psychopathology Flashcards
Abnormal Psychology:
the study for abnormal behaviour in order to be able to predict, explain, diagnose, identify the cause of and treat these aspects in a reliable way. It also looks at the causes components, course, and consequences of these disorders
psychopathology:
a more sensitive, less stigmatizing verbiage of abnormal psychology
mental health vs mental illness
Mental Health: regarding a person psychological and emotional well-being. If you are doing well are are happy, then your state of mental health is good
Mental Illness: health conditions that involve changes in behaviour, emotion, thinking, or a combination of them
According to the DSM-5, behaviour is considered abnormal when the following aspects are present
- dysfunction/maladaptive behaviour: the person cannot adapt to new/difficult circumstances
- it causes personal distress
- deviance: straying from usually/accepted societal standards
abnormal vs normal: the issues
- CULTURE: some cultures do not discuss or believe in mental disorders
- RELIGION: Can offer a sense of community and support, but some religions have viewed mental illness as something very wrong with the person, even believing that they are possessed by an entity
- DISTRESS: what causes one person distress may not cause another person distress
- SOCIETAL NORMS: will vary from different cultures, religions, etc.
prevelance
the percentage of people in a population that have a certain disorder
INCIDENCE
how many new people are diagnosed with a specific disorder over a certain time period
COMORBIDITY
when two or more mental disorders are occurring at the same time
ETIOLOGY
the cause of the disorder, may be social, biological, or psychological
PROGNOSIS
the anticipated course the mental disorder will take
can be acute (short), chronic (longterm), or time-limited (will sort itself out even without intervention)
