Abnormal Psych

• Abnormal psychology is the study of how abnormal behavior can be defined, classified, explained, and treated
• Context is important for defining and understanding abnormal behavior
• The continuum between normality and abnormality is best explained by abnormal behavior being an exaggeration of normal behavior
• Cultural and historical relativism means that what is considered normal or abnormal differs widely across cultures and over time
• Reliability is the degree to which a measurement or categorization is consistent
• A reliable classification system allows professionals to communicate effectively, facilitates research on the causes of disorders, and decisions about treatments
• Maggie's eating disorder caused by various factors demonstrates the principle of multiple causality
• Reductionism is the oversimplification or unnecessary narrowing of a complex concept
• Jack seeking help from a therapist does not necessarily mean he has a psychological disorder
• Hippocrates believed in the four bodily fluids controlling health and disease called humours
• Dix contributed to the deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental illness
• Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry messages between neurons
• Rogers was a humanistic theorist
• The most common current biological treatment for psychological disorders is psychotropic medication
• Pavlov is best known for classical conditioning
• The diathesis-stress model asserts that a person must have a biological, psychological, or sociocultural predisposition to a disorder and then be subjected to a form of psychological stress to develop the disorder
• The sociocultural perspective states that individuals learn behaviors based on societal and cultural role models, ideals, pressures, and stresses
• The DSM5 has improved upon previous versions by addressing reliability and validity problems, theoretical and cultural bias
• The DSM-III approach limitations include reliability and validity problems, theoretical and cultural bias
• Client assessment typically begins with a clinical interview
• Phrenology is the belief that people's character and mental abilities could be judged by the patterns of bumps on their skull
• In projective tests, people respond to ambiguous or unstructured stimuli
• Rorschach developed a famous test that uses inkblots as stimuli
• Rosenhan discussed how pseudopatients were more likely to get a diagnosis due to poor reliability in the medical profession
• Diagnosis of Panic Disorder is considered a symptom disorder and would be diagnosed on Axis I
• Frank's behavior being normal for a 4-year-old but not for a 24-year-old demonstrates the importance of context in defining and understanding abnormality
• The therapeutic approach that focuses on changing irrational and problematic thoughts is cognitive restructuring