WEEK 11 - Abnormal Psychology Part 1 Flashcards
(111 cards)
Psychopathology or Mental Disorder
Is defined as patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour that result in personal distress or a significant impairment in a person’s social or occupational functioning. It becomes uncomfortable for those who are affected or for those with whom they come in contact.
What is the percentage of people diagnosed with mental disorders in Australia and New Zeland?
20% in Australia and 16% in New Zeland. Women experienced higher rates of 12-month mental disorders than men.
To be considered a person who suffers from abnormal behaviour, they need to have the three Ds which are:
Deviance, distress and dysfunction.
Deviance
- Involves the statistical infrequency criterion that is what is unusual or rare that would be considered deviant by a society. This criterion implies that to be normal, one must conform to all aspects of the majority’s standards.
- Also it involves the violation of social norms which consists on cultural rules of how should we behave and be. People can be described as abnormal if they behave in ways that are unusual or disturbing enough to violate social norms.
Distress or personal suffering
Experiencing distress is the criterion that people often use to decide that their psychological problems are severe enough to require treatment.
Limitation of distress
Personal suffering alone is not an adequate criterion for abnormality. It does not take into account the fact that people are sometimes distressed about characteristics (such as being gay or lesbian) that are not mental disorders. People can display psychological disorders without experiencing distress if the disorders have impaired their ability to recognise how maladaptive their behaviour is.
Limitation of deviance
Social norms vary across cultures, subcultures and historical eras, so actions that qualify as abnormal in one part of the world might be perfectly acceptable elsewhere.
Dysfunction
Involves impaired functioning that is a criterion that involves having difficulty in fulfilling appropriate and expected roles in family, social and work-related situations.
Are the three Ds criterions adequate for identifying abnormality?
No single criteria is entirely adequate for identifying abnormality because they have limitations.
Practical Approach
Is an approach that combines the three Ds of abnormal behavior (deviance, distress and dysfunction). This approach considers the content of behaviour (what the person does), the sociocultural context of the person’s behaviour, and the consequences of the behaviour for that person and other
The practical approach defines abnormality as
Patterns of thought, behaviour and emotional reaction that significantly impair people’s functioning within their culture.
Centuries ago, explanations of abnormal behaviour focused on
Possession by gods or demons. Disordered people were seen either as innocent victims of spirits or as social or moral deviants suffering supernatural punishment. They were cured by exorcisms.
The Biopsychosocial Approach:
Consists on a view of mental disorders as caused by a combination of interacting biological, psychological and sociocultural factors.
Medical model (neurobiological model) is a part of the biopsychosocial approach and consists of
A view in which psychological disorders are seen as reflecting disturbances in the anatomy and chemistry of the brain and in other biological processes including genetic influences.
The biological factors thought to be involved in causing mental disorders include:
Physical illnesses, disruptions or imbalances in bodily processes, and genetic influences.
Psychological model:
A view in which mental disorder is seen as arising from psychological processes. The causal factors emphasised by the psychological model of mental disorders include unconscious conflicts, disruptions in attachment, learning, or maladaptive cognitive schemas.
Social learning theorists, see most psychological disorders as resulting from
The interaction of past learning and current situations. Social-cognitive theorists also emphasise that learned expectations, schemas and other mental processes can influence the development of disorders
Psychodynamic Psychologists (Freud) ee most psychological disorders as resulting from:
Unresolved, mostly unconscious conflicts that begin in childhood. These conflicts pit people’s inborn impulses against the limits placed on those impulses by society.
The humanistic approach to personality suggests that behaviour disorders appear:
When a person’s natural tendency towards healthy growth is blocked, usually by a failure to be aware of and to express true feelings. When this happens, the person’s perceptions of reality become distorted. The greater the distortion, the more serious the psychological disorder.
The sociocultural perspective suggests that behavior disorders
Cant fully explain all forms of psychopathology without also looking outside the individual, especially at the social and cultural factors that form the background of abnormal behaviour. To find causes of disorders in this sociocultural context, we must pay attention to sociocultural factors such as gender, age and marital status; the physical, social and economic situations in which people live; and the cultural values, traditions and expectations in which they are immersed.
The biopsychosocial model is currently the most comprehensive and influential approach to explaining psychological disorders because?
it encompasses so many important causal factors: biological imbalances, genetically inherited characteristics, brain damage, enduring psychological traits, sociocultural influenced learning experiences, stressful life events and many more.
Diathesis-stress model
Is the notion that psychological disorders arise when a predisposition (biological, psychological and sociological) for a disorder combines with sufficient amounts of stress to trigger symptoms.
Psychotherapy for psychological disorders is usually based on
Psychodynamic, humanistic or social-cognitive (behavioural) theories of personality and behaviour disorder. Most therapists combine features of these theories in an eclectic approach.
The dominant system for classifying abnormal behaviour is the:
American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM),