a change in the biology
Recovery model: Broad-ranging treatment approach which acknowledges the influence and importance of socio-economic status, employment and education and social inclusion in helping to achieve recovery from mental health problems
What is aberrancy
A state or condition that is different from what is normal, expected, or usual.
3 approaches to defining psychopathology
1) Statistical approach
2) Functional approach
3) Distressed-based approach
Statistical approach to defining psychopathology
- Having an attribute or displaying a behaviour that deviates substantially from the statistical norm.
- Offers some objectivity and measurability
Problems:
- measurement error (e.g. how do you measure mood?)
- extreme values don’t necessarily imply extreme problems
- Where do you draw the cut-off?
Functional approach to defining psychopathology
- Based on the notion that someone who is unable to function may be maladapted or impaired in some way
Problems:
- Assumes universal needs
- Maladaptive behaviours don’t always indicate mental illness
Distress-based approach to defining psychopathology
- Based on an individual’s distress or (in)ability to cope with their experience or problems
- Not based on the person’s conformity to societal norms, but their own perspective about what is ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’
Problems:
- Doesn’t provide standards by which we should judge the behaviour itself
- Risk of ‘medicalising’ normal reactions to adverse circumstances
- Should drug abuse only be addressed if it causes distress?
The prevalence of mental health issues in the student population
- Student Minds survey (2022), 57% self-reported a mental health issue, 27% said they had a diagnosed mental health condition
- More females than males are reporting a mental health difficulty
- Mental health given as main reason for dropping out
