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Personality, Clinical and Health Psychology Notes
Summary of book and Lectures
Chapter 1 - Looking at abnormality
- continuum model of abnormality -> no dividing line between normal and abnormal
behavior
- Psychopathology = study of individuals who suffer from mental, emotional, and often
physical pain
Defining Abnormality
- common belief: abnormal when symptoms of metal illness are shown
- No biological test for abnormalities found yet
- Mental disorders = collection of problems in thinking or cognition , in emotional
responding and regulation and in social behavior
- Cultural Norms play a large role in defining abnormality , and also context in which the
behavior appears
- Cultural relativism = view that there are no universal standards or rules for labeling
behavior as abnormal, only relatively
+ honors norms and traditions
- can potentially be dangerous ( eg. Hitler and Jews)
- there a universal symptoms, can be uncertain
- most professionals do not hold a completely relativist approach
- Ways in which culture influences the expression of a disorder:
1) Culture and gender can influence expression of symptoms
2) Culture and gender can influence people’s willingness to admit to certain types of
Behaviors and feelings
3) Culture and gender can influence what kinds of treatments are seen as acceptable
- Four D’s of Abnormality : Dysfunction, Distress, Deviant, Dangerous
Historical Perspectives on Abnormality
-3 types of theories during history: biological, supernatural and psychological
Ancient Theories
- prehistoric: supernatural beliefs, exorcism, drill holes into skulls to release evil spirits
- Ancient China: concept of yin&yang
yang = positive force, yin = negative force
Emotions controlled by internal organs
Proper movement of vital air
- Ancient Egypt and Greece: documents with disorders and their causes
In women: wandering uterus -> Hysteria
Hippocrates: four basic humors
Plato: rational mind overcome by impulse and passion
Medieval views
- obsession with supernatural forces
- Witchcraft: hunts
Many that were accused pf witchcraft were mentally ill ( delusions etc.)
Wegner: „ suffered from Melancholy“
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- Psychic Epidemics = phenomenon in which large numbers of people engage in unusual
behavior that appears to have psychological origin -> dance frenzies, manias, influence
of others on individual’s self-perception
The Spread of Asylums
- early hospitals -> housed against their will
- Extremely harsh conditions
- Saint Mary of Bethlehem, London -> deplorable conditions
- Exhibited to public for a fee
- First Act of regulating Madhouses ->1774
- Mental hygiene Movement = growth of more humane treatment, problems because
separated from nature
- Moral treatment = Phillip Pinel, William Tuke -> encouraged focus on regain of self
control
- Dorothea Dix -> improved treatment, new mental health institutions
- Moral treatment movement grew too fast -> capacities too little
- Immigration , prejudices
- 19th - 20th century -> public hospitals no better than warehouses , overcrowded,
physically isolated state institutions.
