Abnormal Psychology Questions And Answers – Flashcards

- no definition of this is unanimously agreed upon - there will never be an agreed upon definition - behavior that deviates from the norms of the way a person is supposed to behave

- suffering - rarity - dysfunction - maladaptiveness - unpredictability - danger to both them and others - violation of social norms - irrationality - social discomfort - sometimes these are a sign of mental illness other time they are not - link between these and mental illness may change over time and over cultures

- states that mental illness doesn't exist - psychiatrist invented this concept to control human behavior and maintain social order - Thomas Zazas - potential problems that we all have - some societies, psychiatrists were used to sort out people with any type of issue so that they weren't with the normal public (back in the soviet Union)

- Mental illness is the product of social norms that determine acceptable vs. unacceptable behavior

- Mental illness is statistically deviant, rare behaviors - More common mental illnesses do not get accounted for (ex: depression and anxiety) because if a disorder is frequently seen in the population then it in not rare therefore it is not a mental illness - must be careful with where you get statistics (use for one population in order to obtain proper statistics)

• Mental illness could best be defined by the mental health professionals, that is whatever they decide to treat is mental illness • DSM5 will be in line with this view because the same people creates them • Can be biased • Things they treat may be a mental illness

• Behaviors that interfere with reproduction and evolution should be considered mental illness

• Behaviors that cause distress or disability that was unexpected should be considered mental illness • Certain mental illnesses don't cause unexpected distress (ex: schizophrenia) • Events in our lives may cause unexpected distress (ex: a break up with significant other)

• A deviation from normal functioning that causes some harm to the person judged by the standards of that person's culture • Doesn't tell us where the mental illness is coming from whether it be social or biological aspects that contribute

Includes: o Clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior - Component as clinically significant says that a judgement call made by clinicians o Disturbance is due to a dysfunction in psychological, biological, and developmental processes that underlie mental functioning o Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities Excludes: o Not simply a predictable and culturally sanctioned response to an event (eg. The death of a loved one) o Not a deviant behavior or conflict between the individual and the society (unless the deviance or conflict is a symptom of dysfunction in the individual) o still not a highly agreed upon definition because it is thought of from only the professionals point of view

• People strive to be inferior or their ideal selves • All behavior has a cause • Introduced case studies and that is still widely used • Introduced defense mechanisms • Stays to the sexuality side of an aspect and there are other things that they might be ignoring • Very subjective • Ignores the presence of biology and neurology, says something about biology but not a whole lot mainly based on psychology

o Genetics (vary from one disorder to another) o Diet (deficiencies which could be linked to dementia) o Brain dysfunctions - Structures of the brain - Functions of the brain • Neurotransmitters abnormalities • Dysfunction in the synapses o Endocrine system abnormalities - Hormone Imbalances (potential abnormality of the endocrine system or thyroid may contribute to disorders such as PTSD and Depression)

• emphasizes the role of biological factors in determining the cause and treatments of mental illness • Leads to both mental and other types of illnesses • Not just the causes but also the treatments • uses a variety of techniques to assess biological factors and arrive to a reliable diagnosis by identifying the problem (Eg. CAT scans, PET scans, FMRI, and psychophysiological recording techniques) • Treatment strategies are used to modify or eliminate the dysfunction and demonstrate effectiveness o Close link to medicine and its implications regarding research and practice o Provision of diagnostic techniques and treatments o Less stigma associated with mental illness because it has aspects of things that someone cannot control

o Limited coverage o Not a comprehensive theory of behavior o No room for other diagnostic techniques that are also informative o No room for other equally effective treatment options

o Psychosurgery - Lobotomies - May have a negative connotation in the past - Now we have a better understanding of the brain which made us more knowledgeable about the brain and areas - Some are used to help treat eating disorders or depression - Not the same surgery that was done in the past o ECT - In the past people had negative views of this - Now, we have opportunities to use this when someone is at risk for harming themselves o Pharmacological treatments - Medications - Started in 1950's - More of a community type of movement • Benefits of this model: o Psychosurgery may create a long-term solution to someone

• not any different than any other type of behavior • Continuum of abnormal and normal • Advocates learning plays a major role in the development of any behavior, including abnormal behaviors • biological and organism related factors set the parameters for learning • environment in which the behavior is learned is the key o learning is the key and the learning occurs in the environment o SORC -stimulustic, organismic, responsive, consequential factors • this model uses behavioral assessment techniques in arriving at a diagnosis • treatment techniques are various types of behavioral the therapies (eg. Systematic desensitization, aversive conditioning)

o Overemphasis of learning and environment o Although researchers can create certain symptoms in the lab this does not generalize to all (limitations in a laboratory setting that would not be in a real-life situation) o Somewhat limited utility in explaining complex behaviors (limited value compared to the other models) o Assessment tools have limitations o Therapies may not always be effective, as well the effects may not be lasting (symptoms replacement - get rid of one symptom and another one pops up) (some types of disturbances or disorders where this model falls short, eg. Personality disorders)

o Evidence of learning as factor in behavior o Environment important o Emphasizes empirical data and research o Assessment and treatment techniques

