Psychopathology & Understanding Abnormal Behaviours Flashcards
What is the current definition of psychological abnormality? (Not the one used in DSM-5)
It is a psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected.
Define psychological dysfunction
Refers to a breakdown in cognitive, emotional or behavioural functioning.
Psychological dysfunction is often considered to be;
- on a continuum or
- categorical?
Why?
On a continuum as it is difficult to know where to draw the line between normal and abnormal dysfunction.
What are the three criteria that define a psychological disorder?
- Psychological dysfunction
- Distress or impairment
- Atypical or Not Culturally Expected
The distress criterion for a psychological disorder is satisfied if the individual is ….. ?
Extremely upset
It is important to remember that being extremely upset, although satisfying the distress criterion , does not by itself define problematic abnormal behaviour. Why is this the case?
As it is in many situations normal to be distressed, for example, someone close to you dies.
For the purpose of defining a psychological disorder, provide an example of when being shy would be considered an impairment.
The individual is so shy that they find it impossible to date or even interact with people and thus make every attempt to avoid interactions even though they would like to have friends.
Due to the difficulty with defining what constitutes a psychological disorder, the definition used in the DSM-5 extends upon the definition being ….?
Thus the most widely accepted definition describes:
Behavioural, psychological, or biological dysfunctions that are unexpected in their cultural context and associated with present distress or impairment in functioning, or increased risk of suffering, death, pain, or impairment.
What is the main difference between counselling psychologists and clinical psychologists?
Counselling psychologists tend to study and treat adjustment and vocational issues encountered by relatively healthy individuals.
Clinical psychologists usually concentrate on more severe psychological disorders.
Many mental health practitioners take a scientific approach to their clinical work and are therefore called what?
Scientist-practitioners
A scientist-practitioner when studying psychology disorders has what 3 main focuses?
- Clinical description
2 . Causation (etiology) - Treatment and outcome
What is one important function of the clinical description?
To specify what makes the disorder different from normal behaviour or from other disorders.
What does the clinical description represent?
The unique combination of behaviours, thoughts and feelings that make up a specific disorder.
In addition to having different symptoms, age of onset, and possibly a different sex ratio and prevalence, most disorders follow a somewhat individual pattern, or course. For example, what courses do schizophrenia and mood disorders follow?
- schizophrenia follows a chronic course, meaning it is likely to last a lifetime
- mood disorders follow an episodic course, in that the individual is likely to recover within a few months, only to suffer a recurrence of the disorder at a later time.
Some disorders have a time-limited course, which means?
The disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period with little or no risk of recurrence.
To say that a disorder has an acute onset means?
The disorder begins suddenly.
To say that a disorder has an insidious onset means?
The disorder develops gradually over an extended period of time.
Why is it important to know the typical course of a disorder?
So that we can know what to expect in the future and how best to deal with the problem.
If someone is suffering from a mild disorder with acute onset that we know is time limiting, what might we advise?
Not to bother with expensive treatment because the problem will be over soon enough.
The anticipated course of a disorder is called the what!
Prognosis
To say the prognosis is good means?
The individual will probably recover.
To say the prognosis is guarded means?
The probable outcome doesn’t look good.
Give an example of a psychological disorder that presents differently for children as opposed to adults & what impact does this commonly have on child’s diagnosis ?
Severe anxiety and panic - children often assume they are physically ill as they have trouble understanding that there is nothing physically wrong. Because their thoughts and feelings are different from an adults experience of pain and anxiety, children are often misdiagnosed and treated for a medical disorder.
We refer to the study of changes in abnormal behaviour as?
Developmental psychopathology.
Etiology, or the study of origins, has to do with what a disorder begins (what causes it) and includes what three dimensions?
Biological
Psychological
Social
Give an example of what classified as a psychological dysfunction.
Your out on a date which should be fun but if you experience severe fear all evening and just want to go home, even though there is nothing to fear and this severe fear happens on every date.
If a new drug or psychosocial treatment is successful in treating a disorder, it may give us some hints about the nature of the disorder and its causes. Give an example of how.
If a drug with a specific known effect within the nervous system alleviates a certain psychological disorder, we know something in that part of the nervous system might either be causing the disorder or helping to maintain it.
For thousands of years, humans have tried to explain and control problematic behaviour. Name the 3 major models date back to the beginning of civilisation and although old, care still used today to explain why someone is “acting like that”.
- The supernatural
- The biological
- The psychological
Mass hysteria may simply demonstrate the phenomenon of what?
Emotional contagion
What is emotional contagion?
Is when the experience of an emotion seems to spread to those around us.
Referring to mass hysteria and emotional contagion - if one person identifies a ‘cause’ of the problem, others will probably assume that their own reactions have the same source. In popular language, this shared response is sometimes referred to as ?
Mob psychology
The biological tradition waxed and waned during the centuries after Hippocrates & Galen but was invigorated in the 19th century because of what two factors?
- The discovery of the nature and cause of syphilis
- Support from the well respected American psychiatrist John P Grey
The psychological tradition; Plato thought that the 2 causes of maladaptive behaviour were what?
- The social and cultural influences in one’s life
- The learning that took place in that environment
It was the rise of what therapy that turned asylums from a prison like environment to that more akin to hospitals, thus becoming habitable and therapeutic?
Moral therapy
Note - moral actually refers to emotional or psychological factors. Yet the tenants of moral therapy included treating patients as normally as possible in a setting that encouraged and reinforced normal social interactions.
Dorothea Dix’s work campaigned endlessly for reform in the treatment of insanity & her work became known as what?
The mental hygiene movement.
What was the unforeseen consequence of Dix’s heroic reform of treatment of insanity?
It contributed (in addition to influx of immigrants following the civil war) to the substantial increase in the number of mental patients which ultimately resulted in staffing shortages, which was an essential criteria for moral therapy.
Psychoanalytical theory: the release of emotional material became known as?
Catharsis
Psychoanalytical theory: A fuller understanding of the relationship between current emotions and earlier events is referred to as?
Insight
The mind according to Freud has 3 major functions or parts being?
id
Ego
Superego
The id is the source of our …..?
Strong sexual and aggressive feelings or energies.
According to Freud, the energy within the id is called?
The libido
Describe a) the type of thinking & b) the drive with the;
Id
Ego
Superego
Id
Illogical, emotional and irrational
Pleasure principle
Ego
Logical, rational
Reality principle
Superego
Conscience
Moral principles
The superego represents the moral principles instilled in us by?
Our parents and culture.
What parts of the mind did Freud believe to be unconscious and which parts conscious?
The id and superego believed to be unconscious,
The ego which is seen as the mediator between the id and superego, believed to be conscious secondary processes that represent only a small portion of the mind.
Give an example of Freud’s defensive mechanism displacement.
I get a bad mark on my test and I am angry as I believe it was unfairly marked, but instead of releasing my anger at the marker (as this might not be in my best interest), I lash out at the store clerk instead.
According to Freud, anxiety is a signal that alerts the ego to marshal defense mechanisms. Describe the origins of the anxiety.
The ego fights a continual battle to stay on top of the warring id and superego. Occasionally, their conflicts produce anxiety that threatens to overwhelm the ego.
Multidimensional integrative approach to psychopathology: name some of the biological influences using the text example Janelle
- inherited overreactive sinoaortic baroreflex arc
- vasovagal syncope; heart rate and blood pressure increase, body overcompensates
- light-headedness and queasiness
- Janelle faints
The basal ganglia, also located at the base of the forebrain, include the caudate nucleus. Damage to these structures results in?
Changing our posture or twitching or shaking.
