Lecture 2

Question 1

What is abnormal behavior?

Answer 1

Actions that are unexpected and are evaluated negatively because they are outside of the norm

• Atypical or cultural inappropriateness
• Distress to the person or others
• Impairment in functioning
• Psychological dysfunction

None are enough alone to classify abnormal behavior

Question 2

What is cultural inappropriateness?

Answer 2

Behavior at odds with cultural expectations of appropriateness and propriety

• Both the behavior and the context in which the behavior is displayed

Question 3

What are the limitations of cultural inappropriateness?

Answer 3

Cultural relativity - the judgment of another person’s normality will depend upon the values and traditions of the culture in which they live

Question 4

What is distress?

Answer 4

Negative internal emotions or experiences that are real to the individual but cannot be observed directly by other people

Question 5

What are examples of distress?

Answer 5

Examples: Unhappiness, fear, apathy, guilt, physical aches and pains, visual and auditory experiences

Question 6

What are the limitations of distress?

Answer 6

Some conditions do not produce distress such as mania

Question 7

What is impairment in functioning?

Answer 7

Individuals who are unable to function adequately in their social roles can be considered to have a psychological disability, impairment, or dysfunction

Question 8

What is psychological dysfunction?

Answer 8

Breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning.

A psychological disability can look like a physical disability

Question 9

What is mental health?

Answer 9

• Able to function effectively and to find satisfaction in life
• Have lasting and emotionally gratifying relationships
• They are likely to make realistic appraisals of their own talents or shortcomings

Question 10

What are the focuses of studying psychological disorders?

Answer 10

Clinical description, causation, treatment and outcome

Question 11

What is the definition of psychopathology?

Answer 11

The scientific study of psychological disorders

Question 12

What is the clinical description?

Answer 12

The unique combinations of behaviors, thoughts and feelings that make up a specific disorder

Question 13

What is a prognosis?

Answer 13

The anticipated course of a disorder

Question 14

What does etiology mean?

Answer 14

The cause or source of a disorder

Question 15

What is the supernatural tradition?

Answer 15

• Deviant behavior as a battle of “good” vs “evil”
• Believed to be caused by demonic possession, witchcraft, sorcery
• Treatments included exorcism, torture, religious services

Question 16

What is trephination?

Answer 16

Bloodletting/purge-bleeding,
purging and even vomiting were thought to help mental illness

Question 17

What was the mental hygiene movement?

Answer 17

• Refers to all the activities and techniques which encourage and maintain mental health

Question 18

What did Dorothea Dix do?

Answer 18

• She had an instrumental role in the founding of the first psychiatric hospital in 1953 in PA
• She challenged the idea that people with mental disturbances could not be cured or helped
• She worked to eliminate cruel and neglectful practices toward the mentally ill, such as caging, incarceration without clothing, and painful physical restraint

Question 19

What are the major methods used to assess behavior in clinical settings?

Answer 19

• The Interview
  -Observation
• Psychological tests
• Neuropsychological assessment

Question 20

What is the clinical interview?

Answer 20

• Assists in identifying problems and determining the nature and extent of the maladaptive behavior
• The basis and often the only instrument of assessment since the DSM-5 are based largely on a person’s self-report of symptoms

Question 21

What is observation?

Answer 21

Observational procedures are concerned with what persons do rather than what they say they do
- observations made during the interview, together with a person’s responses to certain types of questions, comprise a mental status examination, providing a current picture of the person’s level of function

Question 22

What is the MSE mood?

Answer 22

• The prevalent emotional state the patient tells you they feel
• Often places in quotes since it’s what the patient tells you

Example: “fantastic, angry, irritable…”

Question 23

What is the MSE affect?

Answer 23

The emotional state that we observe
- Type: normal mood, dysphoric, euphoric, anxious
- Range: full(normal) vs restricted, blunted, or flat, labile
- Congruency: does it match the mood-congruent vs incongruent
- Stability: stable vs labile

Question 24

What is the MSE thought process?

Answer 24

• Describes the rate of thoughts, how they flow and are connected
• Normal: tight, logical and linear, coherent and goal directed
• Abnormal: associations are not clear, organized, or coherent. Examples: flight of ideas

Question 25

What are personality tests?

Answer 25

They are administered by clinicians to assess various aspects of personality, such as: motives, defenses, conflicts, self- image, and thought processes

Question 26

What are the two most common types of personality tests?

Answer 26

Projective tests and personality inventories

Question 27

What are projective personality tests?

Answer 27

The basic assumption is that people project their own internal dispositions into their responses to ambiguous stimuli. They are used mainly in an intuitive and clinical fashion by more psychodynamically-orientated therapists

Question 28

What is the Rorschach test?

Answer 28

• Projective method

It involved showing a series of symmetrical stimuli to people who then are asked what the figures represent to them

Question 29

What is the Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT)?

Answer 29

It consists of a series of pictures about which a person is asked to write a story about

Question 30

What are personality inventories?

Answer 30

It consists of a large number of statements to which the person is asked to respond in terms of fixed categories such as Yes, No, or Cannot Say

• They are usually divided into various subscales to measure different aspects of the personality

Question 31

Which is the most widely used personality inventory?

Answer 31

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely used personality inventory in the field of abnormal psychology