Psychopathology 1 Flashcards
What are the types of abnormality?
Statistical infrequency
Violation of norms
Distress
Dysfunction
What is normality?
Positive self attitude
Realising potential
Resistance to stress
Adaptive to new environments
Accurate perception of reality
Normality definitions aren’t universal, and can’t withstand time or space
What is demonology?
Mental illness as a possession
Tied in with spiritual or religious structures
Although it’s rare, the language persists
What is somatogenesis?
That harm to the physical body is the origin of mental illness
What is the somatogenic hypothesis?
Noticed people started getting dizzy, personality changes, subtle motor symptoms and dementia
Found that people with these symptoms had:
Syphilis infection
Meninges and brain
Used Penicillin to improve symptoms
Mental illness can arise from physical illness or infection
How did Kraepelin start studying classification? What classification types did he make up? What treatment did he study?
Cluster of symptoms = syndromes
Found common patterns of symptoms in patients
Manic depression (now bipolar, and major depression)
Dementia praecox (now schizophrenia)
First to study psychopharmacology
According to Freud, what is hysteria?
Paralyzed women
No physical symptoms
Symptoms disappeared after hypnosis
What is the psychogenetic hypothesis? What is Freud’s iceberg theory? According to Freud, when does mental illness occur?
Iceberg theory e.g. ID is unconscious, Superego is preconscious, and ego is conscious
Unconscious processes are in conflict
Mental illness occurs when we display defensive behaviours to reduce the conflict
What is the diathesis stress model?
Diathesis: biological predisposition
Stress: life event/trigger
Neither one alone can cause a disorder
What is the biopsychology model?
Medical models ignore social and psychological factors
In this model, multiple factors interact
These are: biological, psychological, social
What are the benefits and costs of giving a diagnosis?
Benefits:
Access to treatment
Universal language for professionals
Improve validity and reliability
More structure to clinical interviews
Costs:
Stigma
Culturally bound
Anything abnormal may be seen as an illness rather than a personality quirk
What are the 2 classification systems?
DSM (diagnostic and statical manual of mental disorders)
ICD (international statical classification of disease and mental health related problems)
Focuses on symptoms not causes
What are the 2 methods of diagnosis?
Clinical interview
Self-report measures
What is the DSM criteria for major depression?
Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and broad apathy of everyday life
Lost interest in normal daily activities
Severe and occurring over an extended period of time
What is Beck’s depression inventory?
Questionnaire
Rate a symptom from 0-3
3 is severe
e.g. loss of pleasure, pessimism, crying
How common is major depression? Which gender is more likely to get it? Are there any deficits? Can major depression be mistaken for another diagnosis?
Very common
Women are more likely to receive a diagnosis
Comorbid e.g. anxiety, psychotic delusions of worthlessness
Cognitive and physical deficits e.g. working memory, sleeping disorder
What is dysthymia? What is this disorder now called in the new DSM 5?
Less severe
More chronic: long term
Sufferers may think its a part of their character and not seek a diagnosis
Now known as persistent depressive disorder
What are the neurotransmitter factors in pathology?
Norepinephrine (Tricyclics, antidepressant which blocks and reabsorbs neurotransmitters)
Dopamine (reward system)
Serotonin (SSRIs as a treatment)
What are some neurological factors in pathology?
Hypoactivity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Hyperactivity in amygdala and insula
What did a study on dogs find out about learned helplessness?
Learning phase: animal exposed to pain in a situation where it can’t escape
Test phase: escape is possible
Animals learned to ensure with the pain and thus didn’t try to escape
What is a negative schema? What is the negative triangle? How does this lead to the attributional style?
Negative schema:
beliefs come before depression
Triangle: negative view about the world, about the future, and about oneself
Attributional style:
Attribute bad events to stable (forever), internal (me), global (everything)
What is rumination?
tendency to repeat in your head how miserable you are, all the bad things that happen to you
What are the social factors in pathology?
War
Poverty
Discrimination
Support networks
Emigration
How do drugs counteract or help to support neurotransmitters in pre and post synpatic cells?
Drugs can increase the release of neurotransmitters
They can counteract the clean up enzyme which breaks down the neurotransmitter
They can block the reuptake of neurotransmitters
They can mimic a particular neurotransmitter and bind to the postsynaptic receptor, acting as the neurotransmitter or increasing the effects of the neurotransmitter
