Abnormal Psychology Review 1 – Flashcards

No universal agreement exists in defining abnormality. 1. Suffering- 2. Maladaptiveness - Behavior that interferes with an individual's well-being -Decreases one's ability to enjoy work and relationships -Influence on others and society 3. Deviancy - Deviation from what is socially acceptable or deemed normal -Involves value judgments -Can involve statistically rare and undesirable behavior such as mental retardation 4. Violation of the Standards of Society - All cultures have rules -Violation of the standards of society -Include both social and moral rules -Laws 5. Social Discomfort - Those around him or her may experience a sense of discomfort or unease 6. Irrationality and Unpredictability- Behavior that is unpredictable and makes no sense -Evaluation of whether or not a person can control his or her behavior

__________Is a necessary first step toward introducing order to any discussion of the cause or treatment of abnormal behavior.

Labels should be applied to disorders and not people.

May be present but is not a necessary condition for making a diagnosis

Yes, because he is persistently acting in a way that harms himself. Within the DSM, a mental disorder is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome that is associated with distress or disability.

We have yet to discover the dysfunction that underlies most mental disorders. Evolution theory does not provide use with a convenient list of functional versus dysfunctional behavior.

Is the study of the distribution mental disorders.

When it is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual.

Prevalent- number of active cases in population during any given period of time (%) -highly prevalent means that the disorder in question is very popular

Anxiety Disorder

Comorbidity describes the presence of two or more disorders in the same person. For example, a person diagnosed with both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa. Comorbidity is high in people who have sevr forms of mental disorders. In NCS-R study, half of the individuals with a disorder rated serious on a scale of severity (mild, moderate, serious) had two or more additional disorders.

Often by ritual or superstition than by attempts to understand and individual's condition.

Impact to society and its structure may also affect mental health.

The discovery of organicc factors underlying general paresis--Syphilis of the brain. One of the most serious. 1897: When french physician A.L. Bayle differiated general paresis as specific type of mental disorder. A cure for paresis began. 1897: Viennese psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebbing inoculated paretic patients with matter from syphilitic sores 1906: August von Wassermann created a blood test for syphilis 1917: Julius von Wagner-Jauregg introduced malarial fever treatment of syphilis and paresis

Dominant role in developing the biological point of view • Early synthesis and classification system of mental disorders (forerunner of the DSM) • Grouped together based on common patterns of symptoms Published in 1883 Compendium der Psychiatrie. (it contributed to the idea that mental disorders resulted from brain pathology).

After repeated pairings with a stimulus that naturally causes a response, a neutral stimulus will cause a similar response.

Excellent way to illustrate clinical material • Provide some negative evidence that can challenge a prevailing idea/ assumption • Source of new ideas and serve as a stimulus for research • Provide insight into unusual clinical conditions that are too rare to study in a more systematic way

The more representative a sample is, the more generalizable the data.

Does not involve any manipulations of variables

Causal pattern of abnormal behavior

Sufficient cause, Necessary cause.

If you have the gene, you will develop schizophrenia, and that gene is the only thing that will develop into the disease (no other contributing factors)

Is called a diathesis, a contributory cause. Predisposition or vulnerability to developing a given disorder.

Pg. 36 A proximal cause of a child's subsequent grief reaction, which might last a few months or a year; however, the parent's death may also serve as a distal contributory factor that increases the probability that when the child grows up, he or she will become depressed in response to stressors.

Recognize the importance of biochemical factors & innate characteristics (which are genetically determined) in abnormal and normal behavior, biological factors used to diagnose abnormal. Neurotransmitter and hormonal abnormalities in the brain and central nervous system (i.e., CNS) Genetic vulnerabilities Temperament Brain dysfunction and neural plasticity

Polygenic

All emphasize the impact of early experiences

Condition Stimulus

Necessary Cause

1. Failure to learn adaptive behavior, such as how to establish satisfying personal relationships. 2. The learning of ineffective or maladaptive responses.

from distorted thinking and information processing.

Schema

Processed at a unconscious level

Authoritative

Procedure by which clinicians, using psychological tests, observation, and interviews, develop a summary of the client's symptoms and problems.

An evaluation of the environment in which the client lives is necessary in order to understand the demands she faces, as well as the supports that are present.

Intelligence and personality tests

Classification makes it possible to communicate about particular clusters of abnormal behavior in agreed-upon and relatively precise ways. Communication about abnormal behavior cannot be effective unless what is being discussed is clear

It takes times, you cannot undo a person's past history within a short time or help him or her to adequately adapt with difficult life situations.

There is an increased need to prove that therapy is effective, has to be empirically stated

Antipsychotic drugs

They are thought to be relatively safe, easier to use, have fewer side effects, and are generally not found to be fatal in overdose, as tricyclics can be.

Patients tend to improve after about 3-5 weeks of treatment. Patients who show atleast a 50 percent improvement in their symptoms are considered to have had a positive response to treatment.

GABA

Benzodiazepine

They're used to treat bi polar disorder-mood stabilizer.

Abnormal behavior is learned the same ways as normal behavior and can be unlearned

Cognitive therapy, Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Systematic use of reinforcement is a type of treatment used in the mental health or substance abuse fields. Patients' behaviors are rewarded (or, less often, punished); generally, adherence to or failure to adhere to program rules and regulations or their treatment plan. Resembles the outside world, where an individual is paid for his or her work in tokens (money) can be exchanged for objects and activities.

Recording one's automatic thoughts and any associated emotional reactions.

The likelihood of relapse is decreased

Is concerned with psychological factors that may predispose an individual to medical problems.

The effects of external stressors between the organism and the environment.

Both tax one's resources and coping skills.

-stress tolerance -preparing for the stressor

Physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival, where and what origintaes it--fear, increase heart rate

Hypothalamus

Biological cost of adapting stress

It has become clear that it is the hostility component of the type A construct (including anger, contempt, scorn, cynicism, and mistrust) that is most closely correlated with coronary artery deterioration.

Stress.

The fight or flight response

General feeling of apprehension about possible future danger and fear is an alarm reaction that occurs in response to immediate danger. "significant fear"

Whether there are more fear/panic symptoms or anxiety symptoms involved

Specific Phobia, situation type.

Phobic stimulus, show an immediate fear response Phobic response is so unpleasant and because of the phobic person's irrational appraisal of the likelihood that something terrible will happen.

Why some types of phobias are much more common than others.

Social phobia

Challenging automatic thoughts.

more intense

10 out of 13 symptoms are physical. 85% of people having a panic attack may show up repeatedly at emergency rooms or physician's offices for what they are convinced is a medical problem Usually correct diagnosis is not made for years due to normal results on numerous costly medical tests.

Amygala

Interoceptive exposure

Avoidance strategy to avoid problem

Maintains disorder