Download What is Abnormal Psychology?

What is Abnormal Psychology?
• behaviors, thoughts, & moods outside what is
considered “normal” in culture - atypical
• However…
what is normal?
what is abnormal?
Psychopathology
CATEGORIES
• Neuroses - anxiety based •
- Phobias
- Panic Disorders
- GAD
- OCD
- Hypochondriasis
- Depressions
- Amnesias
- PTSD
- DID
Psychoses – physiological
based
- Personality Disorders
*Addictions
*Schizoid
* Borderline
- Depressions
- Bipolar Disorder
- Paranoia
- Schizophrenias
Whitlock’s Line of Psychopathology
Schizophrenia
Bi-Polar Disorder
Psychoses
Paranoid
BDD
Psychogenic Pain
Pseudocysis
SAD
Eating Disorders
Munchausen
Self-mutilation
Phobias
PTSD
RAD
Trichotillomania
Fugue
DID
Addictions
Reality
GAD
Hypochondriasis
Pyromania
OCD
Kleptomania
Sexual Deviance
(Pedophilia)
Neuroses
Historical Views of Abnormal
Behavior
• Demonology, Gods, & Magic
– Abnormal behavior often attributed to possession
– “Good”or“Bad” possession depended on symptoms
• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
- Mental disorders due to natural causes
- Humors = Fluids
Twentieth Century Treatment
• 1946 – 1963: Changing views of mental health
services
– National Institute of Mental Health organized
– DSM-I published
– Mary Jane Ward published
The Snake Pit
– Goffman published
Asylums
– Hill-Burton Act is passed
– Community Health Services
Act of 1963
20th Century Deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalization and Community
Mental Health Care1970s
• Forces that initiated
– Miracle drugs
– Reconceptualization of Mental Illness
– Recognition of Institutional Hazards
– Economic Incentives
Is this a mental disorder?
• A man can’t get through the day without crying
• A woman stays in bed until noon
• A woman believes that her daughter’s spirit is
escaping from her body
• A man sets fire to his land
What are we studying?
•
•
•
•
•
Abnormal Behaviors
Psychopathology
Mental Disorders
Mental Illnesses
Deviant Behaviors
Defining Mental Disorder
Must Have….
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Distress
Maladaptiveness
Irrationality
Unpredictability
Unconventionality
Observer Discomfort
Violation of Moral and Ideal Standards
Mental Health Professionals
• Clinical Psychologist
(Ph.D., C. Psych.)
• Psychiatrist (M.D.)
• Psychiatric Social
Worker (M.S.W.)
• Psychoanalyst
• Therapist/Counselor
Being Sane in Insane Places
• Rosenhan Pseudopatient Study, 1973
• Eight healthy participants complained of hearing
voices saying “thud,” “hollow,” and “empty,” but did
not feign any other symptoms
• Admitted to inpatient hospital
• Once admitted, “stopped” hearing these voices
• Seven received diagnosis of Schizophrenia
• Stays ranged from 7 to 52 days, average of 19 days
• Family and friends could identify no significant
differences in behavior of “pseudo-patients”
• 35/118 other patients identified “pseudo-patients”
as being sane
– “You’re not crazy. You’re a journalist or a professor.
You’re checking up on the hospital.”
• Otherwise normal behavior was interpreted by
hospital staff as symptoms of illness
– Writing in journal was interpreted as compulsive
behavior
– Walking around floor was interpreted as anxiety
Key points
• When thinking about mental disorders, it is
important to remember:
– Knowing person’s diagnosis and understanding
that diagnosis is important, but it is not sufficient
to understanding person
– It is important to take person’s culture into
consideration when thinking about their symptoms
– People are not defined by their diagnosis
• No one would talk about a cancer patient and say,
“He’s cancerian” but people will say “He’s
schizophrenic” when talking about someone suffering
from schizophrenia