18. Contemporary Approaches to Psychopathology

Question 1

____ theorists distinguish three broad classes of psychopathology that form a continuum of functioning, from the least to the most disturbed: neuroses, personality disorders and psychoses.

Answer 1

Psychodynamic perspective

Question 2

Problems in living, such as phobias, constant self-doubt and repetitive interpersonal problems such as trouble with authority figures. Most people will have this in their lives.

Answer 2

Neuroses

Question 2

Categorised by enduring maladaptive patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour that lead to chronic disturbances in interpersonal and occupational functioning. People with personality disorders often have difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships and employment, interpret interpersonal events in highly distorted ways, and maybe chronically vulnerable to depression and anxiety.

Answer 2

Personality disorders

Question 3

Are gross disturbances involving a loss of touch with reality. A person who is psychotic may hear voices telling him to kill himself or believe that the secret service is trying to assassinate him.

Answer 3

Psychoses

Question 4

According to psychodynamics theorists, these three levels of pathology also lie on a continuum with respect to ____ – origins of psychological disorders and or the physiological disturbances.

Answer 4

Aetiology

Question 5

Psychoses result primarily from ____ ____, with some environmental input.

Answer 5

biological abnormalities

Question 6

Neuroses and personality disorders stem more from ____ ____, often interacting with biological vulnerabilities.

Answer 6

environmental experiences

Question 7

____ ____ is a set of hypotheses about the patients personality structure and the meaning of the symptom. This formulation attempts to answer three questions:

Answer 7

Psychodynamic formulation

Question 8

(1) what does the patient ___ ___ ___ ____?

Answer 8

wish for and fear

Question 9

(2) What psychological ____ does the person have at his disposal?

Answer 9

resources

Question 10

(3) And how does he ____ himself and others?

Answer 10

experience

Question 11

The first question focuses on the person’s ____ ___ ___ ____.

Answer 11

dominant motives and conflicts

Question 12

The second question is about ____ ____ – the person’s ability to function autonomously, make sound decisions, think clearly and regulate impulses and emotions.

Answer 12

ego functioning

Question 13

The third question addresses ____ ____; that is, the person’s ability to form meaningful relationships with others and to maintain self-esteem.

Answer 13

object relations

Question 14

____ ____ clinicians integrate an understanding of classical and operant conditioning with a cognitive-social perspective.

Answer 14

Cognitive-behavioural

Question 15

From ____ perspective, many psychological problems involve conditioned emotional responses, in which a previously neutral stimulus has become associated with unpleasant emotions. Irrational fears in turn elicit avoidance, which perpetuates them and may lead to secondary problems, such as poor social skills.

Answer 15

behavioural

Question 16

From a ____ perspective, many psychological problems reflect dysfunctional attitudes, beliefs and other cognitive processes, such as a tendency to interpret events negatively.

Answer 16

cognitive

Question 17

The biological approach looks for the roots of mental disorders in the brain’s circuitry, such as neurotransmitter dysfunction, abnormalities of specific brain structures, or dysfunction anywhere along a pathway that regulates behaviour or mental processes.

Answer 17

Biological approach

Question 18

Theorists of various persuasions often adopt a ____-____ model, which proposes that people with underlying vulnerability (called a diathesis) may exhibit symptoms under stressful circumstances.

Answer 18

diathesis-stress

Question 19

A ‘____ ____’ explains an individual’s behaviour in the context of a social group, such as a couple, family or larger group.

Answer 19

Systems approach

Question 21

Most systems clinicians adopt a ‘____ ____ model’, which views an individuals symptoms as symptoms of family dysfunction.

Answer 21

family systems

Question 22

The methods family members use to preserve equilibrium and family are called ‘family ____ ____’.

Answer 22

homeostatic mechanisms

Question 23

Family systems theorists focus on the ways families are ____, including family roles (the parts individuals play in the family), boundaries (physical and psychological limits of the family and its subsystems) and alliances (patterns in which family members side with one another).

Answer 23

organised

Question 24

They also focus on problematic ____ patterns.

Answer 24

communication