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UBC Abnormal Psychology
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UBC Abnormal Psychology Bethany Michel
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Lecture 1Learning Goals
1. Describe what we mean by "abnormal" psychology
1.1 Domains we look into when we talk about anything
disordered or non-adaptive:
- Behavior
- Thoughts
- Feelings/Emotions
- Physiology/Physical sensations
1.2 What is abnormal?
Extraordinary skills, color blindness, intellectual giftedness
- in truth, there is no consensus definition
We tend to approach abnormal psychology from a kind of medical model/
disease point of view - trying to find if this is a disorder or maladaptive
functioning
1.3 Elements of Abnormality
1.3.1. Subjective distress - the person needs to be suffering
1.3.2. Maladaptiveness - dysfunctions/some form of impairment in
important areas of life (work/school, relationships)
1.3.3. Statistical deviancy - when we look at the bell curve, it is
uncommon
- on the other hand, if you think of anxiety and depression, it is
fairly common
- this element as part of the set
1.3.4. Violation of social norms - outside cultural standards
for example engaging in sex work - in certain countries/culture,
this is not accepted
1.3.5. Social discomfort - causing others to feel uncomfortable,
for example, the person starts dancing and yelling on the streets
and people start looking at this person
1.3.6. Irrationality or unpredictability - unexpected responses to
, stressors, things that don’t seem rational, typical or well-suited
to the situation
1.3.7. Dangerousness - dangerous to self or others, anti-social
personality disorder
1.4 We want to consider these all as a set, so we don’t count 1, 2 or 3 to
consider it as abnormal
Interpretation: There are four domains that we look into in determining
abnormal psychology: Behavior, Thoughts, Feelings/Emotions
and Physiology/Physical sensations There are seven elements of
abnormality that we consider as a set, and these are:
subjective distress where the person can feel that he or she is
not feeling/behaving well, maladaptiveness where the
person is unable to function properly in relationships, work/
school etcetera, statistical deviancy where the person is
outside the bell curve, violation of social norms where the
person acts beyond social expectations and does things that are
not accepted in their culture, social discomfort where the
person’s actions cause discomfort to other people,
irrationality/unpredictability where the person reacts in
an unexpected manner and dangerousness where the person
can hurt self or other people.
2. Explain how classification of mental illness influences how we perceive it
2.1 We use Standardized manuals to classify abnormalities:
American Psychological Association (US and Canada):
DSM-5 - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
World Health Organization (rest of the world): ICD-10
2.2 The experts in the area of the field will get together, there will be a
committee to discuss researches and treatments in the field, what we
know from science and literature about this disorder
2.3 The committee needs to agree on what count as a disorder. How many
of these possible criteria to be diagnosed as a disorder, and it is
treatable. This is important because we are all affected by these. You
, can’t get reimbursed without a diagnosis.
2.4 There are disorders being considered as potentials for possibly future
versions of the manual. Non-suicidal self-injury to be considered.
Things change overtime, based on the norms of the society. For
example, back in the day, homosexuality is considered abnormal. Now,
it is being considered as part of the person or who you are like being
left-handed or right-handed.
2.5 Classifications are important and critical. If homosexuality is a disorder
in the DSM-5, people identified as meeting the criteria and those who
are not meeting the criteria will think differently.
2.6 ICD-10 - large manual for all the diseases that one could have and a
separate manual of mental and behavioral disorders, more broad than
the DSM
2.7 Definition of mental disorder, DSM-5:
Process of how mental disorder comes to be (cycle) - Biological,
psychological, developmental dysfunction >> clinically significant
disturbance in behavior, emotional regulation or cognitive function
>> associated with distress or disability
- it cycles around and around - it is important to intervene as early as
possible to break the cycle
2.8 Why bother classifying?
Having the nomenclature (the names) we can:
1. Communicate
- allows us to structure the information both in our own minds
and out to the world.
2. Organize meaningfully
- to summarize, although reporting a person’s whole history to
understand the problem is necessary, it is much easier/efficient
to have a name for it, to know what we are talking about
, - For example, you report that a patient is reported
to have socialized anxiety disorder, she is concerned and she is
looking for a pharmacological assessment
- it is much easier way to get densely-packed labels than narrating
the entire history
3. Facilitate research
- if we find the cause for one disorder and find other related
diseases, it saves legwork in finding treatment/treating disorders
4. Define what counts as abnormal
Interpretation: Our classification affects that way we perceive it as the
intervention/treatment depends on the classification. If a
person’s disorder is classified as manageable with cognitive
therapy and can still perform their normal activities, we
perceive the disorder to be less grave and allow the person to go
about their daily routine. In the instance that the person’s
disorder is classified as uncontrollable and dangerous to self/
others, and medications are needed under the supervision of
medical professionals, we perceive the disorder as grave and will
give close monitoring to the person. The interventions/
treatment that we give to the person can affect their
improvement.
In reporting or communicating a person’s situation to other
medical professionals and to other concerned people, our
classification of the diseases can provide a brief and concise
description of the situation. Varying classification can cause
misunderstanding and misinterpretation among professionals
and concerned people, that in turn can cause mishandling of
the situation.
3. Understand how research is used to distinguish effective treatments for
psychological disorders
3.1 Quick term definitions
Prevalence - no. of active cases in a given period
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