Discover the fascinating world of abnormal psychology with comprehensive lecture notes for PSYC300. Delve into the study of psychological disorders, exploring their causes, symptoms, and treatment approaches. Gain insights into the complexities of mental health conditions and the impact they have o...
Psychopathology
- Psychopathology
The field concerned with the nature and development of abnormal behaviour, thoughts, and
feeling.
- Demonology
The doctrine that an evil being, such as the devil, may dwell within a person and control his or
her mind and body
- Somatogensis: development from bodily origins, as distinguished from psychological origins
- Psychogenesis: the belief that a disturbance has psychological origins.
What is Abnormal?
- Can be determined by statistical infrequency
Low frequency depression
Middle frequency ‘normal’
High frequency mania
- Violation of social norms
Threatens others or makes them anxious
Outside prevailing cultural norms
- Personal distress/suffering
Some disorders do not include distress
- Disability or Dysfunction
Impairment in some important area of life such as work or personal relationships
- Unexpected Responses to environmental stressors
Earthquake/Accident PTSD, emotional shock (natural)
Bad news/Prof is late unexpected, overemotional response
Historical Views
- Events beyond the control of humans (storms, weather, crop failure) was seen as supernatural (including
abnormal behaviour)
- Hippocrates (400 BC)
Viewed disorders due to bodily disorders (bodily problems)
Didn’t believe in satanic position, believed in science and diseases
First somatic view of disorders
- Dark Ages (200 AD)
Church replaced physicians
- Middle Ages (1200 AD)
Demonology and witches were blamed for bad events and behaviour
- 1486 Pope Innocent VIII’s Malleus Maleficarum
- 15th – 16th centuries Establishment of asylums
- The Enlightenment ‘Age of Reason’
18th Century, intellectuals in Europe and America began to use scientific research, rational
thought, and reasoning to understand the causes of things and advance society
Opposed superstition, the government and church, and took aim at scientific reason
Health care gradually returned to secular control
- 1970’s – present
Deinstitutionalization
Make hospitals smaller with more care and humane treatment
- 2002 Romanow Report
, “Medicare coverage should cover mental health”
- 2007 Canadian Mental Health Commission
Develop a strategy for the country to develop mental health support and resources.
Figures
- Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 – 1815)
Disorders and physical disorders were caused by magnetic fluids
Developed hypnotism to influence magnetic fluids in the body to treat disorders
- Benjamin Rush
Father of American Psychiatrist
Believed disorders were due to excess blood in the brain
Used bloodletting as treatment
- Phillippe Pinel (1745 – 1826)
Began the humanitarian movement
Wanted patients to be treated with care and respect removed chains, gave them light airy
rooms, allowed them to walk around, gave them meals, etc.
Drugs were most common treatment in his hospital
- Dorothea Dix (1802 – 1877)
Resurrected Pinel’s movement of humanitarian care
Advocated for basic humane conditions for people in mental asylums in Canada and around the
world.
- Emil Kraepelin (1883)
Created first classification based on biological dysfunction
Somatogensis Theories
- Something is physically (somatically) wrong, disturbs thought and behaviour
- Hippocrates (460 – 377 BC) mania, melancholia (depression), brain fever
- General paresis and syphilis
Steady deterioration of physical and mental abilities delusion, paralysis
1800 discovered syphilis was cause of general paresis (health effect)
Less serotonin (bodily hormones and neurotransmitters) depression
Infection in childhood could lead to disorders (viral infection)
- Treatments
Hypnosis influence magnetic fluids
Medications help balance neurotransmitters
ECT electric shock therapy
Lobotomy psychosurgery
Psychogenesis Theories
- Something is mentally (psychologically) wrong, disturbs thought and behaviour
- Charcot (1825 – 1893)
Hypnosis
Students made patient look hysterical (show symptoms through suggestions) perfectly healthy
patient changed through hypnosis, Charcot realized power of psychology and subconscious
Believed in a psychological cause for some symptoms
Mental illness is due to a psychological malfunction
- 20 Century ideas
th
Developmental problem (psychosexual)
Reinforcement for problematic behaviour
Environment (stress, social support, traumatic life events, education)
, - Moral treatment, token economy, psychotherapy, etc. psychological interventions born from these
findings
Supernatural Theories
- Supernatural theories: a troubled mind is due to displeasure from gods or demons
Ancient Greeks, Chines, Babylonians, Hebrews
- Treatment:
Ostracism banishing and alienating one to go into exile
Exorcism elaborate prayer rituals to torture as a way of making the body inhospitable for a
demon
Trepanning surgical opening in the skull for demons to escape
o Widespread practice
o Originated in Siberia
Canadian Stigma
- 72% of Canadians tell friends and co-workers family members are diagnosed with cancer (physical
illness) vs. 50% reveal of mental illness
- 27% say they feel fearful being around someone mentally ill
- 42% are uncertain if they would socialize with a friend with mental illness
- 30% believe mental illness hurts the economy
- 89% believe mental illness require treatment, 40% said they will deal with it themselves.
