midterm 1 Flashcards
(275 cards)
what is etiology?
the study of the origins of psychopathology
why is it important to define mental illness?
- knowing the issue makes it easier to treat and standardize treatments
- destigmatization (within the self and among others)
- allows us to predict the course of the disorder based on common trends
where does the concept of syndromes come from?
- put forth by Thomas Sydenham (c. 1600s)
- borrowed from the medical model of physical illness (clusters of symptoms that present together)
what is a syndrome?
- a measurable entity that expresses itself as clusters of symptoms that present together
- symptoms either occur at the same time or have a predictable course
what does it mean when we say that mental disorders are taxonic in nature?
- they are measurable, real-world entities
- can be treated/classified like physical ailments
- categorical in nature (you have it or you don’t)
in what ways do we accept/reject the medical model of psychopathology today?
- accept the idea of syndromes
- accept that mental disorders are measurable and can be treated like physical ailments
- reject the idea that they are categorical in nature (we know now that boundaries are blurred and different severities exist)
- medical models have evolved over time to acknowledge illness as multifactoral and multiply determined
list the four kinds of approaches to differentiating between normative vs psychopathological behaviour
- medical model
- harmful dysfunction
- mental disorders as constructs
- multimodal approach
what is harmful dysfunction? who pioneered it?
- Wakefield (1992)
- looks to natural selection as the basis for mental disorder classification
- biological component: the brain is designed to perform many basic functions; problems with these functions indicates disorder
- social component: to be considered a disorder, dysfunction must cause harm/impairment within the social context
what is Lillienfeld’s critique of Wakefield’s harmful dysfunction approach?
- what constitutes a “natural function” is hard to define, since it’s difficult to differentiate between adaptations, adaptively neutral byproducts, and secondary adaptations
- natural selection depends on variability
- some disorders may represent adaptations, not maladaptations
what is an adaptively neutral byproduct?
- an ability that may be beneficial in certain social circumstances but which is not necessary for evolutionary continuation
- eg. ability to do art
define dysfunction
an organ system performing contrary to its design/intended purpose
what is the main point of the mental disorders as a construct approach to measuring psychopathology? who pioneered it?
- Widiger
- a construct is something that exists and has real world consequences but is arbitrarily delineated or categorized
- there is no single all-encompassing definition of psychopathology–the ways of conceptualizing it is constantly evolving
according to the multimodal approach to psychopathology, what are psychiatric disorders?
psychiatric disorders are…
- complex latent constructs
- multiply determined
- represent the sum of environmental influences + genetic susceptibility or biological abnormality
according to the multimodal approach to psychopathology, how can we measure disorders?
requires multiple modes of measurement:
- self-report
- neural functioning
- physiological responses
- behavioural responses
why is it important to have a classification system for disorders?
- description (highlights critical features, avoids subjectivity)
- prediction (informs about the course, treatment and response, and etiology of the disorder)
- theory (postulates how/why certain symptoms occur together and whether there is an underlying mechanism of illness)
- communication (eg. between clinicians; allows for standardization of treatment and understanding of ailments)
what do we mean when we say “diagnosis is prognosis”?
standardized diagnostic practices and categorization of mental disorders may allow for predictions about the course of the illness, possible treatments, response to treatment, and its etiology
what are the limitations of the classification system of diagnosis?
- loss of uniqueness (emphasizing common features more than the ways in which individuals vary)
- difficulty of boundary cases (i.e., people who sit right at the threshold)
what is a procrustean bed?
- comes from a story of an inn-keeper who only had one size of bed and would chop of the limbs that hung over the end
- used to describe the limits of the classification system of diagnosis when it comes to boundary cases
- illustrates the debate: should we fit the diagnoses to people, or fit people into to the diagnoses?
what 5 criteria do Robins and Guze propose for determining valid classification of disorders?
- clinical description: must be characterized by a common set of symptoms that cluster together
- course: people with the disorder should have a common trajectory and onset
- treatment response: valid disorders have similar treatment responses
- family history: heritability speaks to the validity of the diagnosis (operating on the medical model assumption)
- lab studies: useful in looking for biological, psychophysiological, and behavioural associations with the disorder
what are the advantages of a dimensional system of classification?
- everybody falls somewhere
- preserves more info about the individual
- high inter-rater and test-retest reliability
what are the disadvantages of a categorical system of classification?
- diagnostic criteria cut-offs tend to magnify small differences between patients
- lower inter-rater and test-retest reliability than dimensional systems
- difficulty with boundary cases/cases just below the threshold
what are the advantages of a categorical system of classification?
- simplifies clinical communication
- potentially better-suited for making clinical decision (eg. hospitalize/treat or don’t)
what is inter-rater reliability?
measures consensus among different people who rate the same patient
what is test-retest reliability?
measures consistency when testing a patient over a period of time