Chapter 1

• Abnormal psychology


  = The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning
• Norms


  = A society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct
• culture


  A people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and art
• The four D's


  = certain features most definitions of abnormality have in common

  Deviance, distress, dysfunction & danger
• When is sth abnormal?


  Behavior, thoughts & emotions that break norms of psychological functioning
• Deviance


  = different, unusual, bizarre

  Note: context should ALWAYS be taken into account

  e.g. being hopeless/ depressed is not so abnormal after earthquake or tsunami
• Distress


  = acc to clinical theorists, , behavior, ideas, or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can be labeled abnormal

  BUT: some ppl who function abnormally maintain positive frame of mind

  e.g. hearing voices -> might like the voices
• Dysfunction

  -> interferes with daily functioning

  = It so upsets, distracts, or confuses people that they cannot care for themselves properly, participate in ordinary social interaction or work productively

  Note: dysfunction alone doesn't necessarily indicate psychological abnormality
• Danger


  = behavior that becomes dangerous to oneself or others

  (e.g. being consistently careless, hostile or confused)

  Note: exception rather than rule (most ppl with anxiety, depression & bizarre thinking don't pose immediate danger)
• Eccentricity/ eccentric person


  = a person who deviates from common behavior patterns or displays odd or whimsical behavior

  -> unusual pattern with which others have no right to interfere

  David Weeks: characteristics of eccentrics

  • typically don't suffer from mental disorders
  • eccentricity is chosen freely & provides pleasure

  "Eccentrics know they're different & take glory in it"
• Thomas Szasz


  deviations that society calls abnormal are simply "problems in living", not signs of sth wrong within the person

  So: societal involvement may invalidate the concept of mental illness

  • any definition of abnormality -> may be unable to be applied consistently (bc of dependance on context & norms)
• Treatment/ Therapy


  = A systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior/ help ppl overcome their psychological difficulties

  !! definitional challenges -> closely related to defining abnormality
• 3 essential features (of all forms of therapy) acc to Jerome Frank:

  • Sufferer or patient
  • Trained, socially accepted healer or therapist
  • Series of therapeutic contacts between the healer and the sufferer
• trephination


  = ancient operation where stone instrument was used to cut away circular section of skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior
• Terrorism Terror


  = terrorism as a major source of anxiety in contemporary society

  e.g. after 9/11 world trade center, 2013 militant terrorist attack on shopping center in Kenya
• Crime Phobia


  = increasing anxiety about crime (predominantly armed violence) -> also heavily influences how ppl live

  • keeps rising even though crime rates are falling
• Cyber Fear


  = fear of computer crashes, server overloads, or computer viruses
• combination of crime phobia & cyber fear

  = constant worry about e-crimes (e.g. scams, theft of personal info by computer, computer-identity theft, cyberterrorism)
• Exorcism


  = treatment for abnormaliry in early societies

  -> coax evil spirit to leave/ make person's body an uncomfortable place to live

  • shamans or priests receited prayers
• Greek and Roman Views and Treatments - Hippocrates

  • believed & taught that illnesses had natural causes -> 4 humors/ fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile

  ->humors should be in perfect balance
• Mania


  = state of frenzied activity

  -> caused by excess of yellow bile
• Melancholia


  = unshakable sadness

  -> caused by excess of black bile
• treatment for excess of black bile- Hippocrates' views


  • Quiet life

  • Vegetable diet

  • Temperance

  • Exercise

  • Celibacy

  • Bleeding = changing levels of bodily fluids would help ppl become healthier
• Humors


  = bodily chemicals that influence mental & physical functioning (acc to Greeks & Romans)
• Asylum


  = type of institution (first became popular in the 16th century) to provide care for ppl with mental disorders -> most became virtual prisoners bc patients were held in filthy conditions & treated with cruelty
• Europe in the Middle Ages: Demonology Returns (500-1350AD)


  • Church rejected scientific forms of investigation & controlled all education

  • Mental disorders had demonic causes; outbreaks of mass madness, shared delusions and hallucinations

  • At the close of the Middle Ages: demonology & its methods began to lose favor again & ppl with psychological disturbances received treatment in medical hospitals
• mass madness


  = outbreaks in which large numbers of ppl apparently shared delusions (absurd false beliefs)
• tarantism/ Saint Vitus' dance


  = form of mass madness

  • groups of ppl would suddenly start to dance, jump, go into convulsion/ seizure & dress oddly or tear off clothes
  • convinced they had been bitten & possessed by tarantula -> wanted to cure disorder by performing dance (= tarantella)
• Lycanthropy 


  = form of mass madness

  • ppl thought they were possessed by wolves/ other animals
  • acted wolflike & imagined that fur was growing all over their bodies
• Treatment- Europe in the Middle Ages

  • exorcism
  • torture
  • gradually hospitalization (towards the end)
• Johann Weyer (Renaissance)


  = first mental health physician

  -> believed that the mind was as susceptible to sickness as the body
• The Renaissance and the Rise of Asylums (1400-1700AD)

  • increased scientific knowledge -> demonological views of abnormality continued to decline
  • Care at religious shrines (e.g., Gheel) -> precursor of community health programs
  • Asylums emerged by the mid-sixteenth century
• Bedlam 


  = chaotic asylum in London where ppl of fashion came to look at strange behavior of the inmates (like tourist attraction)
• Moral treatment movement (19th century)

  by Pinel (France) & Tuke (England)

  = emphasized moral guidance & humane + respectful techniques

  • ended in US & Europe by early 20th century
• Decline of Moral treatment- factors

  1. severe money& staff shortages, declining recovery rates, overcrowding in hospitals
  2. assumption that all patients could be cured if treated with humanity and dignity (not always the case -> some needed more effective treatment)
  3. new wave of prejudice against ppl with mental disorders
  4. ppl less open-handed regarding donations/ allocating government funds
  5. many patients immigrants -> ppl didn't want to help them
• Benjamin Rush (= father of American psychiatry) & Dorothea Dix


  heavily promoted moral treatment in US

  e.g. state hospitals (D.Dix)
• state hospitals


  State-run public mental institutions in the United States
• Moral treatment movement disintegrated in late 19th century


  -> mental hospitals warehoused inmates and provided minimal care

  so: patients were all gathered there but had no real treatment
• Somatogenic perspective


  = Abnormal functioning has physical causes

  e.g. Hippocrates in ancient Greece
• Psychogenic perspective


  Abnormal functioning has psychological causes