Textbook 1

Question 1

3 elements of psychological disorder

Answer 1

• impairment in functioning
• response that is not typical
• response that is not culturally expected

Question 2

Does a person being distressed by itself count as a psychological disorder?

Answer 2

No

Question 3

If something occurs infrequently is it considered abnormal

Answer 3

It can be but it is not a great definition

Question 4

Wakefield states

Answer 4

a psychological disorder is caused by a failure of one or more mechanisms to perform their evolved function and the dysfunction produces harm or distress

Question 5

Prototype

Answer 5

A typical profile of symptoms related to a certain disorder

Question 6

What are the diagnostic criteria in the DSM 5

Answer 6

Many of them are prototypes

Question 7

Does a person have to meet all the criteria of a disorder to be diagnosed

Answer 7

No, a person may only have some features or symptoms of a disorder and still meet the criteria for diagnosis because their set of symptoms is close to a certain prototype

Question 8

What did Thomas Szasz argue about mental illnesses in the 1960s

Answer 8

That mental illness was a myth because diagnosis relied on subjective judgements

Question 9

What did George Albee argue about mental disease?

Answer 9

That it is a mistake to use the medical model and associated diagnoses (like DSM) to conceptualize abnormal behaviour

Question 10

3 ways mental health professionals do the scientist-practitioner model

Answer 10

1. Keep up to date with current research
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of treatments
3. Conduct research

Question 11

Presenting problem

Answer 11

Original complaint reported by the client to the therapist

Question 12

Clinical description

Answer 12

Details of the combinations of behaviours, thoughts and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder

Question 13

Sex ratio

Answer 13

What proportion of males and females have the disorder

Question 14

Course of psychiatric disorder

Answer 14

Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time

Question 15

Chronic course

Answer 15

Last a long time, sometimes a whole lifetime

Question 16

Episodic course

Answer 16

Individual is likely to recover within months

Question 17

Time-limited course

Answer 17

Individual will improve without treatment in a relatively short period of time

Question 18

Acute onset

Answer 18

begins suddenly

Question 19

Insidious onset

Answer 19

Develops gradually over time

Question 20

Stress and melancholy beliefs about abnormal behaviour

Answer 20

Viewed insanity as a natural phenomenon caused by mental/emotional stress that could be treated with rest

Question 21

How were “possessions” treated

Answer 21

The aim was to make the body uninhabitable by essentially torturing them

Question 22

Who is considered the father of modern medicine

Answer 22

Hippocrates

Question 23

Humoral Theory

Answer 23

Brain function is related to four bodily fluids called humours:

• blood
• black bile
• yellow bile
• phlegm

Question 24

How did syphilis change the perception of psychological disorders

Answer 24

It led to the belief that all psychological disorders could be cured

Question 25

What were common treatments for psychological disorders in the 1930s?

Answer 25

Brain surgery and things that caused convulsions (like electroconvulsive shock therapy and insulin-shock

Question 26

Moral theory

Answer 26

Approach to treatment that involved treating patients as normally as possible and putting them in normal environments

Question 27

2 main theories in the 20th century

Answer 27

Psychoanalysis and behaviourism

Question 28

Catharsis

Answer 28

Rapid or sudden release of emotional tension that was an important factor in psychoanalytic therapy

Question 29

Defence mechanisms according to Freud

Answer 29

Unconscious protective processes that keep primitive emotions associated with conflicts in check