Two forms of learning involve: o Classical conditioning - Pavlov - We have a biological based response which is the unconditioned response - the stimulus that creates that response is the unconditioned stimulus - association building - also known as instrumental conditioning - the organism must participate o Operant conditioning - BF Skinner - Watson - Punishment and rewards - Good behavior receives rewards and bad behavior receives a punishment - Association between the behavior and the consequences - The organism must participate o a third type of learning, social learning (aka observational learning) is different from the first two, in regards to the involvement of covert behaviors, but equally important - albert bandura - the organism doesn't have to go through the motions to learn behavior

o Cognitive factors highlighted o Lends itself to research o Empirical support o Brought forward Cognitive therapies

• focuses on content of thoughts and dysfunctions in processing information (attention, problem solving, decision making, etc.) as the causes of mental illness and abnormal behaviors o Beck's Maladaptive Attitudes o Negative Cognitive Triad (me, myself, and I all negative) o Errors in thinking o Negative automatic thoughts o Focusses on thoughts and how we process information

o Does not focus on other possible factors o Incomplete, as it does not answer how or why situations occur o Other models view what this model views as symptoms and not causes o Therapies are not effective for all, and sometimes changing cognitions does not translate to behavior o Covert behaviors are difficult to assess

• This model has the following premises: o Human consciousness unique o Reality is subjective o People are inherently good, have capacity for creativity, personal growth, and freedom o Live a purposeful life (individuals can change the views of their own lives from negative to positive, etc.) o Psychological problems result when people are prevented from reaching their potential o Optimistic type of view

o Recognition of human's uniqueness o Power to transcend biological and environmental conditions o People active agents in shaping their destiny o Optimistic view of people o Emphasizes on health rather than illness

o Premises difficult to tie to the goal of science to achieve general laws o It can not be tested scientifically o Therapies may be more appropriate for challenges of living and not effective in other contexts o Client-centered therapy is questionable (assessment or therapy minimal contributions)

• FALLS UNDER HUMANISTIC MODEL • Like humanists in emphasizing human uniqueness and subjective experience, but different in that less positive in their view of people is pessimistic • Argue that humans have a responsibility and choice to live their lives in a meaningful (authentic) way • When fail to realize an authentic life, alienation from self result in existential crisis

o Social labels and social roles - Deviation from norms of the society leads to labels - Labels affect people's lives negatively - Labeling may be associated with stigma o Social networks - Negative messages received from others can contribute to mental illness (Social Supports) o Family dynamics and communication - Dysfunctional family dynamics and communication may contribute to mental illness or make it worse - Dysfunction caused by things such as: • Abusive parents • Lack of communication between parents (could also be that they are communicating but they speak negatively towards one another o Which might lead to bad examples for the children and add stress o Attitudes towards specific groups - Society's attitudes and behavior toward certain persons, because of their gender, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status (SES) affect both their behavior, and the risk they run of developing certain types of psychological problems

• This model emphasizes the impact that belonging to certain groups in the society has on group members • Focuses on the society and the different groups in society and how different members within the group may be treated • Focuses on the cultural roles • Eating disorders • Members being dependent on family, not giving someone enough room to be themselves • Social roles not being fulfilled • Diagnosed with any illness or mental illness o People that are leaving in poverty are more likely to be depressed - People tend to avoid the contact or acknowledgement of people with lower SES and mental illnesses

o Does not focus on other factors o Identifies the role of sociocultural factors but does not indicate how and why certain situations take place o Not a theory of behavior o No specific tool to assess sociocultural factors

o Emphasizes the role of sociocultural factors in abnormal behavior o Supported by empirical evidence o Increases awareness of the society's role and promotes prevention and intervention

• Factors are important on their own and the interaction of those factors are important as well • Health is something to be achieved within all those areas • Factors are constantly changing within each area (only model to do so) • Encompasses more than one factor and give them equal importance • More positive than other models • Treatments are tailored to one specific individual • Because it considers social factors it allows the community to join part of the treatment • It can vary between cultures because it is based on an individual's surroundings • Difficult to define the boundaries • Hard to generalize between person to person because it is so specific to one individual • Treatment can be difficult pin point one source of treatment plan because there is so much information • Influenced by the systems theory • The model focuses on the biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors as a system • the model advocates that biological, psychological, sociocultural factors, and their interactions with each other are all potential contributors to health and illness • the model is multifactorial, holistic, includes both microlevel and macro level analyses • the model considers the factors and the interactions among them at the present as well as overtime (dynamic) • as there are different factors, and each factor have many components, all these interacting with each other, there are many potential routes to a given behavior

o interactions among factors are complex - not only understanding but also the approaches to treatment or research - difficult both at clinical and research levels o not used as much because it is more difficult to apply than the other models o doesn't consider our physical world

• Assessment involves the process through which clinicians gather data about a patient's symptoms by using tests, observations, interviews, or other assessment tools • Can occur in the context of the patient or with the social environment • The goals of assessments include: o Identifying and describing symptoms o Coming up with a diagnosis (potential label that is attached to the symptoms that the patient is experiencing) o Determining the severity of symptom(s) o Identifying the factors that are contributing to the problem(s) (etiology) o Identifying an appropriate treatment plan o Evaluating the treatment outcomes • Assessment process should incorporate biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors which maybe causing, contributing, or maintaining symptoms that the patient is exhibiting • One strategy that assessment relies on: o Talking to them one on one to figure out what the person is experiencing o AKA and intake interview

o May contribute to psychological problems either as casual factors or as part of the symptom pattern o It is therefore important to include the assessment of the biological systems o What might be a causal factor that is biological? - Hormone imbalances linked to depression • Need to find ways that tap into what the imbalances may be - Generalized anxiety disorder - Panic disorders o Assessment of Biological Systems: - Medical records: • Provide information about present and past medical history - Medical Examination: • Provides information about present health status

o Provide information about structural and functional problems

- Brain Imaging Techniques which use technology to study: o Structures of the brain (static brain imaging) - Techniques used to study the structures of the brain: • Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT Scans) • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI Scans) o Functioning of the brain (dynamic brain imaging) - Techniques used to study the functioning of the brain: • Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scans) • Functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI)

o Availability and accessibility limited o Expensive o Somewhat invasive o May produce anxiety

• Involves using devices to measure a person's cognitive, perceptual, and motor performance as clues to the extent and location of brain damage • Single Test of Organicity o TRAIL - Presented with a paper - Expected to trace the numbers or shapes - Visual system must be linked to your motor system to trace - Attention so that they don't have to retrace the shape because points will be taken off - must do it as quick as possible o Bender-Gestalt - Pictures that you must re-draw - Pictures are left in front of you - Must be done as quick as possible o Benton Visual Retention Test - Pictures that you must re-draw - Pictures are not left in front of you - Must be done as quick as possible

Halstead-Reitan - Developed in north America - MMPI (personality test) - Builds the link between brain and behavior - 6 hours Luria-Nebraska - Not as much known in North America - Brain and behavior link - Doesn't include personality - Long process

- Only applicable to cortical functions - Do not cover all areas of the cortex - Administration time is long - Requires patient cooperation - The administrators must be trained

- Provide information about the functioning of the brain and relate it to behavior - Less expensive - More accessible than brain imaging techniques

Validity - face (lowest) - criterion - content - Construct (Highest) Reliability - consistency Scoring - how the tests are evaluated -standardized - same process of administration Normalization - appropriate norms of each subject

• These techniques are based on the recording of the activity of various organ systems, such as the central nervous system (CNS), cardiovascular system, muscles, etc. • Some examples are: o Cardiovascular Measures: - EKG, blood pressure, heart rate o Central Nervous system measures - EEG, evoked potentials o Electrodermal measures - Skin conductance, skin resistance o Muscle Tension Measures - EMG - Psychophysiological disorders such as Headaches o Eye Movement Measures - Sleep related studies - schizophrenia - Electroculogram o Sexual Response Measures - Plethysmograph - Circumference of the penis - Vaginal Lubrication • Used as an index of emotional arousal in each situation and part od psychophysiological treatments o Phobias - Part of the symptom constellation o Generalized Anxiety Disorder o PTSD o Panic Disorder/Attacks

o Information about emotional states - Affective component - Cognitive component - Physiological component - Behavioral component o Information about symptoms of psychophysiological disorders o Might be used with some types of treatments o May be affected to a lesser extent by voluntary control o Many are non-invasive

o Requires equipment o More expensive technology than psychological assessment strategies o Can be intimidating to some o Responses of different systems vary o Influenced by sex, race, as well as psychological factors o Indicate generalized arousal, not specific emotions in most instances

Naturalistic - observe an individuals behavior within their natural environment - the person you are observing does not necessarily have to know that they are being observed Controlled - observations take place within a laboratory setting Participant - researchers would live within the environment of the individual - can be used with covert and overt behavior

- An essential technique to gather information about the patient's past and present behavior - Not limited only to the patient, but could be used to gather information about the functioning of the social system - There are three different types of interviews: • Structure: already have every single question identified in advance and must be in order regardless of what other questions pop up from the information of the participant, standard: easy to compare the results to other individuals • Semi-Structured: certain areas already identified but no specific questions, get the cues from the participant • Unstructured: feed off the participants, a lot of the information is dictated from the answers from the individual, opening for exploring areas that effect that individual, no planned questions

