what is normal Flashcards
distress or impairment
why this
why not sufficient
an individual is very upset by a behaviour/disorder, or if it interfere with their life, that behaviour/disorder might be classified as “abnormal”
o Most people with psychological disorders report distress and avoids labelling those whose behaviour we simply don’t understand.
o Doesn’t help with condition with no distress (Antisocial personality) and Sometimes distress is normal and expected under some circumstances.
clinical description
Describing presenting problem is the first step in determining clinical descriptions, which are unique combination of behaviours, thoughts, and feelings that make up specific disorder (main thing is what makes the disorder different from normal behaviour)
courses
- Chronic course meaning that they ted to last a long time sometimes a lifetime
- 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
- Time limited course meaning that disorder will improve without treatment.
- Acute onset meaning that they begin suddenly.
- insidious onset develops gradually over an extended period of time.
criteria
- Culturally approve response is important.
- Criteria: distress or impairment, dysfunction, atypical, duration
- Not all of these criteria are fully necessary when identifying abnormality, but none of these criteria are sufficient alone.
Psychological dysfunction
when there is a breakdown in cognitive, behavioural, and/or emotional functioning,
o If behaviour is maladaptive, a problem is likely.
o Harmful dysfunction: evolved mechanism fails causing harm and distress
o Dysfunction can occur in a range of typical life situations.
o Objective criterion of harmful dysfunction requires inferences beyond our knowledge
atypical behaviours
when a behaviour/condition is statistically rare, we might use that say a prerequisite for abnormality has been met
o Don’t want to pathologize human experiences
o Don’t call socially valued extremes abnormal
o Not all disorder are rare
not culturally expected
when a behavior diverges from socially and culturally expected norms, it may or may not be classified as abnormal
- Don’t want to impose our standards for normal on people whose culture differs from ours
- social norms vary
- Risks pathologizing people who violate social norms in benign ways
duration
many behaviours that are otherwise atypical and/or distressing/impairing, wont meet criteria unless It has been going on for certain length of time.
o Avoids pathologizing normal deviations that resolve quickly
o Many long-standing patterns or traits are still sub syndromal in severity and/or dysfunction
o Needs to be going on long enough.
three models of historical conceptions of abnormal behaviour
supernatural:
biological:
psychological:
asylum era
- Precise causes of mental illness are unidentified and provide care to those who need it
- During: treatment focused on supportive care, providing healthy environments
o Cause unclear; treatment futile
o Provide opportunities to thrive - John P. Grey: biological causes; hospitalization
- Dorothea Dix: moral therapy; mental hygiene movement, started some asylum, wanted to treat them like humans
psychoanalysis
- Mental health issues emerge when we cannot successfully resolve unconscious intra psychic conflicts
- Psychoanalytic treatment involves unearthing and resolving these intra psychic conflicts
o Free association techniques
o Dream analysis techniques - Sigmund Freud: structure of the mind: ID(irrational; desires) <- EGO(mediates between id and superego) -> SUPEREGO(conscience; morality)
o Contribution: experience can affect mental health - Anna Freud: defense mechanisms that result from intrapsychic conflicts
behaviourism
behaviours, thought, and emotions emerge from our history of associative learning and reinforcement
- habituation: Habituation is a psychological learning process wherein there is a decrease in response to a stimulus after being repeatedly exposed to it.
- classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with the response until it elicits that response
- systematic desensitisation individuals were gradually introduced the object or situations they feared that their fear could extinguish that is they could test reality and see that nothing bad would happen in the presence of the phobia object or scene
- behavior therapy They would imagine the phobic scene and the response he chose his relaxation because it was convenient.
- operant conditioning is the behavior operates on the environment and changes it in some way
John B. Watson: classical conditioning and phobias, little albert and the white rabbit
B.F. Skinner: operant conditioning, rat with lever
humanism
- Mental health issues emerge when difficult circumstances prevent full self actualization
- Humanistic treatment is highly client centered, and the therapist takes a somewhat passive role
- the humanistic approach has had a substantial effect on theories of interpersonal relationships
- emphasized the importance of the therapeutic relationship in a way quite different from Freud approach
- believe that relationships including the therapeutic relationships were the single most positive influence in felicitating human growth
- The humanistic model found its greatest application among individuals without psychological disorders and the application of persons at a therapy tomorrow severe psychological disorders has decreased substantially over the decade although certain variations have arisen periodically in some areas
o Focus on present over past
o Unconditional positive regard
o Therapeutic relationship key - Abraham Maslow: hierarchy of needs; structure of personality
- Carl Rogers: person centered therapy, based on self actualization
dysfunctions
Psychological dysfunction: when there is a breakdown in cognitive, behavioural, and/or emotional functioning,
emotional = Individuals who experience emotion dysregulation have difficulty accepting their emotional response which can lead to behavioral dysregulation including, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior, suicidal ideation and attempts, excessive substance use and impulsivity,
Cognitive = problems with a person’s ability to think, learn, remember, use judgement, and make decisions. Signs of cognitive impairment include memory loss and trouble concentrating, completing tasks, understanding, remembering, following instructions, and solving problems.)
etiology
- Etiology: the cause, or set of causes, of a disorder
- Our views/ beliefs on etiology shape how we approach treatment and research
- Common factor: third variable
o refers to the effect conveyed by a third-variable to an observed relationship between an exposure and a response variable of interest.
