Overview & History

Question 1

What is considered “abnormal”?

Answer 1

there is no consensus and fixed definition; no individual element is sufficient to define abnormality

Question 2

5 elements of abnormality

Answer 2

subjective or psychological distress, maladaptiveness or impairment in normal functioning, violation of social norms, irrationality or unpredictability, dangerousness to self or others

Question 3

2 standardized manuals to classify abnormality by disorder

Answer 3

DSM-5 by the American Psychological Association (used by US and Canada) and ICD-10 by the WHO (used by the rest of the world)

Question 4

DSM-5 definition of mental disorder

Answer 4

a biological, psychological, or developmental dysfunction leads to a problem in behavior, emotion regulation, or cognitive function, which causes increasing distress or disability

Question 5

4 reasons for diagnostic classification of mental disorders

Answer 5

to (1) communicate research and clinical settings, (2) meaningfully organize features of disorders, (3) facilitate research, (4) define what counts as “abnormal”

Question 6

Prevalence

Answer 6

number of active cases in population in a given period of time

Question 7

5 sources of information in research

Answer 7

case study, direct observation, psychophysiological variables, self-report data, implicit behavior

Question 8

Who should researchers include in a study?

Answer 8

large, randomly selected groups with individuals who have similar behavioral abnormalities and that are representative of the population

Question 9

Criterion vs comparison groups

Answer 9

those in the criterion group are people with the disorder and those in the comparison group are people without the disorder but are comparable in other major ways

Question 10

Pros of using observational research designs

Answer 10

allows us to study things as they are and determine correlation

Question 11

How much of the Canadian population will have experienced a mental disorder?

Answer 11

at least 46%; most begin in childhood and adolescence

Question 12

What are the inherent errors in research design?

Answer 12

almost all data is binary or only studies information gathered on males and females, resulting in a lack of data on people who identify as non-binary, who are often simply regarded as outliers

Question 13

Single-case experimental or ABAB design

Answer 13

used to make causal inferences in individual cases by introducing and removing an intervention over multiple sessions

Question 14

What are examples of treatments done in the past?

Answer 14

drilling a hole in the skull, starvation, vegetarianism, dunking body into hot water, sensory deprivation, marriage

Question 15

What 3 paradigms developed in the 20th century?

Answer 15

somatogenic, psychogenic, psychological research (developed behaviorism)

Question 16

Somatogenic paradigm

Answer 16

mental disorders have a biological basis

Question 17

Psychogenic paradigm

Answer 17

mental disorders have a psychological basis, which developed a lot of psychodynamic treatment

Question 18

Demonology

Answer 18

a supernatural theory which proposes that bad spirits (e.g. the devil) dwell within a person and control one’s mind and body

Question 19

3 treatments for demonology

Answer 19

ostracism, exorcism, trepanning

Question 20

Ostracism

Answer 20

getting rid of the people with evil spirits so that others surrounding them do not get affected

Question 21

Exorcism

Answer 21

having someone call evil spirits out from a person

Question 22

Trepanning

Answer 22

drilling a hole in the skull to give the evil spirits an exit; caused brain damage in people

Question 23

What is somatogenesis?

Answer 23

something physically or somatically wrong with a person disturbs their thoughts and behavior, leading to the development of disorders

Question 24

How was somatogenesis diagnosed?

Answer 24

checking if someone had too much of one of the 4 humors (blood, black bile, yellow bile, or phlegm)

Question 25

How was an excess in black bile treated?

Answer 25

a quiet lifestyle, vegetarianism, exercise, celibacy, and bleeding out to treat melancholia or depression

Question 26

3 psychological malfunctions that lead to mental illness

Answer 26

inadequate moral development, being stuck in a psychosexual developmental phase (treated with psychotherapy), reinforcement for problematic behavior (treated with token economy)

Question 27

Token economy

Answer 27

positive reinforcement by giving out tokens after the completion of a task or behaving in a desired way

Question 28

What influences ideas about etiology?

Answer 28

the current paradigm (e.g. DSM-5) and the idea that correlation is not the same as causation

Question 29

Paradigm

Answer 29

a viewpoint or set of assumptions about how to understand, study, and treat psychological disorders