Ch. 1 Concepts of Mental Disorders throughout History Flashcards
Week 1 (56 cards)
What are the principles that have been used to define abnormality (list)?
Statistical concepts (infrequency), personal distress, personal dysfunction, violation of norms. each one is not a necessary or sufficient condition for abnormality, so none of them are absolutely necessary, or good enough to describe abnormality alone.
What is the most broadly accepted system for identifying particular types of disorders?
Diagnostic an Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
What are the two problems associated with defining abnormality?
- eccentric or unusual behaviour or beliefs are not necessarily abnormal, and the boundary btwn abnormality and eccentricity is not always clear. so you can be unusual without being abnormal. 2. behaviours that are repugnant and threatening to others such as aggression and murder are not always signs of an underlying psychological disorder. so just bc you were aggressive doesnt mean you have disordered behaviour. ie not all criminals are abnormal.
What is a psychological abnormality?
behaviour, speech, or though that impairs the ability of a person to fxn in a way that is generally expected of them in the context where the unusual functioning occurs.
What is psychopathology?
the scientific study of psychological abnormality and the problems faced by ppl who suffer from such disorders.
What is mental illness?
still a scientific study of psychological abnormality and the problems of those who have such disorders, but it implies a medical rather than psychological cause.
What is a psychological/mental disorder?
a specific manifestation of this impairment of functioning (psych abnormality) as described by some set of criteria that have been established by a panel of experts.
How are statistical concepts used to define abnormality?
behaviour is judged as abnormal if it occurs infrequently within the population. so relative infrequency is a defining factor of abnormality. however not all infrequent behaviours are judged as abnormal; ie. athletic prowess, innovative ideas. it’s also not clear how unusual/infrequent a behaviour must be for it to be considered abnormal ie anxiety and depression which are getting less uncommon but are abnormal.
How does personal distress define abnormality?
many ppl who are considered to have a psychological disorder report being distressed. However, distress is not present for all ppl experiencing psychopathology. therefore, distress is a frequent but not essential feature of abnormality.
What is dysfunction?
failure of internal mechanisms to perform naturally selected functions.
How does personal dysfunction define abnormality?
when behaviour is clearly maladaptive - it interferes with appropriate functioning - it is typically said to be abnormal. However the boundaries btwn normal and abnormal and what constitutes harmful dysfunction is unclear.
How does violation of norms define abnormality?
the behaviour and thoughts of many individuals with mental disorders run counter to what we might consider appropriate. however, ppl also tend to think criminals ways of thinking goes against norm, but many criminals dont have mental disorders. so, someone may act or think against the norm but that doesnt mean that they’re disordered. as well, social norms vary over time and place and few disorders are universal across cultures. by example, homosexuality was considered disordered and abnormal but has since changed.
What does culturally relative refer to?
talking about how we define abnormality is culturally relative. so norms differ across cultures, therefore what is considered abnormal differs as well.
What is a clinical psychologist and their scope of practice?
apply their learned knowledge to the understanding, assessment, diagnosis, and amelioration of disorders of thinking and behaviour. tx involves various psychological interventions.
What is a psychiatrist and their scope of practice?
trained in medicine and then get specialized training in dealing with mental disorders. tx is pharmacological agents in managing mental disorders.
What is the chronological timeline of how psychological disorders changed from antiquity to the 1800s?
Stone age humans half a million yrs ago - trephination. Egyptians 4000 yrs ago - supernatural and natural causes for madness. Greeks and Romans - natural causes for mental disorders, very empirical. Arabs after 198 CE - carried on mental health research and tx of greeks and romans. Middle Ages of europe 500 - 1500 CE - supernatural causes. Enlightenment period in europe starting 1700s - natural causes. re-examined the ways society dealt with the insane.
How was Darwin’s theory of evolution interpreted by eugenicists?
Sir Francis Galton interpreted it to mean that those whose intellectual, social, or economic functioning was seen as inferior were defective or maladaptive. Eugenics was adopted by Nazis and resulted in extermination of millions of ppl. Alberta had the sexual sterilization act where the mentally ill were forcibly sterilized.
What are supernatural causes?
causes that are beyond our understanding such as the influence of gods, demons, or magic. societies who believed in these causes thought of psychological dysfunction as the result of witchcraft of evil ppl, or the possession by demons.
What are natural causes?
causes that are observable or explained. societies who believed this also thought that psychological dysfunction was a result of the same.
What is trephination?
skulls with circular sections cut out of them. possible they were done either to let out evil spirits or to remove bone splinters or blood clots.
What did early Egyptians think about madness?
knew the brain was the site of mental activity but thought that demonic possession disrupted its functioning in mad ppl. later in 332 BCE adopted more med and psych ideas from the Greeks. established sanatoriums for ppl who were psychologically unwell.
Wha did Hippocrates think about mental disorders?
460-377 BCE. denied that psych problems were bc of supernatural causes. thought all disorders had natural causes. thought stress and dreams affected mental functioning. tx was veg diet, exercise, abstinence from alc, and a quiet life. induced bleeding or vomiting if this didnt work. thought that psych functioning resulted from disturbances of the humours. Cheerfulness = excess bl ill-temper= excess of yellow bile listlessness = excess of phlegm.
What is hysteria and what did Hippocrates believe was the cause of this?
psychologically induced blindness deafness or other apparent defects in perceptual or bodily processes. he though it only occurred in women due to wandering uterus.
Why did Hippocrates’ absurd ideas represent a significant advance?
his theories encouraged the beginnings of scientific understanding of disordered behaviour and thought.
