PSY311 Midterm 1 Flashcards
Evolutionary definition of psychological disorders
Harmful dysfunction ‘’. Psychological disorders: failures of one or more mechanisms to perform their evolved function, producing harm
E.g. Feeling queasy vs. fainting at the sight of blood
Acting like you are in danger in both a dangerous or safe place. the degree of dysfunction is important
Psychological dysfunction determined by the presence of following characteristics at one time within a person. Name and explain th e 4
Statistical infrequency: infrequently
personal distress or impairment: can be related to a personal distress. Context and degree of distress matter . impairement helps clarifiy is a disorder is involved
‘’violation’’ of norms: atypical, deviate from average. Think about the example of Massai Tribe: woman who kills goat and hears voices
unexpectedness: Unexpected responses to environmental stressors. (ex. laugh after being assaulted
What is the definition of psychological disorders by the DSM-5?
- Behavioral, psychological or biological dysfunctions
- Unexpected in their cultural context
- Linked to present distress, impairment in functioning, or increased risk of death
- DSM criteria: prototypes/profiles of disorders.
What is scientist-practitioner?
- Latest development in the history of psychopathology
- Evidence-based practice
- Using scientific method the treatment of psychological disorders
e. g. what is it about the treatment that accounts for observed changes in an individual with a psychological?
what are the clinical description of a disorder used before and today? (name and explain the 5)
- Resenting problem: why did client/patient come into the clinic/hospital?
- Prévalence: How many people in the population have the disorder?
- Incidence: How many new cases occur during a given period?
- Sex ratio: proportion of male and females who have the disoder
- Age of onset: When, on average, do people develop the disorder?
Clinical description of a disorder cntd.
Prognosis: Anticipated course of disorder (does it get
worse, does it last, etc.) - it is a global concept
Course:
Chronic: tend to last a long time
Episodic: recover after a few months, but likely
to reoccur
Time-limited: improves without treatment in
short period of time (it is rare)
Onset:
Acute: begin suddenly (not relevant symptoms
that develop) (rare for bipolar
symptoms) (ex. Schizophrenia)
Insidious: develop gradually over time (bipolar
symptoms)
historical concept In the science of psychopathology section, what is the etiology and treatment for a disorder?
Etiology:
Study of the origin of disorders
Complex biological, psychological, and social aspects
Treatment
Success → nature and cause of the disorder
Effect does not always imply the cause!
Past: Historical conceptions of abnormal behavior Dark age (3 traditions)
- Supernatural
- Biological tradition
3 Psychological tradition
Dark age: Supernatural tradition
Demons and Witches:
13th and following few centuries: Recurrent famines and plagues. Demonology to explain disasters: Pope Innocent VIII & Malleus Maleficarum (1484). Individuals with a psychological disorder under influence of devil and witches
anything out of the norm = deviant
Typical treatment: exorcism, trepanning (opening a living crane to take out the ‘’Evil’’
Stress and melancholy (stress and anxiety= mental illnesses) Late 14th / 15th century. Traitement: rest, sleep environment - no more evil in treatment.
Moon and stars : explain behavior, lunatic, Paracelsus a swiss physician. Movements of moon and stars affecting human psychological functioning
Dark age - biological tradition
Hippocrates, Galen, JOhn and treatment + contemporary
Somatogenic perspective: physical/biological causes of mental disorders.
E.g. Important figures Hippocrates and Galen, John P. Grey
Hippocrates: Greek physician (460-377 BC)
Separated medicine from religion, magic, superstition
Mental illnesses had natural causes (brain pathology) →
Should be treated like other illnesses
Possible treatments: rest, good nutrition, exercise, bloodletting. Should consider the environment
Biological factors: Four Humors theory
- Blood: heart
- Black bile: spline
- Yellow bile: liver
- Phlegm: brain
Galen: roman physician
Adapted Four Humors theory, biological factors only
Blood = sanguine (optimistic, cheerful)
Black bile = melancholic (depressive)
Yellow bile = choleric (irritable, anxiousness)
Phlegm = phlegmatic (sluggish)
John P. Grey: American psychiatrist (1825-1886) very important. Insanity always has physical causes
Possible treatments: rest, diet, temperature, ventilation (in hospital especially - making it more liveable)
Hospital care improved, but eventually impersonal
Dark age - biological tradition: biological treatments - continuum
Biological treatments- continuum
1930: Lobotomy: surgical operation, incision
Electroshock (at that time and the difference now is very important) at the time it was introduced to reduce psychotic and behavioral symptoms… It was supposed to ‘’cure’’ by having less brain functioning.
