module 1

Question 1

psychological disorder

Answer 1

1. psychological dysfunction
2. distress/impairment
3. deviance from norm

Question 2

psychological dysfunction

Answer 2

disturbance in cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral functioning

Question 3

distress/impairment

Answer 3

• individual experiences personal distress associated with the disorder
• ‘extreme expressions’ of emotions, behaviors and cognitions that impair functioning

Question 4

approaches to understanding abnormal behaviour

Answer 4

• supernatural tradition
• biological tradition
• psychological tradition

Question 5

supernatural tradition

Answer 5

• explained deviant behaviour as evil, the moon and stars and used byproducts of religion like sin, demons, etc

Question 6

supernatural tradition treatment approaches

Answer 6

• exorcisms
• snake pits, confinement, beatings, torture
• hydrotherapy: dunking people in ice water to “rid them of demons”
• trephination: drilling holes in the peoples skulls to allow to “demons” to leave them

Question 7

biological tradition

Answer 7

• reducing a psychological disorder to a physical, biological cause
• aka biological reductionism

Question 8

biological tradition - hippocrates

Answer 8

• hippocratic corpus
• abnormal behaviour as a physical disease
• theorized on brain pathology, genetics, family influences as causes of abnormal behavior and psychological disorder
• hysteria caused by a “wandering uterus”

Question 9

biological tradition - galen

Answer 9

• all diseases, including psychological, were due to an imbalance of four bodily fluids, called humors
• humoral theory

Question 10

galen - humeral theory

Answer 10

• blood: excess blood causes insomnia and delirium
• black bile: excess causes melancholy
• yellow bil: excess causes someone to be hot tempered
• phlegm: excess causes sluggishness

Question 11

biological tradition historical treatment approaches

Answer 11

• regulate environment( adjust temperature or humidity)
• rest
• good nutrition
• exercise
• bleeding or bloodletting: cutting open a vein
• induced vomiting

Question 12

syphilis/general paresis

Answer 12

• advanced symptoms of syphilis resembled psychosis
• subgroup of psychotic individuals steadily deteriorated (general paresis)
• injected patients with blood from soldier with malaria – many recovered because a symptom of malaria is a fever and fevers kill bacteria, aka syphilis bacteria

Question 13

psychological tradition

Answer 13

• psychoanalytic theory
• sigmund freud discussed accessing the unconscious mind
• the unconscious mind influences our personality and behaviour
• insight and catharsis

Question 14

structures of the mind (psychological tradition)

Answer 14

• ID: primitive desires, instinct, urges, aggression, sex
• ego: mediator between ID and superego
• superego: morals, maintain order

Question 15

intrapsychic conflict

Answer 15

ego must come up with defense mechanisms and dealing with stressed caused when there is conflicting ideas between ID and superego

Question 16

defence mechanisms/coping styles

Answer 16

• denial
• projection
• displacement
• sublimation

Question 17

projection

Answer 17

misattribute our own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to another individual

Question 18

displacement

Answer 18

directing your feelings about a person or situation towards a less threatening person or object

Question 19

sublimation

Answer 19

• directing maladaptive feelings into socially acceptable behavior
• healthiest coping approach according to Freud

Question 20

psychological tradition/psychoanalysis techniques

Answer 20

• free association
• dream analysis
• interpretation
• transference or countertransference

Question 21

transference

Answer 21

a patient unconsciously directs feelings or desires that they have toward an important figure in their life (like a parent) onto the therapist

Question 22

countertransference

Answer 22

• feelings that the client/patient evokes in the therapist
• inexplicable feelings towards and about the client
• e.g. suddenly feeling very annoyed toward a client, using that as insight for the client and yourself

Question 23

criticisms of psychoanalysis

Answer 23

• unscientific
• hard to falsify/no measurement
• lack of empirical support
• long term/excessively expensive (Sessions 5x/week)

Question 24

contributions of psychoanalysis

Answer 24

• highlighted importance of unconscious mental processes
• led to other talk therapies
• highlight the importance of therapeutic relationship – although seen as means to an end (transference)

Question 25

humanistic theory

Answer 25

- self-actualization - abraham maslow and his hierarchy of needs

Question 26

self-actualization

Answer 26

- assumption that everyone is capable of reaching their highest potential when given the right circumstances - core principle of all humanistic therapies

Question 27

abraham maslow

Answer 27

proposed all humans have basic needs and to reach self-actualization you must progress to the top

Question 28

carl rogers

Answer 28

- most influential humanist - developed person-centered therapy, and defined the 3 needs needed by client to self-actualize: 1. unconditional positive regard 2. empathy/empathetic understanding 3. congruence

Question 29

unconditional positive regard

Answer 29

no matter what you say or do, have done or statements you make, you will always be looked upon favourably and look at you in a positive light

Question 30

empathy/empathetic understanding

Answer 30

“i want to understand you, tell me more”, communicating till the person feels understood (empathy regulates!!)

Question 31

congruence

Answer 31

therapist brings no air of superiority, or authority, ad instead presents and acceptable face that is honest and transparent

Question 32

frederich perls - gestalt therapy

Answer 32

- holistic - present-focused: focused on current/now - people are best thought of as whole entities consisting of body, mind and emotions and are best understood from their eyes - what is blocking pursuit of desires and needs

Question 33

leslie greenberg - emotion-focused therapy

Answer 33

- emotion-focused therapy - roots in both person-centred and Gestalt - well researched

Question 34

6 principles for working with emotions

Answer 34

1. awareness 2. expressing emotion 3. emotion regulation 4. reflecting on emotion 5. changing emotion with emotion 6. corrective emotional experience

Question 35

behavioural theory

Answer 35

- pavlov & classical conditioning - john b. watson & little albert - b.f. skinner & operant conditioning

Question 36

criticisms of behavioural theory

Answer 36

- doesn’t account for everything known about psychology - limited focus on biology, cognitions or lifespan

Question 37

contributions of behavioural theory

Answer 37

- shifted emphasis towards empirically validated techniques - foundation for cognitive-behavioural therapy

Question 38

behavioural therapy techniques

Answer 38

- in vivo: directly facing fear - imaginal: vividly imagining feared object - virtual reality: VR to simulate exposure - introceptive: bringing on physical sensations that are harmless, but feared

Question 39

3 paces of delivery behaviour therapy techniques

Answer 39

1. graded exposure 2. systematic desensitization 3. flooding

Question 40

graded exposure

Answer 40

- develop a fear hierarchy/ladder - continuous exposure that increases in fear level until you are no longer scared

Question 41

systematic desensitization

Answer 41

training, relaxation, and strategies to help progress up the ladder

Question 42

flooding

Answer 42

- start at the top of the ladder/hiearchy - maximum scary scenario - effective but hard to get people to do it - e.g. scared of needles, jump in a pit of needles

Question 43

integrative approach

Answer 43

- psychopathology: product of multiple systems - supernatural explanations and unscientific methods still present - all behaviour is impacted by the interaction of psychological, biological and social influences