PSYCHOLOGY 339

• Adult psychopathology


  The scientific study of psychological abnormalities
• abnormal


  no universal definition
• where’s the line


  schizophrenia(6 months plus)

  PDs
• Abnormality


  behaviour that impairs a person’s important areas of functioning
• There are many definitions of abnormality

  6
• Def 1


  statistical conception

  -/+2 standard deviation. The t-scores with mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10. Scoring in the extremes would be considered abnormal.
• Def 2


  distress
• Def 3


  personal impairment

  delusional disorders + schizophreniform (no impairment)
• Def 4


  violation of cultural norms
• Def 5


  Expert diagnosis(disorder based on the expert’s ideas/ conclusions)
• Def 6


  irrationality/ irritability
• definitions of abnormality


  d- DISTRESS

  i-IMPAIRMENT

  i-IRRITABILITY/ IRRATIONALITY

  v-VIOLATION OF CULTURAL NORMS

  e-EXPERT DIAGNOSIS

  e-EFFECTS OF TIME

  s-STATISTICAL CONCEPTION
• DELUSIONAL DISORDERS


  NO IMPAIRMENT

  Fixed false belief
• Polythetic


  someone meets 5/9 criteria in order to diagnose them with a disorder

  there are many variations
• Monothetic


  one meets all 9/9 criteria
• Major Depressive disorder


  Must be present for at least 2 weeks

  polythetic(9/9 criteria)

  person is impaired

  not due to drugs/ medical conditions
• why do we diagnose for disorders?

  shorthand description

  may facilitate research

  indicates the etiology, course and treatment of a disorder

  indicates what needs attention

  normalize the problem
• cautions about diagnosis


  diagnostic bias(race, age, ethnicity, gender)

  psychometric concerns(interrator reliability)

  variations in the same class of definitions
• Co-morbidity


  2/ more diagnoses at the same time
• polymorbidity


  3/more diagnoses at the same time
• Epidemiology


  distribution of mental disorders in a given population
• Prevalence


  number of active cases in a population during a given period of time.
• Lifetime prevalence


  Major depressive disorder

  alcohol abuse

  specific phobia

  social phobia
• differential diagnosis


  major depressive disorder (at least two weeks)

  vs

  persistent depressive disorder(2/more years)

  paranoid personality disorder(paranoid about everything, occurs during early life)

  vs.

  persecutory delusion(does not occur at an early stage in life, narrow in nature)
• Trephination


  Holes in skulls
• melampus of pilus


  plants used as treatment

  organic model of mental illness
• Asclepius


  first sanctuary for mental disorders
• Hippocrates 


  father of modern medicine