1950: Reserpine: previously used to reduce agitation, but not anymore
Major tranquilizers (neuroleptics): reduce hallucinations, delusions, agitation…
Minor tranquilizers (barbiturates, benzodiazepines): reduce anxiety, muscle relaxant, insomnia
seems like the perfect solution to the problem
side effect isn’t taken into consideration
1970s:
Side effects observed: e.g. dependency, dementia
Dark age - biological tradition: Beginning of contemporary thought and End 19th century
Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist (1856-1926) – Founder of modern psychiatry
2 major groups of severe mental diseases
Dementia praecox: praecox madness. Disused term nowadays. dementia in his terms isn’t like AD he describes dementia as: Chronic psychotic disorder characterized by cognitive disintegration- it worsens over time. psychotic disorder (today would be schizophrenia).
Manic-depressive psychosis: today it would be bipolar disorder. depressive episode. Persistent sadness, period of hopelessness. The term is not used anymore.
End 19th century
Search for biological causes
Psychosocial intervention mostly non-existent, before Kraepelin, it was taken into consideration
both needed to be taken into consideration
Dark age - psychological tradition
Moral therapy
Philippe Pinel, French psychiatrist (1745-1826)
- Hospital conditions more humane and therapeutic
Moral therapy Encourage social interaction Reinforcement of behavior Restraint and seclusion eliminated 1.1 Moral therapy declining
§ Mid 19th century
§ Humane treatment declined
Mental Hygiene movement (Dorothea Dix- social activist, school teacher yet teaches in jail) she tries to raise awareness in hospital. She said hospital was a place to treat basic need and not therapy as it should.
Trying to raise awareness of deplorable conditions
Humane treatment ↑ available, but ↑ mental patients
Moral therapy ≈ custodial care
Mental illness caused by brain pathology
Dark age - psychological tradition
hypnosis
Anton Mesmer, German physician (1734-1815)
Individuals’ problems due to unconscious force of “animal magnetism”
- Re-establish equilibrium of magnetic fluid
- walking around and touching patient with a wand and tell the patient to heal themselves with the magnetic fluid around them. he claims it re-establish balance with the animal magnetism
was quickly dismissed by the hospital! But he succeeded in opening the mind of people of that.
Dark age - psychological tradition
6 types + Josef Breuer
Psychodynamic Humanistic-existential Behavioral Cognitive-behavioral ‘’mindfulness’’ but not official yet - it is a new wave
Josef Breuer, Austrian physician (1842-1925) - protégé is Sigmund Freud
Talking cure
- Emotional under hypnosis: express/relieved repressed trauma and related emotions
Relieved post-hypnosis: Patients did not see a link between emotions and psychological disorder
. Ana Quo, a famous case, is a lady that has a bunch of various symptoms. Breuer used a talking cure to address the symptoms.
He said: patients seem to express things that they won’t normally say but when unconscious. Accumulation of conflict, unresolved trauma, within our mind.
Catharsis: Reliving emotional trauma and releasing tension
Psychological tradition - at first + psychodynamic perspective. Explain it
Psychological tradition Intrapsychic conflicts Insight into the processes Mostly unproven traumatic event usually happens within the first 5-6 years of life
3.1 Psychodynamic perspective
Go back in time to understand what led you there (Judith’s approach)
Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist (1856-1939) – Breuer’s protégé
Structure of the mind:
Id: “pleasure”; source of (instinctual) drives
Ego: “reality”; mediator
Superego: “moral”; conscience
Psychological tradition - at first + psychodynamic perspective. Ego’s defense mechanisms (today, coping styles)
Name and explain
Rationalization: Justifying unacceptable ideas/actions/feelings (ex. not getting a job = making reason why they did not want the job in the first place)
Displacement: Transferring a feeling/response to object/person causing discomfort (mad at your boss so yo yell at your husband)
Projection: Attributing one’s unacceptable feelings/impulses (if you dislike someone, you start thinking that it is the person that does not like me)
Denial: No acknowledgement unacceptable behaviors/feelings/ideas (ex. : What are you talking about? vs justification: shows statistics, gives reasons…)
Reaction formation: Behaving in the opposite way (ex. assault people, stuck with the urges… but great protector of the society or for wome, or individual against sexual but maybe are against the fact that they are homosexual
Repression: Pushing away a disturbing memory/thought/desire (traumatic events) someone abused, never think about it years later, barely remember. It would translate into your behavior: trouble to commit, to trust someone
Sublimation: Converting unacceptable urges to acceptable behaviors. ex. run because you are angry, keeping a journal
Psychological tradition: Psychodynamic perspective- again with Sigmund Freud
Explain his contributions, critics, and contributions
3.2Psychodynamic perspective- again with Sigmund Freud
Introspection: delve into nature of unconscious mental processes and conflicts
Catharsis
Insight
Free association: “Say whatever comes to your mind”
Dream analysis: Content of dreams ≈ Id processes.
