PSYC 336

Question 1

what does the essentialist approach to mental disorders say

Answer 1

“mental disorders are natural entities (categories) whose true nature can be discovered and described”

categorial approach, inherent structure of world

“categories represent “empirically verifiable similarities among and differences between people”

categories “depict the inherent structure of the world”

Question 2

what is a natural category

Answer 2

“a grouping that reflects the structure of the natural world rather than the interests and actions of human beings”

• is naturally occuring as opposed to artifical or arbitrary
• has clearlt demarcated boundaries separating members from non members
• has observable features that are caused by internal properties of the category
• these casual properties can be used to objectively validate category membership

Question 3

point of rarity

Answer 3

no people in the middle of curves

elab…

Question 4

subthreshold symptoms

Answer 4

• are more prevalent than the full diagnosis
• = a full diagnosis in terms of functional impairment
• are associated with similar cognitive, biological, and social risk factors as a full diagnosis and are associated with many of the same etiologies and pathologies

Question 5

Kendler and Gardener (1998)

Answer 5

put the two approaches of a point of rarity and a continuum of depressive symptoms against each other through a study

2000 female twin pairs assessed 3 times during a span of 5 years asking about depression symptoms, impairment of symptoms and duration of symptoms and predicted a risk of depression recurrence over 5 years and a risk of depression in co-twin over 5 years

important conclusions:
1. DSM diagnostic criteria are not reflective of a natural discontinuity in depressive symptoms as experienced in the general population
2. Line separating no diagnosis from diagnosis is arbitrary - a convention, not a truth or fact

Question 6

the social constructionist approach

Answer 6

concepts of mental disorder are social constructions and “products of particular historical and cultural understandings”

they are “abstract ideas that are defined by people and thus reflect their values”

Question 22

what are fear disorders (5 of them)

Answer 22

panic disorder
agoraphobia
social anxiety disorder
specific phobia
OCD (not included with DSM here but is here for class)

generalized anxiety disorder not here, clusters more closely with depressive disorders

Question 23

fear disorder diagram

Answer 23

emotions
- fear/worry
- anxiety
-irritability

physical sensations
- HPA axis
- racing heart
- trouble sleeping
- upset tummy
(physical manifestations

catastrophic thoughts
-rumination about worst outcome
- self-conscious thoughts
- worry: what if

Question 24

what is fear

Answer 24

a basic human emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing danger or threat

evolutionarily adaptive “fight or flight response”

Question 25

the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA axis)

Answer 25

stressful event
brain
hypothalamus
pituitary gland
adrenal glands
cortisol

Question 26

end process of HPA axis

Answer 26

cortisol release

this initiates fight/flight
works in negative feedback loop to shut off HPA