ABPSY CHAPTER 2

• Multidimensional models


  Consider how multiple systems interact in contributing to mental disorders
• Biopsychosocial model (BPS)


  Instead of the medical model that emphasizes mental illness as disease, this model strives for a more holistic approach by recognizing that each patient has his or her own thoughts, feelings, and history
• Biopsychosocial model components


  • Biological
  • Psychological
  • Social/cultural
• Diathesis-stress model


  Helps us understand why one person might develop a disorder, or why two people from similar backgrounds might develop different disorders
• Diathesis


  Usually genetic or biological
• Threshold


  A point at which the person's coping abilities and social, psychological, and biological defenses cannot manage their level of life stress
• Gene-environment correlation model (rGE)


  The tendency of individuals to select and generate their environment based on genetic features that influence behavior, thoughts, and feelings
• All mental disorders have polygenic inheritance; there is no single gene that causes depression, schizophrenia, or anorexia nervosa
• Heritability


  A statistic that estimates the degree of variation of a phenotypic trait in a population, such as the presence of a mental disorder, that is due to genetic variation between individuals from that population
• Dendrites


  Branching extensions of the soma
• Axon


  Major extension from the soma where signals are transmitted electrically
• Receptors


  Proteins on the cell surface where neurotransmitters attach
• Neurotransmitters


  • Dopamine
  • Serotonin
  • Norepinephrine
  • GABA
  • Glutamate
• Nervous system components


  • Central nervous system (CNS)
  • Peripheral nervous system
  • Somatic nervous system
  • Autonomic nervous system
• Sympathetic activation


  Related to energy use and maintaining homeostasis such as our body temperature; its major purpose is to enable us to respond to emergencies or threats through fight or flight by mobilizing energy quickly
• Parasympathetic activation


  Associated with normal functioning under relaxed conditions, sometimes referred to as governing "feed and breed" and then "rest and digest"
• Brain areas and lobes

  • Forebrain
  • Hindbrain
  • Midbrain
  • Frontal lobe
  • Parietal lobe
  • Temporal lobe
  • Occipital lobe
• Lobotomy


  A form of psychosurgery in which parts of the frontal lobe of the brain are destroyed or their connections to other parts of the brain severed
• Biomedical therapy


  Medications used to treat mental disorders, also called psychotropic or psychoactive drugs
• Agonists


  Chemicals that mimic a neurotransmitter at the receptor site and, thus, strengthen its effects
• Antagonists


  Impede the normal activity of a neurotransmitter at the postsynaptic receptor
• Electroconvulsive therapy


  The best-studied brain stimulation therapy and has the longest history of use
• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)


  Uses a magnet to activate neurons in the brain
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS)

  First developed as a treatment for Parkinson's disease to reduce tremor, stiffness, walking problems and uncontrollable movements
• Freud's concept of the unconscious


  Only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious or self-aware, and the rest of our mind is unconscious
• Freud's three basic elements of personality

  • Id
  • Superego
  • Ego
• Psychosexual Development Stages


  • Oral stage
  • Anal stage
  • Phallic stage
  • Latency period
  • Genital stage
• Defense Mechanisms


  Freud believed that the ego seeks to restore balance by reducing anxiety through various defense mechanisms
• Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic treatment methods


  Freud's approach to understanding and treating mental disorders
• Ego


  The rational part of our personality
• Psychosexual Development States


  • Oral stage (birth to 1 year)
  • Anal stage (1–3 years)
  • Phallic stage (3–6 years)
  • Latency period (6 years to puberty)
  • Genital stage (from puberty on)
• Oral stage


  Pleasure is focused on the mouth
• Anal stage


  Children experience pleasure in their bowel and bladder movements, so it makes sense that the conflict in this stage is over toilet training
• Phallic stage


  Corresponding to the age when children become aware of their bodies and recognize the differences between boys and girls
• Latency period


  Sexual feelings are dormant as children focus on other pursuits, such as school, friendships, hobbies, and sports
• Genital stage


  Sexual reawakening as the incestuous urges resurface
• Defense Mechanisms


  Freud believed that the ego seeks to restore balance by reducing anxiety through various protective measures
• Psychotherapy


  A type of treatment for mental disorders that is mostly focused on psychogenic models of the etiology of psychopathology
• Free association


  The patient relaxes and then says whatever comes to mind at the moment without attempting to edit or worry how the therapist might react
• Dream analysis


  Dreams contain not only manifest (or literal) content, but also latent (or symbolic) content