He was criticized because it is very subjectives
Transference: Patients relate to therapists in similar ways that they did to important figures earlier in life. often the patients are unaware of that. Expectation of a relationship that they had in the past but now towards the therapist.
Criticism:
Lack of objectivity
Unscientific (biased)
Contributions:
Early-life experiences help shape adult personality
Highlighted unconscious mental processes
Defense mechanisms, today referred to as coping styles
Therapist-patient alliance
Psychological tradition:Humanistic-existential perspective
Greater emphasis on person’s freedom of choice – conscious process: Free will. Become your best self
Psychopathology ≈ result of difficulties with/blocked self- actualization severe psychological
disorders
Jung and Adler (1875-1961/1870-1937) Jung: setting goals for the future Adler: contributing to society Self-actualization: reaching full potential if freedom of growth positive view, will power
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) Hierarchy of needs Need for self-actualization the pyramid - Physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization
*Carl Rogers (1902-1987): Person-centered therapy
Therapist takes a passive role
the idea is not to guide the patient, the patient is the key to its own success. The therapist is there to remind them that they are the master of their destiny. Each individual has blockage (ex. I won’t get that grade…). Patient is often anxious or have different symptoms, which makes it hard to use this approach nowadays.
Unconditional positive regard
Need for self-actualization
Psychological tradition: Behavioral perspective
Pavlolv, Baby Albert and Systematic desensitization, Skinner and contributions + critics
Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist (1849-1936) – Classical conditioning
- Neutral stimulus–response pairing until automatic response
- Experiments with dogs
Baby Albert
Systematic desensitization
Joseph Wolpe, South-African psychiatrist (1915-1997) –
Systematic desensitization
Gradual exposure to words, images, and situations about the fear object to extinct that fear
B. F. Skinner, American psychologist (1904-1990) – Operant conditioning
Not all behavior is automatic
Can be strengthened or weakened:
Reinforcement*
Punishment
Criticism: Little room for cognitive processes
Contribution: Contributed to understanding of
psychopathology
Psychological tradition: Cognitive-behavioral perspective
Thoughts and information processing can become distorted → maladaptive emotions and behavior
Attributions about the events in life
Negative attributional style in depressed
individuals: attribute negative events to internal
sources
Positive attributional style: attribute negative
events to external sources
Psychological tradition: Cognitive-behavioral perspective: faulty attribution to depression
wha is CBT? who is the founder? what are the contributions and critics?
negative: stable, global, internal and depressing
positive: temporary, specific, external, successful coping
Aaron T. Beck, American psychiatrist (1921-2021) – one of the originators of (CBT). Techniques for addressing faulty attributions associated with depression (but now also used to treat different disorders such as ED, PTSD, GAD, etc.)
he role of the therapist is to find ways to address these strategies, identify goals and symptoms of the disorder
helps the client to keep track of their journey, of how they interpret things and with help they overcome.
E.g. Self-monitoring, cognitive restructuring (help with cognitive distortion)
ex. this person did not say Hi to me… I was not invited to that dinner… My friends don’t like me…
Criticism:
Unclear differences between behavior and cognitive influences (also difficult to know is it A to B or B to A?)
No explanation on the causes of schema, nature vs nurture
Contributions:
Strong evidence of its benefits in improving depression,
anxiety disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia
E.g. CBT can be more effective long-term than antidepressants in treating depression
Present: Scientific method and an integrative approach
What are cumulative drawbacks? and current attitudes?
Much progress - biological, psychoanalytic, and behavioral models continue to further knowledge of psychopathology
Cumulative drawbacks:
Scientific method not always used to provide empirical
support
Health professionals look at psychological disorders
narrowly
Current attitudes
Many are still suspicious of people with mental
health issues
Consequence: many people with mental illness do not
seek help (especially with personality disorder but
others too) so we don’t really know how many
people have a disorder.
Integrative approach to psychopathology : Multidimensional integrative approach
what are the 4 dimensiond?
