Intro to AbPsych and Contemporary Theories

• Abnormal psychology


  A branch of psychology that deals with psychopathology and abnormal behavior
• Abnormality is above normal
• Norm is average so when it is abnormal it is a deviation
• Criteria for defining abnormality (4Ds)

  • Distress - Emotional Pain
  • Dysfunction - Impairment or Reduction in functioning
  • Danger - Risk to self or others
  • Deviance - Socially and culturally unacceptable behavior
• Causes of abnormality (Biopsychosocial Formulation)


  • Biological Causes
  • Psychological Causes
  • Sociocultural Causes
• Mental Health


  Refers to the successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity
• Mental Disorder according to DSM V-TR


  A syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental process underlying mental functioning activities
• Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities
• An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder
• Socially deviant behaviors and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflicts results from a dysfunction in the individual
• Insidious onset


  Slow development
• Courses of disorders


  • Chronic course (persist for a long time)
  • Episodic course (recurring)
  • Time-Limited course (specific time frame)
• Basis for Assessing Maladjustment includes conformity to norms, inner world (subjective experience), and social contribution
• Historical Beliefs about Abnormal Behavior

  • Evil spirits, demonic possessions, sorcery, or behest of an offended ancestral spirit
  • Trephining / Trepanning (a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull)
  • Exorcism (elaborate prayers, noises, emetic, flogging & starvation)
• Dorothea Dix advocated for the humane treatment of individuals with mental illness and played a key role in improving mental health care in the 19th century
• Clifford Beers, through his autobiography "A Mind That Found Itself," raised awareness about the mistreatment of psychiatric patients and contributed to reforms in mental health care
• Philippe Pinel, a French physician, is known for his advocacy of more humane treatment for psychiatric patients and his work in reforming mental health institutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
• Emil Kraepelin, a German psychiatrist, is renowned for his development of the first modern classification system for psychiatric disorders, laying the foundation for contemporary diagnostic systems in psychiatry
• Disease


  Mostly organic, with structural changes, confirmed by lab tests
• Disorder


  Mostly functional, with functional changes, not confirmatory (through signs and symptoms)
• Components of Syndrome


  • Signs (Objective, physician's observations)
  • Symptoms (Subjective, patient's observation)
• Biological Approaches


  • Structural abnormalities in the brain
  • Disordered biochemistry
  • Faulty genes
• Serotonin


  Regulates emotions and impulses such as aggression, travels through many key areas of the brain affecting their function
• Insufficient and excessive serotonin may be associated with disorders like depression, anxiety, sleep problems, digestive problems, suicidal behavior, OCD, PTSD, and panic disorders
• Dopamine


  Prominent in the areas of the brain that regulate our experience of reinforcements or rewards, also important to the functioning of muscle systems and plays a role in disorders involving muscle control
• Abnormally low prefrontal dopamine activity (causing deficit symptoms) leading to excessive dopamine activity in mesolimbic dopamine neurons (causing positive symptoms) is hypothesized to characterize schizophrenia
• Having too much or too little dopamine in some parts of the brain are linked to some mental illnesses including depression, schizophrenia and psychosis
• Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline)


  Produced by neurons in the brain stem, prolonged action by cocaine and amphetamines causes stimulating effects, too little leads to depressed mood
• Some people may be genetically predisposed to psychological disorders, which are probably linked not to a single faulty gene but to an accumulation of faulty genes
• Methods of determining heritability of a disorder

  • Family history studies
  • Twin studies
  • Adoption studies
• Factors contributing to vulnerability to disorder

  • Biological factors (genes, disordered biochemistry, brain anomalies)
  • Social factors (maladaptive upbringing, chronic stress etc)
  • Psychological factors (unconscious conflicts, poor skills, maladaptive cognitions, etc)
• Triggers of stress leading to disorder

  • Biological trigger (onset of a disease, exposure to toxins, etc)
  • Social triggers (traumatic events, major loss, etc)
  • Psychological trigger (perceived loss of control, violation of a trust)
• Psychological Theories of Abnormality

  • Psychodynamic Approach
  • Behavioral Approach
  • Cognitive Behavioral Approach
  • Humanistic / existential / phenomenological
  • Interpersonal theories
  • Family systems
  • Social structure theories
• Social Structural Model of Mental Health

  Neighborhood widespread poverty, prejudice and discrimination, lack of cultural and ethnic ties, high residential turnover, high child-to-adult ratio) and social organization (lack of community resources, high crime rates, poor schools)
• Types of studies


  • Family history studies
  • Twin studies
  • Adoption studies
• Vulnerability factors


  • Biological factors (genes, disordered biochemistry, brain anomalies)
  • Social factors (maladaptive upbringing, chronic stress etc)
  • Psychological factors (unconscious conflicts, poor skills, maladaptive cognitions, etc)
• Stress triggers


  • Biological trigger (onset of a disease, exposure to toxins, etc)
  • Social triggers (traumatic events, major loss, etc)
  • Psychological trigger (perceived loss of control, violation of a trust)
• Psychological Theories


  • Psychodynamic Approach
  • Behavioral Approach
  • Cognitive Behavioral Approach
  • Humanistic / existential / phenomenological
  • Interpersonal theories
  • Family systems
  • Social structure theories
• The Biological Model


  • Assumes that psychological disorders are caused by malfunctioning in the brain
  • Treatments geared toward making the brain function normally, mainly through drugs, but also electroconvulsive shock and brain surgery
• The Psychodynamic Model


  • Assumes that psychological disorders are caused by unconscious conflicts from unresolved childhood issues
  • Pioneered by Sigmund Freud