Reducing Stigma
- Language the words you use and how to describe mental illness can make a difference
- Education knowing the facts and myths can help end stigma
- Be kind simple acts of kindness can help open the conversation
- Listen and ask ask how you can help in recovery
- Talk about it
Sep 13th – Chapter 1 (Abnormal Psych Intro)
Diagnostic Classification
- “Classifications are fictions imposed on a complex world to understand it and manage it” = Mataix-Cols,
Pertusa, & Leckman
- Development of the DSM began in the early 19th Century
DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Medical field developed diagnostic system, and health care improved
Attempts were made to classify behavioural disorders (UK, France, US)
Classifications were inconsistent and not well accepted
- Development of the DSM mid-20th Century
1948: World Health Organization produced ICD
1952: American Psychiatric Association produced first DSM
- Development of DSM 1960s
1968: APA published DSM-II, with a supplemental glossary
1969: WHO revised ICD, just with a list of disorders
- ICD-II and DSM-II just gave a list of disorders
Problematic no treatment method, assumptions rely on professionals, no causes, no
specifications of severity of disorders to be classified
Modern DSM
- 1980: DSM-III
Major revision included more disorders, symptom checklists
, - 1998: DSM-IV
Task force used lit reviews, analyzed old data, collected new data
- 2000: DSM-IV-TR
Clarified text – few substantive changes
- 2013: DSM-5
- Influences on the DSM-5
Relies on empirical research on phenomenology & aetiology
Relies on a clinical experience
Influenced by cultural mindset
Dependent on historical legacy (history of disorders)
Professional and Societal Politics
Categorical & Dimensional perspectives
- Categorical
Yes or No answer
Does this person have high blood pressure?
- Dimensional
Threshold for diagnosis
More detailed response
Where does the person’s blood pressure fall on the measurement?
- Strengths of DSM-Style Categories
Permits shorthand communication
Easier allocation of health care services
Testing treatment efficacy
Understanding the aetiology of psychopathology
Better understanding the phenomenon of each problem
Enhances diagnostic reliability
- Weaknesses of DSM-style categories
Fosters false sense of discontinuity between normal and abnormal behaviour
Information is lost
Stigmatization of labelling
DSM version of categories has become overly complex, perhaps bloated.
Reliability & Validity
- Inter-rater reliability
The reproducibility or consistency of decisions between two reviewers and is a necessary
component of validity
Agreement between more than one rater
Do they agree on the same diagnosis and severity?
- Construct validity
The degree to which inferences can legitimately be made from the operationalizations in your
study to the theoretical constructs on which those operationalizations were based
The extent to which having a category allows you to assess and find a difference between people
with labels and people without.
- Causes of Schizophrenia: genetic predisposition, stressful experiences, maternal viral infection
- Schizophrenia symptoms: memory impairment, poor social skills, episodic course, favourable response to
some drug therapies.
Sep 15th – Chapter 2 (Psychopathology)
Paradigm Basic Tenets Examples of Research Methods Factors of Clinical
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