Psychopathology

• Abnormality is closely linked to values and social expectations
• Society's changing views have influenced what is considered abnormal over time
• Old perspectives on abnormality included attributing behaviors to good or evil spirits
• Ancient Greek philosophers like Hippocrates shifted the perspective on abnormality to suggest natural causes and treatments for illnesses
• In the middle ages, theology heavily influenced perspectives on human emotions and behavior, often attributing behaviors to "sin" as a causal factor of mental disorders
• Treatments of mental disorders in the 19th century included poor care for the mentally ill, with treatments like bloodletting and social isolation in mental hospitals
• New forms of treatment in the 19th and 20th centuries included Freudian therapeutic techniques, electroshock therapy, antipsychotic drugs, and psychosurgery
• Indicators of abnormality include subjective distress, maladaptiveness, statistical deviance, violation of societal standards, social discomfort, irrationality, unpredictability, and dangerousness
• Ethical issues in the treatment of mental illness include confidentiality, treatment methods, labeling, and preventing harm
• Neurodevelopmental disorders result from early disruptions to normal brain development and must have their onset during childhood
• ADHD is characterized by difficulties in attention, impulsiveness, and excessive motor activity, with causes including genetic and social-environmental factors
• Autism spectrum disorder involves deficits in language, social communication, and perceptual development, with early signs detectable in infancy
• Individuals with autism may be severely agitated by soft sounds but oblivious to loud noises
• Speech in individuals with autism is often used for basic communication, such as answering questions with "yes" or through echolalia
• Individuals with autism tend to be hyper fixated on certain objects
• Disturbance of preoccupation with objects in individuals with autism can lead to violent temper tantrums or crying episodes until the familiar situation is restored
• The causes of autism are not precisely known, but there is a heritable component and a portion due to de novo genetic mutations
• Treatment for autism involves discrimination training strategies and contingent aversive techniques, often involving parents and interaction with peers
• Tics are persistent muscle twitches or spasms, classified under motor disorders
• Tourette's disorder is an extreme tic disorder involving multiple motor and vocal patterns
• Treatment for tic disorders includes habit reversal training and medication like neuroleptics
• Learning disorders involve delays in cognitive development in areas like language, speech, mathematical, or motor skills
• Dyslexia is a type of learning disorder characterized by problems in word recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, and memory
• Children with learning disorders show a disparity between expected academic achievement and actual performance
• Intellectual disability is characterized by deficits in general mental abilities and must begin before the age of 18 for diagnosis
• Mild intellectual disability is characterized by IQ scores ranging from 50-70 and limited imagination and judgment
• Moderate intellectual disability involves IQ scores between 35-55 and intellectual levels similar to average 4-7-year-old children
• Severe intellectual disability includes IQ scores ranging from 20-40 and dependence on others for care
• Profound intellectual disability involves IQ scores below 20-25 and severe deficiency in adaptive behavior
• Causes of intellectual disability include genetic-chromosomal factors, infections, toxic agents, trauma, and malnutrition
• Down syndrome is a clinical condition associated with moderate to severe intellectual disability
• Physical symptoms of Down syndrome include almond-shaped eyes, thick skin on eyelids, flat and broad face and nose, and more
• Treatment for Down syndrome involves education, inclusion programming, and behavior modification
• Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders are characterized by oddities in perception, thinking, action, and sense of self
• Delusions are erroneous beliefs associated with schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia rates peak in men between ages 20-24, while in women the peak is less marked
• Brain-imaging studies show more severe anomalies in male patients with schizophrenia
• Gender-related differences in illness severity may explain why schizophrenia is more common in males than in females
• A delusion is an erroneous belief that is fixed and firmly held despite clear contradictory evidence
• Delusions are often associated with disturbance and are common in schizophrenia