Week 1 : Intro

Question 1

What is special about youth psychopathology

4 things

Answer 1

Some disorders are only diagnosed in youth (ADHD, Autism)

Psychopathology presents differently in different age ranges. eg a 3yo hitting someone is less pathological than a 25yo hitting someone.

Treatments might not work with kids (CBT) or may have different effects (some medicines work less or not at all), there might be issues if not taking the medicine is dangerous (teens!)

There are issues around youth advocacy (who advocates for youth, parents might force kids to get treatment for things they do not want to)

Question 2

Norm Violation

Answer 2

Norms are culturally dependent
This makes using them to decide if something is abnormal difficult because you could just be seeing something culturally normal and pathologizing it

Examples include indigenous kids starting fires and the timing of a first baby

Question 3

Statistical Rarity

Answer 3

If things are normnally distributed you could say anyone over 2SDs from the mean is abnormal

Is that always a problem? High IQ might not mean pathology

Also 16.6% of the USA meets depression and 30% for anxiety thresholds at some point. SO these are not statistically rare but are very distressing, he3nce this is not a good way to define things

Question 4

Personal discomfort

Answer 4

Means it hurts people

Question 5

Maladaptive behavior

Answer 5

Gets in the way of good things for them

Question 6

Deviation from an ideal

Answer 6

Anyone who deviates from a perceived exemplar

If people have no XP with kids, they may worry their 1st is not typical and hence abnormal, even if they are not

Question 7

How do we define abnormal behavior in developmental psychopathology?

(3 things)

Answer 7

It is a pattern of behavior associates with:

(1) Distress
(2) Disability: It gets in the way (such as makes it hard to be at school. socialize etc)
(3) There is an increased risk of further harm

Question 8

What do we use as a benchmark for developmental psychopathology?

Answer 8

Disability and risk can be defined as adaptational failure:

There is a FAILURE TO REACH developmental milestones

and a LACK OF PROGRESS along adaptive developmental trajectories

(hence we use norms!)

To understand maladaptive behavior we must view it in relation to what is considered normative

Question 9

Developmental benchmarks

AGE 0-2

Answer 9

AGE 0-2

NORMAL ACHIEVEMENTS: Eating, sleeping, attachment
COMMON BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS: Stubbornness, temper, toileting difficulties
CLINICAL DIAGNOSES: Mental retardation, feeding disorders, autistic disorder

Question 10

Developmental benchmarks

AGE 2-5

Answer 10

NORMAL ACHIEVEMENTS: Language development, self care, peer relationships, self control
COMMON BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS: Arguing, attention seeking, disobedience, overactivity, resisting bedtime
CLINICAL DIAGNOSES: Speech and language disorders,, issues from abuse, anxiety disorders like phobias

Question 11

Developmental benchmarks

AGE 6-11

Answer 11

NORMAL ACHIEVEMENTS: Academic skills, rules governed games, simple responsibilities
COMMON BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS: Arguing, inability to concentrate, showing off, self-consciousness
CLINICAL DIAGNOSES: ADHD, learning disorders, school refusal behavior, conduct problems

Question 12

Developmental benchmarks

AGE 6-20

Answer 12

NORMAL ACHIEVEMENTS: relations with sex, personal identity, separation from family, personal responsibilities
COMMON BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS: Arguing, bragging
CLINICAL DIAGNOSES: Eating disorders, suicide attempts, drug and drink abuse, schiz, depression

Question 13

Prevalence

Answer 13

ALL CASES IN A TIME PERIOD (old and new)

Ontario child study shows the 6 month prevalence of DSM diagnosis of depression, anxiety or behavior problems is

4-11: 18%
12-17: 22%

Great Smokey Mountain study showed the cumulative prevalence of a DSM diagnosis by age 21 was 16.5%

Question 14

Are their adequate services?

Answer 14

No

35-45% of people who meet DSM get ay kind of help

Higher for kids (60%) whose parents ID the problem (so if a child wants help but parent does not think this is anything to worry about, not good.

Effectiveness of many common services is totally unknown (maybe low quality)

Question 15

Who develops psychopathology? (Epidemiology)

Gender

Answer 15

Gender effects

Males show higher rates of disorders in childhood (ADHD, conduct problems)

Females in adolescence (Depression, anxiety, eating disorders)

Form changes
Men externalize, women internalize

Question 16

Who develops psychopathology? (Epidemiology)

SES

Answer 16

SES Poverty linked with many conditions

Canadians 9% live in poverty
Between 1996 and 2001, 333% of kids lived in poverty for one year

Question 17

Who develops psychopathology? (Epidemiology)

Race

Answer 17

Studies do not always show prevalence differences in psychiatric diagnoses across race

But diagnoses do

Could be real differences, could be biases

Lower rates of treatment for non whites, esp for anxiety and mood disorders

Question 18

Cultural differences in psychopathology

examples

Answer 18

Meaning of behaviors varies (fire starting)

Expression of symptoms varies

Social anxiety - fear of bring evaluated by others is common in the west, in Japan, you can have the fear of hurting others with your social awkwardness (Taiiin kyofusho: same issue, different expression

Question 19

Diathesis-Stress Model

Answer 19

Diathesis:
Underlying vulnerability
Could be biological, experience based or contextual

Stress:
Situation or challenge that calls on a resource
Typically thought of as external, negative effects

Under stress, diathesis increases the likeliness of disorder
Some are more susceptible to certain stressors

Applies to many things, not just psychopathology

Diathesis doe not equal disorder
Stress does not equal disorder
Interaction makes disorder more probably

There could be multiple interacting diatheses and stressors

Question 20

Differential Susceptibility vs Diathesis-stress

Answer 20

DIFFERENTIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY is when a child is more susceptible to the effects of their environment, good and bad

Diathesis-Stress: Some children are more susceptible to the NEGATIVE effects of a bad environment

(only focuses on the -ve)

Question 21

Multifinality

Answer 21

The same course of events leads to different outcomes

Question 22

Equifinality

Answer 22

Many routes lead to the same outcome