• Information from the patient perspective • Time efficient, practical • Information about behaviors not directly observable • Observe non-verbal behaviors

• Patient willing and able • Information provided subjective • Open to bias (eg. Social desirability) • Interviewer related biases

- Questionnaires • Ex. Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaires (PDSQ) - Checklists • Moods checklists • Roughly 142 questions • Each one describes moods and if they apply then check them off • Get information with things such as positive and negative affect - Rating scales • Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) • Involves 21 multiple choice questions measuring symptoms associated with depression - Diaries used in self-monitoring • Kept by the patient - These are generally used to collect information about various types of behaviors of an individual, such as mood states, thought, compulsions, attitudes, fears, etc. - Self-report measures can also be used to assess behaviors of interest seen in the larger system such as social characteristics of families, peer relations in a class, etc. • Ex. McMaster Family Assessment Device (Each statement is rated from 1-5) o Problem solving o Communication o Roles o Affective responsiveness o Affective involvement o Behavioral control

• Supplement information through other means • Efficient in collecting information on specific topics

- Information provided can be subjective - Biases can influence responses (social desirability) - Limited utility, not meant to replace other techniques

• Used to assess intellectual functioning of the patient • Whether organic factors contribute to the symptoms • Two broadly used intelligence tests are: o Stanford-Binet o Wechsler Scales such as WAIS-III, WAIS-IV, WISC-IV

Projective o Unstructured stimuli are presented to a subject o The subject projects meaning or structure onto the stimuli o These projections reveal hidden motives (up to the person giving out the test to interpret the meanings) o Ex. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), The Rorschach's Ink blot, Sentence Completion Objective o A subject is required to read and respond to itemized statements or questions o Responses provided are scored and interpreted in an objective fashion o Standardized type of test o Whenever this type of a test is administered by handing out a test and the individual checking agree or disagree, no subjectivity with the scoring o Objective personality tests include: - CPI (California psychological inventory) • Gives us an understanding of the individuals genetic make up) • Good test • Normal people/ personality make up/ mental illnesses (same for NEO) - NEO (neuroticism extroversion • Good test - MMPI and MMPI 2 (Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory) • Clinical scales • Had a lie scale in the original one • Updated: added other disorders or used other words to describe the disorders in MMPI 2 • Good test because it is an empirical test • Used for people that have potential issues - MMPI-A • Used on Adolescents - Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory • Directly links to personality disorders category • Only used when a client shows a behavior that can be put under the 10 categories listed in the DSM5 • Only applies to personality disorders • Restricted use

- Provide information about constructs known to influence behavior, but can not be accessible directly - Used along with other tests

- Require cooperation of the patient - Some tests require training to administer, to score or to interpret - Some may not have all the characteristics of a good tests (such as original projective tests) - Like other measures may be affected by the attitude of the test taker - Some may require middle school literacy levels to take the test

- is to subdivide or organize a set of objects - these systems are used to subdivide or organize and they give us rules systems can be based on different principles: o Descriptive Similarities - Color, shape, etc. o Structural Similarities - Neurons, multipolar, etc. o Functional Similarities - How they are used and what they are used for • Classification may be: o Categorical - Classification assumes differences between members of different categories to reflect a difference in kind (quality), rather than a difference in the amount (quantity) - Kind, type, but not in terms of the amount - Labels an individual - discrete o Dimensional - Classification focuses on a characteristic and determines the amount of the characteristics, that is how much of that characteristic is exhibited by a given object or a person - Continuous • uses a classification system that consists of categories o the categories are based on shared attributes or relations • diagnosis of mental illness involves identifying the symptoms and classifying the disorder into an appropriate category

o ICD-10 - International classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems (ICD-10) - Published by the World Health Organization o DSM-5 - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) - American Psychiatric Association

o Solicited public and professional input o Included collaboration between 13 work groups and advisors and reviewers o Worked closely with ICD to harmonize DSM-5 with ICD 10 and ICD 11 due in 2017

o Empirically grounded, prototypic approach to classification maintained - prototypic approach to classification: For each of the different categories we have certain similarities (all subcategories should have the same symptoms but they may differ based on the nature of the symptoms) o classification system is based on the medical model o atheoretical orientation maintained - doesn't advocate one model over another o descriptive rather than explanatory approach maintained (doesn't tell us why) o categorical approach to classification maintained o disorders are categorized under broad headings o DSM-IV contained 16 categories of clinical disorders o DSM-5 uses 21 categories for diagnosis o The number of mental disorders in DSM-5 expanded to 400+ disorders