Chapter 1 - An Overview of Psychopathology

Question 0

Psychopathology

Answer 0

The study of mental illness; this is in contrast with pathophysiology, or pathology of our physiology.

Question 1

Abnormal Psychology

Answer 1

The study of mental disorders; this includes psychological dysfunctions that the person experiences in terms of distress; a complete definition of abnormal behavior compares the behaviors and experiences in terms of those accepted in the person’s culture.

Question 2

Stigma

Answer 2

Negative attitudes and beliefs that cause the general public to avoid others, including those with a mental illness.

Question 3

Behavioral and Experiential Perspective

Answer 3

Examines the behavior and experience observed in psychopathology, especially the manner in which the signs and symptoms of a particular disorder are seen in a similar manner throughout the world.

Question 4

Neuroscience Perspective

Answer 4

Examines what we know about particular psychopathological experience from the standpoint of neuroscience, including the structure and function of the brain, the autonomic nervous system, and a genetic and epigenetic consideration as it relates to psychopathology.

Question 5

Evolutionary Perspective

Answer 5

Examines psychological disorders in terms of how certain ways of seeing or being in the world might be adaptive, asking if there is any advantage to behaving and feeling in certain ways that others consider abnormal or if the disordered behavior is secondary to another process that is beneficial.

Question 6

Levels of Analysis

Answer 6

Examination of psychopathology ranging from culture and society at a higher level to the individual at a middle level and physiology and genetics at the lower levels.

Question 7

Cultural Perspective

Answer 7

Examines the social world in which a person lives and from which a person learns skills, values, beliefs, attitudes, and other information.

Question 8

Give the seven different components of psychopathology (all can contribute, but do not have to contribute).

Answer 8

1) Statistical deviance
2) Socially unacceptable behavior; violating social norms
3) Maladaptive behavior; it causes or could cause harm
4) Associated with states of severe personal distress
5) Disability; it inhibits you from performing something as usual
6) Misperceptions or misinterpretations of reality
7) Dangerous

Question 9

What is culture?

Answer 9

Culture is the shared ideas and beliefs, foods, customs, traditions, language, religious beliefs, heritage, etc., of a group of people.

Question 10

What is society?

Answer 10

Society is who one is with, or who a person identifies with from the macroscopic perspective down to the microcosm.

Question 11

How does culture affect psychological disorders?

Answer 11

Culture causes people to respond differently to various psychological disorders, and changes what people consider to actually be a disorder. It also changes how one approaches treatment for a disorder.

Question 12

What is prejudice?

Answer 12

Prejudice is prejudging someone. It is a cognitive heuristic used to reduce time spent to process information, so it is functional. However, it can cause problems when we lack awareness of it.

Question 13

Explain negative and positive prejudice.

Answer 13

Negative prejudice is when one thinks bad things about a person because of one piece of information about that person - for instance, his or her gender, or race. Positive prejudice when one thinks good things about a person because of that one piece of information.

Question 14

What can prejudice lead to in terms of diagnosis for psychopathology?

Answer 14

Prejudice can lead to overpathologizing (from negative prejudice) or underpathologizing (from positive prejudice) when diagnosing someone with a disorder.

Question 15

What sort of language should one use when discussing someone who has a mental disorder?

Answer 15

One should use people first language when discussing people with mental disorders, e.g., a person who has depression instead of a depressive.

Question 16

What are symptoms?

Answer 16

Symptoms are traditionally subjective feelings or experiences that an individual seeking help for a mental disorder reports to a professional.

Question 17

What are signs?

Answer 17

Traditionally, signs are objective processes that can be viewed from the outside and measured, and that would be apparent to a professional.

Question 18

Explain the term biopsychosocial. Who introduced the term?

Answer 18

George Engel introduced the term biopsychosocial, suggesting that one should attempt to understand someone with a mental illness or medical disorder from the social, emotional, cultural, and biological perspectives - so that one understands the larger context in which the person with the disorder is living.

Question 19

Give five ideas critical to the development of what is considered psychopathology.

Answer 19

1) Maladaptive processes
2) Personal distress is caused by the processes
3) Deviance from cultural and statistical norms in the processes
4) Difficulty connecting with the environment and him or herself
5) Inability to consider alternative ways of thinking, feeling, or doing

Question 20

Give the seven levels of analysis.

Answer 20

1) Culture and society, as well as social relationships
2) Social level
3) Individual level
4) Sensory, motor, emotional, and cognitive systems that make up an individual
5) Physiological processes that make up our CNS and PNS
6) Cortical network level, and how neurons and connections transfer and process information
7) Genetic level, where one understands how environmental conditions influence the genetic processes