Week 1 - Lecture 1 - Intro & History of Abnormal Psychology

Question 1

What is abnormal psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of aberrant (“abnormal”) thoughts, feelings, and behavior. (AKA: psychopathology)

Question 2

What are the 7 ways that we define “abnormal”?

Answer 2

Subjective distress, Maladaptiveness, Statistical deviancy, Violation of the standards of society, Social discomfort, Irrationality and unpredictability, and dangerousness.

Question 3

What is subjective distress?

EX: depression

Answer 3

Extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.

Question 4

What is maladaptiveness?

EX: anorexia, depression

Answer 4

Interferes with well-being and ability to enjoy things.

Question 5

What is statistical deviancy?

EX: anorexia, depression

Answer 5

Being different from the norm.

Question 6

What is violation of the standards of society?

Answer 6

Breaking social rules/norms. (depends on the magnitude)

Question 7

What is social discomfort?

Answer 7

Making others around you feel uncomfortable. (depends on the circumstances)

Question 8

What is irrationality and unpredictability?

EX: schizophrenia, mania

Answer 8

Behaviors that do not make sense to others. (depends on if a person can control it)

Question 9

What is dangerousness?

EX: self-injury, violent acts

Answer 9

Putting yourself or others at risk or harm. (rates of violence in clinical populations are very low)

Question 10

How do we decide someone’s need for a diagnosis or not?

Answer 10

By using the DSM-5. (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition)

Question 11

What are 3 benefits of diagnosing?

Answer 11

1. Gives clinicians and researches a common language.
2. Structures and organizes knowledge.
3. Diagnostic system informs research and treatment decisions.

Question 12

What are 2 disadvantages of diagnosing?

Answer 12

1. Negative stereotypes and stigma associated with mental disorders.
2. Stigma can prevent people from getting treatment.

Question 13

What was the very early view on abnormal behavior?

Answer 13

Abnormal behavior was thought to be caused by spiritual means.

Question 14

• He lived around 460-377 B.C.
• He believed in natural causes of mental disorders.
• He came up with 4 “humors”: Sanguis, Phlegm, Choler, and Melancholic.
• He believed that environment is important to treatment.

Answer 14

Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)

Question 15

• He lived around 130-200 A.D.

- He was a Greek physician who grouped mental illnesses by having either physical causes or mental causes.

Answer 15

Galen (130-200 A.D.)

Question 16

• This was a time period that saw return to demonological views of mental illness.
• There were increases in mass madness. (EX: dancing manias, lycanthropy-belief that one was possessed by a wolf)

Answer 16

Middle Ages (500-1500)

Question 17

• He lived around 1515-1588
• He was one of the first physicians specializing in mental disorders.
• He used scientific questioning and pushed toward humanitarian approaches.

Answer 17

Johann Weyer (1515-1588)

Question 18

• One of the more popular of the early asylums.
• Known for deplorable conditions and practices, treating people poorly, and not being very clean.
• People would even pay to go see the people there as entertainment.

Answer 18

St. Mary of Bethlem (nicknamed “Bedlem”)

Question 19

-He lived around 1745-1826.
He wanted to get people suffering from mental illness out of chains.
-He wanted the people with mental illness to be treated better and with kindness.
-He wanted to improve the conditions of asylums.

Answer 19

Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)

Question 20

What was the famous asylum in France around the time of Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)?

Answer 20

La Bicetre

Question 21

• He lived around 1732-1822.
• He was an English Quaker. (religious society)
• He was responsible for creating the York Retreat in America.
• He promoted the treatment of patients in a more kind and religious atmosphere.

Answer 21

William Tuke (1732-1822)

Question 22

• She lived around 1802-1887.
• She was a prominent reformer of treating people with mental illness.
• She is known for helping to create a number of places for people with mental illness.
• 20 states responded to her appeals.
• She established 32 mental hospitals.

Answer 22

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)

Question 23

• A time period that saw a substantial growth in the number of mental hospitals.
• Overcrowding began to occur.
• The once medications began to be produced deinstitutionalization began.

Answer 23

20th Century (~1950’s)

Question 24

What condition was found to be linked to late stage syphilis?

Answer 24

General Paresis (a condition that was similar to schizophrenia or dementia)

Question 25

What biological discovery lead to lobotomies?

Answer 25

Brain Pathology

Question 26

• He lived around 1856-1926.
• He was a German psychologist who began to create a classification system based on patterns and symptoms.
• He argued that some physical factors are responsible for mental dysfunction and others might be different and began to group behaviors into different categories.

Answer 26

Emil Kraeplin (1856-1926)

Question 27

• This school of thought started with Franz Anton Mesmer in Austria.
• The thought that planets affected the magnetic fluid within our bodies and how that fluid was distributed could determine mental health or disease.
• The start of hypnosis.

Answer 27

Mesmerism

Question 28

The physicians at this place believed that hypnosis and hysteria were related.

Answer 28

The Nancy School

Question 29

• He lived around 1825-1893.
• He disagreed with The Nancy School and believed that hysteria was due to more brain changes.
• He later believed in psychological causes to mental disorders.

Answer 29

Jean Charcot (1825-1893)

Question 30

• He lived around 1856-1939.
• He was a famous student of Jean Charcot.
• He learned hypnosis and began to hypnotize his patients and let them speak freely about what was on their mind.
• When hypnosis dwindled away, he would just have the patients speak freely. (AKA: free association)

Answer 30

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)