psychopathology a field studying the nature, development and treatment of psychological
disorders
stigma are destructive beliefs and attitudes held by society that are ascribed to
groups considered different in some way:
1. a distinguishing label
2. label linked to undesirable attitude
3. people with the label are seen different
4. people with the label are discriminated
Ways to fight stigma 1. community strategies (housing, education and personal contact)
2. mental health and health profession strategy (evaluations,
education, training and support)
3. Individual and family strategies ( eduction, support and advocacy
groups)
psychological disorder 1. personal distress
2. disability/dysfunction
3. violation of social norms
personal distress not all psychological disorders causes stress and not all distress is
classified as a disorder if it is an expected response to an upsetting
situation
disability/dysfunction disability refers to an impairment in some important area of life, while
dysfunction refers to something having gone wrong and not working as it
should
violation of social norms refer to widely held standards of beliefs and attitudes used to guide
judgment of behaviors
exorcism the ritual casting out of evil spirits
Hippocrates saw the brain as the organ of consciousness, intellectual life and emotion
and looked at the brain as a source of disordered thinking
(mania/melancholia/phrenitis). Behavior is affected by bodily structures and
substances, and damage to that can cause odd actions
lunacy trials trials of a person’s memory, habits, intellect etc. with the result being’
lunatics ‘ being held or hospitalized until they were restored to reason
asylums refuges for the housing and care of people with psychological disorders
moral treatment the practice of having close contact and engaging the residents to be
responsible and participate in purposeful activity
consequences of deinstitutionalization 1. people with severe psychological disorders go to hospital
emergency departments and take up space for people who have
physical emergency
2. jails in the US are housing more people with psychological
disorders than the mental hospitals
General paresis psychological syndrome characterized by declining mental and physicall
abilities and gradual paralysis.
1
,Louis Pasteur established the germ theory of disease, which led to a causal link between
infection, damage to certain areas in the brain and form of
psychopathology
Galton conducted heredity behavioral research on twins and coined the terms
nature and nurture.
elecroconsulvive therapy (ECT) in early 20th century used to induce seizures for research and for
schizophrenia
prefronal lobotomy a surgical technique destroying the tracts connecting the frontal lobe to
other brain areas was introduced in 1935 to treat violent behavior, later
problematic since it resulted in serious losses in emotional and cognitive
capacities
Mesmer conducted hypnosis (mesmerism|) routines meant to eliminate hysteria,
which refers to physical incapities for which no physical cause could be
found
charcot was also persuaded by psychological explanations of hysteria and
hypnosis treatments but also thought of biological roots
catharsis reliving an emotional trauma and releasing emotional tension by
expressing forgotten thoughts of the event
Freud believed that hysteria symptoms could be explained more often by
psychological than neurological causes, specially taking an interest in
forces inaccessible to awareness as driving behavior.
Freuds psychoanalytic theory Psychopathology results from unconscious conflicts in the
individual; referred to as psychoanalysis therapy → understanding
a person's early experiences, nature of key relationships, and
core emotional and relationship themes.
analysis of transference is an approach to understanding the origin of repressed conflicts where the
analyst/therapist looks at how the patient responds to them and suggests
that it has an implication for the patient's behavior toward someone
important in the past.
Assumptions Freud in current 1. childhood experiences help shape adult personality
practices 2. there are unconscious influences on behavior
3. causes and purposes of human behavior are not always obvious
Id present at birth, hold s the biological and unconscious energy needed to
run the mind and seeks immediate gratification of its urges
the ego deals with conscious content and mediates the demand of reality and the id
the superego is considered the human conscience which developed throughout
childhood as kids learn what what impulses are acceptable
defence mechanisms strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety
repression keeping unacceptable impulses of wishes from conscious awareness
denial not accepting a painful reality into conscious awareness
projection attributing unacceptable thoughts and feelings to other people
displacement redirecting emotional responses from the target to other people
2
, reaction formation converting unacceptable feelings to the opposite
regression retreating to the behavioral patterns of the earliest stage of development
rationalization offering reasons for unacceptable impulse into socially valued behaviors
Jung’s analytical psychology states that beyond the personal unconscious, there is a collective
unconscious containing archetypes-basic categories that all humans use to
conceptualize the world
Adler’s individual psychology viewing humans as tied to their society and fulfilled by contributing to social
good. He focused on changing people’s illogical ideas and expectations to
be more rational
Behaviorism focused on observable behavior rather than consciousness or mental
functioning
pavlov classical conditioning before learning the unconditioned stimulus (meat powder) elicits an
unconditioned response (salivation). when paired with a conditioned
stimulus (bell), the now conditioned response (salvation) is seen at the
presentation of the conditioned stimulus even without the unconditioned
stimulus.
extinction when te CS is repeatedly presented with no US
classical conditioning focuses on associations between stimuli
operant conditioning focuses on the effects of consequences on behavior (skinner)
Thorndike law effect which says that behavior followed by consequences satisfying to the
organism will be repeated and behavior followed by unpleasant
consequences discouraged
Skinner principle of reinforcement 1. positive reinforcement
2. negative reinforcement
positive reinforcement an action/event that strengthens the tendency of a response by its
pleasantness
negative reinforcement also strengthens the tendency of a response but does so by the removal of
an aversive effect
intermittent reinforcement important principle that can make new behavior more enduring with
rewarding a response only some of the times it appears
modeling witnessing someone perform certain activities increase/decrease divers
kinds of behavior. (observation and imitation)
Positive punishment adding something unpleasant to the situation, after certain behavior. which
decrease the probability that the behavior will be repeated
negative punishment removing something pleasant from the situation after certain behavior,
decreases the probability of this behavior being repeated
Trauma related disorders
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an extreme response to severe stressors. Symptoms may develop
shortly after trauma, but the full syndrome can appear years after
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