psychopathology

• Psychoanalysis


  Sigmund Freud emphasized understanding the unconscious mind (inner forces)
• Concepts in psychoanalysis


  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• Psychoanalysis


  Drive how we interact with the world
• Studying the unconscious mind in psychoanalysis is theoretical, not empirical
• Psychodynamic psychotherapy


  Modern adaptation of psychoanalysis
• Humanistic psychology


  Maslow: Self-actualization and the hierarchy of needs
• Humanistic psychology


  Rogers: Person-centred therapy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness as core components of therapy
• Behaviourism pioneers


  • John Watson
  • B.F. Skinner
  • Ivan Pavlov
• Behaviourism


  Your behaviours change the way you think
• Behaviourism


  Your interactions with the world shape the way you think and change the way you behave
• Classical conditioning


  Behavioural learning process
• Operant conditioning


  Behavioural learning process
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used evidence-based treatments today
• CBT is formed on the basis of behaviourism
• CBT model


  A model of everyday life
• CBT model


  An integrative approach to psychopathology
• The common cold is caused by a virus (rhinovirus)
• Factors that can make someone more susceptible to the common cold include contact with someone who has the virus, and being impaired (not sober)
• Historically, researchers and clinicians have stuck to ONE perspective (ex: biological OR psychological OR social causes; not biological AND psychological AND social causes)
• In this course, the aim is to see the bigger picture and integrate different perspectives on psychopathology
• Robert Sapolsky


  Stanford neurobiologist and neuroendocrinologist
• Sapolsky's introductory lecture for "Human Behavioural Biology" has been viewed more than 10 million times
• Sapolsky's research


  Focused on the role of hormones and the stress response in baboons
• Sapolsky's key terms


  • Presenting problem
  • Clinical description
  • Etiology
  • Case conceptualization
• Sapolsky, 2017: '"you can't understand things like aggression, competition, cooperation, [and mental health] without biology...but you're just as much up the creek if you only rely on biology...at the end of this [course] you'll see that it actually makes no sense to distinguish between aspects of a behavior that are 'biological' and those that would be described as 'psychological' or 'cultural'. Utterly intertwined."'
• One dimensional models of causality assume a single factor (e.g. genes, chemical imbalance, childhood trauma) causes mental disorders
• Many prominent figures in the history of psychology were one-dimensional thinkers, like John Watson and Egan Moniz
• Adolf Meyer was an early believer in combining biological, psychological, and social factors as causes of psychopathology
• Bio-psycho-social model


  Clinicians often use this model to understand mental disorders
• Biological factors in the bio-psycho-social model

  • Genetic predisposition (family history)
  • Concurrent medical disorders (e.g. chronic pain)
• Social factors in the bio-psycho-social model

  • Relationships (e.g. recent break-up)
  • Work and school (e.g. getting fired)
• Psychological factors in the bio-psycho-social model

  • Any thinking pattern or behaviour that reinforces a problem
  • Thinking examples: self-critical thinking
  • Personality styles
  • Behavioural examples: avoidance
• Instead of trying to explain all mental disorders with a single discipline, an integrative framework considers different disciplinary perspectives
• Factors considered in an integrative framework

  • Evolution (millions of years before)
  • Social, cultural, historical forces (centuries and decades before)
  • Genetics (9 months before birth)
  • Developmental factors (childhood - decades before)
  • Psychological, social and biological factors (years, months, weeks, days, hours, seconds before)
• Mental health is a "cloud" problem, not a "clock" problem


  • Not an x and y science (if this happens then this happened)
  • A cloud is more difficult to describe as it changes shape and is influenced by different factors
• Emotions


  Action tendency elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a physiological response

  
• Emotions


  Usually short-lived, temporary states lasting from several minutes to several hours, occurring in response to an external event
• Moods


  More persistent, long-term, emotional states that affect other parts of the body
• Universal basic emotions


  • Sadness
  • Fear
  • Anger
  • Surprise
  • Disgust
  • Happiness
• Emotions are experienced through thoughts, behaviours, and bodily sensations