Biological dimension: Genetics, neuroscience, neurobiology
Psychological dimension: Behavioral, emotional, cognitive processes, thoughts
Social dimension: Interpersonal, social, cultural influences
Developmental dimension: Sensitive developmental periods
It all influences each other
Psychopathology cannot be explained by one cause: abnormal behavior due to multiple influences
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: genetics and neuroscience
what are gene? What are the nature of genes? and its chromosomes?
Genome: dominant genes vs recessive genes, development/behavior: polygenic
Epigenome
Genes
Molecular hereditary unit of a living organism
DNA molecules at various locations on chromosomes within cell nucleus
Nature of genes 23 pairs of chromosomes (total of 46) 1 from mother and 1 from father 22 pairs determine body/brain development = autosomes 23rd pair = sex chromosomes Female (both X chromosomes) Male (X and Y chromosomes)
dominant genes vs recessive genes : think of hair color, dimples or eyes color
Epigenome: think about the experimentation with the rat (nurture vs nature)
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: genetics and neuroscience
Twin and adoption studies, studying gene G
Monozygotic: 100% same genes
Dizygotics twins: 50% of genes
Concordance rates MZ> DZ twins: G effect
if 1 twin has schizophrenia, there is 50% chance the other one too
Adoption:
Disentangling G effects from Eeffects + correlation inspecific behavior between adopted child and his/her biological parents: Geffect
Family studies
Degree of genetic overlap over family members - degree of similarity in a behavior:
Genetic relation incrwase - similarity in behavior increase
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: genetics
Genes and psychological disorders
Diathesis-Stress model
Genes and psychological disorders
1. Specific genes might be linked to psychological disorders: More likely that many genes contribute
2. Cannot study genetic contributions without environment
Diathesis-Stress model
Inherited tendencies, from multiple genes, to express certain traits or behaviors (G)
These tendencies may be activated under conditions of stress (E)à
Le modèle diathèse–stress est une théorie psychologique tentant d’expliquer certains comportements humains par la conjonction d’une vulnérabilité héréditaire et de stress important issu d’expériences vécues
ntegrative approach to psychopathology , 1. Biological: genetics Diathesis-stress model Caspi et al., 2003 Explain it
aim: examine whether serotonin transporter gene predicts depression
conclusion: individual’S response to environment is moderated by genetic makeup
It was a longitudinal study, 3 genotype
always 2: one for the woman and the other from the man
People were separated into 3 gps = significant difference between LL and SS
it is not a guarantee to develop a mood disorder. So the participants were exposed to stress (what’s going on with the caregiver) no treatment to severe maltreatment (various= verbal, physical, sexual - but not highly reported)
No much difference between LL and SL since it is below the 50%
SS: 2 short alleles
SL: one short alleles one long allele
LL:two long alleles - gene is coding quite well for the NT (the serotonin aka mood, sleep, appetite that affect depressif) activity.
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: genetics
Gene-Environment correlation model
role of the environment
Genetics correlate with environmental exposure, making an individual more likely to choose a certain environment
- your genes make you more likely to experience certain stressors and possibly develop certain disorders
E.g. Parents with history of antisocial (manipulating, drug use,unable to relate to others in a healthy way) behavior (G) and resulting negative family dynamic (E) → the child internalize =
↑ likelihood for deviant peer affiliation (E) →
↑ risk to develop antisocial behaviors
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: genetics
Epigenetic “inheritance” of behavior
Changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression (vs. genetic code itself)
Under environmental influences
Micheal Janani: genetic, above the genetic. Genetic effect does not explain everything. Once we are born with a genre, it stays within us all our lives… nature vs nurture
We have these radicals circulating in our body, but there some genes are more expressed than others. This pattern develops before we are born but also early in life; this is why our life experiences matter a lot. they will influence whether a mental group attaches to the genes or not depending on the molecules. These patterns of gene expression develop early one but some continue to develop during our life span.
epigenetic profile is much more sensitive to the environment
Integrative approach to psychopathology ,
1. Biological: neurobiology
Central Nervous System
Structure of the brain, limbic system, cerebral cortex - areas in the brain
Look at page 21
Brain and spinal cord (neurons send messages to and from the brain)
Processes information received from senses
Soma- DNA
dendrite getting the NT
re-uptake and know how it works
Limbic system
Relay information between cerebrum and lower brain parts
Regulate emotional and physiological reactions
Part of the forebrain
amygala: emotion reactivity
hippocampus: memory conversion, ex if i see a danger next time I’ll react quickly
hypothalamus: balance.
thalamus: relay on information
