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Summary of "Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology"
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Fundamentals of abnormal psychology1. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY: PAST AND PRESENT
Psychopathology, maladjustment, emotional disturbance and mental illness are all
terms used for problems considering the human brain or mind.
Abnormal psychology/psychopathology the scientific study of abnormal behavior
undertaken to describe, predict, explain and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL ABNORMALITY?
The 4 D’s
DEVIANCE
Abnormal psychological functioning is deviant: different, extreme and unusual from a
society’s ideas about proper functioning. It’s functioning that breaks a society’s
norms a society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct. Norms differ
between society’s because they come from different cultures
a people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology and arts.
Norms and cultures can change over time.
It also depends on situations whether behavior or a reaction is abnormal. Something
that is considered abnormal in a normal situation, might be normal under heavy
human experiences like child abuse or an earthquake.
DISTRESS
To be called abnormal, behavior must cause distress: it’s unpleasant and upsetting to
someone. But is this always the case? Maybe someone doesn’t feel unpleasant by it,
but it still should be considered abnormal.
DYSFUNCTION
It usually is dysfunctional: it interferes with daily functioning.
DANGER
This also isn’t always the case, but when behavior places the individual or people
around them in danger, it’s considered abnormal.
THE ELUSIVE NATURE OF ABNORMALITY
We use the 4 D’s to describe or point out abnormal behavior, but it will always be
vague. Sometimes, it’s just eccentricity: it’s unusual, but we shouldn’t interfere.
WHAT IS TREATMENT?
Treatment/therapy a systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior
into more normal behavior.
It’s not just advice or little changes, but a whole procedure with 3 key features:
o A sufferer who seeks relief from the healer
o A trained, socially accepted healer, whose expertise is accepted by the
sufferer and his or her social group
o A series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer, through which the
healer tries to produce certain changes in the sufferer’s emotional state,
attitudes and behavior.
There are many beliefs among clinicals about the goal of therapy and how to name
the sufferer. The field is quite divided. 2 kinds of professions also:
o Clinical science
Scientific researcher
Describe, predict, and explain mental disorders
Examine the effectivity of psychological treatment
o Clinical practice
Psychologist/psychotherapist. Treating mental disorders.
3 different fields:
o Psychopathology looking into and treating mental disorders
o Psychiatry medical science, not psychology. Medical treatment +
psychological treatment.
o Clinical psychology the same disorders, but with psychological
perspectives. Psychological, not medical treatment.
, Also, different jobs:
o Psychiatrist
Medication; allowed to prescribe medication
o Psychologist
Anyone who studied psychology
o GZ-psychologist (mental health psychologist)
Specific master; clinical practice
o Clinical psychologist
Master after GZ-psychologist; conversations
More specialized; study more in-depth; more responsibilities.
HOW WAS ABNORMALITY VIEWED AND TREATED IN THE PAST?
ANCIENT VIEWS AND TREATMENTS
Vision in this time:
Abnormal behavior is a victory by evil spirits, demons.
Treatment: the demon has to be driven from the body. Methods:
Trephination an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut
away a circular section of the skull.
Exorcism by a shaman. Usually when they thought someone was possessed.
GREEK AND ROMAN VIEWS AND TREATMENTS
Vision
Philosophers and physicians offered different explanations.
Hippocrates: illnesses have natural causes. He believed it was an imbalance in the
humors according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence
mental and physical functioning. This believe was also shared by Plato and Aristotle.
Treatment: correct underlying physical pathology.
EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES: DEMONOLOGY RETURNS
The old view about demons returned, just like the demonological treatment
(exorcism). The church rejected scientific forms of investigation and held a lot of
power. Abnormal behavior increased greatly, because of the great stress in that time.
THE RENAISSANCE AND THE RISE OF ASYLUMS
The demonological views were getting declined.
Johann Weyer: mind is as susceptible to sickness as body.
Treatment improved:
Care at home, in foster homes or in religious places.
Local residents welcomed people with mental disorders into homes and community
residences arose. However, they all couldn’t hold a lot of people. Other solution
Asylums a type of institution that first became popular in the 16th century to provide
care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: REFORM AND MORAL TREATMENT
This century can be split into 2 parts:
Early nineteenth century.
People like Pinel and Tuke reformed asylums for the better. Pinel: people showing
abnormal behavior are sick people whose illnesses should be treated with sympathy
and kindness. Their treatment got the name:
Moral treatment a 19th century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction
that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment. Another
important man in this field: Rush. Father psychiatry. Dix was responsible for the rise
of state hospitals state-run public mental institutions in the US.
Late nineteenth century
People started to decline moral treatment. People started to believe again that
abnormal behavior cannot be cured and that these people were just weird. Causes:
money, staffing shortages, decline recovery rate, overcrowding and prejudices. ‘New’
form of treatment: again long-term hospitalization. Mental hospitals in US:
- Ineffective medical treatment and deterioration of the living conditions
- Straitjackets, handcuffs, barred beds, belts etc. to keep patients in check.
,THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE SOMATOGENIC AND PSYCHOGENIC
PERSPECTIVES
Somatogenic perspective the view that abnormal psychological functioning has
physical causes. Treatment:
Mental hospitals in nature and biological treatments, based on discoveries:
disappointing results though.
Psychogenic perspective the view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning
are psychological. Different types of treatment:
Mesmer used mesmerism for the treatment of hysterical disorders. Later this got
the name hypnotism and they found out it could cure but also cause a physical
dysfunction.
Freud: psychoanalysis (outpatient therapy) either the theory or the treatment of
abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as
the cause of psychopathology.
CURRENT TRENDS
HOW ARE PEOPLE WITH SEVERE DISTURBANCES CARED FOR?
The late twentieth century
They discovered new, effective psychotropic medications
Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental
dysfunctioning (antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant drugs). This led to
deinstitutionalization the practice, begun in the 60s, of releasing hundreds of
thousands of patients from public mental hospitals because of the effects of the
drugs.
There are a lot of theoretical perspectives nowadays. However, outpatient care is the
starting point now. If necessary, they will use short-term hospitalization and after that
outpatient psychotherapy and medication.
HOW ARE PEOPLE WITH LESS SEVERE DISTURBANCES TREATED?
For them, outpatient care is also the preferred form. Before, there was only private
psychotherapy an arrangement in which one directly pays a therapist for
counseling services. Now, there are many more options for everyone. This is because
the insurance companies have more influence on it. Also, more specialization.
A GROWING EMPHASIS ON PREVENTING DISORDERS AND PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH
Nowadays, a lot of community programs start to focus on prevention
Interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they can develop.
They have back up from the field of positive psychology
The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits and abilities.
MULTICULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
Because of the multiple cultures, races and language in one society, we now have
multicultural psychology the field that examines the impact of culture, race,
ethnicity and gender on behaviors and thoughts and focuses on how such factors
may influence the origin, nature and treatment of abnormal behavior.
THE INCREASING INFLUENCE OF INSURANCE COVERAGE
Managed care program health care coverage in which the insurance company
largely controls the nature, scope and cost of medical or psychological services.
Therapists and clients usually don’t favor this, because they don’t get the help they
need and reimbursements are lower for them than for medical disorders.
TECHNOLOGY AND MENTAL HEALTH
Cybertherapy the use of computer technology, such as skype, to provide therapy.
Disadvantage: no control.
WHAT DO CLINICAL RESEARCHERS DO?
To gain knowledge, clinical researchers use the scientific method
The process of systematically gathering and evaluating info through careful
observations to understand a phenomenon.
These observations let them explain relationships between variables. Different
methods all let them form hypotheses a hunch or prediction. Methods:
, 1) THE CASE STUDY
Case study a detailed account of one’s life and psychological problems.
Advantages:
- They can lead to new ideas
- They can offer tentative support for a theory
- They can challenge a theory’s assumptions
- They can show the value of new therapeutic techniques
- They can offer opportunities to study unusual problems that don’t occur a lot.
Disadvantages:
- They are reported by biased observers. The therapists want success.
- They rely on subjective evidence.
- They provide little basis for generalization.
Therefore, the next two methods with 3 features that let them give general insights:
- Many individuals are observed
- Procedures are used uniformly and can be repeated or replicated
- Statistical tests are used to analyze results
2) THE CORRELATIONAL METHOD
Correlation degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other
Correlation method a research procedure used to determine how much events or
characteristics vary along with each other.
Participants are chosen for a study
Positive correlation when variables change the same way, in a positive direction
Negative correlation when variables change the other way, in a negative direction.
Unrelated when there is no relation.
Magnitude= strength of the relation.
Correlation coefficient= direction + magnitude. Plus or minus for direction; number for
magnitude.
To know whether an outcome can be trusted, look at the statistical analysis which
tells you whether the outcome could have occurred by mere change.
Disadvantage: can’t say anything about causation.
Special forms of correlational research:
o Epidemiological study measures the incidence and prevalence of a
disorder in a given population.
Incidence= number of new cases during a given period of time.
Prevalence= total number of cases in the population during a period of time.
o Longitudinal study observes the same participants on many occasions
over a long period of time.
3) THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Experiment research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect
of the manipulation is observed.
Independent variable the variable in an experiment that is manipulated to
determine whether it has an effect on another variable.
Dependent variable the variable in an experiment expected to change as the IV is
manipulated.
This method can say something about causation because of the manipulation. But for
that to work, experimenters must get rid of all possible confounds
In an experiment, a variable other than the IV that is also acting on the DV. To do
this, an experiment must have 3 things:
o A control group in an experiment, a group of participants who aren’t
exposed to the IV. Beside that, their experience will be the same as that of the
experimental group in an experiment, the participants who are exposed to
the IV under investigation. Their results will be compared.
o Random assignment a selection procedure that ensures that participants
are randomly placed either in the control group or in the experimental group.
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