The Emergence of Modern Perspectives
-Griesinger (1817 - 1868): psychological disorders can be explained in terms of brain
pathology
- Kraeplin (1856-1926): scheme for classifying
- Discovery of cause of general paresis ( paralysis, insanity, death) -> syphilis ->
biological factors can cause abnormal behavior
- Mesmer ( 1734-1815): development of psychoanalytic perspective -> Beginning but not
true , magnetic theory ( mesmerism ) -> Hypnosis makes patients very suggestible
- Charcot, Bernheim & Libault: unconsciousness -> psychoanalysis
- Pavlov -> Classical Conditioning
- Thorndike and Skinner -> Operant Conditioning
- Watson: behavior only on basis of history of conditioning
- Behaviorism : study of the impact of reinforcers and punishment on behavior
- Cognitive Revolution
- cognitions = thought processes that influence behavior and emotions
- Bandura: self-efficacy beliefs
- irrational negative thought patterns
Modern Mental Health Care
- breakthroughs in drug therapy
- Patients right movement = 1960s, recovery better when integrated into community
- Deinstutionalization -> never fully achieved
- Community mental health movement /-centers
- Decline in patients in psychiatric hospitals
- Halfway houses and Day treatment Care centers
- Not enough money -> never sufficient opportunities fir treatment
- Homeless people likely to have a disorder
- Managed Care = collection of methods for and coordinating care
- Only 50 - 60 % of people in need actually receive care ( USA )
- Integration of Biological, Social and Psychological Care
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Chapter 2 - Theories and Treatment of Abnormality
- sociocultural approach = disorders as result of environmental conditions and cultural
norms
- Biological approach = disorder as result of abnormal genes/ neurobiological dysfunction
- Psychological approach = disorder as result of thinking processes
- Biopsychosocial approach = combination of biological, psychological and sociocultural
factors
- Risk factor -> specific problem or many different -> trans diagnostic risk factors
Diathesis-Stress-Model
Biological Factors Biological Trigger
Social Factors Social Trigger Disorder
Psychological Psy. Trigger
Factors
-> most mental health professionals take an integrated approach
Biological Approaches
-story Phineas Gage
Brain Dysfunction
- brain does not function properly -> damage psychological functioning
- Brain divided into 3 parts: Forebrain ( Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland, Limbic
System and Cereberum )
Midbrain ( Superior and Inferior colliculus, substantia nigra)
Hindbrain ( Medulla, Pons, Reticular formation, Cerebellum )
- REVISE BRAIN PARTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
Biochemical Imbalances
- Neurotransmitters -> reuptake and degradation -> if that does not work -> disorder
- Disorders associated with function and sensitivity of neurotransmitters
- Serotonin, Dompaine, Norepinephrine and GABA
- Endocrine system produces hormones -> hypothalamic-pituitary-axis (HPA) ->
malfunction -> depression, anxiety
Genetic Abnormalities
- behavioral genetics = study of genetic personality and abnormalities
- Polygenic
- Genetic factors can influence the kinds of environments we choose, which reinforces our
genetically influenced personality
- Environment may act as a catalyst for a genetic tendency
- Epigenetics indicate that environmental conditions can be chemically modified by
different environmental conditions
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Drug Therapies
- Antipsychotic Drugs
- Antidepressant Drugs
- Lithium
- Anticonvulsants ( for mania, has less side effects than Lithium )
- Antianxiety Drugs
- Electroconvulsive therapy
- Psychosurgery
- Biological treatments do not work for everyone
Psychological Approaches
Behavioral Approaches
- focus on the influences of reinforcers and punishment
- Classical - & Operant Conditioning
- Modeling = learning from imitation
- Observational learning = observing rewards and punishments
- Behavioral therapies = focus on identifying punishments and reinforcers that contribute
to maladaptive behaviors -> systematic desensitization therapy ( exposure treatment )
- Effectiveness supported
- Unclear how theory accounts for some diseases
- More in Lab than in field
- No free will
Cognitive Approach
= thought/ beliefs shape our behavior and experiences
- Causal attribution = answer why something happened -> affects emotions and self-
concept
- Global assumption = broad beliefs
- Cognitive Therapies
- help client identify and challenge negative thoughts
- 3 goals: 1) identifying maladaptive thoughts
2) teaching how to challenge thoughts
3) Encourage to face worst fears
- Aaron Beck -> ABC theory ( Activating Event -> Belief -> Consequence )
- Ellis
- Helpless core beliefs
- Unlovable core beliefs
- Worthless core beliefs
- Socratic Questioning, Socrates Dialogue -> stimulation to look at oneself in a new way
Psychodynamic Approaches
- focus on unconscious
- Psychoanalysis, catharsis and repression
- libido and aggression
- id, ego & superego
- Defense mechanisms
- Psychosexual stages
- Ego psychology = importance of individual ability to regulate defenses that allow
healthy functioning
- Object relations = early relationships create images -> self- psychology and relational
psychoanalysis