Lecture 1 - Developmental and
Psychopathology
What is the stigma composed of? How can it be divided in multiple levels?
Stereotypes prejudice and discrimination, including class and peer discriminative behavior.
Public (stigma of general population) and personal stigma (individual’s own stigma about
others), and self -stigma (also called internalized stigma; perceiving, accepting and applying
stigma to the self).
What should you compare to truly understand psychopathology?
You should compare these characteristics against normal development.
What is the definition of psychopathology?
Intense, frequent and/or persistent abnormal patterns
What is the definition of developmental Psychopathology?
Stresses that different patterns occur in the context of normal development and may lead to
current and future problems in infants, children and adolescents.
What does prevalence and incidence mean?
Prevalence = Proportion of the population with the disorder
Incidence = The rate at which new cases arise (all new cases in a give time period)
What could be barriers to mental health care?
- Structural (long waiting list, high personal cost)
- Perceptions of psychological problems (e.g., denial, beliefs that difficulties resolve
over time)
- Perceptions of mental health and child welfare (e.g., lack of confidence in the
system, previous negative experiences)
When are the negative impacts of mental disorder the greatest?
When problems remain untreated for a long time.
What are the three definitions of normal?
1. Statistical divergent (too much or too little)
2. Sociocultural standards (children that fail to conform to age related, gender specific
or culture specific could be seen as not normal)
3. Mental health care definition (clinically based judgements of distress and
dysfunction.
What are hallmarks of mentally healthy children and adolescents?
- Experience positive quality of life
- Function well
- No symptoms of psychopathology interfering with development.
,What are the four D’s (definition of abnormalities)? What do these 4 components make up?
- Dysfunction (behaviours, thoughts that interfere with a person ability to function)
- Distress (behaviours and feelings that cause distress to an individual or others
around them)
- Deviance (highly deviant behaviour)
- Danger (some behaviours are very dangerous and seen as abnormal)
The mental health definition of normal.
What does adaptation mean? What are we able to, through adaptation? What are the forms
of adaptation?
Refers to the ability to adjust to new information and experiences. To adopt new behaviors
that allow us to cope with change.
- Poor adaptation, adequate adaptation, optimal adaptation.
In some situations there is a clear distinction between normal and abnormal, but usually
there is a large gray area. On what does this depend?
Depending on the observer, instrument and situation. Knowledge of normal development is
important.
Theoretical Models
What are two types of explanatory models?
1. Continuous models (dimensional ): graduated scale from normal to abnormal
2. Discontinuous models (categorical ): bounded and qualitative differences between
normal and abnormal development
What are the six basic theoretical models?
1. Physiological models
2. Psychodynamic models
3. Behavioral and cognitive models
4. Humanistic models
5. Family or systemic models
6. Sociocultural models
Physiological models
What does the physiological model emphasize? What is an example model and what does
this entail?
The physiological basis of all psychological processes and events.
Diathesis-stress model =
- Diathesis (predisposition) : Physiological vulnerabilities such as genetic defects,
structural pathology and biochemical disturbances
- Stress: Physiological or from environment
,→ The interaction may lead to the development of a disorder.
Gene-By-Environment GxE effects and interactions. What are passive correlations, active
correlations, evocative correlations and gene-by-environment correlations?
- Passive correlations, in which children are exposed to different environments
provided by their genetically related parents
- Active correlations, in which children select or create their own environments as a
function of their genetic background.
- Evocative correlations, in which children experience different reactions or
responses to their genetically influenced emotions or behaviors.
- Gene-by-environment interactions involve differential sensitivity or susceptibility to
environments or experiences
What kind of view do recent developments for psychopathology take?
A more holistic view of the brain, compared to localization.
What is the connectome? What is a hallmark?
Diagram of the brain’s neural connection. An hallmark is experience-dependent brain
plasticity. (abundance of neurons and pruning play a role)
Psychodynamic models
What is the emphasis in the current psychodynamic models? (4)
- Subconscious cognitive, affective and motivational processes.
- Mental representations of themselves, others and relationships.
- Meaning of individual, subjective experiences.
- Development of personality problems and childhood psychological challenges during
aging.
Behaviour and Cognitive models
What is the emphasis of behaviour and Cognitive models? (4) What model is a well-known
example?
- Normal and deviant behaviour are learned (classical conditioning, operant
conditioning and observational learning.
- Individual observable behavior in a specific environment
- Cognitive deficits or defects in relation to learning processes of the child.
- Components and processes of the mind and mental development
→ Piaget is a well-known example of this kind of model.
Humanistic models
What is the emphasis on humanistic models? (3) What is a hallmark of these models?
- Personal meaningful experiences;
- Congenital motivation for healthy growth;
- A creation of a self -image by the child.
→ The models are sometimes overly positive and linked to positive psychology.
, Family models
What is the emphasis of family models on? (3)
- Understanding of personality and psychopathology of the child based on family
dynamics.
- Considering the shared (shared) and unshared (nonshared) surroundings of family
members.
- Diagnostics and therapy focus on the child within the family setting.
Sociocultural models
What is the emphasis of sociocultural models on (4)?
- Social context, including gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
- Culture affects development.
- Components of ecological models are home, classrooms and the neighborhood.
- Birth cohort: people born in a particular historical period share key experiences and
events.
BRONFENBRENNER MODEL
What is the emphasis of bronfenbrenner model models on?
Children's development is embedded in multiple settings, environments, and systems.
PRACTICES AND PRINCIPLES
Patterns of adjustment and poor adjustment over time:
1) Changes interactions / transactions across the lifespan with the surroundings.
2) Changes are not always positive.
How is the emergence of psychopathology conceptualized?
Iin developmental paths or pathways (in what moments and why do deviations of normal
development occur?)
What do pathway models state?
1. Change is possible at many points
2. Change is constrained or enabled by previous adaptations
What is a hallmark of continuity and discontinuity?
Continuity = Stability
Discontinuity = Change
